(above: Gail and Tony overlooking the Rio Chilli River Valley and Volcanoes)
We really liked the historical district of Arequipa which is a World Heritage Site. They call it the "white city" because the buildings are made from sillar, a white volcanic stone. The altitude in Arequipa is 7,600 feet and it is surrounded by three beautiful snow-capped volcanoes that are 16,000 to 18,000 feet tall. The city has a population of >800,000 people including several different ethnic groups; mainly Spanish descent and combined Spanish and Native American descent. People were friendly and we stayed in a very small but nice hotel in the historical district where you could safely walk everywhere.
We toured the city and saw the Rio Chilli River Valley where they do agriculture in terraces. Arequipa is a really large densely populated city where they drive like maniacs. But, back in the historical district, there is a feeling of a small town, where you walk everywhere and it is very safe. We couldn't help but notice that most all of the cars in the historical district are taxis. Our tour guide said that most people in that area do not have cars and just take taxis everywhere.
Plaza de Armas, in the middle of the historical district, is one of the nicest squares we saw in Peru. We toured the Cathedral, which has a beautiful organ with 1178 pipes that was built in 1854 in Belgium. There is a guarded display room with all the vestibules and crowns adorned in solid gold and silver (no photographs allowed). We even got to go on top of the church and ring the bells (not really). The view from the top with the volcanoes in the background was really pretty.
(See photos)
We visited the market, which was very interesting! The market was about the size of 2 small city blocks and had everything including beautiful fruits, vegetables, grains, cheese, eggs, bread (see the photos of figurines baked in the bread), juice stands, beef, chicken, fish, and all kinds of little food stands. Of course, there was no refrigeration at all. They even had a couple stands that were called "pharmacies" where they sold all kinds of herbs, seeds, plants, all kinds of concoctions that would heal any ailment.
(See photos)
We also visited the museum of "Juanita, the ice princess". The whole museum is devoted to the frozen body of an Inca maiden that was sacrificed more than 500 years ago on top of a nearby mountain. It was discovered in 1992 along with various burial artifacts. The mummy is considered the best preserved mummy discovered to date because she was naturally preserved by being frozen and her remains and garments were not desiccated like that of mummies. The tour included a movie about the tradition of sacrifices by the Incas and a viewing of the artifacts and the frozen body of the young girl. It is believed that the girl was between 12 and 15 years old. She was chosen at birth to be sacrificed and it was considered a great honor to be sacrificed. She was wrapped in a brightly colored woolen burial tapestry and was dressed in the finest clothes at the time including a cap made from feathers of the red Macaw and a colorful woolen alpaca shawl fastened with a silver clasp. She was buried along with sacrificial artifacts including bowls, pins, and figurines made of gold, silver, and shell. They believe she was from Cusco and traveled with a ceremonial group over 100 miles ( as the bird flies) to get to the summit of Mt. Ampato at 20,000 feet. It was an amazing story about an amazing scientific discovery!
More later - G&T