Visiting Misti and the Ice Princess in Arequipa

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We arrived in Lima at dawn after a long night on the overnight bus from Huaraz and caught a taxi immediately to the airport. We had no flight booked but were hoping to fly south to Arequipa. Luckily we were able to get a flight leaving a couple of hours later. It was an interesting flight - for over an hour we flew over incredibly barren countryside - kilometers of rolling brown sandy hilly desert. I was thankful I was flying over it and not actually on a bus driving through it. Upon landing in Arequipa we were greeted by the perfect cone shaped volcano of El Misti (5822 metres) - absolutely beautiful and crowned with a snow cap. Arequipa is actually surrounded by three peaks, all snow capped and rising from the brown landscape. Al the principal buildings in the city are made from a light coloured volcanic rock called sillar. We had booked a colonial hostal (Posada El Castillo) - a great choice as it was very comfortable, with welcoming hosts and a good breakfast. The breakfast room was actually underground and when they were building it they unearthed a tomb so the room is full of relics from it. The hotel was a bit of a walk from the centre - about 7 blocks - and as we had constant warnings from everybody about the large number of robberies carried out by taxi drivers chose to walk it, even after dark. The taxi drivers rob the locals as often as they target the tourists.
Had a long wander around the streets before going to visit one of the museums I was really looking forward to seeing. It didn’t disappoint! The Monasterio Santa Catalina covered an entire block and is practically a city within a city. It was built in 1580 to house a group of nuns and was totally closed to public eyes for over 400 years. It was only opened to the public in 1970 when an earthquake forced the nuns to leave the complex. Today the nuns live in a modern complex within the old monastery and the original areas are open as a museum. It’s a maze of narrow streets, courtyards, fountains, tiny monastic cells (I bet the nuns today are glad they don’t still live in them) and was totally intriguing. The colours of the walls were a deep terracotta, vibrant yellow or deep blue. Geraniums and cactus were planted everywhere. We spent all afternoon wandering around and through all the rooms, most were still furnished and many were covered in paintings. It’s open a couple of evenings a week, full of candlelight - I would have loved to see it then as well.
Next day we visited Juanita, the ‘Ice Princess’ - the frozen Inca princess sacrificed on the summit of Ampato mountain (6288 metres and 80 klms from Arequipa) over 500 years ago. I remember reading about her in a National Geographic and was fascinated by the story at the time. When a volcano erupted the Incas thought the Gods were angry and they could only be appeased by a sacrifice. Four bodies have been found at various spots on the mountain, all young children as they were still pure. Juanita was the most important as she was buried (after being drugged and hit on the back of the head - all that after a walk to the summit in sandals! She also would have known that she was to be killed..) at the top of the mountain. Her body was only discovered - in 1995 - after another volcanic eruption on a mountain nearby which melted the snow cap over her grave. It was a really interesting tour - we saw all the clothes she had been wearing, all the golden icons etc that were buried with her and finally Juanita in all her frozen glory. She actually wasn’t pretty to look at but what a fascinating history! Again a museum that we both thoroughly enjoyed!
That afternoon we did a four hour tour of the city in an open top bus - not the best tour ever but we did visit the house of one of Arequipa’s founders which was a great insight into the life of the wealthy Spanish settlers. There were plenty of churches that we could have visited but we are both suffering church overload. We finished the bus trip watching the sun set behind El Misti which was a great way to end our couple of days in Arequipa. We had booked a two day trek to the Colca Canyon with Land Adventures and were leaving early the next morning.

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