In contrast to my experiences in the Amazonian jungle, the part of our trip spent in the Andean mountains was peaceful, even spiritual. Our base for these days was Cusco, in a converted monastery that dates to the mid-sixteenth century. Its re-purposing was an extreme one: to a very luxurious hotel, which in the sense of religious conversion might be akin to leaving the Kingdom of the Jehovah’s Witnesses and becoming a zealous atheist. 

To my eye, many modern-day real estate whizzes would do well to make this a case study in how to successfully save and restore an historic architectural treasure. Staying there felt like being a guest in a beautiful cloister, one run by an order that takes a vow of hedonism rather than monasticism. 

I have no idea how modern plumbing and HVAC were added without distracting at all from the aesthetic of the place, but it was--no doubt at great expense. As one would might expect of a monastery, but most definitely would not of a five-star hotel, the rooms are essentially window-less and devoid of natural light. It was a short-coming barely noticed. The high vaulted ceiling and stone floors, and the welcomed silence of the thick ancient walls more than compensated.

The paintings along colonnaded corridors surrounding each beautiful courtyard were original, mostly from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.  There is a magnificent chapel, ornately adorned and large enough for a mass of perhaps two hundred souls, has been preserved and remains an available spot for guests to pray, to meditate, or marry.

Walking out of our room, wandering along the corridor toward my first cup of coffee, I exalt in the chanting of monks that is piped into the space each morning. While staying here in Cusco, we have seen Incan ruins that stretch our imagination, including the spectacle of Machu Picchu, but I am fascinated by how, when done with passion, a very old building designed to house monks can be so successfully transformed into a space that not only provides lodging to modern-day travelers, but imbues them with a tranquil sense of the past that they will never experience at a Four Seasons or Ritz.