Arequipa, 1st to 4th April

Overnight bus journey brings us to Arequipa, Peru's second city, it's most conservative, and famous for being the country's culinary capital. Arequipa is dominated by El Misti, a 5,700 metre volcano. Staying just by the Plaza de Armas in the action of the city, and it's Semana Santa, the Easter Holidays, and as a Catholic country, there's plenty of processions and celebrations in the street.

Visited Santa Catalina Monastery, a fabulous convent right in the centre of the city, that was completely closed off to the world until 1970. The nuns, who take a vow of silence (and pray for us all) used to come from rich families in Spain, and would buy their rather comfortable private "cells" (or suites really) and have teams of servants looking after them (after a Vatican visit, they were told they could only have one servant each - life must have been difficult for them!). Nowadays the nuns do live in simpler accommodation and the monastery, like a private city, is open for all.

Also visited the University Museum, where the preserved remains of some of the Inca's child sacrifices are housed. The mountains surrounding the city were considered sacred by the Incas, and over the past 15 years, a variety of child remains have been discovered at the peaks of the mountains, all apparently sacrificed in intricate ceremonies to the gods.

Arequipa is a great place just to take things in... but onward to explore Colca Canyon! See some more pics of Arequipa here and Santa Catalina here.