Arequipa, Peru

Arequipa (2,300m) is the second most populous city of Peru. The city has many colonial-era Spanish building built of sillar, a pearly white volcanic rock, hence the nickname, ‘The White City’. It was named a UNESCO world heritage site in 2000.

Arequipa by night

Street scene of Arequipa

There are more taxis than private cars

Monasterio de Santa Catalina (Santa Catalina Monastery) (3 photos above)
A cloistered convent built in 1580 and was enlarged on the 17th century.
The convent once house approximately 450 people
(about a third of them nuns and the rest servants).

Currently, there are approximately 20 nuns living in the complex.

Red and blue colours ‘dominate’ the complex.