La Posada Del Cacique Arequipa

... Her clothes are still perfect and her stomach still contains her last meal. You can even make out what she would have looked like in life as you peer into the refrigerated glass sarcophagus which houses her remains. A trip to Arequipa absolutely needs to include this attraction. You will not be disappointed.<br><br>After a few days in Arequipa we headed out to the Colca canyon. This has to be one of the greatest deals of all time. For $20 we received transport to ...

... years ago - ish. She was found by chance by an exploration team when she rolled off the top of the mountain (volcano?). Due to the freezing temperatures she was exposed too, she's not looking bad for 500 years old! Her hair and skin is really well preserved and her clothes and shoes also. Was amazing to see, along with all the artefacts that were buried with her as offerings.<br>

... and alleyways everywhere - its like a little town all by itself! It was also quite revered by other bishops and priests and, to show their 'closeness' to the monastery some of them had their own hearts and tongues sent to the Mother Superior after they died! Creepy but true.<br><br>The other interesting stop in town was the Museo Santury where the famous Inca ice princess, Juanita is kept. She was an Incan child sacrifice ...

... Chachani things can quickly go wrong, which sadly they did. <br><br>On the way back down, the "prat" was walking miles ahead of us across the steep snow slopes of Fatima. Bjorn was walking about 10m in front of myself and Louise when we saw his legs wobble a few times and he collapsed under sheer physical exhaustion. Thankfully, he collapsed forwards into the snow. If he had collapsed sideways he would have tumbled hundreds of metres down into the steep valley below. He is one extremely ...

... I can best describe as a lunar landscape &#8211; completely barren and rocky with craters and a few undulating hills &#8211; only difference is this landscape was brown. Every once in a while (as in maybe three times in the next two hours), we would get near to a river and there would be a sea of green, then back to barren again. <br><br>Arequipa is known as la ciudad blanca, or the white city. It is surrounded by three volcanoes, Pichu Pichu, Misti, y Chachani. It ...

... the coastline. There were parasailers there and I thought it looked fun, but turned out to be expensive for a very short adventure. We went to see Harry Potter that evening, I enjoyed it. Sadly, I missed Kristina, my friend Jessie&#8217;s sister that day. But we got together the next evening for some sweet vendor food and my first Pisco Sour.<br><br>Day 2 in Lima was full of pre-Inca ruins, lots of walking and Chifa. We started with the ruins called ...

... from the street. It was lunchtime by then, so all the people are out for lunch. We opted for a small local eatery, which had several Arequipeños seated for their lunch break from work. We wanted to get a different meal for each so we could try different dishes, but my Spanish vocabulary contains only a few verbs, and the basic what-who-when-why (which by the way gets me around quite a bit) ... so .. after a few minutes of trying to explain to ...

... knew where Hostel El Solares was. What a palaver!<br>The next day, we drove to the Colca Canyon. This was our first sighting of Alpacas and Llamas, which was exciting at first but not after we stopped a thouand times to see them. At one stop, I bought 2 Alpaca wool hats for 10 Soles (about 2 pounds). I may or may not have paid for both of them but something got lost in translation and I ended up with 2. We were heading to high ...

... br><br>Then the best part audience participation... poor Belgian girl beside me has to bring the male dancer back to life.... hilarious is not the word.... then back to hostel to laugh most of the night at what we just witnessed..<br><br>5am start ...

... several cloisters, a religious art museum, a pre-Columbian museum and a library. It was quiet here &#8211; away from the bustle of Arequipa. I just strolled around even chatted to a priest there for short while who wanted to know where I was from and how the situation in South Africa was at the time. <br><br>Eduardo eventually did have his guinea pig when he, a few others from the hostel (two Dutch girls &#8211; Daphne and Iris - and a Belgian - Matteo ...