Arequipa and its 'adventures'

The girls and I made a split decision to move on to Puno and Lake Titicaca via Arequipa. We were told Arequipa was worth visiting for a couple reasons. The first was to see the exhibit of 'Juanita the frozen ice maiden' - a mummy discovered in 1995 on the top of Mount Ampato, just outside Arequipa. She was sacrificed as a child by the Incas around 500 years ago when she was aged between 12 and 14, and her body remained preserved by the freezing temperatures. There have been several other bodies found since on Ampato and other mountains, but none have been in such a condition as Juanita.


Another reason we went to Arequipa was to visit the Colca Canyon, apparently the biggest in the world (even bigger than the Grand Canyon). We took a two day tour on what felt like the bumpiest road in the world which the tour guide enthusiastically told us that it was 'all part of the adventure'. The adventure got even better when she told us we were taking the same road back... . The highlight of the tour was probably the many 'who eats wins' opportunities along the way. Oh, and we got to see a couple of condors flying in the Canyon, along with about a thousand endangered vicunas - the bus driver stopping at every one for a photo opp. A low-light was definitely driving past a tour bus that had run off the road and was lying on its side. On the way back it was upright but had been painted white so we couldn't read the tour company name - not very uplifting for us tourists!















The overall opinion was that Arequipa itself wouldn't win city of the year. Known as the 'White City', it is very pretty and had some beautiful architecture - including the gorgeous 400 year old Santa Catalina Monestery - but it lacks character (and places to eat that sell something other than chicken!) and we were happy to move on to Puno. In fact, I think I've dedicated more than enough blog space to Arequipa. That is all.