Been offline for a few days now and the internet hasn't been too reliable which is a bit frustrating. However, I am still of the opinion that it is quite impressive that it works at all so can't complain too much - cue groans from geeks around the world! Either way, bit of catching up to do so here we go...
After my good night of sleep on the bus from Cusco to Arequipa we got to our hostal at about 6.30am Saturday and promptly went to sleep until lunchtime. Lazy is one word, totally exhausted after the trekking/partying/travelling my preferred explanation - adrenaline levels had certainly dipped by this point. When we had woken up slightly, we wandered into the city which has a particuarly nice Plaza de Armas (main square, common characteristic of all towns and cities here) with white buildings made from the local volcanic rock sillar, a very different type of stone than we had seen elsewhere in Peru. The city is surrounded by the volcano El Misti as well as some other stunning mountains.Quite a backdrop.We also arranged our Colca Canyon tour for Monday and Tuesday, ate some dinner and drank some beer - so all in all not the most productive of days but a very welcome laid back one. We are on holiday after all!
We were much more with it on Sunday and so set off for some proper sightseeing. First of all we went to the Museo Santuarios Andinos which is home to Juanita the Ice Princess. She was an Inca girl sacrificed over 500 years ago and found on the top of nearby Mount Ampato about 10 years ago incredibly well preserved by the ice. The Incas believed that the mountains were Gods so they tried to appease them by sacrifices. Pretty grim stuff, but fascinating to see the near perfectly intact girl, the best preserved example of several such sacrifices that have been found. It was also a bit spooky I have to say, but altogether worse for the specially chosen Juanita.
Later on we went to see the Santa Catalina monastery. It is a convent founded in 1580 where daughters of rich families lived a luxurious lifestyle complete with servants. It was really interesting to gain an insight into how they lived in what can only be described as a town within a town. They certainly didn't take a vow of poverty! We rounded the day off with a beer in a cafe overlooking the cathedral in the Plaza de Armas as the sun set. It was one of those times when the view was worth the extra few sols, especially as the beers still came out as under a pound each!
Over to Andrew for more about the Colca Canyon...
Wednesday, September 27, 2006
Arequipa
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2 comments:
Oh and one of the things I found fascinating about the Ice Princess is that she was buried at 6,800m (not sure exactly what height), which was aparently higher than anyone had gone to in the Alps until 100 years ago.
And the Incans did it in sandals, that's what you call tough!
Andrew
Another comedy fact about the ice princess is that she did a world tour a few years back (in a fridge I'd imagine)and Bill Clinton famously said that if he was a single man he'd take her out as she was a bit of a looker. Fairly sure it was the same mummy you saw but then again Clinton was not exactly choosy!!
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