Day 7 in Arequipa found us... dealing with some stomach issues. It's pretty normal to get what they call "traveler's stomach" in Peru, and you are supposed to avoid any kind of raw fruits and vegetables, and you should not drink the tap water. We even brushed our teeth with bottled water every day, twice a day! But alas... there really isn't a lot of immunity - only your very best friend, Imodium!
So there were not a ton of pictures from this day since we did not really leave the hotel until around lunchtime! But in the morning, Todd did venture out for a bit while looking for some bottled water. He sent me this picture and a text that said, "I found the Peruvian Costco!"
Meanwhile, I made some friends at breakfast.
It took us about a half a day, but we finally got out of the hotel and went to see the Museo Santuarios Andinos museum dedicated to Juanita and the other children that were sacrificed to the volcanoes (aka: the ritual sacrifice called Capacoch) back in the Inca Empire. You can't take any pictures on the inside, but you can take them outside. So this is pretty much all we got.
Again, no pictures from the museum, but the story of Juanita is this: She was a 12-to-15-year-old girl who was sacrificed to the volcano by the Incas who did such things to appease the Gods in the hopes that the volcano would settle down (or not erupt). Remember, a volcanic eruption had an after effect on the area for many years in that it not only covered the area with ash and lava, but it also changed the climate, and therefore the agriculture. So it was common to make sacrifices to the Gods for the uncontrollable workings of the earth. She was found on top of Mount Ampato, and only by chance by Johan Reinhard, in 1995, while he was there photographing a nearby volcano . Her body, which they think was dated around 1450 AD, was frozen for hundreds of years before, via volcanic activity of that nearby volcano, the snowcaps melted and her frozen body rolled down the mountain. Her face, exposed to the sun, unfortunately somewhat melted, but the rest of her body was very well preserved when it was found by Reinhard - including her organs, blood and teeth. It was apparently a great honor to be chosen, but our guide said that Juanita's teeth were worn down, indicating that she had been grinding her teeth (a sign of nervousness). So I assume she must have been nervous about death.
The body of Juanita is no longer in the museum - only recently having been removed to be kept at the university for preservation. So we didn't get to see the real Juanita. But they do have a really good recreation, and that's the grand finale of the tour.
She was found in a bundle - she was little, of course, but when they found her, the bundle included other items, such as coca leaves, chicha (they think they got them drunk before their death to calm them down), and items of value such as gold and sea shells indicating she may have been of an elevated status within the community. The photo above is one that was taken before they unwrapped her.
They also discovered that she was hit on the head before she died, cracking her skull and causing a hemorrhage - and ultimately this is how she died. Not all of the children who were sacrificed died this way since some were buried alive. The whole story is just so sad!
Well, that was heavy... let's go get some lunch! We made our way to an Italian restaurant (Il Caffè Della Nonna) just off of the Plaza de Armas for a difficult to find, but a very delicious meal that we, of course, forgot to take pictures of. On our way out, we found a Colleen door, one that we often find on our travels and one that Todd would not be able to walk through without bending over.
And of course, we strolled around the very pretty Plaza de Armas after lunch.
I don't even know what he was doing here, but he looked cute doing it.
What a beautiful day! But the skin cancer king here struggled a bit with the strong sun angle and needed a lot of shade.
We found a bench, and no sooner had we sat down than this big parade/protest came into the square. At first we were like... gay pride? Sweet! But no... this is the flag of Cuzco. Ok... sweet!
And no sooner had they arrived, than the Policia arrived to shut it down. We aren't fully sure what the protest was about, but the President of Peru Dina Boluarte was removed from office just a couple of days before this, and there were some protests around the country so we assumed it might have something to do with this. This was the "biggest" protest that we saw the whole time.
We tend to escape when we see protests, so we headed over to the Iglesia de la Compañía de Jesús to finally see the inside of the church that has a stunning volcanic rock facade that came from the Pichincha volcano. That's a lot of gold up there on the altar... apparently there is somewhere between 50-55 kilograms of gold in the totality of this church!
I think our favorite part of the entire church was the painting of the Last Supper. Many representations of the Last Supper look this way in Peru... because they painted what they knew in the details, not what was necessarily true.
What they knew and understood about the Last Supper were the words of the Bible. What they didn't know were the other details, like what else they might have had to eat that night. So apparently Jesus and his disciples had a nice meal of corn, potatoes and of course... cuy, or guinea pig! None of which existed in Jerusalem at the time. Todd's sister Kathleen was very upset when we had cuy in Lima when we first arrived because they had had a family pet guinea pig named Twinkles -- so Todd had a good time sending her this picture and teasing her that "even Jesus ate guinea pig!"
On our way out, we stopped to gather our thoughts and figure out our next steps, and I just had to take another picture of the outside of the Iglesia de la Compañía de Jesús. It reminds me of something you might find in the Middle East or in a mosque with the details (although you would never find actual human or animal pictures in a mosque, but you would find flowers, vegetation, and geometric patterns, which we also see here).
Knowing that we had a long day ahead of us the next day, we found a small grocery store where we grabbed a few bus snacks for our trip. We didn't grab this, but I felt this offer was almost too good to pass up! See, you NEED to mix your Johnnie Walker Red Label with some water! BOGO!
We took our newly purchased groceries (sans Johnnie Walker and water) back to the Waya Lookout bar for some sunset drinks. The views here are some of the best in Arequipa of the Cathedral and the imposing Misti volcano in the distance.
The less imposing but no less terrifying Pichu Pichu (or Pikchu Pikchu) volcano has seven summits that stretches about 6 miles across. Again, all three of these (and all of the others in the region) are a result of the Nazca plate moving eastward beneath the South American plate. All of the volcanoes around Arequipa are considered dormant - they aren't actively erupting and haven't in some time, but there is still a chance that they could.
You need to get to Waya for the sunset in advance to score the best seats.
Of course, we had to have a drink to toast our last night in Arequipa! And you can see Misti over Todd's right shoulder and Pichu Pichu over mine.
Not to leave Chachani volcano out, Todd took a selfie with it as well, with the hopes that it would appease the volcano and keep us safe as we enjoyed the sunset.
While Misti is the quintessential volcano (and the closest to Arequipa), something about Chachani is just so breathtaking. Perhaps because it's the tallest of the three?
The sun sets on another day in Peru!
Happy (exactly one month away) 20th anniversary honey!
Now that's just stunning.
The view from Waya is amazing for the sunset and the volcanoes, but make sure you look all around this beautiful city!
It was a long day, and we knew that we had another REALLY long day the following day so we headed out to grab an early dinner before heading back to the hotel. We passed the Capilla de los Sacramentinos, or the Chapel of the Blessed Sacrament next to the Goyeneche Palace on our way to dinner.
And where did we eat dinner? Can you guess the cuisine by this sign?
A German restaurant called Servus, of course! The German Purity law known as Reinheitsgebot from 1516 sits knowingly above Todd's shoulder.
After dinner, we had to make one more stop on the way back to the hotel for the bad snacks (aka: junk food). The best snacks I found (ironically at the same store we found the Boone's Farm at!) were these Pepero sticks featuring Stray Kids! K-Pop is truly taking over the world!
Until next time, Arequipa!
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