The Republic of Arequipa

We then took a night bus and arrived early on the morning of the 21st (I think) in Arequipa, Peru's "white city." Its inhabitants are so fiercely proud of their city that there's a sign at the entrance to the city saying "Welcome to the Republic of Arequipa." Although I later found out that it was an ad for the newspaper La República, I think it was a good echo of people's sentiments. Lima, like Santiago, and Seoul, and Paris, and other important capitals in the world, is where the vast majority of the country's economic and political clout is concentrated. Arequipa wants to change all that. Its inhabitants once demanded that they be given their own passport and flag, to distinguish them from other Peruvians!

It's called the white city because its main buildings are made out of white volcanic rock. So all around its main plaza you can see a ton of gorgeous, shining white archways. Looming above everything is Misti, the local volcano and source of the rock. The cathedral is one of less than 100 in the world that is authorized to put the papal flag on the altar. It takes up one whole side of the square.

Arequipa is also the native city of Mario Vargas Llosa, arguably Peru's most famous author. Aside from his books, he was recently in the news because a photo was revealed of the black eye that he gave his Colombian literary contemporary Gabriel García Márquez about 30 years ago. A round of applause for the Arequipeños, everybody.

The coolest part of Arequipa, for me anyway, was the Santa Catalina Monastery, which was much more than a Monastery. It was basically a small city within Arequipa, with tons of rooms for colonial nuns from upper-class families (read: they included servants' and slaves' quarters!). Apparently it was more of a sorority house than a nunnery for a time, but then a new bishop or something came in and cracked down on things. (Dude, if you want a real, touristy explanation, you can look at the website...I don't have to be perfectly accurate here.) Kaitlin and I had fun quoting Shakespeare at the monastery. First, the obvious "Get thee to a nunnery." And then, "Out, out, damn spot" at the mass laundry area. Hope the nuns that still live there (cloistered, still, in 2007) weren't offended.