Santa Catalina fountain with goldfish

The water looks dirty, but isn’t.  You can see the goldfish clearly enough after all.

A wall in a courtyard in Santa Catalina

The Santa Catalina Convent in Arequipa is an astonishing city within a city.  In spite of the noise and bustle of the city outside, it manages to maintain a quiet calm.  The nuns who lived here (and a small number who still do) may have led an ascetic and simple life, but they also had a very beautiful place to live as well.  Fantastic light, colours and views.

A nun's cell in Santa Catalina

The colours here just knocked me out.  They say that mid-day isn’t a good time to take photos, especially in the tropics, but you can’t really go wrong when the subject matter is so good.

Not everyone takes their convents seriously