Monasteria de Santa Catalina

On Wednesday, we visited a beautiful place in Arequipa. It was too amazing not to mention. This is a very old convent that began in the 1800s I think. The rich would pay a dowry to have their daughter placed there. The daughter, after the first novice years, would then get a house and would often have servants to take care of the cooking and the cleaning. It was a self-contained very wealthy rich community...all women. The families wanted a daughter praying for them, and their solution was to put them here. It is a pretty place and the food we got there for a quick lunch was some of the best we have had here. They paint the walls to tone down the while sillar rock which the sun glares off of. The "streets" are modeled after places in Spain and named accordingly. Here is a taste of what we saw.

Below is the laundry area. A stream of water rolls down the center. To fill the pot, just put a leaf, rock, etc. to stop the hole in the bottom and then put your hand into the center. It will filter the water down your pipe into your pot. I like it when Ryan does laundry.