Peru: Santa Catalina & Tight lines!

January 2026

Santa Catalina - “for God and the Kingdom of Heaven”

The Santa Catalina Convent in Arequipa, founded in 1579, is a historical and architectural masterpiece that allows visitors to delve deep into the history of the city.
The convent was founded as a boarding school for the daughters of wealthy Spanish families, who were taught by the nuns. The tradition at that time dictated that the second daughter had to enter the convent "for God and the Kingdom of Heaven." If they wanted to become choir sisters, a dowry of around 150,000 Swiss francs in today's value and listed works of art had to be handed over to the convent. 

Santa Catalina was home to up to 150 cloistered nuns and 300 servants at times.
In 1871, the convent was reformed and the lavish dowries were sent back to Europe, servants were dismissed, and slaves were given their freedom. The nuns were given the choice of either continuing to live as sisters in the convent or leaving the monastery.

The monastery, now a museum, provides an insight into the life of the nuns at that time with its well-preserved cells, kitchens, and
impressive works of art. Beautiful murals, brick-built arcades, small gardens, works of art, and insights into monastic life at that time alternate. We were able to stroll through the narrow, winding alleys and colorful squares of the 20,000
square meter monastery. Today, around 25 nuns still live in a separate area and maintain
contact with the outside world.

Traffic in Peru

Unfortunately, too many vehicles are only partially roadworthy and, in most cases, overloaded. Tankers and heavily loaded mining vehicles are naturally very slow going uphill. This leads to long convoys. Unfortunately, this does not prevent some reckless drivers from overtaking them in blind spots and very dangerous places. After fifteen minutes, they have moved up a few places in the same convoy. However, as can be seen from the many wrecked cars and accident crosses, not everyone makes it.

Waste disaster in Peru

We were already used to quite a bit when it came to waste in Chile. But Peru surpasses everything else by far in terms of negativity. There is waste everywhere on roadsides, in parking lots, on beaches. Especially empty plastic containers, blown away by the wind! Everything that can be disposed of in any way is lying around here. It's a huge disaster.

Communication among travelers

We were standing at the side of a small, remote track that led down to a sea bay. We had a good view of the sea and planned to spend the night there.
After a short time, an old Defender with German license plates rumbled past toward the water. Fifteen minutes later, it drove uphill again without stopping.
We no longer understand the world of travel! Are there only adventurers/travelers on the road who visit iOverlander sites and communicate exclusively via Facebook?

Good fishing!

We spent a few days at Camarones Bay in Chile watching the flocks of birds and sea lions. Every day, a few sport fishermen came by and spent hours fishing, mostly with great success.
This inspired me to use my two small, extendable fishing rods again after a very long time. The locals fished exclusively with very long rods. With my two short rods, I was at a slight disadvantage when it came to casting far out into the surf.
Nevertheless, I caught three respectable fish in two hours. Dinner was taken care of.
The next day, to Brigitte's delight, I wanted to try again and fished from a small rock on the shore. In a short time, I caught two more magnificent specimens.
I put them in the plastic bucket I had brought with me, which I placed slightly elevated in the sand with my Crocs shoes.
Oh, horror of horrors, a short time later I saw out of the corner of my eye how my plastic bucket and a shoe were being pulled into the sea by the waves. With a lot of luck, I was able to rescue the bucket and shoe from the water. But my fish had disappeared back into their element.
Thanks to my fishing success, Brigitte was able to fillet more fish. All's well that ends well – thank you, tight lines!