Frozen mummy and the colca canyon

Trip Start Oct 17, 2006
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Trip End Mar 04, 2007


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Thursday, November 23, 2006

On the way to Arequipa we stopped overnight at Puerta Inca, the seaside resort of the Incas and where they got their fresh fish from (it could be in Cusco in les than 24 hours carried bya  series of runners). In Arequipa we went to see Juanita, the ice princess, who was an Incan child sacrifice almost perfectly preserved in ice at the top of Ampato volcano.  The room was very dark to help preserve her which made it quite eerie. We got to see lots of the ceremonial artefacts from Juanita and other children's sacrfiices, including gold and silver llamas, lots of pots and very well preserved textiles.  We also went to Santa Catalina convent which takes up an entire city block and is like a mini city.  The convent was very pretty with lots of lovely squares in bright colours.  We got to see numerous nun´s rooms, some of which were very grand, and kitchens as well as several chapels.

After Arequipa we had an overnight drive to the Colca Canyon.  It didn't really look ike a canyon to me though, more like a valley.  We went there with the aim of seeing condors, which rise on the early morning thermals.  We sat for about half an hour and then finally saw one rising quite far away.  It soared really high and eventually disappeared over the mountains.   Sadly that was pretty much it on the condor front.  We went for a walk along the canyon edge which was quite good before driving onto Chivay, a small town with some nice hot springs.
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