Ok so we've still got Mom, and we're driving into Arequipa. We had a great time spotting vicuƱa and chinchillas. The last stop on the tour before Mom went home was Arequipa, nicknamed "The White City" for all the volcanic stone they built with, called sillar.
Here is the Basilica Cathedral of Arequipa in the Plaza de Armas (main square). Construction was started in 1540 on the same day the city was founded, but the church wasn't finished until 1544. In 1583 the church was reduced to rubble by an earthquake, as Arequipa is a very seismically active place. The site would suffer 9 more earthquakes of note, and a large fire. Sometimes there was only minor damage, other times it was completely destroyed. This poor church!
But the current one really is beautiful at night
A great meal we had one night from a balcony overlooking the Cathedral.
One of the days we were in Arequipa, Mom and I did a whirlwind tour of historic homes, a monastery, museums, and as many churches we could find. Jared stayed back and hung out at the hotel that day š
This was inside the home of a once very wealthy silver exporter, built in the 1700s. There were fancy paintings and artefacts from the time period, showing how the people lived and how they would have entertained in this home.
There was a collection of old maps, one of my favourite things
We next went to the Monasterio de Santa Catalina, which was really eye opening as it was founded way back in 1579. We learned about the lives of the young women sent here to be nuns. The second born child in each family was sent at the age of 12, and would live out the rest of her days here as a nun. The first few years as a novice nun would have been tough, leaving the room only once per day for 20 minutes, everything else was done in your cell, I mean room. The tutor came to you, as did your meals, and the chamber pot went out. We saw their rooms, kitchens, cloistered walking areas, laundry, where they would hear sermons. It had a really interesting history, because it admitted women from very rich families, so a lot of women would come with servants and would furnish their quarters up quite fancy. This went on until the 1800s, the nuns living quite luxurious lives, which is kind of crazy to think. However, after this a reformation was passed within the Catholic Church and a strict Dominican Order nun came in and really clamped down on the festivities. Nuns had to start living in basic common style rooms, and eating communally (no more 6 course lunches!), and things got a little more, you know, convent-like. In the 1970s the Monastery was forced to open its doors to the public, and further reforms were passed. Like women could go to the hospital to be treated if they were ill. Imagine! Before that they had to have a doctor come to the monastery, and the woman was examined under the supervision of the Mother Superior. Oh, and this was all done with a thick wool habit on to keep things proper. Can't hear the heart under all that cloth? Guess that's too bad for you, doc. And to think this all went on until the 70s. It was a great day for culture shocks.
A private kitchen where the slaves of the nuns would cook. When they were done working they slept on the roof.
The whole complex sat on about 10 acres, and was completely walled in, so inside there were actually little streets with names!
Huge wash basins for laundry, which they were using right up until the 1970s.
When they made the Reforms, they went into the nuns rooms and kind of raided them, and found quite a bit of priceless art, which is here on display.
A great view of the Volcan Misti from inside the monastery.
A woman making a traditional textile on a loom.
That afternoon we went to see "Juanita," a child mummy that was found on the summit of Ampato at more than 6000 m. She was sacrificed by ancient Inca priests over 500 years ago to appease their gods- the volcanoes. We couldn't take pictures, but the next day we went to another museum......
And there were more mummies!
Here is a deformed skull, it would have come from a member of the upper class as only they could deform their skulls in this way.
Also at this museum was a collection of old books. The story of how they were brought by ship from Spain to the Caribbean, then packed overland to the Pacific, then back on a ship to Peru was really amazing! They had over 10,000 titles, some dating back from the 1500s.
Just a few more mummies because they're so creepy.
At a lookout point that night, Moms last night in Peru!
We celebrated by going to a 'fancy' restaurant and eating delicious slices of beef and alpaca.
That night we dropped Mom off at the airport, and she flew to Lima, checking that out for a day before heading home. It was really great to have family from back home come and see us, and we hope you had some fun while you were here, Mom! We enjoyed your enthusiasm and being able to share a little bit of the trip with you.
Until Next Time!
