Tag: Peru

Santa Catalina Monastery – Arequipa, Peru

Sitting on a whole city block in the middle of the old part of the city of Arequipa sits the winding streets and bright walls of one of the oldest European claims in South America, the Santa Catalina Monastery. This is a must-see sight if ever visiting Arequipa, and when you do, plan to take a couple hours to explore all that it has to offer. I would also recommend that you make it one of the first things you do in the morning to avoid the heat of the day and the large crowds that eventually make their way to this place. It is nice to be one of the first people of the day to walk through the location because it will make you feel as if you have the place to yourself.

The monastery is a nunnery that is still in use today even though it no longer boasts the number of nuns that it held during colonial times, and it is a rare sight to see the nuns who live in the corner of this historic sight. At its height, there were about 500 people living on the grounds. Some of the women that lived here were given their own rooms if they came from a wealthy enough family to pay for this luxury; whereas, many of the other women found themselves to be a part of the big dormitory that sits in the middle of the monastery. Even with all of these people in this place, it would still feel rather large and it has easily enough space to accommodate all of them.

Not every woman that ended up in the monastery ended up becoming a nun. Many of them arrived when they were as young as twelve years old, and they were brought here to learn from the nuns, and prepare for a life outside of the monastery. They would live beside the nuns, and learn from them. As I was walking around the grounds, I found hints of this lifestyle in many of the corners, and the place itself reminded me of a large campus where I could imagine students, and nuns alike moving from place to place as they completed what needed to be done.

One of the most interesting spots on the grounds is the place where they did laundry. It was based upon an irrigation design that was brought over from Africa. Water would constantly flow down this little groove in a wall, and when someone wanted to divert it into the basin that they were using, they would place a rock in the path of the flow to have it go through the pipe that would lead to their basin. These basins were made out of old wine pots that were used to ferment the beverage. They could no longer be used for wine, but they made the perfect sink for washing clothes.

There are also magnificent gardens on the grounds that they could tend to so there could be some beauty added to the place. This is even more impressive due to the fact that the monastery sits in the middle of a high desert where a patch of green is hard to come by. Still, the nuns were able to create this zen paradise in the middle of this kind of environment.

If that was not the place where they wanted to spend their time, there was also the fountain which could be found in the middle of everything. I was told that it was the place where they would go to get their water, but I did not think that the green water that was found in the fountain while I was there would be worth drinking. Despite that, if you look closely enough into the water, you can find small koi fish swimming around in it. They are not as large as some of the koi ponds I have come across in my travels in Asia, but it was a nice addition to this little spot on the grounds.

Santa Catalina Monastery is a great place to visit, nestled in the heart of the old part of the city. It is easy to spend a morning there after breakfast, and you will have explored it thoroughly enough just in time for a great lunch in the neighborhood. It is worth walking through with a tour guide and they are only ten soles, or two and a-half dollars per person for an hour guided tour. They do have both English, and Spanish guided tours, and I think that I even heard French while I was being guided around. They have the ability to point out the nuances that would be missed if you went by yourself.

Otherwise, until next time, keep getting out there and see what the world has to offer.

A Walk Around Arequipa, Peru

It has been a strange year. I have not done as much traveling as I have in the past, and when I had time off from my work, I would spend that time coming home to be their with my family during some rough times. I have had the opportunity to take short weekend trips but it has almost been a year since I have gone on a vacation that lasted for a week, but life has a way of shifting perspective, and I have been given the opportunity to go explore a different part of the world, Latin America, as I have made the move to Lima, Peru. As my first trip in this part of the world, I took a quick flight into the Andes to the second biggest city of Peru, Arequipa.

Arequipa is a colonial city that has been around since the sixteenth century. The old part of the city has some of the oldest buildings in the Americas, and it has the feeling of walking around the heart of a Spanish city. There are many impressive sights to go and see, but for my first day in the city, I decided it would be best to just wander around the older part of the city and see what it had to offer. It was fun looking at the facade of these buildings, and peeking my head into the various places where I could eventually learn more about what this city had to offer.

Of course, Arequipa being in Peru, one of the things that it boasts is the food that this country is known for. There are so many fusion restaurants to choose from and it is hard to pick just one. I found a udon place called Yama Wok for lunch that was the perfect start to what will be a bounty of great eating. It was a tiny place with only five seats available but the noodles were made fresh and they cooked the meal right in front of you. It wasn’t only a fun experience, but it was also delicious.

It gave me the energy I needed to explore more of the old city. No matter where I went, I kept roaming back to the center of the city where a beautiful plaza is. The garden in the center of this square is an inviting place where you can find a shady spot underneath a tree to enjoy some cheese ice-cream, play a card game, or just relax with a good book. It is where most of the people come to meet up with each other, and I have also witnessed moments where it explodes with life as parades walk through or people who have gotten married or received the first communion get the perfect picture to capture the moment.

And of course there are many a roof top bar where you can look out over the city and watch the sunset. They serve the great drinks that you come to expect from Peru such as good wine, or pisco sours, but they also have a surprising beer culture that they can boast about. We went to our favorite brew-pub, Sierra Andina which has great IPAs, stouts, and a really good porter.

Even though the day was not filled by learning about the culture from this part of the world, it was still a fun day of traveling again. It was the perfect way to ease into a great traveling experience, and I cannot wait to see what the rest of this week has to offer for me.

Until next time, enjoy getting out there and experiencing the world.

Moving a Dog to Peru

Meet Zoey. I have talked about her before. She is my puppers. We rescued her while living in Jordan, and though she drives me crazy from time to time, I love her to death, and would do anything for her. When I found a new job across the world in Peru, I was definitely going to take her with me, but the logistics of taking a dog from one part of the world to another is a crazy endeavor of paperwork, muscle and stress. In the end though, it is worth the effort to know that she will be with me on this new adventure in a new country.

Let’s get one thing straight, Zoey has a pretty easy life even though she might tell you differently. She was picked up on the side of the road in the dessert on the way to the Dead Sea from Amman. Afterwards, she was given a home where she had all the toys she could want, never had to hunt for her food, or look for a fluffy place to rest her head when she was tired. Despite all this, she has still only know a dessert world where there are few trees, hot sun beating down, and a city landscape. Going across the world has been an eye-opening experience for her. For the first time in her life, she has seen big bodies of water, squirrels, horses, and deer, and trees so numerous that they cover a whole area that the humans call forests.

All of these new experiences have been a little stressful for her. She does not always know what to make of them, and as soon as she starts to feel comfortable in a place, we uproot and get her on the move again. You see, we couldn’t make a direct flight from Jordan to Peru. We had about a month lay-over in the United States, and to get her into this country was a little bit of a challenge. The United States currently has ban on dogs coming from Jordan because of a couple of cases of rabies a few years back. Basically it takes about six months to collect all the paperwork necessary to fly a dog into the United States from Jordan, and then you have to schedule an appointment with the CDC to get another health check before they officially allow the dog into the country.

Airlines are also fun to work with. They each have their own requirements and weight allowance. It requires just as much wrangling to get a dog into the cargo hold and even then, it is not always a given they will get to go. They will have to be there during a certain time of the year because they will not allow the dog to fly if it is too hot or too cold outside. In each case, it might cause the dog severe discomfort while sitting on the tarmac because they will not be able to turn on the climate control until they are up in the air. Luckily this was never a problem for us as we found the perfect time to get her into the plane, and the plane into the air.

We tried to limit the amount of time that Zoey had to spend in the air, and we definitely wanted to limit the amount of layovers that she might have to endure. The best way to do this was to fly in and out of L.A. even though she would be staying in Oregon the whole time she was in the United States. In order to make this happen, we had to take the long drive between the two states twice. It wasn’t ideal, but it was easier for Zoey to understand what was going on rather than having her trapped in a dark tiny crate for many long hours without us being able to explain why she was in it.

It also gave us the added bonus of being able to see a little more of the United States on a road trip. It has been a long time since I have been on an American road trip, and I enjoy the feel of the open road. This is not necessarily the same for a dog who has to find themselves cramped in the back seat with a collection of all of our stuff that we are bringing with us to Lima on our move there. Still, I was amazed at well Zoey did on the trip. She chilled out in the back seat and got up to watch the scenery as it passed by. It helped that we did the drive through California which offers a lot to look at.

But after a couple of nights in hotels that we fancier than what we usually stayed in because we wanted to make sure that there was enough space for Zoey, it was tine to pack everything up and head to the airport. That final jump over to our new life was exciting for us, but trying to explain to Zoey how much she would love the new experience was still difficult for us to do. I always wondered what was going through her mind at this moment. Did she think that she was heading back to Jordan to her home, or was she still confused as to what actually was going on?

Whatever she was thinking, the reality is she eventually got on that flight, and made it all the way to her new life in Peru. It was stressful for her and us, and there was quite an adventure along the way, but we are safe and sound now. She has taken the last week exploring her new surroundings and getting comfortable as so have we. I can’t wait to see where it leads all of us, and I am sure that Zoey agrees.

Thanks for reading, and I look forward to keeping you updated with our new adventure.

Back from a Break

I know that I have gone quiet on my blog for a little while. It has been almost five years where I have had a break like this. I usually try to post at least once a week while working and as often as I can while I am on vacation, but things got a little busy for me over the last month. I have been taking a class so that I can renew my educator’s license, and I had some family matters that came up. The combination of the two made my leaving Jordan rather quick, and I was not able to write posts during that time. Well, things have calmed down, I’ve found myself back in America for a bit before making the final move to Peru, and I now can write again. I look forward to connecting with all of you again, and in the meantime, here is a picture of wild turkeys that I took recently while I was out walking. I hope to bring you more exciting things in the coming days, and thank you for being patient with me.