Arequipa

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Arequipa is the second largest city in Peru and is also known as The White City because of the volcanic stonework of many of the colonial buildings. The two main things that we found interesting were the Monasterio de Santa Catalina and Juanita, the mummy.

The Monasterio de Santa Catalina was built in 1580 and was enlarged in the 17th century. It's over 20,000-square-meters and is like a little world of its own with its colourful walls and courtyards.There are about 20 nuns currently living there. Apparently a rich widow founded the monastery and only accepted nuns from high class Spanish families who all lived quite a lavish life in there until 1871 when a strict Dominican nun was sent by the Pope to reform the monastery. We enjoyed walking around exploring all the little alleys and areas which were almost maze like.

Juanita, also known as the 'Ice Maiden' was a girl between 12-14 years old who was sacrificed by the Incas some time between 1440 and 1450. We went and saw her in a museum and were fascinated by her story.

She was discovered in 1995 near the summit of Ampato Mountain by a guy called Johan Reinhard, hence the name Juanita, as Juan is the Spanish version of Johan. The Incas believed that mountains were violent deities that they needed to make sacrfices to, which is probably why Juanita was sacrificed. It was apparently an honour to be sacrificed like this. Juanita was from a noble family and was very beautiful. There were also two other bodies of childen found on the same mountain. The children were apparently living in Cuzco and it's believed that they were chosen to be sacrificed like this since the day they were born. They apparently walked all the way from Cuzco which is a long way, wearing woven sandals. From the contents of her stomach we know that before being sacrificed Juanita had been starving for hours and was given chicha (a fermented corn drink). She was killed by a blow to the head.

Johan was able to lead the expedition to the top of the mountain only because the volcano Sabancaya next to it was erupting thereby melting the snow on Ampato, revealing traces from the Incas. It's amazing how well preserved Juanita is, still kept frozen in the museum. Such a shame we weren't allowed to take pictures, but unfortunately Juanita doesn't like flashing cameras.

In Arequipa we also organised the tour to Colca Canyon but this is another story that is coming soon...

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