Lima
Airport
Crazy driving on our return to the airport. Playing "chicken" on the road is the rule. Cars are never more than inches away from one another. We close our eyes for the wild ride.
Waiting in the check-in line. Waiting in the baggage line. The airport was was clogged with people, and no one or nothing was moving for hours. But... it was worth it!
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Reasons our trip was so outstanding
1. The stonework is beautiful, precise, sophisticated, sculptural. The
scale is huge, but with such intricate detail.
2. Third world ambiance. Winding narrow cobblestone streets and alleys,
hanging uncovered light bulbs illuminating a shop at night, street vendors,
whiff of urine when passing by a doorway, no seats on toilets, no toilet
paper, restaurants in a courtyard, melting adobe walls, squeezed between
locals on a bus ride, stumbling on funeral and wedding processions, retail
storefronts leading into a dark hole and selling anything from Coke to
coffins.
3. Extensive ruins--Machu Picchu is just the most famous.
4. Mountains which dwarf the Rockies--vertical, steep, with deeply cut
valleys.
5. Fluent Spanish-speaking travel
companions and terrific company.
6.
Museum resources filled with priceless artifacts.
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Museo de Oro
Housed in an older estate, the Museo de Oro gave us our greatest exposure
to Inca goldware and artifacts. We came here on our first day in Peru.
Cases and case of body art in all variations lined the walls of the lower
level. So much was crammed into each display. It is more important to
have a place for all of it, rather than to create more dramatic displays
highlighting fewer, major, pieces, I guess. We did find the volume overwhelming.
We had never encountered such an exhibit. Only later did it really become
obvious that this museum is the major repository for what was left of
the Inca gold work after the Spanish conquest. The Spanish had exported
or melted down most of it. Some pieces are preserved in the museums of
Spain, we understand.
The upper level of the Museo de Oro was literally covered, end to end, with large-scale weavings, blankets and wall hangings, all of which were affixed (not archivally, I'm sure) to a maze of permanent and moveable walls. Some works lay in large horizontal cases too. No explanations of the works, for the most part. As in the gold rooms, the light was dim, perhaps to help preserve the fabrics here.
It would be a good idea to have an English-speaking guide here. One was not available at the time, but it would be worthwhile to make a reservation. All text within the museum was in Spanish.
Museo de la Nation
The Museo de la Nation
was well-curated and housed in a modern building expressly for its purpose.
It provided a fantastic anthropological overview of ancient Peruvian cultures.
All in Spanish, the text was very informative, and the art displays and
dioramas were wonderful. This offered a great cultural perspective near
the end of our trip.