Santa Catalina

We spent a lovely morning at the Monasterio Santa Catalina, a perfectly preserved Seventeenth Century citadel within the city walls, despite a fairly turbulent history of political intrigue and earthquakes. There are the various serene cloisters that the noviates preceded through in their training and then a veritable warren of accommodations for older nuns, as well as chapels, bath houses and refectories. Overall, an oasis of calm – and a decent café too! Afterwards we girded ourselves for an uphill walk to the neighbourhood of Yanahuara, where there is a park and mirador with fine views of the city’s presiding volcano, El Misti. There’s also a very good picanteria called La Nueva Palomino, where we ate lots of fried vegetable things and a big bowl of pumpkin stew. Will a shared starter and main course be ‘sufficiente’, asked Beck to which the waitress replied, oh yes, ‘muy sufficiente’ – and indeed it was…! Afterwards we went back down into town to visit the bank (a very grand old bank with a fine collection of watercolours of the ‘Arequipa School’ as well as the usual ATMs), finalize our trek plans for tomorrow and, eventually, find our way back to Tante for a light(ish) dinner…