The National Musuem of the American Indian

On Wednesday while I was gone Gil and Ale took a bus/boat tour to some of the sites I knew we may not get back to during the rest of our trip. They got to go on one those double decker buses and "see" the sites. They even made it to Georgetown to have pizza and check out the Jazz Club. One place I really wanted to go see that they got to "see" was the Arlington Cemetary, POO! Gil really would have liked to take more time at the National Cathedral but riding on the Potomac River was a highlight.

On Thursday we all headed out to the second museum - the National Museum of the American Indian. I had three museums that were a must for me - the Air and Space, the Holocaust and the American Indian Museums. This was the second of the three.

This museum is an archetectual beauty because it was built from a true cultural perspective, by the American Indians themselves. There are no corners, only smooth curved surfaces. The shape of the building is earthy, the entrance faces east, the cafe serves native/indigenous food - frybread, pupusas, buffalo, and blue corn zucchini - YUMMY. The tour begins on the fourth floor with a wonderful video about American Indian culture, the set up of the theater was a circle with a screen in the middle and using the ceiling dome for video too made the space very calming and peaceful. I am purposefully using the American Indian term because one of the health care providers during my trip to Boston stated that caucasians were marking that they were Native Amercian as an ethnicity. I don't think so, but an example of how language evolves.

The collection was fabulous - one of the first exhibits was "Our Peoples" which chronicled the last 500 years of the American Indian history. I found so many things that make me "native" - our history of the conquest, including Gil's paisano Hernan Cortes and the genocide by disease and weaponry of so many native people. There was even a reference to Ocotlan - although maybe not the one in Jalisco but other Mexica natives were highlighted in this exhibit.

The "Our Universes" was another beautiful exhibit depicting the indigenous viewpoints on cosmology, the birth of the people, the perpective of the universe and the spiritual relationship between people and the natural world. I was so impressed by a common understanding that the land is not property to be bought, sold or possessed, but to be cared for and respected.

We checked out two other museums, the Freer and Sackler as well as the original Smithsonian Castle!! Beautiful! Although I got the message from Ale, that if he saw another pot, he was going to puke. He gets kinds of bored of the same thing - pots, vases, containers, even though ancient just not interesting to him.

Now trying to find a place for dinner - we walked down by the White House and it started to rain, of course we had no umbrella. Then we walked down the street, then right by the Ford's Theater. History trivia: What happened here????? Who was killed at the Ford's Theater other none other than Abraham Lincoln, the 16th President of the USA! So of course we had to eat at an all American restaurant - another trivia question? Not not Denny's but the good ol Hard Rock Cafe! Had a margarita - walked back to the hotel and sat in the lounge and listened to some musica. Viola!! and that was Day 4.