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It took 5 hours to get to Arequipa from Chivay. We drove through desert and swamp land, and also through the crater of an extinct volcano.
In Arequipa we stayed at La Casa de mi Abuela (the house of my grandmother) which was a sprawling complex of buildings with lots of beautiful gardens and birds in cages and a pool even. We were definitely spoilt. And the breakfast was great, served on a balcony in the gardens.
Arequipa is surrounded by volcanoes. El Misti is the most obvious on the skyline. The Plaza de Armas is beautiful with palm trees and lots of seats. As with Cusco it gets very well used. But unlike Cusco we were not bothered a lot. In fact, only one boy asked us if we wanted our shoes shined. The only big bother was around the plaza where the balcony restaurants tout for you custom. We didn´t bother with any of them, preferring the more local restaurants off the plaza. Rae has some chicha (corn beer) in a chinese restaurant.
We had 2 whole days and we made good use of them. Our first stop was Museo Santuarios Andinos. This museum is the
San Augustin church
This one is cool because it has a corregated iron roof most important museum of Arequipa. When we arrived we found we had to take a guide. Very knowledgeable but talks like a robot. It seems like he has done it a thousand times already. It costs US $3 to get in. First you watch a National Geographic film about the expeditions to find the ice mummies. It was very interesting. Afterwards we were shown all the artifacts found on the volcanoes where the mummies were found. And right at the end we saw Juanita who is the most famous of the ice mummies. She was in a glass box inside a glassed refrigerator. They have more ice mummies. Juanita had only been on display for a week or so. They can only show one at a time.
The Museo Arqueologica de la UCSM was our next stop. It contains all the usual stuff: ceramics, skulls and mummies. A university museum, it is an extensive collection and quite interesting. You just need to give a donation on the way out.
Another university museum, the Museo Arqueologica de la UNSA was not as good. It contained an interesting display of pots and textiles. Nicely displayed.
Casa del Moral is
a real gem to find. It cost around US $1.50 to get in. We had a guide who was very knowledgeable and fluent in english. The house had been heavily damaged in the 1868 earthquake. In 1948 Mr Williams, an englishman, bought it and restored it. He and his wife only live there for 7 or 8 years but some of his collection is still there, including chairs and other antique furniture. The dining room was cool with a huge alpaca rug covering just about the entire floor. We found out that the blue area of a house was the private part where the family could do whatever. The red bits were public areas. We went on top of the house and got some great view of the city. It was a great tour.
Because it was there, we went to the Museo Editora Peru. Still not sure what it was all about. This museum was free and included a guide who refused to take a tip at the end (never experienced that before). There were a few rooms dedicated to the history of the press in Arequipa but because the guide only spoke spanish we didn't get the
whole idea. There were printing machines and the first edition of the local paper. Again, housed in a fantastic old colonial building, it is worth going just for that. And you can climb on the roof for views.
A slightly ho hum museum was Museo Historico Municipal. It is housed in a very nice building on the plaza but the museum itself we found a bit boring. It had lots of military stuff like weapons and paintings.
A main attraction in Arequipa is Santa Catalina. It is expensive to visit but well worth it. The covent is made up of numerous courtyards and streets full of dwellings for the nuns. Each nun would have perhaps 4 slaves. They would have a main room for receiving guest, a private bedroom and a kitchen. It was like a little village in the convent with streets and squares. Very colourful with red geraniums everywhere. And the cafeteria had very good food.
Convento de la Recoleta was amazing to visit. We took a taxi from the centre of Arequipa but you could walk it in half an hour uphill. It cost US $1.50. You can walk around the monastery by yourself.
You can get a good idea of how the monks and priests used to live. They also have a number of museum rooms: one of old ceramics, a couple of the amazon with stuffed animals and native objects, and one with dolls. The highlight is the library which is only opened for 15 minutes every hour. So many wonderful old books, some illuminated. The oldest was 1517... I think. A welcoming atmosphere.
While exploring the local market we noticed stairs leading down to an arcade full of hairdressers. Pieter wanted a haircut so off we went. We chose a shop with a nice looking lady. She made Pieter pick the hairstyle he wanted from a poster of 80's haircuts. She was very careful, took at least half an hour. A lady sitting next to Rae was telling her to be careful with her bag. She showed us the pocket in her corset where she keeps her cash. It cost 2.50 Soles (less than US $1).
We had a really interesting meal one night with some of the girls. We went to the 'Ribs Cafe' on Alvares Thomas, just off the plaza. It was recommended by the Lonely Planet.
We had lots of different flavoured ribs: wine, orange, barbecue and, the best of all, chocolate. They also do great Sangria.
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