Canyon Country - Arequipa
Trip Start
Mar 01, 2008
1
40
97
Trip End
Feb 28, 2009
Arequipa,
Peru
Friday, July 4, 2008
Took a day to orientate ourselves with the city before taking a side trip for a few days to Colca Canyon (separate entry). Skyline views had from a rooftop cafe (along with exorbitant priced coffee) of surrounding volcanic and lunar lay of the land. We could see how Arequipa has been coined 'the white city' of Peru from the abundance of colonial buildings built from the light coloured volcanic rock, sillar.
The ornate facade lured us into one of Arequipa's oldest churches, Jesuit Iglesia de la Compaņia, where the inside was just as impressive as the outer, however the surrounding compound areas have now given way to a plethora of boutique alpaca and gift shops
Nun quaters, Monasterio Santa Catalina
.We left the highlight of Arequipa city for our return from the canyon - Monasterio Santa Catalina - a citadel within a city. Occupying a whole block and walled off from the outside world, the monastery only opened to the public in 1970, having been founded in 1579. The nuns decided to use funds from tourist visits to help repair and restore the monastery after repeated damage from earthquakes (apparently we managed to sleep through one ourselves that measured 6.0 or so on the scale, not much further south!) Originally it was the 2nd daughter in the ricker of Spanish families that were sent to become nuns - being considered fortunate in this regard, but it was the last they'd see of their families. Communication with the outside world happened in a cell type room through confessional type grids set into the thick concrete wall, or via their servants (mostly African) who ventured out to get daily provisions. The 28 novices were kept separated from the nuns for 4 years until 'graduation' into the greater areas. 500 or so nuns lived in the monastery at the time - now down to about 40 or so that live in a new block, still sectioned off from the public, but allowed to leave the monastery themselves for provisions.
We made a kindly donation in the form of enjoying some heavenly treats (or 'sinful pleasures') from their onsite cafe, before idling the afternoon away with mundane admin duties ahead of our night bus onwards to Huaraz, where trekking the 2nd highest mountains in the world was-a-calling!
