Lima (Ally)

The night before we left Pisco we went to a fish resturant and had cold seafood with avocado. It was very tasty but G ended up being really sick on it. So he spent two days in Lima catching up on reading. We did get to see Mission Impossible 3 though which had us glued to our seats.

We stayed in Miraflores section of Lima and it was very pretty. With a park where people sold crafts and art. Some water colours caught our eye, lovely bright Peruvian ladies with bunches of flowers but we decided to think about it. Perhaps they will still be there when we go back in June.

Gold Museum

As G was sick I took myself off to see the gold museum. It was filled with incredible things. What struck me first were the death masks which they created out of a single sheet of gold to place over the mummies heads. No one really knows why.


I was unable to take photos in the museum. All photos in this post were sourced here.

They also created very intricate knives which were probably used in ceramonies.

Before the Spanish arried, the Incas wore large disc earings in the lobes of their ears. They ranged from thin to really thick and heavy ones. All were beautifully worked. Some of the best ones had mosaic patterns and pictures in the center. But just looking at them made my ears ache!!!


On display were some skulls with holes in them. I thought it must have been some surgical practice but was very surprised when I listened to my tape that these were the rewards of war. The winner would lash the skull to their belt as a trophy. It made me very glad that I did not live in those times.

A particluar highlight for me was seeing the ponchos and head dresses. They had a pouncho inlaid with feathers that was 1900 years old. And the feathers still kept their colour. Other ponchos had little platelets of shell or gold leaf decorating them. The head dresses were mainly made from feather fibres allowing them to make the most intricate of patterns like squares and colourful birds. All painstakingly laid, fibre by fibre.



The Inca´s valued shells and feathers far more than gold as gold was easy for them to get. Peru is still the 3rd largest gold exporter in the world. This is why the Spanish were able to "steal" so much gold from the Incas. All in all a very pleasing and informative exhibition that will stay with me for a long time.