Arequipa - The Santa Catalina Convent

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After a twelve hour bus journey from Chiclayo to Lima, we flew to Arequipa, debatably the second most important city in Peru.

We saw many impressive landmarks, but the highlight was definitely the Santa Catalina Convent. Similar to the Vatican, the Santa Catalina Convent is seen as a small city within the larger city of Arequipa. In colonial times girls entered the Convent at the age of twelve! When a girl entered the Convent, they were never allowed to leave. The only contact they had with the outside world was through a barred hatch where they couldn’t reach to touch their families. The girls had four years to decide whether or not to devote their lives to God. At sixteen, in theory, the girls could decide to leave the Convent, however, this never happened as it would bring great shame on their family. This seems like a tough life but actually only privileged girls of wealth could enter the Convent. In colonial times, families had as many as ten or twelve children, it was seen that if one child served god, that would secure the whole families place in Heaven. The girl who entered the Convent viewed herself as the chosen one of the family and felt fortunate to live there. It was actually a good life, as the girls were protected from the troubles of the outside world. Also each girl had as many as four servants, enabling them to concentrate on prayer!

Nowadays the Convent is still active, but a lot less strict. There are about twenty five Nuns living in a small section of the original site.

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Photos

Beutiful Mural
These were used to teach the Nuns about the Bible, as they were not taught how to read.

Colourful corridor
Each different section of the convent was painted with one of three different bright colours; Indian red, orange and indigo blue.

Comments

[Anne]

the oven!!
Hi guys - you look really happy. The kitchen is interestng - the oven i s just like the one in Akapnou! xx