South America

Arequipa is the largest city in south Peru and it is bustling and metropolitan. The most famous local landmark is the huge active volcano, El Misti, that dominates the skyline. We had the option of climbing the volcano, but after climbing one at Pucon, I had sworn never to do one again. Instead we decided to spend some time assessing our finances, something we had put off for a long time. Unfortunately the outlook was bleak and as we added up the sums it was obvious that we couldn't go on spending like we had been. From now on we had to stick to our budget and save up to do the optional extras, like the flight over the Nazca lines in 2 days time. We went out for a meal that night and found a restaurant that had 3 courses and a glass of wine for £3.

The next day we went to see the famous Inca mummy that was found sacrificed on the summit of the local volcano (£3). The story was interesting and the items displayed with the bodies were in pristine condition. There were a few child sacrifices found on the mountains in this area. The most famous mummy, Juanita, had become dislodged from her sacrificial cave by a nearby eruption and fell into the surrounding ice, which preserved her body better than the other children. She was found to be 12 years old and of noble blood. She was taken up to the peak (which is a very hard climb, even for today's professional mountaineers) and eventually killed ceremoniously by being whacked on the head. She was buried with gold statues of herself and fine cloths and pottery as a gift to the mountain, which the Incas worshipped. Unfortunately Juanita was off being preserved for a few weeks so we only saw one of the other mummies, which was a girl sitting crossed legged, wrapped in her Inca clothes and you could still see her fine, long black hair. Spooky.

We didn't do anything for the rest of the day to save money for the Nazca flights in a couple of days.