Peru

"Have a little fun for a change!"  With these words from my friend I was left to wonder what kind of fun!  What I think is fun, others find mind numbingly boring.  And really, what fun is there around here?  But, my friend has been proven to be wise, often in advance of when that advice was needed.  So, wise words, best heeded.  I guess.

But, there is one thing I have not done, have promised I would do in October but just never had the money to - the Peruvian Exhibit at the Seattle Art Museum.  So, I went.

I did not know that as a museum member, I get into the exhibit for free, so cool start for an evening!

The exhibit was well worth pretty much any price.  The artifacts covered roughly 3,000 years of Peruvian history.  Artifacts in gold, silver, copper, shell, wood, ceramics, terracotta, exotic feathers, wool, cotton weavings, etc.  The pre-Inca exhibit was incredible for all of the gold and silver and the bits of culture they have discovered.  They worshipped the sun and moon.  The sun was gold, the moon silver and it seems an awful lot of people lost their heads in their ceremonies.

One group of 30 something guys was stuck on the ritualistic sex artifacts.  Really?  I might expect that of junior high schoolers!  So they made it easy to avoid that section.

The Inca presentation was devoid of metallics - thank you Pizarro!  But the ceramics were outstanding!

Then the Spanish era, heavy with its ornate forms of pseudo-Christianity.  Again outstanding at the work the natives produced for a pagan god the Spanish had beaten into them.

The post colonial exhibit was sort of a yawner.  Nowhere near the workmanship levels their ancestors had produced in the past.  I would have been embarrassed to have any of my work shown next to the treasures of this exhibit - and yes, I can do much better than 80% of those modern pieces!  (so why don't you!?!?!?  Hint, I am not an Inca descendent, lol ...)

It took me exactly one hour to do it all, the museum recommends 20 minutes!  It closes on the 5th so if you are in the Seattle area - DO IT!!!!!

Afterwards, i took myself downstairs to the gift shop and bought the book of the exhibition, then off to dinner at the SAM Taste (bistro?).

Their menu had been modified to provide Peruvian experiences and I did order and eat one of everything Peruvian!  It was outstanding ... simply outstanding!

So my dear friend, your suggestion was right on the money as usual.

Thank you.

:)