In the Amazon jungles
The last day of our vacation was in Lima. It was morning when we got there. This time, we had no bad experience leaving the airport (see the post Tumbes).
At first, we tried to do usual sightseeing but the polluted air of the Peruvian capital made it difficult to enjoy. We decided on an indoor activity and went to the Museum of Inca Gold and Weapons of the World. This museum is located far from the city center on a regular shopping street. It opened in the 1960s when Miguel Mujica Gallo donated his private collection to the state.
We browsed through the exhibits until our brains became saturated with images of the artifacts made of solid gold. At that time, we did not know that most of the items were imitations. We genially admired everything what we saw in the museum.
In the early 2000s, accusations arose that a vast majority of gold pieces in the museum were false. The BBC reported that “The Consumer Defense Institute has examined 4,257 artifacts from the Peruvian Museum of Gold and concluded they were ‘false without a shadow of a doubt’. (Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gold_Museum_of_Peru_and_Arms_of_the_World)
The now notorious Museo de Oro del Perú, a private museum, was a Lima must-see until 2001, when a study revealed that 85% of the museum’s metallurgical pieces were fakes. It reopened with an assurance that works on display are bona fide, though descriptions classify certain pieces as ‘reproductions.’ (Source: https://www.lonelyplanet.com/peru/lima/attractions/museo-de-oro-del-peru/a/poi-sig/416098/363412)
It was late when we got out of the museum and the shops around it were closed. A solitary souvenir seller stood on the dark street hoping to make a little more money that day. We used our last nuevos soles to buy a few things from him bargaining hard and keeping just enough cash to get to the airport by public transport.
The 3-week trip to Ecuador and Peru was over.