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Published: March 7th 2007
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Simplicity in Blue
Monastery of Santa Catalina 1999……….6wks SOUTH AMERICA-ARGENTINA, PERU............
I decided to head off to Arequipa by plane, and give Lake Titacaca a miss, with a 7am, half hour flight. The view from the window was not amazing as they were dirty and the sun was shining on my side. Arequipa is Peru’s second largest city with 1 million people. It is set amongst the desert with the volcano El Misti (5822m) forming a close backdrop with other peaks. Arequipa is at 2,325m.
The city has a nice Plaza de Aramas but it did not have the same feel as Cusco as it is busier. I spent a bit of time getting quotes on Colca Canyon tours and wandering around the Monastery of Santa Catalina. What a fascinating place. It’s worth coming to Arequipa just to see it. It has an interesting history. Built in 1580 and enlarged in the 17th Century, its founder only accepted nuns from the best Spanish families which had to pay a dowry. Traditionally the 2nd daughter of upper class families entered a nunnery, supposedly to live in poverty and renounce the material world. In fact each nun had from 1-4 servants (usually black slaves) and they were able to
invite musicians to perform and have parties and generally live in the style to which they had become accustomed to while growing up.
This went on for 300yrs until the Pope decided that it was more like an exclusive club and sent over a Dominican Nun to straighten out things. In 1871 all the dowries were sent to Europe (surprise, surprise) and the slaves were freed. 450 people lived here. It was opened to the public as recent as the 1970s when there was pressure put on the order to comply with the laws re electricity and water. The nuns, now too poor to comply with this order, moved to the northern corner of the complex and opened up the rest to the tourist’s gaze. It’s like stepping back in time before Australia was much thought about, to a forgotten world of narrow twisted streets and tiny plazas, beautifully painted courtyards and buildings and simple living quarters. It’s a photographer’s dream of doorways framing cameos of plants and simple lines of pastel painted buildings. The complex covers a whole block of 20,000 square metres.
I had a simple lunch there in the area the nuns used to
Monastery of Santa Catalina
Above the bed in one of the Nun's rooms eat. There are enclosed turntable arrangements that allowed food to come in from the outside without any outside contact with the world. The food I ate was prepared by the existing nuns and was delicious.
From the monastery I crossed the road to the Musea de la Universidad Catalina which was an equally fascinating experience. There was an excellent presentation/tour of the Inca Capacocha tradition of human offerings to the Huacas- the god of the mountains. These discoveries were only made some three years ago when the minor eruption of one volcano allowed the snow to melt on a neighbouring volcano for the first time since the offering of a young girl was made some 500yrs ago. There have been several similar findings of mummified bodies across the Inca kingdom from Chile to Ecuador.
I´ve just typed a whole lot of stuff on and then the screnn froze and so I tried again and then all the power went off. This is my last attempt. I hope you all appreciate this!
Any way back to mummified bodies... I was given a private tour by an English speaking guide (great, most of the descriptions in these places are
scant and in Spanish). I watched a National Geographic video of the find which outlined the trek by this girl, probably from Cusco, with priests/Shamans to offer herself to the mountain so that the volcano would be happy and give them what they wished for and hopefully not erupt on them. Her body, along with several others, is still preserved in special showcases at 15c. A scan of her body showed that she had died of a blow to the head. Pottery, clothing, coca leaves and figurines are also well preserved. It was fascinating watching the video as they uncovered artefacts and then seeing the actual pieces. Some pieces have been damaged by lightning. The bodies were located by them being marked with a circle of rocks. The body of the girl (Wanita) is currently in Japan for a year and a replica is in her place. There were 2 other mummies there.
I also went to La Compania Church which has an ornate facade and a 18c gold leaf altar (as do a lot of the churches here). What amused me was the smaller altars each side- one with Jesus (Bloody and miserable) and the other Mary (wistful
and doll like). People were standing in front of them, gazing up. It looked like a competition between the two of them as to who could get the most crowd-Jesus was definitely more popular!
Bellastas Islands....The 3 hour boat trip was a nice side trip and is referred to as the poor man's Galapagos, but not that amazing if you have seen colonies of sea lions and thousands of Cormorants before. I had a nice lunch after of Ceviche de Cervina which is described as the most typical dish of Peru. It is white Sea Bass, marinated in lemon and chilli and onions and served cold with a boiled yam...............delicious.
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