Tag Archives: arequipa
Day 21: Puno / Jul, 11
Today I rode a bus that was determined to act like a plane, complete with TV monitors for each seat and an endless safety video and a well-coiffed stewardess who asked me to turn off my cell phone before we departed. (So it wouldn’t interfere with Bus Traffic Control I guess?) This would be the […]
Day 20: Goodbye Arequipa / Jul, 10
When you see streets and public plazas that look like these, under fully sunny skies at 70 degrees with no humidity, and you know that the nighttime temperature is going to drop to a cozy 48 degrees, and that you’ll be eating some deliciously rich and cheap meal in between now and then… Well, it’s […]
Day 19: Juanita the Mummy / Jul, 09
After the Santa Catalina Monastery, Arequipa’s second-most famous attraction is Juanita the Mummy. Housed at El Museo Santuarios Andinos, Juanita is a 12- or 13-year-old Inca girl who was the victim of human sacrifice sometime in the middle of the 15th century. (I say “victim” because even though the museum’s displays and tour guides kind […]
Day 18: Very Rich Nuns / Jul, 08
Today, sticking to my goal of enjoying a simple, relaxed couple of days in lovely Arequipa, I did exactly two activities: Toured a monastery and studied Spanish. Of course, the monastery I saw today, El Monasterio de Santa Catalina, happens to be one of the largest in the world, covering five acres and behaving for […]
Day 17: Arequipa I Love You / Jul, 07
Another travel-dominated day, one that would take me 1,600 miles from Santiago to Arequipa, Peru, where I’d begin the next chapter of my trip. My flight, operated by the Chilean airline Sky, hopscotched its way north, landing first in Antofagosta and then Arica, both cities in northern Chile surrounded by brown desert and mountains, before […]