Bad Case of Wanderlust (My Trip Around the World): Arequipa, Day 2 (Nov 28th)

Strangely enough, our second day in Arequipa began with a hunt for the origin point of the tallest palm tree either James or I had ever seen, towering over the horizon.

I'm not quite sure why we found ourselves so fascinated, but we were. And truly, the thing was huge!

Then we proceeded to the Monasterio de Santa Catalina, a two-block miniature city within Arequipa where the wealthy once sent their second daughters to take their holy orders.

This baffling, gorgeous complex fuses the austerity and solitude of the traditional nunnery with the decadence of the lives the women had been accustomed to prior to taking their vows.

They devoted their lives to God, yet as women, they were not even permitted to read the bible. Instead, elaborate oil paintings adorned almost every room and corridor.

They were only allowed minimal communication with the outside world in accordance with the rules of their order-- and even that only through grated walls-- yet they each had a private house and servants within the monastery.

They had few freedoms, yet surrounded themselves with the finest decor.

Although greatly reformed from that era of decadence, the monastery remains active, with 20 nuns currently living along one of it's many insular streets.

And thanks to a number of large donations, the site is maintained largely as it was in those earlier days, for the viewership of the public.

The last main room we got to see was the kitchen.

And right outside of the kitchen, they still keep cages with the traditional main course waiting and ready. Poor thing!

After our guided tour was complete, we wandered around the streets of the monastery for a while...

... and spent some time in the garden.

Then we headed out to lunch. See how calm and relaxed James is here? This was about 20 minutes before he cracked open the back of his heel, which had turned into a bit of a mess after he did the Inca Trail. At that point, I insisted that he return to the hotel while I went to the grocery store and picked up our rented backpacks from the tour operator. When I returned, I helped him with his busted foot in hopes that he wouldn't have to miss out on Colca Canyon. Then we made it an early night considering that our operator would be picking us up at 3am.