Arequipa, Peru

I spent several days in Arequipa, despite not being thoroughly impressed with the city. Many other travelers that I met kept telling me about the wonders of Arequipa and how one could spend months there if they weren´t careful. Don´t get me wrong, Arequipa has some great architecture and certainly has its charming parts, but I just never got into it. Maybe it was frustration with the fact that it had a 5800 meter volcano looming over the city that could only be seen for a couple hours a day due to clouds and smog.


Having said that, I did enjoy my time in Arequipa, it just wasn´t all that I expected. One of my first days was spent exploring the area around the main plaza. There are many restaurants with balconies overlooking the plaza, a great place to relax and have a drink. Right near the main plaza is a museum that features ¨Juanita the Ice Princess.¨ About 500 years ago several young people were sacrificed in the area surrounding what is today Arequipa. About 15 years ago a frozen body was found on a volcano called Ampato. After further examination, it was discovered to be the body of one of those sacrificed and she became known as Juanita. Because she had been frozen, she is very well preserved preserved and still has lots of skin and hair. Her mummified body is usually on display, however she gets to take January through April off so I was a bit disappointed. Despite not being able to see Juanita, another frozen mummy is on display. Sarnita is not quite as well preserved as Juanita, however it was still pretty creepy (interesting) to see her.


The next day, me and some friends from the hostel decided to visit the Santa Catalina Monastery. The monastery was founded in the 1500´s and is absolutely massive, it is like a city within a city. Despite all the tourists that flock through every day, there is a group of nuns who still live in the monastery, although in an area that is not open to the public. Despite the beautiful contrasting colors in the monastery, it did get to be a bit boring after a while, although I think that was due mostly to its gargantuan size. Wandering around you see lots of bedrooms, lots of kitchens, lots of prayer rooms, lots of religious pictures and lots of paintings of nuns (all of them look unhappy in the paintings, not a single smiling nun in the entire 20,000 square foot monastery).


All in all, Arequipa was an enjoyable city and I met lots of great people, although I still don´t get the love affair that most travelers have with it. Maybe I missed something.