Day 11: 11/7/12
We were up bright and early to get our bus to puno at 6.15. They were to collect us at the hostel. After an hour, we were kinda wondering where they were! The girl in the hostel rang up and it turns out the bus to puno leaves at 13:15. We were booked on the right bus but given the wrong time.
So we were up before everyone else in the hostel-hung around looking on Facebook and vibered Shell for a while.
Then, we decided to make use of our extra time in Arequipa and we went to see the museum with the ice maiden, Juanita. It shows how they found her body on the mountain- it was purely by chance because the snow had melted a bit and she rolled down from the summit. They led another expedition a month later to find the artefacts. Ironed with her and they also found three other mummies of children- 2 boys and 1 girl. All were sacrificed. It seems the inca priest chose people at birth to be sacrifices as they were divine, pure and healthy. When they thought the gods were angry they gave a sacrifice. Juanita was 13, so obviously there were no natural disasters or anything to make them think the gods were angry for 13 years. The other mummies were much younger children. They walked in procession from Cusco with the priests and then climbed up the mountain- some mummies on other mountains aswell. It would have taken days to get there- the mountains are very steep and they only had little slipper things made from llama skin- they were tough cookies!! They had a celebratory meal before the sacrifice- Juanita had coca leaves in her tummy. Then they gave them a special drink made from fermented corn- think its called chincha. This was high in alcohol do the kids were knocked unconscious. Then they hit them on the head to kill them. They did a cat scan on juanitas body to see the fracture on her skull. They wrapped them in blankets and buried them in the fetal position with lots of offerings- food and drink in plates and jugs, little gold, silver and copper statues of the high priest, of llamas and vicunas and also a doll of the girl being sacrificed. The most disgusting thing was that they kept the umbilical cord from when they were born, used it for medicines or something and then when it was time to sacrifice them they buried the chord with them. Juanitas body wa under snow so she was preserved really well- she has all her internal organs. The other mummies are not so good. At the end of the tour you could see her body. It wa hard to see cos she has to be kept in a dark room. You could see her face clearly but the rest of her was covered In the blankets she was buried in. They are frozen onto her. She looked kinda creepy! She was tiny aswell- hard to believe she was 13. Apparently she would have shrank a big over time. Look her up on google images!!
We hung around the square in Arequipa for a while then - there were pigeons everywhere so we sat watching them strutting around, children trying to chase them and people feeding them.
We Went to the hostel and had a fame of pool before the bus came!
A minibus picked us up, we drove near the edge of the town and then waited for a big bus. The town is mad busy- traffic has a mind of its own- seems to be no right of way, just everyone beeping!! The outskirts of the town are all dusty, with little shacks and houses everywhere. A lot of them look only half built- lots of rubble around. Also there are people everywhere- they seem to be really sociable and like to be outside their shops or houses.
Bus took 6 hours to get to Puno. It was supposed to be like a guided tour where they stop at different points. But they didn't tell us anything new really. They stopped at a lookout for flamingos, there were a few birds in the distance, but they could have been anything!! They also stopped for us to look at a lake thing they were calling lagillos. I don't know if that's Spanish for lake or of its something different- someone might enlighten me! They looked cool anyway- a big lake won islands in the middle of the mountains.
It got dark fairly early so couldn't see much in the bus. Juliaca seemed to be a nice town- looked very built up with lots of shops. We were going further to puno- it looked gorgeous coming into it as you could see all the lights of the town stretched out in the hillside, over lake titicaca.
Got a transfer with the bus company to the hotel- the guide on that 10min bus was very informative about puno, lake titicaca and altitude sickness! He also told us to watch out for women wearing lots of skirts. He said they could be wearing at least Six. Muir asked if it was for the cold and he started roaring laughing. Apparently the farmers think the bigger the girl the prettier she is, so that's why. Muir told him it used to be like that in Ireland- the bigger the girl, the more money she had- he seemed to think that was hilarious too.
We got to the hostel anyway. There was a young lad at reception. When we said who we were he went making a phone call. We thought he had no room for us, but he did, so don't know what the problem was. Then he handed us a key which said third floor and we started laughing cos we'd have to lug our bags up. Then he asked us if we wanted two beds- that set us off altogether and we were in stitches at the front desk- I think he thought we were demented!
We made it to the room anyway- unpacked our stuff and got ready for bed. There was a knock on the door then. We ignored it, but they knocked a few more times. Muir answered it anyway and it was a woman from the travel agency telling us about our tour tomorrow. It was nice of her to call, but calling to our hotel room when we're both in our pyjamas is a bit strange!!
Anyway- that's it for today.
Have a great birthday Mam!!