Museo Nacional de Arqueología, Anthropología e Historia del Perú

In class today we learned many vocab words, past tense, and in culture class talked about the Nazcas.  It was interesting to learn more about the sites that I had seen less than a week before, and also learn about some of the native fruits in the area.  Our teacher is very nice and helpful, and although we often get off on tangents they are always focused on Spanish and teach something new.


After school we took a cab to Bolivar Square to grab lunch before going to the Museo Nacional de Arqueología.  Once we arrived, after a once again wandering ride, we went to a restaurant next door where I got fried fish, which throughout the whole meal I could swear was not fish, except that it smelled like fish and when I asked the waitress she assured me that it was...except it looked like meat.  Those that tried my meal couldn't decide what it is either, but I do know that I am still extremely full 5 hours later.


Our tour of the museum showed off many of the things that we had learned in class at El Sol.  The elongated skulls and simplistic brain surgery that has been discovered in the people of Paracas was shown.  It is believed that the elongated skulls were formed to differentiate people of different social status, and the holes in the skull were believed to relieve craziness or other illnesses.  Amazingly about half of the people who underwent this brain surgery (sin anesthesia) survived.

                           

 

We also got to see an example of a burial chamber for the Paracan mummies.  Wrapped in layers of cloth and placed in a basket the mummies were buried a few to a grave surrounded with different ceramics and fabrics.  The graves were shaped like inverted wine glasses, and accordingly looked like a womb.

We also got to see a replication of Machu Picchu which will come in handy when we see it in a month or so.  For now I'll just have to look forward to our day trip to Caral on Saturday.

Lessons Learned:

1. It is possible to get a great taxi ride for a cheap price, thanks to the driver that made 5 different stops for us!
2. Discotekas do not get busy on a Wednesday night and never fill up before 1 or 2 am if not later.
3. Maids make life so much easier, I especially love coming home to clean clothes each day when I only have my few shirts and pants to start with.