Arequipa

Arequipa is a pretty wee Colonial town at the foot of El Misti (the volcano, not the Pokemon character). The city just oozes Spanish Colonial charm, and is well known for housing a mummy of a 12 year old girl known as ’Juanita’ or ‘Ice Maiden’ who was killed as an offering to the Inca gods sometime between 1450 and 1480, and found in he Colca Canyon in 1995. HOWEVER… she was undergoing “restoration” when we were there, and unfortuntely we didn’t get the meet her. We went on a walking tour with Manny, who showed us the local markets where we bought some coca leaves to chew on for the Inka Trail (and being in altitude in general).
I bought a very 90’s blossom-esque hat, and did very little else in Arequipa.

OH! Except casually eat deep fried guinea pig! Totally disguisting, I know… but when in Peru. It tasted chewy and bland and was somewhere in between white chicken-like meat and something a little redder. Not something I’ll be going back for seconds for, and certainly not worth breaking my vegetarianism over.