Today was a more productive day. After a delicious breakfast I headed to the supermarket to buy my water and snacks for the 2 day canyon trek I’ll be starting tomorrow.

I then went to the Museo Santuarios Andinos. This is a museum which tells the story of the offerings the Incas made to the mountain gods. The offerings were young children between the ages of 6 to 15 who had been chosen to be sacrificed. For them and their families it was seen as an honour as the child, once dead, would be living with God’s and almost be like a deity themselves.

The visit began with a 20 minute film in English which talks about how some of the bodies on Ampato volcano were discovered. At the time of the sacrifices the mountains were not covered in snow but not long after the sacrifices the snow came and covered and preserved the bodies. As nearby volcanos erupted the snow melted and the bodies were discovered. The bodies that have been found are not mummies and they have not gone through a mummification process – they are basically frozen in time. One body of a young girl is the best preserved body in the world. Her name is ‘Juanita’ and she is known as the ice maiden. The body is over 500 years old and was discovered at over 6,000m in 1995. Her body is normally on display in the museum but it’s currently in the laboratory for preservation work so we saw the body of another young girl, Sarita, who was found on Sara Sara mountain.

The museum also has displays of many of the artefacts found with the buried children. Some of them are also really well preserved.

The ceremony was performed every 4-7 years in response to.problems such as earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, drought etc. The children would be chosen from across the Inca empire and they would walk to the chosen mountain with the priests who would perform the ceremony, the walk could sometimes take months. They were given a drink of fermented corn laced with hallucinogenic drugs, wrapped in blankets and then killed by being struck on the head with a mace with spikes on it. Pretty brutal.

In total 18 bodies of children have been found across the mountains in South America. No photos I’m afraid as no cameras were allowed.

After the museum visit I went and bought a suitcase and took it back to the hotel before heading out to look at Iglesia de la Compañía, which is a beautiful church just near the main square.

I then walked on to San Camilo market which is a huge market that sells absolutely everything. The range of different potatoes they have for sale was huge.

I then walked onto another church, Santa Domingo, but unfortunately it was shut but the outside was pretty impressive.

Back at the main square I tried some cheese ice cream, it actually was really nice, mainly vanilla flavour with some cinnamon sprinkled on top. It’s made with cheese and milk but doesn’t actually taste of cheese.

I then decided it was obviously a church day so I went to see the Santa Catalina Covent. This is a huge Covent also constructed from the volcanic rock sillar. Some serious earthquakes have caused damage to the structure but it has mainly been restored and you can walk around and see the rooms the nuns used to live in. They led very isolated lives and had little or no contact with the outside world. A handful of nuns still live in the convent but in a more modern building. The Covent has it’s own city inside it – it’s pretty amazing to see.

The photos below are of the novice chapel, the profundis room where the nuns were laid out before burial, a kitchen in one of the rooms, the laundry system, the main church and the fountain in one of the squares.

The original convent was built in 1578, 40 years after the Spanish arrived in the city. One of the most ‘famous’ nuns from the Covent is Blessed Sister Ana who was beatified in 1985 by Pope John Paul II.

The views from the top of the cathedral with the volcanos in the background were pretty good too.

On the way out their is an art gallery where they had a lot of paintings but also some other artefacts.

After the convent I headed home and packed my new suitcase and also my rucksack for the two day trek. I ate at the hotel restaurant and am going to have an early night as I will be picked up at 3am tomorrow!