Walking tour of old city
The power went off at breakfast this morning. The receptionist later showed me a notice saying that there would be no power till the evening and that water supply would also be interrupted for the upper levels also due to no power to the water pump. Well, luckily for us, we were on the ground floor.
We readied ourselves in the pitch-black darkness to attend the free walking tour at 1000, starting at the Naval Museum near St Teresa’s. The tour had a good turnout and the excellent guide gave us a good rundown on the country’s history, slavery, attacks by various forces, corruption, door knockers and eating recommendations.
Door knockers on some mansions are huge and heavy. Typically, they represent the profession or business of the owner/occupant.
The guide also explained the country’s fascination with the Miss Colombia beauty contests (and beyond at the international arena). Photos of all their historic beauty queens are pasted on the floor outside the town hall. All of them are white or nearly so.
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- Colonial balconies are wooden while post-independence ones are concrete.
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- Old city with cathedral in the background.
Bocagrande Peninsula
We took lunch at San Valentin, which came highly recommended. Both our chicken breast mains s came with a selection of sides, of which the potato salad was the best. The man at the next table looked the Sultan of Brunei.
Back at the hotel, the room without light or air-con wasn’t very appealing. We checked out the rooftop pool. There was no pool-side shower available to wash our sweaty bodies. But we were quite desperate to cool off, so we just had to walk straight in. It was a very refreshing escape from the afternoon heat.
Kim slept poolside while I took a long soak, trying to get maximum cooling up to the back of my skull without putting my head or face under.
Around 1600, we took a taxi to the end of the Bocagrande peninsula, full of posh high-rises, which we had seen from the air. There was a bit of congestion but I can imagine it being much worse at peak times; all the population from the peninsula coming and going through only a few roads.
We were dropped off near the Naval Club but it wasn’t open to the public. We walked around the neighbourhood and realised the roads were actually below sea level. Some streets had water coming up the drains. Not good with global warming in progress.
The other strange thing we noticed that there were few shops, supermarkets, cafes or restaurants especially at the further end of the peninsula.
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- Bocagrande as seen from the air is very low-lying.
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- Bocagrande.
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- Water on the streets during high tide as the roads are below sea level.
Getting better, getting sick?
Back in Getsemani we ate at a simple and small local diner. I chose the ceviche which turned out to be awesome. Kim took a few mouthfuls and called it his dinner, having not ordered anything for himself.
Today is his first day of feeling fine after nine days of being unwell with tummy issue and then possibly Covid-19.
On the other hand, the intermittent hint of my ticklish throat had become a light but discernable sore throat. I reckon I’ve got whatever Kim’s got. But we had no practical way of confirming whether it was Covid-19, with rapid tests not being available for sale.
I became very tired after dinner and felt cold, with a hint of a shiver. I climbed into bed but didn’t probably didn’t sleep till around 2130.