Another day in Arequipa

Today unfolded in unimaginable ways given that we only planned to visit a museum. Here goes (no pics today since it is getting late and they take a bit to upload)-
 We thought we would try this place for breakfast that had a great vegan option.  Well, it was closed so we went to a pastry shop that we had seen before.  We had cheese empanadas, Moyra had her coffee and we shared a pastry called "luenga de suegra" "mother in law's tongue."  It was a long puff pastry type concoction with stuff in the middle, quite delicious.
 Then we went the museum with the mummy Juanita the Ice Maiden.  She was discovered in 1995 and was a child about 13 years old sacrificed to appease the gods (the mountains) 500 years ago.  She had remained frozen until a nearby volcano spewed ash and melted her grave. We were also able to see many relics from her grave and the graves of other children sacrificed.  They were children of royalty, the most beautiful, the most pure.
After the museum we saw that mass was ending at the Cathedral.  We asked if we could go in knowing that it was going to be closed today for a saint's day.  They said yes, the men's chorus was still singing as we went in.  It was a song that I knew (in English) and the entire setting was so beautiful that it brought tears to my eyes.  The cathedral is large and airy and the only cathedral in Peru allowed to fly the vatican flag. I was happy to find the fonts with the holy water and saw people crossing themselves.  Imagine my surprise to find the fonts empty. There were police and press outside, lots of them.  We couldn't figure out why but Moyra later read that there was to be a protest today. If so we missed it.  We decided to pretend that they were all there to see us (except no need for those really big guns).
For lunch we went to a Turkish restaurant and we ran into a couple that we had met in Cuzco.  We were all staying in the same hostal in Cuzco.  The best part of traveling is meeting new friends.
After lunch we had some time to use before starting a 2 hour bus tour.  We sat on the cathedral steps listening to a tuna play music.  I first became acquainted with Tunas while living in Spain.  They are made up of young men from a certain school and form a group to play music.  There are tuna competitions around the world.
Finally, we got on the bus for our tour.  It took us to places around and outside the city that we would never have seen. We got to learn more about llamas and alpacas and their wool.  We met one llama that made the sweetest little noise any time we started to leave, like a baby.  I wanted to bring it home. We enjoyed it so much that after 2 hours (the half tour that we had signed up for) we decided to stay for the whole tour 4 hours.  Many times we almost hit cows in the roads, and other cars....crazyness. The top of the bus was open air and we were getting so cold.  We finally moved downstairs since it was getting dark and there were no more pictures to take.
By the time we got off the bus we were starving.  We tried to find this vegetarian place but it was gone so we ended up at Che's pizza place (as in Che Guevara) and had amazing vegi pizza with green beans, carrots, brocolli, cauliflower, mushrooms, and who knows what else. Moyra had her first Pisco Sour.
We got back here to our hostal after 8.  Tomorrow we leave for a tour of Colca Canyon.  It is the deepest canyon in the world.  We will spend the night in the area, no computers but I will catch you up on Friday.  Hugs!