Lima..... and oh, those erotic Incas

We had a great couple of days in Lima.  Stayed at an excellent hostal in the Miraflores area, Pension Yolanda, owned by Erwin, who´s perfect English and wealth of info on Lima and all of Peru made our visit really special.

Lima is a huge city, of over 10,000,000 people.  Miraflores, the area we stayed in is modern, happening, and safe.  With all of the locals on cell phones, ipods in their ears, and some really good modern residential architecture, we really felt at home here.

We visited a couple of museums and ruin sites.  The first, Museo Larco,the amazing collection of Raphael Larco Herrara, who collected over 15,000 pieces of pre-Columbian art in the early 20th century.  Housed in three buildings on beautiful grounds, the museum gave us a terrific overview of the ruins that we´ll be visiting at Machu Picchu and elsewhere in Peru.  Larco also houses the worlds largest collection of Inca eroticism.  Ya gotta like it!!!

Museum mascot is a very friendly Peruvian hairless.  Must be an acquired taste...gimme a malemute any day!!!

All of the exhibits were beautifully and dramatically displayed.

The museum of erotic art was obviously a crowd pleaser.  Even the toilet signage was unique!!!

Hard to imagine a better wine bottle...

We also checked out the downtown ruins of Huaca Pucllana, in the heart of Miraflores.  Although the Spanish conquistadores trashed much of the pyramids, they kept quite a bit intact to use as a lookout over the harbors of Lima and nearby Callao.  Although much of the Inca temple pyramid and graves have been demolished by the development of modern Lima, in recent years much has been preserved, and the archeology has been actively underway since the mid 1980´s.  Today a lot of the temple has been restored, with an estimate that it will take 25 years to finish the exploration and restoration.  Amazing, right in the heart of the city...

Work continues on excavation and reconstruction

Reconstructed tombs

We arrived yesterday in Cusco after a 21 hour bus ride from Lima.  The double decker bus we rode was quite cool.  We rode in the ¨cama¨, or bed section, down below.  The seats recline nearly all the way down, and with two drivers taking shifts, and meals served on board, these kings of the highway never stop.  Not a bad way to travel.

We´re off on a 4 day trekking and mountain bike tour around Machu Picchu tomorrow.  No internet, obviously, so will report on Cusco / Machu Picchu when we return.