Popayan day five - day at museums

Stiff beds make unwelcome travel companions.  By this point in the trip I felt there was nothing left to do, and the Hotel La Plazuela was starting to feel less charming by the day.  Not only did the bed feel stiffer than ever, but the early sunrise and stream of traffic noises coming into my second-floor room were affecting my sleep.  I was ready to move on to Bogota, but financially needed to stay in Popayan.  I decided to make the most of the day.

I first went to the Guillermo Leon Valencia museum where I learned about the man who was President from 1962-1966.  A short walk brought me to the Museo Negret.  Edgar Negret is 92 year old sculptor well known in Colombian art circles.  I was told the museum was closed.  I tried my powers of persuasion because I had nothing else to do and after a couple of minutes was handed an invitation and told to return at 7pm in better clothes.  Next was the Museum of Natural History.  There I saw a place that had kept a taxidermist busy for some time.  There were all sorts of collections of animals and rocks.  Colombia counts the second highest number of species in the world after Brazil.  I concluded the day at the Catholic Archdiocese Museum, where more than anything I felt what it was like to see the same art that people saw 200 years ago.  They were the only place that had an admission charge, but waived it since the guide never showed up and I was forced to walk it alone.

At night I put on a shirt and tie and went to the Museo Negret.  There was a recognition that night that the museum was one site of 12 that was part of a national focus on the arts.  I chatted brifely with a couple of people but was mostly ignored.  This musuem was interesting for about 10 minutes.  The crowd was the same sort of artsy crowd you could find in any city of the world.  I left after the presentation and went for some good eats before trying to turn in early and get ready for my early flight to Bogota.

At this point in the trip I felt that a trip to Popayan proper was really only worth one or two days.  In hindsight I would have shortened my trip by a day or spent another day in the capital.