Nevertheless, I felt badly about it. They were really nice people, and I was disappointed not to be able to see the museum at all. (Occupational hazard.) We had a wonderful express meeting about the possibility of borrowing several items from the museum for our show, all very positive. But kiss kiss hug hug and we were back in the car.
Our next two meetings were at the Ministry of Culture. The Vice Minister was a wonderful man, very kind and open. They were supportive of all of our efforts, from loans to on-site production work. We learned the proper course of action for each and confirmed the need to get paperwork in motion now. We also discussed the parameters for several development events. It was a very positive meeting.
The director of museums for Peru joined us, and then met with us after. She was lovely, and not only sent us away with lots of amazing books and resources for the project, she also gave us copies of the paperwork and agreements we needed to get in place. Further, she likely will be our contact for at least some of these, which, given the vagaries of government bureaucracies, will be immensely helpful.
We then got a private tour of their Inka Road exhibit. Woohoo!
Qhapaq Ñan is the Quechua for the Inka Road.
They've got a mini mock rope suspension bridge in the entry.
And photos of the community rebuilding the real rope suspension bridge. We want to do one at our museum too. We had permission to explore the possibility; we were then told no; now there might again be a glimmer of hope..... How cool would it be?!?
These are truly amazing. They are made of grass. Yes, grass. But when braided and twisted together, and the ropes twisted into cables, and the cables into bigger cables, they are incredibly strong. An engineer from MIT with whom we are working has estimated that these bridges could easily hold two tons! Still, not the job for me.
They had some fabulous little illustrated figures like these and some wonderful diagrams of the different bridge types and town structures that were playful and very accessible. Our designer really likes them too. As I told her, I think the Ministry would be open to us using them.
The cases were highly reflective, as you can see. Anything I tried with filters and angles and flash didn't help. This is one of the incredible tunics that survives.
And this is a quipu, a series of knotted strings that the Inka used to convey messages between disparate points of the Empire. Runners called chaskis often carried them. A bit of a mnemonic device, in all likelihood, but no one is yet sure how to decode them.
Our next confirmed meeting was at 2:00p at the U.S. Embassy. We headed over there and had lunch at a nice Italian place across the street. We had nearly 1.5 hours, so it was very leisurely. (The Ministry was pretty close to the Embassy. Thankfully!)
But, me being me, it was not without adventure. I ordered tea after we'd had our fill of fish and vegetables and interesting desserts (today: chirimoya (custard apple) with chocolate). It came in this fascinating contraption, and I knew I needed to let it steep. That was fine -- the problem came with trying to pour it. Well, I figured it out, but in the process, released the tea all over my hand, bringing up a second degree burn almost immediately on my palm just under the finger. Not good, although I somehow missed my clothes and our files with the spill. So I went to ask the waiter for some ice. Thankfully they had some. And then he brought me some kind of cream. And then more ice. And then apologies. I think he felt worse than I did! But yes, I showed up at the U.S. Embassy with a bag of ice on my hand, which they promptly refilled for me. Un tontería / a silliness. Only me.
The U.S. Embassy in Lima. This was actually the first U.S. Embassy I'd ever visited. With my official passport, I walked through all the external security, but then had to go through several log-ins and checks inside.
The ladies in our meeting were fabulous. We'd had some email exchanges prior, and R of course knew them all already. They were incredibly helpful in thinking through some of the components of the project and how we should position them and when, particularly development work and the international loans. If we get the funding to go back next year to do the 3-D production, they are going to be superb partners in building interest and doing some outreach.
Next up, finally confirmed for 5p, was PromPerú, the outreach arm of the Ministry of Tourism. This was largely a development meeting focused on events, production, and promoting Peru. Again, lots of goodwill and possibilities.
Then, back to the hotel for the evening and repacking. (I must say that big lunches and the altitude of the Andes means that I almost never eat dinner there. It's great.) I had thought I would be back down to one bag, because all the activity center items were staying in Lima with R. He was coming back to Lima after Ecuador, so rather than drag them all over another country, he offered to bring them back with him. This also allowed me to have room for the shopping in Ecuador, which was getting approved. But I was wrong -- all the books from Cusco and from the Ministry were heavy and I had to use the second bag to handle them.
The next morning was a good one: leaving the hotel, the last morning of driving in Lima, and off to Ecuador. I was a happy girl. Good thing we left extra early, because it took us two hours to drive to the airport, even though we thought most of the rush hour traffic would be gone already. We then spent more than an hour returning the car and waiting in lines. So we had less than an hour until our flight. Which we made up for in Quito, with an almost 3 hour layover. But, the new airport is very clean and bright, with lots of windows.
And you can watch the planes! I was impressed by the new airport. Unfortunately, it's no longer convenient to Quito, which we learned later in the week.
This day was Mom's birthday, so I tried calling her from the airport, but she wasn't home. Then our flight was delayed. But eventually we landed in Cuenca, which I hadn't seen in five years. An archaeologist friend of R's, who was to be our guide the next few days, met us at the airport and brought us to the hotel. I think he drove the biggest and oldest pickup truck I'd ever seen. But he seemed wonderfully kind. And the hotel was very nice. My best friend in Ecuador is from Cuenca and he had recommended this place to us. Clean, friendly, convenient. They had a laundry next door and took care of it all for me while we were out working. Breakfast was included, and not only was a real breakfast, but had lots of other items that could be ordered for a nominal rate. And it was incredibly cheap in comparison.
My room. Pretty, isn't it? Good wifi. Very clean and comfortable. It just felt so much better!
We were on the second floor. This is the mezzanine -- I'm standing outside my door. It's an old mansion that's been converted.
One of the murals on the wall.
The mural for my room. I think there was symbolism here for the trip, since I had the broken bridge. But was it the bridge or the broken? By the way, my hand was completely fine that morning. Two hours of ice and whatever that cream was worked like Hermione's wand.
I never did reach Mom, but at least left a Happy Birthday message for her. I think the archaeologists went out for a drink, but I dealt with work things for a while then crashed. Fighting off whatever sinus issue I was fighting? Being a sea-level girl at altitude? Just not having the wisdom and experience they have? Who knows. But I look forward to being able to do things like that when I'm their age.
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