WEATHER: A beautiful and sunny 20C
HIGHTLIGHT OF THE DAY: Getting back into the swing of sightseeing
BUYS OF THE DAY: Shopaholic again today – making up for lost time
WORD OF THE DAY: Pal – my new word for friends
We had a free day today to have a look around the beautiful city of Arequipa. We decided to have a bit of a sleep in and had set the alarm for 8.15am, but those damn internal alarm clocks got both Kate and I up at 7am. Well not one to waste Wi-Fi time, I got some bills paid and some emails sent off and again trying to load pictures to damn Facebook.
We were on our way at 9am, dropping out laundry off on our way out. It was only 2.50AUD a kilo, so you would be crazy not to get something washed and it was due back at 8pm tonight. To think I paid $66 dollars a few weeks ago on the MS Expedition. Oh well some you win and some you don’t. Our first stop being breakfast. We walked into town and found a café that faced onto the Plaza and ordered an English breakfast and watched the Monday morning bustle outside. My breakfast included tea, juice, 2 rolls, 2 sausages, tomato and an egg all for the grand price of $6AUD. WOW!!!
Arequipa is located in the southwestern part of the country and is the second biggest city of Peru, with a population of almost one million. It is the largest city in the Peruvian Andes. The city sits at an altitude of 2,335 meters above sea level in a mountainous desert in the western Andes, at the foot of El Misti volcano. El Misti is currently inactive, but had strong eruptions between the years 1438 and 1471. It is located between two small volcanoes, Chachani and Picchu Picchu. Both names come from the Quechua language from the Inca Empire. Arequipa has more than 80 volcanoes nearby, most of which can be found in the Valley of the Volcanoes. Unfortunately the city was built on a very earthquake prone area, and was completely destroyed by earthquakes and volcanic eruptions during the 17th century.
The modern city of Arequipa was founded on 15 August 1540 by Garci Manuel de Carbajal, an emissary of the conqueror Francisco Pizarro. A year later King Charles V of Spain gave it the rank of city and the coat of arms that it still bears.
Its colonial buildings were erected in sillar (pearl colored volcanic rock) which was used abundantly throughout the city, giving it the nickname of "The White City". The historic center was named a World Heritage site by UNESCO in December 2000 due to its architecture and historical integrity.
Our first stop of the morning was The Basilica Cathedral of Arequipa which is located in the "Plaza de Armas". It is the most important Catholic church of the city and also of the larger Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Arequipa since it is the base of the Archbishop and the Metropolitan Council. The cathedral is also considered one of Peru's most unusual and famous colonial cathedrals since the Spanish conquest. We had to pay 10SOL (3AUD) to enter the massive church and we were told that we also had to have a guide to be able to go in, which for 15SOL (5AUD) was totally worth it and was paid quite happily. The main feature of the church was the massive organ they had inside. It is the largest in Peru with over 1000 pipes and is still used weekly. It is now electronically run, but back in the day it would take 4 people for it to play a tune, it really was beautiful. They also had a nativity scene set up near the entrance. I still find it quite difficult to comprehend that it is Christmas in less than 3 weeks!!!
We got to see four rooms that hold some pretty serious and valuable religious artifacts before heading to the roof top for the view over the square, the bell towers and on the opposite side the volcanoes of Misti and Chachani. It was certainly worth the visit.
Next on today’s itinerary was Santa Catalina. But we had to pass some souvenir shops before getting there. With warning bells ringing and cash burning a hole in my pocket we stopped at a few on the way. The first stop I found my magnets and as I was paying they had all these little purses all embroidered of different sizes, so I bought up a few of them, for gifts and of course for myself. They are beautiful. Next door had pretty much same of the same but I saw a bag that was just beautiful and had to have, so I was paying for that and saw some cute little purses for my god-daughters, so I bought two of them, and then as I was waiting for my change I saw a hand painted board game pretty much the same as Trouble but the pieces were hand painted of condors, lama’s etc…… It was pretty cool and for 6AUD how could you say no. I was about to pay and then I asked if they had stamps, which there was a yes, so I just added that to my bill and quickly paid before something else jumped out at me and I had to buy it. Now I don’t think I have mentioned that Kate LOVES my ring that I bought in Morocco. LOVES it. So when we get a chance we are now looking for something similar so that she won’t keep trying to steal, beg and borrow my one. So on our way out we looked in the same shops window and Kate had seen some bangles. Luckily she liked one and I liked the other, so back into the same shop we went and we tried them on. They must love it when Gringos are in town. Anyway I LOVED my bangle and bought it with some birthday money that my best friend had deposited into my account from my god-daughters. I wanted to get jewellery with it, so she will be happy I have spent it wisely so far. Shellbells’ suggestion was to buy 37 jam donuts (a shot of ……. And Baileys). I might wait for a night out and shout the group one. Yeah that’s a great idea!!!!
So we finally made it to the Monastery of Saint Catherine or also known as Santa Catalina. It is a monastery of nuns of the Dominican Second Order. It was built in 1580 and was enlarged in the 17th century. The over 20,000-square-meter monastery was built predominantly in the Mudéjar style, and is characterized by its vividly painted walls of red and blue. There are approximately 20 nuns currently living in the northern corner of the complex; the rest of the monastery is open to the public.
The foundress of the monastery was a rich widow, Maria de Guzman. The tradition of the time indicated that the second son or daughter of a family would enter a life of service in the Church, and the monastery accepted only women from upper class Spanish families. Each nun there had between one and four servants or slaves, and the nuns invited musicians to perform in the monastery, gave parties and generally lived a lavish lifestyle. Each family paid a dowry at their daughter's admission to the monastery. The dowry expected of a woman who wished to enter as a choir nun--indicated by wearing a black veil--and who thereby accepted the duty of the daily recitation of the Divine Office, was 2,400 silver coins, equivalent to about $150,000 (U.S.) today. The nuns were also required to bring 25 listed items, including a statue, a painting, a lamp and clothes. The wealthiest nuns may have brought fine English china and silk curtains and rugs. Although it was possible for poorer nuns to enter the convent without paying a dowry, it can be seen from the cells that most of the nuns were very wealthy.
In 1871 Sister Josefa Cadena, O.P., a strict Dominican nun, was sent by Pope Pius IX to reform the monastery. She sent the rich dowries back to Europe, and freed all the servants and slaves, giving them the choice of either remaining as nuns or leaving. In addition to the stories of outrageous wealth, there are tales of nuns becoming pregnant, and amazingly of the skeleton of a baby being discovered encased in a wall. This, in fact, did not happen in Santa Catalina, and there are rumors of the same story in the nearby Santa Rosa monastery, as well.
At its height, the monastery housed approximately 450 people (about a third of them nuns and the rest servants) in a cloistered community. In the 1960s, it was struck twice by earthquakes, severely damaging the structures, and forcing the nuns to build new accommodation next door. It was then restored and opened to the public. This also helped pay for the installation of electricity and running water, as required by law. We had paid an additional 6AUD to have a guide with us for the 1.5 hours we were inside the monastery which was also like a mini walled city. The vivid colours of the red and blue walls were beautiful and they get a new lick of paint each year after the rainy season, so they had only just been repainted.
It was 1pm and time for lunch. We picked a restaurant on the 4th level of one of the buildings that overlooks the plaza. It was such a nice day, the sun was out and we didn’t need to wear any jackets or fleeces even at 2300m. It was a pretty big lunch, so we have decided to have something smaller tonight and will probably just buy something from the supermarket when we stop there on the way home.
Our last stop for the day, as it was now 3.30pm was Juanita also known as the Ice Princess. Momia Juanita (Spanish for "Mummy Juanita"), also known as the Inca Ice Maiden, is the well-preserved frozen body of an Incan girl who was killed as an offering to the Inca gods sometime between 1450 and 1480, at approximately 11–15 years old. She was discovered on Mount Ampato (part of the Andes cordillera) in southern Peru in 1995 by anthropologist Johan Reinhard and his Peruvian climbing partner, Miguel Zárate. "Juanita" named so as it is the female version of the explorer Johan. She has been on display in Catholic University's Museum of Andean Sanctuaries in Arequipa almost continuously since 1996, and was displayed on a tour of Japan in 1999.
The body caused a sensation in the scientific world due to its well-preserved condition. In 1995, Time magazine chose it as one of the world's top ten discoveries. Between May and June 1996, it was exhibited in the headquarters of National Geographic Society in Washington D.C., in a specially acclimatized conservation display unit. In its June 1996, issue, National Geographic included an article dedicated to the discovery of Juanita. In September 1995, during an ascent of Mt. Ampato (20,700 ft), Reinhard and Zárate found a bundle inside the crater that had fallen from an Inca site on the summit. To their astonishment, the bundle turned out to contain the frozen body of a young girl. They also found many items that had been left as offerings to the Inca gods strewn about the mountain slope down which the body had fallen. These included statues and food items. A couple of days later, the body and the items were transported to Arequipa, where the body was initially kept in a special refrigerator at the Catholic University.
Two more ice mummies, a young girl and a boy, were discovered in an archaeological expedition led by Dr. Reinhard the following year. Owing to melting caused by volcanic ash from the nearby erupting volcano of Sabancaya, most of the Inca burial site had collapsed down into a gully that led into the crater. As Reinhard and Zárate struggled to lift the heavy bundle containing Juanita's body on Ampato's summit, they realized that her body mass had probably been increased by freezing of the flesh. When initially weighed in Arequipa, the bundle containing "Juanita" weighed over 90 pounds. Their realization turned out to be correct; Juanita is almost entirely frozen, making her a substantial scientific find. Unlike other high-altitude Inca mummies, Juanita was frozen by ice and thus her remains and garments were not desiccated like that of mummies found in other parts of the world; technically she is thus not a mummy, though the term is often used to describe her. Her skin, organs, tissues, blood, hair, stomach contents and garments are extremely well-preserved, offering scientists a rare glimpse into Inca culture during the reign of the Sapa Inca Pachacuti.
Analysis of her stomach contents revealed that she ate a meal of vegetables 6–8 hours before her death
Mummy Juanita was a human sacrifice in the Inca capa cocha. Radiologist Elliot Fishman concluded that she was killed by blunt trauma to the head. He observed that her cracked right eye socket and the two-inch fracture in her skull are injuries "typical of someone who has been hit by a baseball bat.” The blow caused a massive hemorrhage, filling her skull with blood and pushing her brain to one side. A fascinating story and we got to see a 20 minute film on the expedition and the conditions that the Inca’s had to walk to get Juanita to the sacrificial site. It truly is amazing what this civilization did all those centuries ago. There is a small museum that has the artifacts from the find and then in the last room is the frozen body of Juanita. She is in a special ‘freezer’ that is kept at -20C and she is on show for 9 months of the year, and the 3 months she is not on display, one of the other children that was discovered takes her place. It was eerie looking at this 15 year child that was sacrificed to keep the mountain Gods happy.
From here, it was time to head home. It was 4pm and we had been on the go since 9am. We did want to do a supermarket shop to stock up on the snacks for the truck and there was one just up the road from the hotel. Well you should have seen this place, it was like a Big W and a Coles all rolled up into one massive shop. It was heaven. It was just a shame that I didn’t need anything else except snacks, which I find is always the way. The biscuit aisle copped a flogging though with me buying 4 packets of wafers, they had ‘Hello Panda’ snacks which are delicious and the last time I had them was in China, and if you can believe they had 4 packs of Tim Tams in 5 different flavors! Now isn’t that random! I also found Christmas cards here, so I bought 2 packs of those in an attempt to get them written and posted in the next few days and try and get them delivered before Christmas. As Kate and I had eaten a big lunch, we bought some rolls, ham, cheese and tomatoes and decided to just have a sandwich for dinner which suited us both fine and actually hit the spot.
A quite night in the hotel tonight as we have a 5am start tomorrow morning heading to the Colca Canyon. I am still desperately still trying to load photos to Facebook with no luck. I even tried Kate’s notebook and it’s still a BIG fat fail……. It will be the death of me these photos…..
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