Arequipa, Peru

Aug 5-8

Arequipa is Peru's second largest city, after Lima.

We arrived late in the afternoon and set up camp. Laura (our tour leader) showed us around town before taking us to a restaurant to sample some Peruvian food! By sharing with a few others, I managed to try many new things. Rocoto Relleno: a capsicum stuffed with veggies- seems to be very common over here! Alpaca: delicious, a lot like lamb. Guinea pig: more fat than meat, the actual meat was okay (a bit like chicken I guess) but there really wasn't much meat to it...it also still had hairs attached, yuck! 

The next day we set off to discover the city by daylight. It is quite pretty; many of the buildings are made with a white volcanic rock. We went to the Santa Catalina Monestary which is so huge that it is called a 'city within a city.' Long ago it was occupied by nuns, who were not allowed any contact with the outside world. The external parts were quite pretty, lots of bright colours. 

However, the living quarters were very dark and depressing.  

We were able to climb up one of the buildings are get a decent view of the snow-capped volcanoes surrounding Arequipa. 

After having lunch in the park, we roamed the markets (beautifully colourful!) and had a drink at a rooftop terrace overlooking the main square. 

On our way back to the campsite we stumbled across a huge parade. I have no idea what they were celebrating but the costumes were bright, the music was cheery and the dancing was very energetic!

My second day in Arequipa was spent mostly walking around to admire the city. Friends had recommended I visit the Yanahuara area to check out the nice view of the mountains. The area was beautiful, not only the view but also a really nice church. 

By sheer luck there was a little festival on that day. There was a stage set up with a few speakers (in Spanish...no idea what they were talking about) and little market stalls with a variety of fresh food and local handicrafts. I sampled just about everything and bought some delicious truffles. 

After roaming around the city most of the afternoon, I ended up at Museo Santuarios Antiguos; the home of Juanita the ice princess. The story goes that the Incas believed that the mountains were gods, and so when volcanoes erupted they took this as a sign that the gods were angry. So they sacrificed young women and children to appease the gods. More than 500 years ago Juanita was sacrificed, after days of walking from Cuzco to one of the mountains nearby Arequipa. Up at 20,000ft she was so well frozen that when her body was discovered 20 years ago, it was in excellent condition. She is one of the most well preserved frozen bodies in the world. She still has skin, muscles, organs and even frozen blood. Quite a sight... No pictures allowed though. Just one borrowed from google!