Arequipa decision

As the other airplane landed Arequipa, the weather start worsening. The local handler confirm that the weather in Juliaca in the afternoon is getting very wet.

With a 12,500 elevation, the decision not to go start to be very appealing.

Decision is made to stay in Arequipa.

Se need a hotel and a program for the afternoon. Most important is lunch.

Our home for the night the hotel "Libertador"

We liker the location, the setup, the building and the atmosphere.

We will be back to this hotel in later Journeys

Very large flower every where, make you feel at home

Of course, we have not been in town for ore than 15 mn to visit a "Monasterio" that steve already made some local contacts, cute and very friendly

I nearly bought this one to have in the lobby at home....but I didn't even ask the question I would have been vetoed.

This is an interesting structure....look closely ti the "armure" 

We are in for a 90 mn visit of the Monasterio de Santa Catalina.

It was built in 1579 and was enlarged in the 17th century. The over 20,000-square-meter monastery was built predominantly in the Mudéjar style, and is characterized by its vividly painted walls. There are approximately 20 nuns currently living in the northern corner of the complex; the rest of the monastery is open to the public.^{[citation needed]}

The foundress of the monastery was a rich widow, Maria de Guzman. The tradition of the time indicated that the second son or daughter of a family would enter a life of service in the Church, and the monastery accepted only women from upper class Spanish families. Each family paid a dowry at their daughter's admission to the monastery. The dowry expected of a woman who wished to enter as a choir nun--indicated by wearing a black veil—and who thereby accepted the duty of the daily recitation of the Divine Office, was 2,400 silver coins, equivalent to about $150,000 (U.S.) today. The nuns were also required to bring 25 listed items, including a statue, a painting, a lamp and clothes. The wealthiest nuns may have brought fine English china and silk curtains and rugs. Although it was possible for poorer nuns to enter the convent without paying a dowry, it can be seen from the cells that most of the nuns were very wealthy.

In 1871 Sister Josefa Cadena, O.P., a strict Dominican nun, was sent by Pope Pius IX to reform the monastery. She sent the rich dowries back to Europe, and freed all the servants and slaves, giving them the choice of either remaining as nuns or leaving. In addition to the stories of outrageous wealth, there are tales of nuns becoming pregnant, and amazingly of the skeleton of a baby being discovered encased in a wall. This, in fact, did not happen in Santa Catalina, and there are rumors of the same story in the nearby Santa Rosa monastery, as well.

At its height,the monastery housed approximately 450 people (about a third of them nuns and the rest servants) in a cloistered community. In the 1960s, it was struck twice by earthquakes, severely damaging the structures, and forcing the nuns to build new accommodation next door. It was then restored in stages by groups including Promociones Turisticas del Sur S.A. and World Monuments Fund and opened to the public. This also helped pay for the installation of electricity and running water, as required by law.

I guess they built these doors to make sure the Nuns stayed inside

The street of Arequipa are very colorful and very welcoming. The alpaca is very affordable and very colorful

We are now on the Plaza des Armas for a quick drink and then back to the hotel for dinner. 

Arequipa's Plaza de Armas is one of the most beautiful in Peru. The Plaza is graced by the Cathedral and two-story arcades. With its palm trees, old English-style garden Arequipeños congregate here for political rallies, protests or fiestas. The plaza's thick stone buildings with busily carved portals, their Moorish touches evident, breathe 450 years of history.

The altitude been 8500 feet we are getting slowly used to the altitude...a good thing we stopped here.

The alpaca is very soft....the mannequin too

Like every where the rush hour is fought and we have seen many butt hanging out the bus windows fo make room inside the bus