South Coast - Peru - page 278

Sights & Activities
PLAZA DE ARMAS & AROUND
The town's small and shady plaza boasts a 19th-century wrought-iron fountain, thought by
some to have been designed in a workshop run by Gustave Eiffel (of eponymous tower
fame), and flower gardens that make it a welcome oasis away from the encroaching
desert.
The foreign-funded Museo Contisuyo ( www.museocontisuyo.com ; Tacna 294; adult/
child S1.50/0.50; 8:30am-1pm & 2:30-5:30pm) is an excellent little repository of local
archaeological artifacts, including photographs of recent excavations, along with exhibi-
tions of new works by local artists. The labels are in Spanish and English.
Opposite the facade of the town's oldest church , which mostly collapsed during a
massive earthquake in 1868, is an 18th-century Spanish colonial jail , with intimidating
iron-grilled windows. At one corner of the Plaza de Armas, visitors can enter the Casa
Posada de Teresa Podesta (cnr Ancash & Ayacucho; admission S2; 10am-3pm Mon-
Fri) , a stately colonial mansion with its innards still intact.
Walk around the town center to see some of the typical sugarcane thatching, especially
along Calle Moquegua, and have a peek inside Catedral Santa Catalina (Ayacucho) ,
which houses the body of 18th-century St Fortunata, whose hair and nails are said to be
still growing.
A park on a cliff high above the town is dominated by the Cristo Blanco , a white
statue of Christ raised in 2002. There are swinging seats, a small suspension bridge, and
expansive views over the Moquegua oasis and the surrounding desert.
CERRO BAÚL
A worthwhile excursion outside the city is to the flat-topped and steep-sided hill of Cerro
Baúl , 18km northeast of Moquegua, once a royal brewery built by the Wari people. As
was the case with succeeding Inca traditions, it was upper-class Wari women who were
the skilled brewers here. Archaeologists who are still at work excavating the site believe
that it was ceremonially destroyed by fire after one last, drunken chicha (fermented corn
beer) bash, though why it was abandoned in such a rush remains a mystery so far. The
rugged walk to the top of the site, which boasts panoramic views, takes about an hour.
From Moquegua, a round-trip taxi costs about S30, or simply catch a combi (S1.50) or
colectivo (S3) headed for Torata from central Moquegua and ask to be let off at Cerro
Baúl.