Santa Catalina Monastery

Lazy morning not really feeling like getting out of bed. Breakfast that consisted of a bun and some sliced avocado disappointed us a bit, but last nights meal was still taking up space. Mikkel Skyped home for a while, we handed in laundry and took care of a few other practical things before heading to the convent.

The Santa Catalina Monastery is impressive in many ways - the sheer size makes it possible to spend hours in there walking slowly around looking at the different rooms and sections of the monastery. There is an impressive collection of church art but the feature we liked the most was the differently themed areas or neighbourhoods of the monastery. One section reserved for the newly arrived nuns, the trainees, another section dedicated to those who lived there for many years, countless courtyards each with their own distinct looks and function and so on. We ended up spending more than two hours walking around. As an added bonus we had the place more or less to ourselves being there after 12 when everybody else were doing lunch.

We left for the Flores bus terminal to get tickets for tomorrows bus trip to Cusco. Going with the "Bus Economico" again in the early morning and having a chance to look at the landscape - 11 hours in total.
From Flores we took a taxi to Arequipas only mall, spending a couple of hours looking at shops and being reminded about Christmas by a huge christmas tree in the main area of the mall. No serious shopping though.

We headed back to the hostel and picked up a few things - Mikkels back pack cover being the most important. It is doing its third round the world trip and needed some patching badly which we had done at a local mall. 10 Soles for patching all the holes - and time for a hair cut in the meantime - also 10 Soles including tips.

Then we headed for some local dinner tonight getting some rice and pasta for 15 Soles including tips - or a bit less that what we paid in tips at Zig Zag restaurant yesterday. It is certainly possible to do South America on a budget. Heading to bed early - the taxi leaves at 6:30 AM.

The "conversation" room at the entrance to the convent. 

Courtyard

One of the cells

One of many kitchens

Lots of flowers inside the monastery

Washing area

Convent garden

Back pack cover fixed, check

Always room for some cake

Me too