Arequipa, Peru’s second largest city with about one million inhabitants, sits at 2,300 metres in the Rio Chilli valley and, other than the irrigated parts of the city and its outlying farms, its surroundings consist of Andean desert. The picturesque volcanoes of El Misti, Chachani, and Pichu Pichu together form the majestic backdrop to the old heart of the city (a World Heritage Site) around the Plaza de Armas, an attractive and busy square surrounded by 19th century colonnaded balconies on three sides and by a lateral cathedral on the fourth. The Jesuit church of La Compania with its vibrantly coloured murals is just off the square, and a little further away is the Monasterio Santa Catalina, founded in 1580 a massive convent complex, covering 20,000 square meters, with streets, bathhouses, kitchens, apartments and chapels.