2008 Peru – Arequipa
Thursday 6th March
Arequipa was the second largest city in Peru which was surprising considering that the arrivals hall was so small I half expected a donkey to bring our luggage from the plane. Our hotel was once part of the famous Santa Catarina Monastery. The reception and ground floor still had the original stone and the hotel was designed to make guests feel like they were staying in a monastery which made it very special. Our trip would last ten days, a lot of which would be at high altitudes so I was a little concerned. I got altitude sickness standing on a stepladder so when I heard some of our destinations would be over 5000 metres I felt my concern was justified. The altitude at Arequipa was 2300 metres and although I felt quite breathless it was nothing I couldn’t handle.
In the afternoon we visited the Santa Catalina Monastery which was right opposite our hotel. As far as I knew, there was only ever nuns living there. When it was first built by the Spanish in 1579, the second daughter of every family was sent there whether they liked it or not. They were convinced that the best way to thank God for creating such a wonderful world was to shut themselves away from it. Inmates had to complete a four-year apprenticeship during which time their families were allowed to visit them but with no physical contact, apart from talking through a wooden grill. 
Once they were qualified they were no longer allowed to have any contact with their families but were given a lot more freedom within the monastery. Religion works in mysterious ways
Qualified nuns were allowed to own houses inside the convent and receive gifts regardless of how expensive they were. They were allowed servants and could live the same kind of privileged lifestyle as if they lived in the real privileged world. There was even a class system so posh nuns ruled the roost and entertained other posh nuns in their homes, serving them posh tea in the finest European tea services. There were rumours that there was even a kind of dial-a-monk service but nobody knew for sure as diaries were heavily censored by the church. It was a couple of hundred years before one of the big knobs in Rome got wise to all this and demanded that they all slept in dormitories and lived more frugally to ensure their short time on planet Earth was not tainted by any form of pleasure.
2008 South America
