The Monastery was built in 1579 and enlarged in the 17th century. It is about 20,000 m2 monastery big and there are still 14 nuns currently living in a corner of the complex!
This is again a spectacular well-preserved frozen body of an Inca girl who was killed as an offering to the Inca gods sometime between 1450 and 1480 when she was approximately 11–15 years old. She is on display at the Museo Sanctuarios Andinos.
Lunch in Yanahuara with Peruvian music and lovely food
Train in the Pampa de Toccra
Viscacha, close related to chinchillas
We are on the Paso de Patopampa at 4910m!
Mon 21/09/2015: Arequipa - sunny 20ºC
After a 4 hours night sleep we took a good breakfast on the nice hotel garden (Hotel Casa de mi Abuela) and then headed to the imposing Santa Catalina Monastery (S/ 20 p.p.). Then we walked to the Museo Santuários Andinos where the famous mummy Juanita is preserved in a display at -20ºC. Mummy Juanita (Spanish for "Mummy Juanita"), also known as the Inca Ice Maiden and Lady of Ampato, is the well-preserved frozen body of an Inca girl who was killed as an offering to the Inca gods sometime between 1450 and 1480 when she was approximately 11–15 years old. She was discovered on Mount Ampato in 1995 by anthropologist Johan Reinhard and his Peruvian climbing partner, Miguel Zárate. She was naturally mummified, instead of being artificially mummified, such as is the case with Egyptian mummies. Her skin, organs, tissues, blood, hair, stomach contents and garments are extremely well-preserved, offering scientists a rare glimpse into Inca culture during the reign of the Sapa Inca Pachacuti. After that we took a taxi (S/ 6) and went to the Restaurant Sol de Mayo in Yanahuara where we had a lovely lunch with Rocoto relleno (filled pepper, ceviche de erizo and seco de cordero, S/ 147). We walked to the Mirador de Yanahuara and then back to the hotel. We brought our laundry to get washed until tomorrow morning. Julia had a lovely 2 hours massage (S/ 80!) and that was if for today.
Tue 22/09/2015: Arequipa - Chivay - sunny 19ºC
Walk through the town and visit of a few shopping areas, for instance at El Ekeko, a modern well decorated little exclusive shopping mall, built in old restored buildings, a last salad at our hotel restaurant before our transfer fetched us at 2pm. 4 hours drive to Chivay (3630m) where we crossed the highest pass in our lives: 4910m! And what a landscape with 7 vulcanoes. At 6:30 pm we arrived at our Hotel Casa Andina Classic, room with king size bed but old mattresses: We had dinner at the restaurant Javari on the Plaza Mayor and ate Alpaca, which was good and a creole soup (S/ 55). During the night, both we felt a bit the height with some headaches.
