Museo Chileno De Arte Precolombino

Breakfasts at a Holiday Inn Express aren’t generally anything special. A few cereals; some bagels, toast, crissoants, sweet breads, fruit, yogurt, etc. Nothing warm. Still, after eating breakfast on the ship for over a month, this one was quite a treat. Emma ate three Clementines! We went back to our hotel room and turned on the television, amusing ourselves with shows like Plaza Sesamo and other children’s shows in Spanish. Then we stumbled across a cute movie about two rival families in the pizza business with a Romeo and Juliet flare. We ended up watching the whole thing and not leaving our hotel until time to go meet Eric for Chinese food. Stop judging. You’re thinking, “You’re in Chile and you’re watching a made for TV movie?” People. We are traveling for over two months. Wade works every day. Not every weekday. Every day. This was literally his first day off since we boarded on June 11th. A nice slow morning was just what we all needed. You’ll be happy to know we did get cultured in the afternoon. Our visit to the Precolumbian art museum was fantastic. Wade inquired about a guided tour when we first got there, but we were told you had to reserve that 48 hours in advance so we headed in on our own. After a quick stop at the restroom, we were approached by a member of the museum staff who offered us a guided tour. She did a FABULOUS job of talking to Emma and asking her questions and really presenting the artifacts in a manner appropriate for our pedantic almost first grader. We saw waaaaay more than I can adequately describe here (and still have time to get packed for Peru tomorrow) but a couple of highlights included the Chinchorro mummies, which predate their Egyptian equivalents, and an incredible quipu, a collection colored and knotted ropes, once carried by Inca couriers, that tallied numbers of warriors, amounts of gold, quantities of corn, etc.