Our bus to Nasca wasn't leaving Arequipa until 1330 which gave us time to visit the Monasterio de Santa Catalina in the morning. We had breakfast and used the computer in the hotel to pay for our Galapagos trip before packing our bags and heading out. The monastery occupies a whole block near the centre of Arequipa and is practically a city within a city. We decided to pay for a guide to take us around and show us the main sights. Founded in 1580. it originally housed over 200 nuns, now only 20 live in the new monastery which is part of the same complex of buildings. It's a maze of narrow streets, colourful plazas, hidden staircases, lovely courtyards and living quarters. The tour lasted just over an hour after which we had the opportunity to wander around at our leisure. Sadly it was badly damaged by the 2001 earthquake and a number of the buildings remain permanently damaged. We decided to have an early lunch and headed back to the lovely french cafe we'd been to a few days before. Unfortunately it was closed and instead went to a nearby cafe serving crepes with a huge number of different fillings. There must have been a Beetle rally on in the city with the cars driving passed the cafe and eventually parking up in Plaza de Armas (maybe part of their Father's Day celebrations?). Back at the hotel we collected our bags and got a taxi to the bus station, checking them in for our journey to Nasca, being searched, photographed and videoed as we are now accustomed to with Cruz del Sur trips. We left just after the scheduled departure time and headed north west, eventually dropping down to the coast at Camana and joining the Pan America highway. It seemed strange to see the Pacific Ocean again after being inland for so long. The landscape here is very much the same as northern Peru despite being hundreds of miles away, with a stripe of dry, arid desert that separates the sea from the Andean mountains, misty with the sea hoar. The road continually snakes around the seas edges with the sand dunes falling away steeply to meet the ocean. It's the first time in c6 weeks that we've been anywhere near sea level. We sat downstairs in the premium seats which meant that we had our own TV screens and passed away the hours gazing out of the window at the barren landscape and watching movies. (James Brown, the King of Soul for Simon and Wild for Diane). The road heads back in land south of Nasca where we finally arrived just after 2300. Our hotel was only a block away so we walked the short distance (although managed to take the back road by mistake - so much for Google Maps!), checked in, enjoyed a cold beer and headed for bed.
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| Monasterio de Santa Catalina - one of several plazas |
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| The nun's living quarters before the Pope's reformation in the late 19th century |
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| The view from the roof |
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| Enjoying the view over Arequipa |
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| Another plaza |
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| The boundary with the new monastery |
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| A great view of volcano Chachani |
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| One of Arequipa's many colonial streets |
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| The beetle rally in Plaza de Armas |
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| Arequipa bus station |
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