Regalos de Perú

UPDATE: The design on the back cover (and also printed on all the inside pages) that looks like a totem (to me, at least) is a tumi. According to Wikipedia, a tumi is "a sacrificial ceremonial knife distinctly characterised by a semi-circular blade, made of either bronze, copper, gold-alloy, or silver alloy used by Inca and pre-Inca cultures in the Peruvian Coastal Region." For more details, read the article here.

My boss went to Lima, Peru last week for a speaking engagement. She came home last Monday and kindly gave me pasalubong stuff to add to my growing treasure chest: a notebook and a shotglass. Wee!!! The notebook is such a beauty, I was really speechless when I saw it. And the shotglass is so unique. But I'll do another post about that.

The front and back covers are made of thick leather, both embossed and painted. Unlike other leather items from other places, this one is not smelly. It even has a tangy smell to it, something that tells you it's new, it's clean, and it's real leather.

On the front cover is a group of men singing and facing a mountain while a hawk hovers above them. Embossed is the word 'Cusco'. Internet research showed Cusco is a city in southeastern Peru, near the Urubamba Valley of the Andes mountain range. This means that the mountain embossed on my notebook is the Andes mountain range. Below that artwork is the word 'PERU', also embossed and painted in red and white.

On the back cover are three different artworks: a woman carrying a child with a llama beside them; a totem, and an abstract slanted border.

Printed like a watermark on the inside pages is an image similar to the totem embossed on the back cover.

The notebook's front cover.