Last Day in Arequipa

Tuesday April 12th was our last full day in Arequipa. After breakfast and re-organizing our gear for our flight to Cusco the next day, we walked down to the museum dedicated to the discovery of human sacrifices by the Incas to the volcanos. For 20 soles each ($8 CA) we were allowed entry. We first watched a 20 minute National Geographic video, in English, about the discovery of "Juanita the ice maiden" discovered at the top of Mount Ampato in the early 1990s by an American archaeologist. Afterwards, a guide gave us a 40 minute tour, in English, during which we saw clothing and other artifacts that had been found buried with Juanita and others. In total, 18 human sacrifices have been found on volcanos in South America: 13 girls and 5 boys. Mount Ampato is over 20,000 feet high so it was quite a feat for the Incas to even be able to climb up there, braving the extreme weather conditions.
Still we often hear of South American beliefs in "Pacha Mama" or Mother Earth and that the mountains are truly alive. The Incas believed that volcanic eruptions were expressions of anger from the gods of the earth and so they sought to appease them by offering sacrifices.
The finest examples of the Incan people were chosen early in life to be offered to the gods. The Inca civilization was dominant for only about 100 years in the 1400s so the sacrifices happened then. The victim's ages were all under 16. It is believed that an entourage of priests and sacrificial victims walked from Cusco to different volcanos. The chosen victims were dressed in the finest alpaca and vicuña cloaks and clothing and adorned with copper and gold. On their heads they wore elaborate headdresses made with feathers of birds from the Amazon. Sometime during the ritual on the mountain top, they drank a fermented liquor made from corn and, since most of those found have skull fractures, were apparently killed by a blow to the head. They were buried sitting up with gold and copper figurines, fine pottery and textiles around them. Since it is so cold on the mountains and they were soon covered in snow, their bodies froze quickly and are remarkably well preserved.
Juanita, the first one found, was transported to John Hopkins University in the US to be studied before being returned to Arequipa. At the time of our visit, she was being studied in a laboratory in Arequipa so we couldn't see her. However, we did see "Sarita" another ice maiden found on Mount Sara Sara. She is kept in a glass case at a constant -20C and 90% humidity. We could walk right up to the case to look.
After our tour, we wanted to enjoy the day so we started by sharing a light lunch of hummus, bread and a falafel in the courtyard of Turkos, where we had eaten our first night in Arequipa. Best hummus we've ever had. We spent most of the afternoon just being tourists around the square and on the pedestrian streets. Late in the afternoon, we walked back to our room to re-arrange our laundry and then returned to Inkara pub for happy hour pisco sours. As the evening cooled off, we moved inside the pub for red wine, lasagna and pizza again. We were home early to get a good sleep. We had to get up at 5 am to get to the airport for our flight to Cusco.