Our day in Arequipa started with a city tour. First stop was a lookout above the city from where we could see the city laid out below and the mountains above. There was the option of a zipline ride here, we both passed on it. I was tempted until I saw the climb back up afterwards. From here we also watched the river in the valley below, the water is used for farming along the banks. Every piece of ground that can be farmed is being utilised, the land is extremely fertile due to the volcanic ash that is washed down from upstream.
Next stop was a beautiful church overlooking the city below. The decorative carvings outside feature both traditional Catholic symbols and local Andean imagery. The best way to encourage the locals to accept Catholicism was to blend it with the local religions. To this day although many people in the region are Catholic they still also maintain traditional ways.
As we left the church we headed to the main Plaza or central square, this is a feature of all Peruvian towns and a legacy of the Spanish invaders. The square will have the main church of the town or city on one side with the municipal offices on the opposite side. Traditionally the two adjacent sides were occupied by houses for the important people of the town. In many cases these days these buildings are now restaurants and shops as is the case in Arequipa.
Sunday also is a day when there is a parade in the plaza involving the armed forces and police. Sadly we were too late today to see this, there were though still large numbers of men and women in their dress uniforms to be seen. The plaza is also the place where families gather to relax and enjoy each others company. With the weather being so good the area was packed with happy people enjoying life.
The rich Catholic history means that there are many reminders of the way things used to be. One of these is the nunnery, it onced housed over 170 nuns, now there are 75. Girls entered holy orders at 12 yrs of ages, the second daughter was the chosen one. Oldest daughters were expected to get married, not sure what any other daughters did. The families had to pay a dowry so the girls could enter, once in there it was very hard to leave. 
The first four years were spent as a novice, 20 hours a day in their rooms in silence and solitude praying. Once this time was over they moved to the Orange Cloister that is actually blue, it gets it’s name from the orange trees planted within. 
Life wasn’t all bad though, in the early days the nuns from wealthy families bought their apartments in the nunnery with bedroom, kitchen and a small garden as well as then having servant’s to look after them. If they had family in the nunnery they could buy an apartment with more than one bedroom and live together. This was until they came under the control of the Pope in Rome and he outlawed this practice in the mid 1800’s It was at this time that numbers dropped sharply, I suppose if you can’t live a life of luxury why be a nun.
On leaving the nunnery we went to find the local market, wouldn’t you know it it was closed. Raul was quite shocked at this. We then strolled back to the plaza where Raul left us to our own devices.
We had lunch in a local eatery and then browsed the shops before heading back to hotel to drop off our cameras and bags. We’d passed a bar advertising cider so thought it was time for a drink, sadly they had no cider, Helen wasn’t impressed by this. We got talking to a guy in the bar who was actually from Australia, he is now living in Peru which is where his mother was born. As we talked other people entered the bar, which was only small. One newcomer turned out to be another tour leader and actually knew Raul. As we had to meet Raul to talk about our trip to the Colca Valley we took him back to the bar to catch with his friend. Much laughter and maybe too many local craft beers followed before Helen and I headed on for dinner at a fantastic local restaurant called Tanta. Great night but maybe too many drinks considering our trip the next day to high altitude.