Ricardo Rojas House Museum.

 (Originally published on 2007)

Back in mid-January 2007, I went to visit and get to know the Ricardo Rojas House Museum. It was a cut-short, unfortunate visit; I did not receive a warm welcome. Here is the chronicle of that day, which turned out to be a waste of time.

I would have liked to write about the visit to the museum—what I could have seen, learned, what might have surprised me, post some photos, everything I like to do when I visit a place like that. But given what happened, it is not possible, which is a shame.

I arrived at the museum; it was open. There were two elderly women looking at a bulletin board and a third woman who walked in and stood looking at the house's courtyard. Between the entrance and the courtyard, at a small table with brochures (possibly for museum visitors), an older man sitting with a book—unfriendly, unkind, serious, almost stubborn, I would say—attended to me. I greeted him and asked, "How much is the admission fee to the museum?" He replied—I no longer remember how much, I think it was one peso—and then told me that he didn't have any guides available. I asked if I could go in on my own, and he said no. Fair enough. I prepared to leave, but before departing, I asked him, "When are guides available?" and he told me after two in the afternoon.

And I say, and I ask myself: why do they spread all over the internet that the museum is open from 10:00 a.m.? I have visited several websites, as I always do, and on all of them, it clearly states that the museum is open from 10:00 a.m. (Currently from 11:00 a.m.).

And I also wonder: why keep it open when it is actually closed? Wouldn't it be better to post the correct visiting hours on the internet? Instead of paying an individual to practice a sedentary lifestyle sitting at a small table at the museum entrance for four useless hours, wouldn't it be better to put a sign on the door? Or just keep the door closed?

Perhaps there are other activities going on, but even if that were the case, the lack of consideration for those who take the time to visit the museum when it is supposedly open—when in reality it cannot be visited—is a sign of disrespect. Comparing the service of the man sitting there with that of other museums I have visited, he was poorly dressed, had an unpleasant presence, and wasn't even polite in his answers.

In short, if I had any expectations of visiting this museum that I had passed by so many times, they all went out the window due to the poor customer service and lack of consideration—a terrible example.

I hope not to return for a long time, especially when there are so many good and excellent museums to visit.