Peru. Arequipa

   Leaving Bolivia and heading by bus towards Peru's capital, we visited the city of Arequipa, which is the second largest in the country. We spent just a day here, waiting for our transfer to Ica, but still managed to explore its most beautiful part...

  The central square with the cathedral...

  After visiting the square, we headed to the Monastery of Santa Catalina de Siena, which is now fully dedicated to being a museum...

  The citadel covers an area of 20,000 square meters and is a true miniature city with numerous colorful streets. Moreover, the monastery is completely isolated from the city, despite being located in its center. A high, sturdy wall, 4 meters tall, separated the lives of the women who lived in the monastery. Here, you can enter most of the buildings and explore the daily life of the nuns from past years... 

  The streets and small squares within the monastery are adorned with bright colors, and all the buildings are executed in a uniform style...

  

  Starting our walk from the red square, we gradually moved towards the blue one...

  This is the square with orange trees...

  Inside one of the buildings... 

  In each of the buildings, there was a stove, either located inside or outside...

  Kitchens are perhaps the most interesting locations within the monastery...  

  The red streets...

 The white street with red geraniums...

  The red street...

  The houses on the red street were painted inside with a rich blue color...

  The fountain at the Monastery of Santa Catalina... 

  It's interesting that volcanic tuff was used for construction—a cemented pyroclastic rock formed from solidified volcanic eruption materials such as ash, lapilli, and volcanic bombs. The monastery utilized two types of tuff: white tuff from the Chachani volcano, and pink tuff from the Misti volcano...

  There was even a pool here as well...

  From one of the rooftops of the building, you can catch a glimpse of the monastery's panorama and also see the distant peaks of the volcanoes... 

  After finishing our tour of the monastery, we returned to the main square and entered the Church of La Compañía...

 Afterwards, we climbed up to a café with a fantastic view of the central square and the volcanic peaks in the background... 

  In the evening, we departed by overnight bus to the town of Ica, near which are the sand dunes with the oasis of Huacachina. We planned to spend the next day there...