Por favor, digalo mas despacio

Se trata de que tanto he vivido que quiero vivir otro tanto. It's a question of having lived so much that I want to live that much more. -Pablo Neruda

Last Hurrah in Arequipa with the Coopers

PERU | Sunday, 22 June 2008 | Views [182]

Ok, ok, I've been remiss about updating the journal with our big Peruvian adventure with Ben's mom and sis. Those three weeks came and went and all of a sudden it's mid-June! I can't believe we'll be headed home in a month and half. That being said, we'll have spent three great months in Peru and had some incredible experiences.

To recap: Dr. C and Kim flew from Lima to Arequipa mid-May for a few days so that Ben and I could show them our second city. We started with lunch at the Creperie and then walked around the Plaza de Armas for a quick city tour. To properly welcome the ladies, we booked a table at THE best restaurant in Arequipa, Zig Zag, where we dined on alpaca and ostrich steaks (Kim, a veggie, had the quinoa gnocchi). A great meal and a must for anyone in Arequipa.

The next day started out a big rough for Dr. C, who unfortunately was feeling the effects of the altitude. We stared out slow with a tour to the beautiful Santa Catalina monastery, one of the most famous and oldest in South America. Literally a city within a city, a small group of nuns still live in the monastery in total seclusion. After our tour, Kim, Ben and I headed back over the river to our old neighborhood of Cayma for a quick visit to the mirador and a long, leisurely Arequipenan lunch in the garden at Sol de Mayo. In late afternoon, with Dr. C feeling much better, we finally went to visit Juanita, the Ampato Ice Maiden. You may recall that few years ago, an archeologist from the US dug up perfectly preserved young girl in the Andes. Testing at Johns Hopkins later revealed that she had been a sacrifice to the mountain gods during the time of the Incas. Because her body was immediately covered in snow and ice, she has been perfectly preserved for 500 years. Even her skin and hair are intact. This mummy, now called Juanita, luckily was in town during our time in Arequipa (she spends 6 months of the year touring the world's museums). This small museum was impressive and well worth the visit, and Juanita herself is quite a sight to see.

Next up: the Colca Canyon

Tags: sightseeing