Arequipa

We spent the whole days in Arequipa. There is a rivalry between Arequipa and Lima, and Arequipans consider this area almost a separate country. It’s a much nicer city than Lima, much more lively, with striking colonial architecture and beautiful setting in a valley between three snow-capped volcanoes. It is a little like Antigua in Guatemala, but much larger.
We first went to Cayma and Yanahuara, suburbs of Arequipa that used to serve as weekend retreats for the city. There are beautiful views of the entire city from there. Then we visited the house of the fundador, and then the enormous monasterio de Santa Catalina, which is a city within a city on 20,000 square meters. It was established in the 1600s as a Dominican monastery for women and has a very interesting history. The whole place is in strong, vibrant colors of terracotta, blue and yellow.

After lunch in a restaurant overlooking Plaza de Armas, we went to see the mummy of Juanita, a young Inca girl that was discovered on top of one of the volcanoes in 1995. It was frozen and very well preserved. She had been offered as a sacrifice to Inca gods. The museum has all the artifacts that were found in her grave. The tour was painfully long because the guide enthusiastically described each single artifact in minute details. It went on and on and on and we began to doubt if we’ll ever see the mummy of Juanita. The rooms were ice cold and almost dark so when we finally saw her, we were all half frozen and extremely relieved that the tour is finally over.

Tomorrow, we are supposed to get up at 4 am to be in the Colca Canyon in time to see the condors …