Arequipa

This entry covers 5 November

We arrived in the 2nd largest city of Peru to bright sunshine and friendly faces. My shoebox of a single room overlooked the next door neighbour’s porch which saw more action than the Coon Carnival.

After a sneaky cup of coca tea to help acclimatize, Katrin and I decided to take on this quaint little town with our first pit stop being the Santa Theresa Monestary. The 21 nuns are insulated from the world around them and spend their days praying, painting, sowing and making puppets for public display. The only contact permissable with the outside world include attending the doctor or dentist or via spinning doors sunken into the 2 metre thick walls where gifts can be exchanged with family and friends.The pretty guide made an attempt at convincing us that one of the Baby Jesus puppets escapes his cabinet when its time to change his clothes only to return later leaving his toys (gifts from the local community) strewn across the floor. We also bumped into the archangels: Raphael (the fisherman who cures blindness), Gabriel (donning a flower and looks after children) and Michael (the warrior who always has a sword). The central quad had a beautiful garden and a 298 year old Olive Tree in the middle.

With stomach’s aching we followed our noses to the nearest food deli called La Canasta with an awesome outside terrace.

After lunch we headed for the world renowned Juanita Mummy Museum…a human sacrifice to the Pachamama Gods (local God of the earth). Laden with pottery, ceramics and sandals on their feet, this 12 year old girl together with a couple of priests scaled the 6312m Ampato Volcano to make their divine offering for the next life. Juanita was chosen at birth for this role and was considered the ultimate sacrifice given her purity and innocence. The ceremony required that Juanita consume some drugged liquid followed by a blow to the head only to be found between 1000 and 1400 years later.

The rest of the afternoon was spent hunting for a steamy Inca headband which proved more difficult than anticipated given the vastness of the many stores selling local souvenirs, arts and crafts. I was lead into the back of one of these stores by one of the traders and introduced to an ancient lady who was minding her own business behind piles of Alpaca jackets and t-shirts. She pulled out a black plastic bag from behind the stand and presented the headband of all headbands.

Other observations of this superb city where the one product per street rule which I can only assume was enforced by the mayor to stimulate diversification and competitive pricing…from stationary equipment to house cleaning products to clothing…yet neither variety nor unique pricing has been achieved as each trader has agreed to sell exactly the same product for the same price!

I had my 1st stab at Alpaca steak for dinner which was a dry yet tasty beef and back bacon flavour. Carolina (the tour guide) assured us of the buzzing nightlife so we made our way to De Ja Vu for some Machupichu Sours and a live band which played mostly western commercial stuff…it was a lekker vibe which left Katrin and I staggering back to the hotel (alcohol gives one a solid skop at altitude!).