Afternoon at the Museum

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Having been in Quetzaltenango over three weeks without managing to get to a museum, I eventually spared an afternoon to pay a visit to the Casa de la Cultura which sits at one end of the Parque Central. This now ranks amongst my Bizarrest Museum Experiences Ever (Right up there with the Lake District Pencil Museum). The first room I entered featured details on industrial uses of various chemical elements beside a display of old money, a fossil of something called a Gliptodonte and information on how to make chewing gum.

The next room, the Natural History room, was both lined and filled with stuffed animals, with a few painted sea shells and human fetuses thrown in for good measure. Just when I thought I'd seen everything, I noticed that above my head, balanced precariously atop the ageing cases were various birds of prey, with neat red ribbons pinned at their throats. At the end of the main gallery were a few displays of insects, but the rest of it was dedicated to archeology. There were many curious looking pieces, but unfortunately the information cards were more likely to contain details of who donated the item and where they were living in Xela at the time than where the artefact was discovered or what it may have been used for. However, a few were explained, such as a collection of ceramic instruments resembling truncated recorders, which they think were filled with water before playing. The majority of the collection was of ceramics, particularly small ceramic bowls in a variety of styles, some with faces or patterns, like those that can now be bought in the market. A few of the ones in the museum had been discovered with human bones inside them.

Downstairs was a more modern section, so a 1980s computer and 1930s washing machine were arranged at the entrance to a room about the Estado de los Altos from the 19th century. This room was filled with documents, but as the information cards were as limited as the ones upstairs, all I really learned from this was that handwriting in those days was simply illegible. There were a few guns, a table, some silverware and two dresses, as well.

In summary, it made for an interesting afternoon. Strangest exhibits: 1. A plastic disnosaur (sharing a case with a selection of artistically arranged stuffed squirrels), 2. A broken mirror, and 3. A paper butterfly (pinned in amongst the real ones).

Strangest information card: "This fan that we see here belonged to a great lady who played a very interesting role related to this period of Our History. We don't give her name for very particular and special reasons."

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