Santa Catalina, our first tourist stop in the city, is a convent established in the early 17th century and was home to nuns throughout the 1960s. It contains an impressive collection of very well preserved buildings where the nuns lived and studied. They practiced a life of solitude and did not interact with the public, except to teach classes to girls of the town. Paintings lined the common spaces and the nuns were famous for their baking skills, although I found it difficult to imagine that they traded for all of their goods with the public via the giant lazy-susans that lined the outer complex walls.
Spending time with the memory of the women of Santa Catalina made me think about our host’s helper, a lady who was introduced to us as someone who would be ‘taking care’ of us for that day. Our host explained to me that Feli had been with the family since her children were babies and still came to help out a few days a week by cooking and keeping the house tidy.
Feli, was a quiet lady who was thrilled when I told her that our breakfast was the best we had in Peru. For both me and my boyfriend, having a helper to cook and clean was a brand new experience, one that is very common for the middle and upper class homes of Peru. As a woman who is used to having to cook and clean for herself it was interesting to think about hiring another person to lend a hand and I honestly still do not know how I feel about it.
What gorgeous pictures. Arequipa is a beautiful city and I can imagine the nuns enjoying the sights while contemplating their religious beliefs in private. What a life that must have been.