Santa Catalina
The trip to Arequipa (Peru) took us about 24 hours, just a tad longer than our non-stop twenty-two hour bus ride from Lima to Cuzco. This time we spent less time in the bus, but with border crossing and three bus changes we got to Arequipa quite late the next evening. Personally, I was really looking forward to Arequipa. Many people we met on the road raved how beautiful it is, and how many cool things you can do here. Alas, I have to say we found Arequipa to be somewhat boring. No matter how hard we looked, we could not find any interesting markets, and the excursions from the local travel agencies did not look like anything we couldn't do by ourselves. We strolled the streets for a while and eventually ended up spending most of our time in Monasterio de Santa Catalina which is said to be the finest example of Arequipa's colonial architecture. The Monastery was indeed impressive in its size and structure. Inside, besides the usual tiny courtyards surrounded by religious art, were actual streets, nun's quarters, and all they might need to live their quiet lives, like kitchens, bathrooms, and laundry facilities, all accessible without leaving the walls of the convent.
