Museum Hopper

Over Labor Day, I headed to Lima, Peru to visit my sister, her husband, my nephew and my niece.  My niece and nephew had the day off school, so we headed south of the city to check out Pachacamac .  It was about an hour south of the city although we hit traffic so it usually would be a little shorter.  The site is just off the Pacific Ocean.     The site is named after the "earth god" Pacha Makaq, which is a god we heard a lot about when we were in the Sacred Valley.  It was started before the Incan period, but they continued to operate throughout the Incan empire.  It continued as both a temple and an administrative center.    The ruins were first discovered in the 1890s.   The museum was re-done about three years ago.  Excellently, I might add.   We headed out to the ruins first, but I think you might want to check out the museum first.  I may also feel like that because our tour guide spoke Spanis...

I went to Lima Peru to visit my sister for a quick visit over Labor Day weekend.  She moved back down there with my brother-in-law, niece  and nephew early in 2018. Within walking distance from her house is this lovely museum, Amano, Pre-Columbian Textile Museum .   Amano was a Japanese business man who spent a lot time in Peru.  He was very passionate about Peruvian pottery, but also ended up pursuing a passion on textiles.  He made a few large purchases that are the basis for the museum. The museum recently underwent a massive renovation (no photos allowed unfortunately).  The museum provides a macro overview of the world and Peru's place in developing textile techniques and approach.  From there, it digs deeper into the communities and innovations within Peru.  The museum is arranged chronologically .  It follows the development of textiles through the different cultures and people and what each group contributed.   ...

the day after visiting el museo larco , we as a large group went to huaca pucllana .  this is a large pyramid in the middle of lima!  here is an arial view of the huaca .  restoration and preservation of this huaca began in the early 1990s if my memory proves correct.  up until then, it had been used as a soccer field, motorcycle track and just a general gathering place! the huaca was used as a ceremonial and city center for the lima people who were living in lima (coincidentally) between 200 and 700 AD.   we had a guided tour for the huaca with a few other groups.  the tour guide was a little more robotic in her delivery and also was not as able to answer our questions than our guide at the museo larco.  that being said, her english was still waaay better than my spanish!  they also had llamas and alpacas on site.  here is a picture of an alpaca from another place we went: we found out more about the limas.  this nicel...

the first place we went to when we arrived in lima, peru was the museo larco .  my family, boyfriend, grandfather and aunt were all down in peru for my middle sister's wedding.  it was quite the trip with a beautiful wedding, but it also let me see some new museums!  always a big plus when i travel!  the museo larco was a great place for us to start.  it has a great overview of pre-columbian art work, textiles and ceramics.  most (if not all) of the pieces were purchased and found by a single family who had decided to create the museum to preserve the pieces.  the museum flows through time and seemed easy to follow.  my sister had arranged a guide for us since most of the explanations were spanish.  our guide seemed very well knowledgeable and spoke much better english than i speak spanish!  we were a group of about 20 people and she handled all of our questions and inquiries with grace.  it can be hard to keep a large group like...