Arequipe 05.03.06 & 09.03.06 - 10.03.06

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Other than being a place to sort our tour of Colca Arequipe was a pretty nice town. Its called the white city of Peru. As most old buildings are built in white volcanic rock. It has a big cathedral. Between the towers you should be able to see Misti Volcano. Unfortunatly it was to misty for that. We got lucky the last day in form a faint silluete. I could see Misti from the hotelroom at 7 in the morning but that was to early to go out just for a picture. As usual we did some shopping around Arequipe and found some very nice Alpaca goods. The leathergoods the guidebooks promised were nowhere to be found. We also visited the Museo Andino. This hosts the famous Jaunita mummy. Though she had her 2 months off. There are amazingly well preserved clothes and pottery around 500 years old. These and the now mumified children 12 - 15 years of age where left on the mountaintops as sacrifices. The other mentionable visit was to the Monasterio de Santa Catalina. This 500 year old monastery was closed to the public until the 70s. Today it still operates in a newly built part of the compound which cannot be visited. The building stretch for a whole block of the citycenter.