The Vagrant Gypsy Life

Photos: Santa Catalina

Day 187 Sat 5/3 Arequipa

I spent my morning at the Monasterio de Santa Catalina. A really good mixture of colonial and Arequipean architecture. Abundant use of the sillar volcanic stone, vaults, domes, colours, all make it a really beautiful place. It seemed like a little town inside the city, protected and cut off from the real world by high walls. The narrow streets are named after Spanish towns and have 3 main cloisters. It is easy to spend hours there. It is also, I found to my distress, easy to carry off colours on the back of your shirt, when one sits down on a bench set perilously close to the walls!

I left the convent and re-entered the real world to find a huge parade, with traditional dances, out on the streets and in the Plaza de Armas. Tomorrow (Sun Mar 6) is the beginning of Carnaval here!

Headed to a late (by my stomach-time) lunch and to the hostel where I spent some time on my blog and watching another FCB game.

Headed out again for a short walk before returning to the hostel. Time to pack, and pay for the room. I was tired and decided on a quiet, early night.

Tags: Travel

This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 16th, 2011 at 07:02 and is filed under Travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.