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Arequipa, Peru
17° 19' S 70° 19' W
Sep 15, 2005 02:04
Distance 567km

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Other entries in Arequipa

The Altitude Sickness Days in Arequipa

Text written in: English

So we arrived here eventually several hours later than we expected. Well I suppose we didn't really want to arrive at 6 in the morning anyway! Then we got to the square and had to be dumped out of our taxi unceremoniously on a street corner in a traffic jam. There was a protest on in the square which made crossing the road much safer without cars. Arequipa is the second largest city in Peru and is at approximately 7000 ft (2300 m), so it's pretty high. The city itself is really nice much nicer than anywhere we've been so far. The buildings are grand and actually look finished! The main plaza buzzes with the locals going about their business.

We visited a monastery which was really nice and large, but a bit boring with lots of scary statues of Jesus bleeding to death! Nice! Then it was off to the museum where there is a very well known mummy which was found at the top of a volcanoe along with other bodies. It was a young girl of 12/13 who was sacrificed to ask the mountain gods for rain or to stop the volcanoes errupting or something like that. It was really scary as she was willing to go and get killed as it was a great honour. Her body is very well preserved and it's well freaky! We then booked a tour around the surrounding area and we have to get up really early tomorrow, work time. I know!