Arequipa

23-June

From Nazca I took an overnight bus to Arequipa. Arequipa is known as the ¨White City¨ because the city has many buildings built of sillar, a pearly white volcanic rock. As with any city in South America it seems, there is a Plaza de Armas, the main square.

There I met up with my friend Kim from spanish school in Quito. She unfortunatly had hurt her foot and was in a cast. She had to stay in Arequipa longer than she had planned. I went to visit her and we went to lunch. It was her first time outside of her hotel. She showed me the courtyards of La Compania.

I also did a tour of the Santa Catalina Convent. It was built in the 17th century. It looks plain from the outside. But inside it was beautiful - beautiful courtyards and tapestries.

On the tour we learned about the lives of the nuns - the simple room they had in training, the coffins for the poorer nuns that couldn´t afford a closed casket, the simple kitchen. Their beds were always under an arch. Arches were important structures for places that were prone to earthquakes. At one point in the tour we could hear the nuns over a wall playing volleyball.