Team Leip Travels: 8 December 2021 Santiago, Chile Pre-Colombian Art Museum

Wednesday, December 8, 2021

8 December 2021 Santiago, Chile Pre-Colombian Art Museum

After a 12 hour Rumpelstiltskin sleep I got up fully rested. Damn those overnight flights. Luckily we had things to cook for breakfast and as always we have a fine selection of whole leaf teas to choose from. We are in an unusual situation where we had set these days aside for quarantine. So we don't have the usual spreadsheet of activities pre-planned and ready to execute. The Pre-Colombian Art museum got the vote so off we went in our Uber chariot. We are not usually Uber customers but in this case we really like that the destination and price are already agreed upon prior to getting in the car. Our driver, Mauricio, was vary friendly and through google translate we were able to communicate fairly well. He commended us on picking a nice safe neighborhood to stay in. But warned us of pickpockets and purse grabbers in the area where we were headed. It is not our first time in Santiago but a reminder to keep everything close to the body was helpful. He drove us right to the museum with only one mishap. He was so busy talking with us that he drove onto a one way street going the wrong way. Lucky for us a truck stopped so he could get turned around. His English was not so good but we understood his English cursing when he realized his mistake. We really enjoyed the museum both he contents and the layout. Lots of cool artifacts to see from the Americas in their entirety. There were items from the Mississippian Culture all the way down to the Mapuche Culture in Patagonia. Highlights include some very large wooden statues that were used as gravestones, various Shamanistic tools and ornaments, Inca knotted quipus, and assorted animistic sculptures. After that we walked down the market street looking more at the people than the goods for sale. I noticed one vendor fold up her blanket with all of her goods in it and start walking away briskly. Soon there were more vendors doing the same so we were intrigued. Leslie noticed that they looked at their phones first so there must have been a warning sent out about impending police action. Sure enough we soon saw two police trucks pull onto the market street and start inspecting the booths. That is a first for us! We walked around a bit more but stopped at the Marco Polo Restaurant for some lunch. It is the same place we had cappuccinos to warm up on our last trip. Folks were not wearing shorts then, like they were today. The food was passible but the people watching was superb. It was only a few more blocks to get to the Central Market so off we went. So many types of fish and seafood to see. We saw several folks buying octopus and we asked a vendor if eating octopus on Immaculate Conception Day was a local tradition. He said that there were lots of people walking pilgrimages today to a local monastery. So that must mean they want octopus for dinner after their exertions.