Casa de Los Once Patios

Not attributed to Don Vasco, but certainly a place you won’t want to miss, especially if you are into shopping for crafts, is the Casa de Los Once Patios (House of the Eleven Patios), a 17^th-century Dominican monastery just a half block off the Don Vasco de Quiroga Plaza. The original building had eleven interior patios but today only five remain, each of which is lined by small craft shops selling all kinds of native handmade goods such as loomed fabrics, masks, wooden sculptures, embroidered linens, copper, lacquerware, carved furniture, and colorful paper flowers. It is fun to wander from patio to patio to see what new delights await. You will be reminded that this was a living convent when you notice in one of the patios an arch, supported by richly embellished columns sheltering a small niche, where the novices came to bathe.