Arequipa

And so we left the deserts of Nazca for another arduous 7 hour journey by bus. As it was an afternoon/evening/night journey we pretty much punctuated a bit of film watching with a bit of snoozing. Leo, and I imagine all babies sleep fantastically well in all modes of transport, which of course was perfect for us as it meant the journey passed without event. One of the films shown was 'The motorcycle diaries', the story of Che Guevara and friend's journey across South America, his experiences transforming him to form his revolutionary political views. His hand to mouth existence during their trip made our experiences feel laughably tame in comparison, but something has to be said for our experience of meeting peoples of many different cultures, seeing their struggles in life and the quiet dignity in which they live it. Hopefully something will change in our perspective on life and society too, though I imagine not quite in a Marxist revolutionary sense..

Poor Leo experienced a ridiculously late night, but with minimal fuss we were met by our new hotel's taxi to take us straight to our new home for 4 or 5 days and before we knew it we were out for the count in another new bed.

Arequipa is Peru's second city, and quite different form Lima in that it is a lovely, attractive place. The climate is wonderful all year round and is known as 'the White City', due to the blue skies that cause it to gleam and the white volcanic stone that many of the colonial buildings are made from. We spent a very pleasant few days here, doing very little other than meandering the streets and making a few tourist spots here and there.

The city is home to several impressive churches, a monastery and a very interesting convent, which until 1970 was closed to outsiders as the nuns lived there in complete isolation. In fact, some nuns still remain in isolation within a small corner of the convent complex. Now open to the public, the convent is like a mini city, with its own streets, houses, cloisters and church. It houses some great artwork and artifacts from the days of total seclusion. A more sinister side to convent life was represented by the torturous undergarments (basically made of barbed wire) the nuns had to wear to learn how to transcend the body to cleanse the soul. Spine chilling stuff.



Another local attraction is the preserved remains of an Inca girl nicknamed 'Juanita', found semi frozen in the 1995 in the mouth of the volcano Ampato. She was knowingly sacrificed upon the mountain to appease the gods who in their displeasure at the Incas, had erupted not long before. A very interesting if somewhat macabre attraction, but from the very well preserved remains of this girl a lot of information has been gleaned about Inca society, their rituals and their societal habits. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mummy_Juanita

We really enjoyed our few days in this city. Our hotel was excellent, a small boutique bed and breakfast (called casa Arequipa for anyone thinking of going) whose staff did everything possible to accommodate us, including even buying a baby highchair as they didn't have one previously. We were truly well looked after. They were very helpful in arranging taxis for our every move, due to a crime spree involving a few rogue taxis robbing tourists a while back, people are very cautious in ordering taxis and not wandering the streets in the evening. Not that we do any roaming beyond 6 o'clock at any point but it was lovely to feel well cared for. They even arranged a two day tour for us to the big local attraction, the Colca Canyon and let us keep the mess of our bedroom for no extra charge. Right, I think I've sold this place well enough now, needless to say that, though Arequipa is often a stepping stone to visit the natural beauty spots of the area, we thoroughly enjoyed our time here. Nuff said.