Arequipa

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We arrived at Hostel Santa Catalina at about 7:30 in the morning. And this is something we have not really talked about, but is worth mentioning here. The check-in/check-out process/times for hostels is remarkable. You could never check in to a hotel in the US at 7:30 in the morning. It just is not an option. Santa Catalina, however, had a room pretty much ready to go for us. I am assuming the room had been occupied by people who went out on one of the early morning tours (read as early as 2:00 AM).

The hostel setup was really nice with great views from the rooftop deck. We soaked those in before setting off on a self tour of the city. One of our Peru books had a short walking tour that highlighted the 18th century architecture of the city. The city architecture is pretty interesting wiht almost everything being built with white volcanic stone, called sillar. Sarah really liked the buildings and the feel of the city.

In the afternoon we were greeted by a torrential downpour that flooded the streets. It was an adventure trying to find a spot in the street where we could cross without getting soaked.

It was about time we toured a museum. A month and a half in to the trip and we had yet to visit a museum. We first tried the Museo Santuarios Andinos de la Universidad Catolica de Santa Maria. In short, this museum contains Juanita - one of the world´s best preserved mummies. Unfortunately Juanita is not on display until May and the price was way higher than the tourist office told us so we passed. We tried the main cathedral, but it was closed because of the rain. And other places were closed as well, so we called it an early day and got out of the wet.

That night we spent a lot of time debating whether or not we wanted to do the Cañon del Colca trek, the most popular thing to do in Arequipa. We looked at a lot of pictures, talked to people, read a bunch of blogs. And while it is a major tourist attraction as one of the deepest canyons in the world, ultimately we decided we had seen enough similar kinds of things on this trip, and throughout our lives, that we would pass. It just did not have that big draw that made us compelled to do the trek despite it being in everybody´s top 10 list of things to do in Peru.

Thursday we again enjoyed breakfast on our rooftop deck and then set out, determined to find a museum. We ultimatelyended up in the Cathedral museum, the museum in the main cathedral on the Plaza de Armas. Our english speaking guide walked us through the grand cathedral as well as the newely established museum all highlighting the history of Catholicism in Arequipa.

The Cathedral was huge and was highlighted by two pieces, the organ and the pulpit. The organ is the second largest in South America, the largest in Peru, and can only be played by one person. One of the great challenges to playing this organ (and perhaps all organs?) is that the sound you play comes out of the organ 5 seconds after you press the key. With all the pedals, buttons and keys, its no wonder only one person has it mastered. They rarely use the organ though, mostly during holiday times like Easter (too bad we were not in Arequipa at Easter). The pulpit, also rarely used, is a carved wood structure made in France. The highlight of the piece is a devil with a serpent´s tail under where the priest would stand. It is to symbolize the religion crusing evil. Our cab driver the day before had made a comment on how odd it was to have an evil sculpture in a church.

The tour continued through a museum with all kinds of very very expensive and elaborate pieces from the church´s history. Most of them gold plated silver with tons of jewels. The tour wrapped up in the bell tower with a grand view of the city.

Our tour guide mentioned the volcanos surrounding the city and that Misti, the closest volcano, was expected to erupt at any time. Given the proximity of the volcano, it would seem that when it does erupt Arequipa may be no more.

With a museum finally under our belt, we toured the city a little more. We tried visiting the Iglesia de la Compañia, but it was always closed. We also tried the Iglesia San Francisco, but that was closed too. So we hung out in the Plaza de Armas until our evening, overnight bus to Lima. We sampled Arequipa´s best, Pizza Hut and Burger King. Interestingly, the fast food places are not the cheapest places to eat, but the pizza and ice cream were fantastic.

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Comments

[Jill]

mmmmmm ice cream!

[Grandpa Cannon and Aunt Mary Ellen]

Your Dad printed some pages for Grandpa
Galapagos sounds so amazing! Grandpa's 90th birthday is tomorrow. It's fascinating and beautiful Grandpa says to see your photos of travels. Love! God's Blessings

[HeyBear]

Your Dad printed some pages for Grandpa
Thanks for sharing the blog with Grandpa!