2nd free day (no set activities) so slept in and mid morning wandered out if the hotel around the corner to same place as yesterday for a most splendid brecky of French toast with berries and caramel, along with wierd coffee and fresh OJ. The weather was overcast, 10 degrees cooler yet still humid at 26.c. So quite pleasant. A stated (not set) activity was shopping for Non-Blogger. And so we went. The town really seemed very busy as we navigated past kids birthdays parties splilling into the narrow roads and back into the main plaza in front of the cathedral.
Decided to detour in especially as it's resonably impressive outside and this is where you can climb the bell tower and view the city from a flying pigeons perspective. The cathedral itself appears to be learning from that other one where they are charging the plethora of visitors to gawk at the majestic interior. Hopefully they'll get some cash to fund some statues to sit on the vacant balconies on the front of the building. Wouldn't have noticed this if not for our tour guide yesterday. He had also pointed that if you go into the crypt and stand in the middle your voice will be amplified 14 times back at you. So down we went. Couldn't hear anything above the constant barrage of a voice going on and on and on about ancient conquests of goodness what as it was all in some foreign language. The tour recipients looked as interested as this blogger. Not. Anyway the other really interesting thing down in the dark bowels of the church was a lifelike depiction of some dude having been tortured. Peter Jackson style mimicry. In this case, gross. Weren't allowed to take photos. The reason probably being that if this went viral there'd be a lot less peeps handing over their dosh to get in. We left, because of grossness and we had some shopping pressures to adhere to. Did go up the tower though.
It was a spiral ramp that circled many times. Many times. Circled for many times. Round and round, up and up. Round and round. Eventually getting to the bell tower was extremely grateful that the bells were not ringing as we were right next to them. The views accross the town were great. One can now appreciate the pigeons perspective. Over the rooftops it looked like at least six massive cruise ships in the port. This explains why the streets were so crowded. The place was full of boat people. The locals who don't own shops must get really annoyed when thus influx happens as it congests the place to unbearable levels. However, they do know that by dinner time they get their city back as the boat people all return to their vessels for the all you can eat buffets followed by the caberat' show or (if you're special enough) dinner at the captains table. Woo hoo.
Whilst they were all milling around the town though, this here blogger had the joy of watching them all stream past him whilst he waited outside the store of which non-blogger was inside. This age old tradition if shopping participation has stood the test of time and has been practiced in many places. Enough said.
We did explore other areas in the vague aim of finding a shop previously walked past but in the end headed back to the market to buy some fruit and nothing else as we were still full from the late brecky.
Went back to the hotel to siesta as the amount of walking undertaken in the last 36 hours had been ridiculous. A couple of small tacos for lunch and then some time on the hotel rooftop which has an extremely small shallow pool and a derth of umbrellas, so we didn't hang too long.
After another kip (free day - no pressure) the duo set out for a late dinner (they didn't actually open until 8:30pm) with a bit of a shop and stroll and pre's alfresco style in a typical roadside table & chairs spot beforehand. By now the locals had reclaimed their home territory as the boats carrying their people had departed (pizza bars, discos and casinos just firing up for the evening) and we get to sit and quietly observe them in their habitat. There are a lot of dogs here. One of the rules is if you have a dog you also have a water bottle containing disinfectant that one must squirt on you dogs squirt. Seems to work OK. Most of these pooches wouldn't actually know what "of the leash" means or the freedom of a backyard or a run beside your parent when they're on a pushbike. Grass lawns - no. Herding sheep wouldn't even be a notion. Possibly a repressed evolutionary dream, but that's it. Mostly they seem happy. The big angry one we watched this evening - not. Body building tatts covered owner reckons he needs a tough dog to maintain his image as well as possibly a body guard for his unruly activities. Seems we have boguns in all cultures - not just at home.
Mostly though the peeps walking around in thier minimalistic clothing (women especially) were in good spirits and enjoying the warm balmy evening in their unique, very pretty city. Apparently they all stay up until the wee small hours. Not something we folks from the land down under understand.
Non-Blogger had found a recommended restaurant which we tried and after insisting that we should be inside to experience the eccelectic ambiance instead of being stuck outside in the nearby plaza we had what was possibly the most spectacular fare ever had. Being some sort of fusion of Japanese and Spanish the details allude at this point. There was though a salad with anchovies and cheese Vietnamese rolls with mussels, pawn tacos to name a few. Amazing stuff. By the time we left, the place was jumping and peeps were queuing up outside in the hope of getting what we'd just had.
Back to room to get ready for the next big transition day.
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