June 19, 2005

Juanita

Today I went to visit Juanita. She's not a living person (well, she was once), but a mummy that is hundreds of years old. She was found on the top of a mountain called Ampato that is near Arequipa, the town in PerĂº where we are now. She is supposed to be the most well-preserved mummy in the world. She was preserved by natural means, not artificial means like the mummies in Egypt. They found her about 10 years ago when a nearby volcano melted the snow on Ampato. It was the cold and snow that had preserved her all these years. Scientists think that she was a sacrifice to the gods from the Incas when the volcano was erupting hundreds of years ago. She was between 12 and 14 years old and probably of the Incan nobility. They found three other mummies on the same mountain and others have been found on other high mountains in South America. The museum where Juanita now resides and the food have been the two highlights of Arequipa. The food here is the best in PerĂº, at least that we've tried so far.

1 comment:

Eli said...

I'm so glad to read that you're still blogging! I was a little concerned when I hadn't received any email, but figured that things were going all right. There was a piece on 60 minutes last night about a new species of monkey that they found in Bolivia...I guess that's for another trip!