New Year's in Arequipa

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As Laurie made her way back to Chicago, Sun Mi and I were on the road to Arequipa via a 6-hour bus ride. The travel gods certainly have a sense of humor... Just after we located our seats and got comfy, about twenty members of the Peruvian Special Forces boarded the bus, carrying all of their weapons with them. At least we didn't have to worry about anyone taking our stuff! Then, about halfway through the trip, we discovered that we were also sharing the voyage with a traveling salesman (as he launched into his pitch at full-volume and continued for about 45 minutes).

Arequipa is known as the "White City" because many of the buildings are made from a white volcanic rock called sillar. It's surrounded by volcanoes, deserts, and some of the world's deepest canyons (Colca Canyon is a good place to see condors). In the city, there are two main attractions: the Monasterio de Santa Catalina and "Juanita: The Ice Princess."
The Monasterio de Santa Catalina is a convent that was founded in 1579, shortly after the Spanish arrived in Adequipa. Apparently most of the early nuns came from wealthy families and continued their kind of lifestyle even after joining th convent. This went on for aboub 300 years, until one strict Dominican nun came in and sorted them out. The convent was opened to the public in 1970, after some restoration work.

"Juanita" was a 14-year-old Incan girl, most likely from Cusco, that was sacrificed 500 years ago to the volcano gods. She was led to the summit of the volcano, drugged, killed by a blow to the head, and then buried. Within a few days she was frozen in the ground. At some point, an eruption caused her to be unearthed and roll down into the open, where she was discovered by an American archeologist that was climbing the volcano (called Ampato). Subsequent expeditions have found many other children and offering sites. The museum where she is now on display had some interesting artifacts, but on the whole, was kind of creepy.

Though there isn't a whole lot to see/do in the city, we decided to head to Arequipa because we wanted to be in a big city for New Year's Eve. I really don't think we could have picked a better city (or hostel). Surrounded by mostly Brits and Aussies (and a few Irish), we rang in 2010 by watching fireworks explode all over Arequipa from the roof of our hostel. Apparently there are no saftey restrictions, so fireworks are set off from every street, balcony, and roof in the city. After things died down a bit, we headed to a local club to dance until the wee hours.


I can't get the pictures off of my card at this time, so I'll have to post them later.

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