Santa Catalina
Nicolas and I went to Santa Catalina during my sobriety streak. Besides Plaza de Armas and La Catedral (which are free), Santa Catalina is the top tourist destination in Arequipa and is designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Santa Catalina was a monastery built in the 16th century in operation well into the 19th century. It takes up two square blocks of downtown Arequipa. Inside is a small town – a city within a city – closed off to the outside world. It’s a concrete maze of hallways leading to living quarters, dining rooms, kitchens, and gardens – beautifully painted with bright colors.
The official line reads that this was a convent where nuns pledged to a life of simplicity and poverty in hopes to reach the highest spiritual level. The stated mission was to liberate souls stranded in purgatory. Other sources, which I found in my research while writing an article on Peru, show that it became quite a party house. Women had servants, drank wine more often than at Communion, were entertained with music, and some rumors allege that male studs were occasionally brought in. In the eighteenth century, its reputation was so that some archbishop decided to clean house and reform Santa Catalina.
Either way, it was worth a visit. I never went before because of the S/. 30 entrance fee, which I rationalized spending this time since I saved at least that in my first hour not drinking. I am at a point in my life, the first for me, when I am reconsidering what I think about God. I don’t really have any answers, but I increasingly doubt the validity of how it was presented to me by the establishment. I remember looking at these rooms where these nuns lived and wondering who would want to live their lives this way. Never leaving the building, rarely meeting new people, not having sex, not having children, not learning all there is to learn. It seemed like such a waste. But I’m sure those women had a much different take on it.
If you want to read more about the monastery, click here for the official website in English.
Enjoy the pics. There were dozens of paintings with scenes of a birth or some dude or nun looking all reverent. The paintings I like and take pictures of had naked people or violence. I got a pic of some nuns saving souls from purgatory – that’s pretty bad-ass.
After Santa Catalina, we decided to see La Catedral, which we’d both seen before. I’ve posted pictures of The Cathedral from outside, but nothing from inside. I took three pictures of the devil.
Pictures
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