Where in the world is Lani?

Day 13 - Pre-Columbian Artefacts

CHILE | Tuesday, 30 January 2007 | Views [823] | Comments [1]

Hola!

Today we explored the "must see" museum in Santiago - Museum of Pre-Columbian Art in Santiago city. It contains a collection of pre-Columbian pieces of different cultural areas selected for their beauty and cultural value; ceramics, paintings, sculptures and textiles represent physical people, funeral customs, intercultural contacts, diseases, beliefs, music and daily life thousands of years ago. The thing i was most impressed with was the way they represented women in the art - they were revered and treated with mucho respect - as we should be!

We saw some exceptional works such as stone sculptures, ceramics, wood, metal and weaves of Andean and mesoamericanas cultures - it was great! We could have spent all day there and it was a cheap trip for only 2000 pesos (about AUD$5).

In the evening we returned to Casa Roja and decided to have a quiet dinner round town before moving to our last stop on Wednesday before flying out to Argentina.

We met a bloke from Perth in the hostel who accompanied us our for dinner to a local Italian themed restaurant where the service was typically slow, the food good and the beers served in 1.5L bottles. We had just finished when a muso set up his drum machine and started playing the loudest saxophone solos you have ever heard (think Kenny G hits from the early 1990s) so we left quick sticks as it was unbearable.

We are getting really excited about Argentina as everyone we've spoken to is raving about it! Lets hope its as good as we think it will be.

Hasta Luego

Lani

The Chemamull wooden statues used by the ancient Chileans in death rituals. They stand about 7 foot high and they had 6 of them (male and female) in the museo.

Tags: Sightseeing

Comments

1

Hi Lani,
Woah, I am really envious! It`s fascinationg to learn about the way the people of old lived, their beliefs etc. While on the topic of cultural things, the other day we had a little festival here. You throw beans and yell out the doors and windows: "Oni wa soto! Fuku wa uchi!" which means, "Demons out! Good luck in!"
Pretty fun. Don`t know the connection between beans and demons though. In one myth,the hero wards off this hag from the underworld by throwing peaches. Peaches were believed to have magical properties or something. Don`t know how the neighbours would like it if I`d chucked peaches around though. "Oni wa soto!"(Bang!) "Fuku wa uchi!" (Bang!)

Kathryn Feb 5, 2007 7:17 PM