Arequipa

Arequipa:

Hank and I arrived in Arequipa, Peru's third largest city exhausted. It seems that the constant hustle and bus sleeping has caught up with us. We took the three days in this city a little more leisurely than we have been going. However, the sights were totally amazing. We started with a tour of Monasterio Santa Catalina, a monastery that was opened to the public in 1970 after 371 years of being closed to the outside world. This particular monastery became famous due the lavish lifestyle these nuns lived. The women were chosen from only the richest families in Spain and were required to bring a dowry so they could continue their wealthy lifestyles. The remains of this wealth were everywhere from furniture, linens, pottery and so forth. There were also three hearts and a tongue jarred and on display from priests that wanted to remain close to important figures in this monastery. Three of the pictures shown are from this tour, which took two and a half hours to walk through this maze. One picture is from a street in the monastery, another of their kitchens with their oven (which every cell had it's own) and the last is of pottery in which the nuns had flowing water to wash their linens in. Mind you this monastery was built in 1580.

We then went to a market on the hunt to find llama fetuses which are believed to bring great luck to whomever buries it beneath the corner of their house. However, no such luck. We did find live frogs that would be blended at request that were believed to have health benefits. (We passed on trying this delicacy!) However, this market was neat and the picture of cheese shows the brilliance of the cheese selection. Bread and cheese for dinner was a real treat!

We also checked out a museum that holds Juanita the Ice Princess, a frozen Inca maiden. Check out the national Geographic video on her if you can! She was found in 1995 at the top of Amapato (20,629 feet!) during a volcanic eruption that thawed the ice covering her since 1400-1450! She was sacrificed by the Incas as a way to appease the Gods who were angry with the Inca and therefore made the volcano erupt. She walked from Cuzco (I don't know how many miles but it's a six hour bus ride), then was drugged and fell into a deep sleep. The elders of her tribe then wrapped her in the finest blankets and hit her on the head which ultimately killed her. It was a bit weird standing next to her and staring at this child (12 to 13 years old) who was frozen in the fetal position, with very intact teeth, face structure and eye sockets. Even 600 years later, you can see the Inca features in her face. Not to mention the hole from the blow to her head. Pictures were not allowed.

Lastly, Hank took a picture of the street at night. It was from a rooftop balcony where we had drinks with Olaf, our Luxenburg friend who we met in Huanchaco, Sarah a German Lady, Francios the Frenchman and two lovely local girls. The conversation between this group was most interesting. We talked about traveling extensively as well as comparing our cultures. It was a really fun night!

We head to Puno next to check out Lake Titicaca. 12,500 feet here we come!

As always, thanks for the messages. We have really enjoyed hearing from you all and appreciate the thoughts as we miss you all terribly!

xoxo, H&D