1) Our yard is a joke (as opposed to the football field sized yards of nearly anyone else not living in an apartment)
2) Sometimes a pool is just a large, unheated hot tub
3) Garages are non-existent
4) All furniture is EXACTLY the same and comes in cream, green or red (we have green, the most subtle and kid-friendly of the three)
5) We know exactly one person with a dish washer (it's not us)
6) In terms of interior materials, our house is by far the most beautiful (original hard wood [mahogany] flooring and staircase, marble, wrought iron etc.)
7) Wealthy Peruvians favor gaudy and tacky over tasteful and refined (most Embassy housing is rented from well-to-do Peruvians)
8) Decorating with things purchased in Peru is extremely common, and frankly, perplexing
Which brings me back to my current entry. Time and again as we visit friends and acquaintances I am struck by the amount of Peruvian stuff in their houses - art, crafts, weavings, figurines, leather goods, silver whatever, clothing, reed baskets and on and on and on. Initially I thought that they were just first time posters like us and, like us, had little in the way of decorative objects and so went to the craft markets and went a little crazy to compensate for that. But, more and more I am realizing this is just not the case. We are talking about folks who are in their 4th and 5th countries. I wonder, do they also have whole households full of objet d'arte from previous posts as well just sitting in their massive storage unit in Maryland waiting to be joined by the Peruvian clutter when the family next moves to Thailand or Mali? Really, I am totally perplexed by this. And, don't get me wrong, there are some lovely things to be had in Peru, but, frankly, not that much!
Our approach to accumulating what I like to lovingly refer to as "Peruvian Crap" has been to shop around, invest in some high-quality, very traditional pieces and leave our walls blank for future acquisi
Our second purchase is a replica of an Inca mask thought to be worn by the Inca elders and royalty during the 14th and 15th centuries, before they were conquered by Pizarro. It is plated in gold and decorated with the semi-precious stones that are native to the mountains of Peru, lapis lazuli, red coral, Andean turquoise and serpentine. We just got it back from the
4 comments:
My expierence in life has taught me that VERY FEW people have taste. Those with money just buy taste in the form of decorators. My mom brought back aboriginal masks from Australia. I was afraid of them. I'm glad Caleb has made friends with his mask!
I have never understood the swimming pool the size of a hot tub, either. Who uses those?
Since being home I have become even more happy with the purchases we made there. I love my peruvian tapestry (similar to yours), the water color painting I purchased in Cusco, my nativity (thanks to you guys)and our hand-carved calabasa which is a great conversation piece.
I really like your Inca mask and the frame is beautiful. I am glad you found a good framer. I find the fact that Caleb has conversations with the mask highly amusing. How is my little buddy, anyway? I need a Caleb update!
You may be leaving Paris with several items to be framed!
Wow! What an honor to have been given honorable mention in your blog. You can come use our dishwasher anytime!
Heather, Carlos and Sebastian
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