Day 51 - 52 - Arequipa ( the city of Juanita)

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It was late afternoon, when we finally reached Arequipa.  At 2400m ASL, it is surrounded by deserts, and 3 Volcanoes, Misti, Chachani and Pikchu Pikchu, one is semi-active.  More reading about Arequipa or here.

Our unmistakable yellow Truck stood inside the wall of an 80 years old mansion, somewhat antique-ish internally decorated, and a room with a sunny balcony with double leafed doors for me.

The  next morning, after organising the most urgent task, that is, a week's worth of laundries required after the grueling Inca Trail trek and the Cocla Canyon stay, I set out for a walk around the town.

The first stop was the museum where Juantia is kept. Juanita is one of Worlds best preserved mummies and is a major attraction here. It so happened that it was the International Day for Museums, and so, free entry for all. 

Juanita was probably an orphan girl of about 12 years old, she was sacrified in a ritual high up on the Volcano Mt  Ampato, about 550 years ago.  More info here about the discovery of Juanita and the interpretations of the discovery.

Unfortunately, no camera were allowed in the museum, but here are some of the postcards of her and the artifacts found near her. She is kept in refrigerated glass chamber, in a foetal position.

Further walk took me to the Plaza de Armas, the main square of the city.  

 

After some waiting at the advertised time for a free walking tour at the square, then I was told that the tour would only start half an hour later. 3 different flyers I found, they all advertised a different slightly different time !!

Forty minutes later, we ( I together with an American couple ) were met by  two students of tourism studies from the local university. Between them, they took us around the town, including the Juanita museum, and gave us a very detailed explanation of some of the attractions and histories.

We were introduced to a chocolate cafe, which also sells chocolate sweets of many kinds of their own makes.  But no "encouraged" purchases were even suggested.

A funny thing happened, when I walked into a restaurant for lunch, it was quite empty with only one customer, the owner said something to me, which I had no way of understanding, and sat me down.  And then he hurried out. I waited for about 10 minutes, he still did not return to take my order, then one small girl came to tell me something, which I still could not understand.  Then the only other customer talked to me in English, to say that they ran out of gas.......!  So it appears that the owner ran out to get some gas, but it had taken much longer than he expected.

I went a block down the street, and saw a small table of people gathered in a shop eating what looked like rice wrapped in bamboo leaves.  It looked interesting, and I was hungry after all that walk.  They turned out to be quite tasty, but it was not rice, possibly some starchy plant, mixed with beans.

Then it was the Monastyserio de Santa Catalina, a monastery for nuns (more info here )

In the Monastery, which was found in 1579, is still a working one, except that the number of nuns or novice-nuns ( wanna be nuns ) had diminished significantly from the days, when it was an honour for any family to have either a monk or a nun.  

Normally, a family would send their 2^nd daughter to learn to become one, ie a novice.

With a guide in a small group of 3, we were able to see how they lived, the isolation etc., they were not allowed out, and any contact with the outside, would be through a grill like window, much like a prison wall.

There is also a hierarchy, one that follow the religious line, however, also another one that also follows the wealth of the outside family, where richer ones had more facilities etc.  They would also organise gatherings, visiting each others within the compound.  What an existence.

After going back to the main square, it was late afternoon, and I was able to join the last English speaking group to be guided through the museum of the Cathedral, other than the rooftop, we were not allowed to take any pictures.

At night, in the main square, there were many people sitting in front of the Cathedral burning candles, and there quite a number of polices...that seems to be the case for a couple of night that I happen to pass by.  No idea why?

In our hotel’s camping ground, three 4x4 campers had just arrived. Over dinner, I talked to a lady from Italy, was was driving this camper tray sitting on a 79 series Landcruiser tray, with a fairly self sufficient setup. 

An Italian lady drove this camper twice through Africa, and now Latin America

I really admire her travels, having done Africa twice from Europe, and is now on a long trip through South Africa, all in this truck.   What a lady !

We stayed on for an additional day in Arequipa, instead of sitting on some small beach on the Pacific coast, which was on our itinerary supposedly for two days, this turned out to be a good decision.

Next Post:  Nasca Lines ( Chariots of the God ? )

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