Peru

The most fascinating part of the trip to the St. Francis Convent was the catacombs. Over 25,000 people were buried here beginning in 1546. The mortar in the walls is made of limestone dust and pelican poop. The strange mix has been resistant to many earthquakes over the centuries.

For some strange reason, the priests decided at some point, once the catacombs were filled (perhaps to make more room?), to take out all of the bodies and place them in the center of the monastery. They then cleaned the catacombs before putting them back. However, they had no way of telling what skeleton was what, and where it came from. So they neatly separated all the femurs, from the spins, from the skulls, etc., and put them back that way. Neat rooms of all skulls, or all lag bones. Really creepy. All arranged very ornately, almost artistically. Were they bored? Was this was of showing respect for the dead since they had long ago lost identifying information? Some pictures show some of the works. The church had no problems with us taking pictures of the skeletons. They didn't think they'd mind.