Papier Mache Machu Picchu

So papier mache take 2! For my friends hen do, we had a country fancy dress theme, and as usual when fancy dress is mentioned, I try to think of the most ridiculous costume possible. I chose Peru as her country, as this is where she got engaged, and as it was at Machu Picchu where she was proposed to, I decided that was the only suitable costume.

So I got to work with some cardboard to make a basic hat shape, then added in Wayna Picchu (the hill in the background in a lot of the photos you see), and another hill to make it look less odd on its own, as there are a lot of rocky bits around.

I then added in some tiered layers, as everything at Machu Picchu is arranged on tiered levels, and added my paper mache. 

I then painted it in 2 colours of green, one darker even coat underneath, and then a lighter more dabbled coat on top to look like vegetation. Then came the fun bit, of adding in all the buildings, stairways and general structures. 

I did actually work from photos of Machu Picchu for this and so it is sort of fairly accurate in where the buildings are. Obviously the real Machu Picchu is a little larger than mine so has room for some more intricate details, but I knew that everyone would be too drunk to really look too closely at my masterpiece.

On Laura's head, and with added giant llama for added authenticity...

In case you're interested, I dressed as Mount Everest. It took a lot of effort to not look like a particularly un-liked sect which I do not want to mention by name, but in the end I think I swayed more towards looking like a nun, which is much more preferable. Here is a photo (with Turkey, and as our other team Asia couldn't make it, an honorary Zambia instead.)