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Published: August 8th 2007
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Friendly lady asking to have her picture taken!
Have forgotten her name, but she's been working with the city councel for 40 years!! Also assuring us that Peru was a very safe place, with only friendly people. Anyway, her 15 seconds of internet fame ! It's always wonderful to rush out in the morning, early morning, to find out your bus is delayed..... "only 10 minutes more, 10 minutes!". Free coca cola (lovely first drink after breakfast) to appease the waiting clientele, and after 3 hours we were finally hearded outside of the Cuzco bus terminal, but no bus yet.... Didn't think we'd be dealing with longer delays than the 2 GOL flights we had in Brazil, but alas, it happened. Unfortunately that also meant that our planned day bus turned into a half night bus as well, so missing some of the scenery, and not getting to the Hostal until about 11pm!
The Colonial Inn house is not a big hostel, it's an old building and the rooms are big, yet a bit awkwardly furnished (2nd room had a very, very small shower, had to step over the toilet into the shower, trying not to bump my head into the lightbulb), but the roof terrace, good breakfast, and friendly service makes up for all of that.
Arequipa as well left a friendly impression on us. None of the Pisco and Ica impressions and "architecture" here, thank God! It's called the "white city" in
Peru, initially because the Quechua/Incas called the early Spanish settlers whites (ehm, Spanish without a tan??). Nowadays it's the white city because of the use of the white volcanic ash based bricks used in almost all the buildings in the city. Well, after Sucre, which is truely white, this could be called the off-white city!
No matter what colour you call it, it still makes up for a nice city, and apart from the Plaza de Armas, you don't get haggled much for anything. Most people you do run into are friendly (like our city council worker - picture), and there are some very interesting sites and tours here as well. It's nice to leave a country (Peru) on a high note !
Took the obligatory bus tour, of course, and again, an open top. But this time, mandatory use of seat belts !! Not bad for S America, having seatbelts for starters is a gamble, but here it was nice, as the seats and floor were quite slippery!
Had a few nice stops, nice weather (a bit smoggy/hazy), great vistas of the Volcanoes around town, tried some local fruitjuice at one of the miradors (no time
for more Guinnea Pigs, but the though was there with so many in the cage!), got to hold a very big falcon (for a few Soles of course), and was quite impressed by the stone work in most of the buildings!
The green crosses of course refer to the Christian religion here, but being green also reflect the locals' relationship with (mother) nature. The other "additions" to the cross vary from site to site, depending on other work and play involvement.
Had some nice meals around town, and with the Copa America in full swing, no shortage of TVs with soccer! (plenty of goals, but very doubtful playing). Also bought the first of our 2 very Peruvian hats, I'm sure they'll come back in many pictures!
Also a recommendation to visit the Catalina Monestary. Originaly a monestary founded by a very rich and single lady, it soon turned into the Monestary of choice for the wealthy Europeans (or Peruvian Spanish, who would always send of the second daughter), as they used to have their own individual "apartments" with servants (slaves??) as well, having plenty of parties between them as well! Ah, the simple life of nuns! Aparently
in the end the Pope sent in a the proverbial Mother Superior type who straightened things out and brought normality back to the nuns' lives..... pity....
Was quite a good tour we had in the Monestary. We did decide to find the University museum in which "Juanita", the ice princes, is on display, straight after. So a lengthy museum day for us, but both tours were very informative and interesting. Recommended!
The University museum is not that big. You start of with the video about the discovery of the ice mummies and corpses (Yum), after which a student takes you on a tour. As per guide books, the last visit is to Juanita! She's actually not a mummy, like many others discovered in the area, but a frozen corpse. And she still is frozen, in her triple glass pane box (at minus 20 degrees Celcius!). A bit eery to see a dead corpse this way, covered in frost, but interesting. They still do the occasional bit of testing and research on her. Apparently her, and other graves were situated in the volcanoes at over 6000m altitude, and she'd been brought in from Cuzco (our bus took 11 hours)!!
These Quechuas took their human sacrificing serious one would have to think!
From Arequipa, one can jump on many-a toursist bus to head to the Colca Canyon, so this was part of the rest of our time and research here in town. Heading to see those big manificent birds, the Condors!!!
Ah yes, the solar heating boilers..... Let's say there was at least one street with half a dozen shops selling them, and from our roof top terrace, we could see many of them in use !! At the Bamboo House (restaurant) in Huacachina they were even waiting for one to come up from Arequipa, and they were having cold showers in the mean time..... very impressive, a bit of green thinking happening here in Peru !!Goodonyouseall!
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