Wednesday 19th April 2017
Fly Cusco to Arequipa
Up 5.30. Ouch. Easy transfer as Cusco Airport in centre of
town. Which is weird when you take off and the houses are either side of
runway. Very dodgy, especially with huge mountains surrounding the city. Quick
flight. Landed too early to check into hotel so pulled the city tour forward –
couple of good viewpoints overlooking the three volcanos. Two extinct, one
active – Misti – which is due to go off. Last time it erupted was just after
the last sacrifice of a virgin girl by the Incas. Weather back to being hot and dry.
Houses here are divided into three sections – those in C
don’t complete the house as they will get taxed, but not much facilities
around. B houses again are incomplete but have markets around. ‘A’ houses are
completed as they are taxed whether finished or not, are in decent town and
have supermarkets available. Immediate
feeling of ‘openness’, no houses over two stories due to earthquakes and
volcano issues, and lovely plazas surrounded by arched walkways. Called the ‘white city’, not due to the white
volcanic magma from which the buildings are constructed, but from the amount of
‘white’ Spanish settlers who outnumbered the indigenous population. Also a few original pink buildings, but most
destroyed by earthquakes. 
Visited a couple of churches – interesting mix of
Spanish/Catholic statues, but incorporating Inca signs of Puma, Snake, Condor
and ‘mother earth’. 
The 'Monastery of Santa Catalina' Convent was huge – a walled town within a city. There used to be about 170 nuns but now just a
handful. A guide walked us around various
rooms where the novices lived for 4 years, being shut into their one bedroomed
sparse rooms for 20 hours a day, 4 hours study and confession each day – what
can you confess to??? Any ‘visits’ were monthly where they could not see the
visitor. Gifts would be supplied by a revolving wooden cupboard affair, so they
could hear the person and potentially receive provisions. Sometimes a child would arrive this way and
be brought up an orphan to become a nun/priest. Once a nun, they had a promotion to better
rooms (still very Spartan) with their own crockery and a servant in adjoining
room. The second daughter was deemed to be the nun in the family. Very austere conditions. Shocking to see that
also self-flagellation on weekly basis was expected.
On to lunch at a Mexican restaurant – condor. Had a mixed lunch of stuffed peppers, cheese/potato, beef and rice, washed down with Chi-cha. All felt knackered so back to hotel and couple of hours kip before meeting in hotel lounge for wine and nibbles. Started to catch up on over a weeks blog.
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