The Discalced Carmelite Convent of Santa Teresa was founded in 1665 by daughters of Sucre's silver-rich aristocracy. It remains a closed community — visitors see only the church and a small museum — but it is locally famous for two things. The nuns make and sell excellent chocolate, sold through a turning wooden hatch in the wall on Calle San Alberto, a transaction conducted entirely without seeing the seller's face. And the chapel contains a Last Supper painting in which the dish on the table is, of all things, a roast guinea pig — the most South American Christ ever painted.
The museum displays jewelled crowns, processional banners, and a series of paintings illustrating the strict rules of Carmelite enclosure. The lay sisters who guide visits are friendly and answer questions about the cloistered life with surprising directness. A short walk from Plaza 25 de Mayo.