Old Piles of Words Because the word is mightier than the stone.

Arequipa

After a couple of relaxing and sunny days in Puno, we decided to head toward the Peruvian coast, stopping half way at the colonial city of Arequipa. Located at the piddly altitude of 2,300 meters (7,500 feet), Arequipa is mostly known for its wonderful colonial architecture and as the base to explore some pretty spectacular landscapes (including the world's two deepest canyons, which we didn't get to). But in the four days we spent there, we discovered a lot of other really nice things about Peru's second biggest city.

The most interesting sight in the city itself was undoubtedly the Museo de la Universidad Católica de Santa Maria. This museum houses one of the rarest sights of the new world: the complete remains of an Inca sacrifice to the mountain spirits, found atop the nearby Nevado Ampato. The find included the frozen body of a young girl, wrapped in the finest of textiles, several votive dolls of precious metals and cloth (one of which was a model of the the sacrificed girl herself) and some of the finest Inca pottery we have seen so far. The body and textiles are so well preserved that the girl still has a bruise from where the sacrificial mace hit her and the cloth looks as if it was woven yesterday. The obligatory guided tour of the exhibit was great, but photos were not allowed (boo.).

But there was much more to Arequipa. We happened at one point to cross a Catholic procession, one of the best looking we have seen in Latin America, with really great male dancers in elaborate costumes and not so great female dancers whose primary purpose appears to have been to show their legs by twisting their hips and swinging their skirts out... although, really, who can object to that? The town even boasted a nice, clean and delicious market, and a great supply of vegetarian food!

Here are a couple of nice pictures of the city, we'll talk a bit more about some specific sights tomorrow!

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