Arequipa

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Today I spent the day exploring Arequipa, Peru´s second largest city and possibly its prettiest. Arequipa is called the white city, these days it is thought that the city has this name because of the white local volcanic sillar stone used in all the buildings. However, at the Santa Catalina de Siena Monastery we were told this name originally was given to the city as it was one of the first places in Peru in which white people settled.

The Santa Catalina de Siena Monastery was absolutely stunning - the monastery was begun in 1580, forty years after the city was founded. Eldest daughters from rich families were required to make a good marriage at about 14 years of age nd bear about 15 children, whereas second daughters got (in my opinion) a far better deal and would be sent to the convent to become nuns and basically earn the family a place in heaven. Families paid huge dowries for thier second daughter to live in the monestery and each nun had her own ´flat´, so the monestery was enlarged over the centuries until it became a city within the city, about 20000 sq./m. and covering a good sized city block.

The nuns beds are all under archways, this is because in Arequipa there are about ten earthquakes a day. Most can´t be felt but the archways are the strongest protection should a strong earthquake happen. I didn´t want to write about earthquakes before as I know Mum worries about everything, but as I am leaving the region tomorrow I have a good story to tell. In Nasca I was staying in a hostel where the dorms were garden sheds on top of the roof. It was fine until we had two small earthquakes in the early hours of the morning and the owner came and made me move downstairs - a big crack had formed in the side panel of the wooden shed I was sleeping in! Very exciting!

Anyway, back to Arequipa... These nuns weren´t like nuns in the UK, they really lived the high life! Their flats are amazing, each had a sitting room, a bedroom and a room for a servant and each room was huge. They also had lots of lovely ornaments from all over the world which their parents would have given them to furnish their rooms, and they received an education. At one time 450 nuns lived here, getting away with their extravagant lifestyle as they were so far from the Pope and Rome.

Eventually the Pope became aware of the situation and insisted that the nuns live in dormitories and behaved properly but this didn´t really happen, they were rich girls from rich families and were used to a certain standard of living! There are still about 30 nuns at the convent but these days they aren´t restricted from leaving at any time they wish, they can join at any time in life so long as they aren´t married (unless they are widowed, but not divorced) and so long as they have no children. They can also go outside the monastery´s walls, a priveledge earlier nuns wouldn´t have had.

After visiting the monastery I went to a couple of the posh colonial houses in the city, most of which now house companies and offices, and one which is the university. I then went to the Museo Santury which houses Inca ice princess Jaunita who was found at the top of Nevado Ampato volcano just outside the city. She was just 12 - 14 years old when she was sacrificed to the moutain gods and would have walked for about three months and endured a very difficult climb to get to the top of the 15,000 foot volcano. She would have been nearly frozen on arriving and was given an alcoholic drink to slow her. She would then have got into the grave in a foetal position and been surrounded with offerings, before finally being hit accross the head with a rock, cracking her skull and killing her.

Many other child sacrifices have been found in the region, another girl and a boy on Nevado Ampato volcano and three girls and three boys on El Misti, the main large volcano towering above Arequipa. Male orientated offerings were placed in the boys graves, and female in the girls. They are all very well preserved because of the ice apart from the boy from Nevado Ampato who was struck by lightening at some point and burnt.

Tonight I went out for tea and ate guinea pig. We saw them alive earlier today and then ate them this evening, it was a little weird to be honest! It arrives intact but deep fried, the teeth and paws are all still there and you sort of have to chew around them. Its a nice tasting meat, and again, I am not sure why we don´t eat them at home!

I then visited the cathedral and a beautiful Jesuit church with very ornate decorations. I am now trying to sort out my photos in the hostel, and tomorrow morning the three welsh girls, Tanya the Canadian and I are all heading to Puno and Lake Titicaca.

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Photos

The monestary
One sunny street with flats for the nuns

Arequipa
The cathedral with El Misti volcano behind

Comments

[Julia]

Guinea pigs for dinner!
Never liked guinea pigs as a child- now know I should have tried them with tomato ketchup! Very envious of all the llamas; did you see anyone knitting with the llama wool? Love, Julia

[Mum]

Guinea-pigs
Hi Kat For your Christmas present we have bought you a hutch with your very own guinea pigs and will expect regular dietary contributions... love MUM