Teeth

Teeth

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

9-Mar A day of culture

Today, I got up at a reasonable hour and introduced Alexis to an American classic- granola.  I bought the granola yesterday to go with the kilo of frutillas (strawberries) that I bought at the mercado yesterday; they would not sell me less than a kilo, but for 1$ USD I didn´t really care.

We went to the museum of pre-columbian art (el Museo del Arte Pre Columbino) where there were interesting sculptures, ceramics, and textiles from all over central and south america.

We followed that with another museum recommended by the owner of the hostel: El Museo del Memoria y Derechos Humanos.  This musuem chronicles the rise and fall of the Pinochet regime.  It seems to be focussed positively on remembering the past to prevent it from happening again- in this way, it is reminiscent of Yad Vashem the Holocaust musuem.  September 11, 1993 La Junta under the direction of Pinochet seized the control of the country.  The musuem had recordings of the last address made by President Allende which was moving and incredibly impressive knowing that he would not live another day.  There were also videos of the attack on Moneda, speeches made by Pinochet, and testimonials of the torture people endured.  1000´s of people went missing.  Others were tortured or exiled.  It is sobering to think that this happened during my lifetime and most of the people I have met here had to endure this regime.  One of the most powerful pieces in the musuem was a mural of thousands of faces of people who were murdered.

On a more uplifting note, we took the metro to Providencia barrio to eat lunch at Nicole´s (friend of Tracy Katelman) vegetarian restaurant El Huerte.

I returned to the hostel eary to pack for the early flight to Copiapó tomorrow.  I also mailed my 3rd package back tot he states to lighten my load further.  I am now down to just the basics.

Sculpture en El Museo de Arte Pre Columbino

Dinner was an empanada joint touted by the Lonely Planet for its variety of fillings.  I think it could better be characterized as Chilean pizza or calzones.

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