Pan-American Highway, National Geographic Book: The Novices

Three young nuns in white robe laugh and play ball in a brightly colored courtyard with orange and red walls.

Novices play ball in a courtyard during a short break from the strict everyday life in a cloistered convent at Santa Catalina Convent in Arequipa, Peru. Older nuns allow this scheduled play for the young nuns to help them adjust more easily to their new rules and a routine where they are always silent, pray seven times a day, and never leave the grounds. Visitors to the convent can attend mass but never see life behind the walls where 23 women ranging in ages 15 to 93 make their home.