November 1, 2010

I showered about 8:00 AM and Gala followed.  It had rained last night and there was a gentle sprinkle as we started for breakfast.  It was served at the same Sushi restaurant we ate at last evening.  The continental meal was include in the price of our rooms and consisted of choices of juice, coffee, tea, and roll with preserves.  For an extra $1.10 you can have eggs.  I tried the tomato juice and Gala wanted the mango.  Both were fresh squeezed and very good.  During breakfast I looked across the river and noticed a young man relieving himself near a tree at the river's edge.  Then a woman in a long skirt accomplished the same and with a quick flick of the skirt she went back to setting up her tent and wares.

We went back to hotel and asked for laundry service for some of our clothes and were told they would be returned later that day.  We wandered out on the streets, again, and discovered an area in part of a museum close by where artisans were selling their wares.  The goods appeared to be of better quality and we enjoyed visiting with the artists.  We returned to the hotel for a short rest then returned to the street vendors we saw last night.  We then decided to go to "old town" as we were told it was a great area for the celebration activities and historical sites.

We walked up just under 100 stairs to reach the top of the hill behind the hotel.  Based on an altitude of 8,300 ft and our climbing skills, we thought we did great!  It was about 8 blocks until we found the Central Park (Parque Calderon).

From part way up the stairs

Views on the way to Central Park

Old church that is now museum

Gala in the Central Park

Horse & buggy rides around the park

Another view of the old church

One entrance door to old church

This entertainer was asking for $ to have your picture taken with him

Two young artists painting with acrylic spray cans

Portion of the Flower Market

Street musicians

Sidewalk tiles in the Flower Market

Another church near Plaza San Francisco

Portion of Plaza San Francisco with vendor stalls

We spotted a small restaurant and went in for lunch.  Gala ordered potatoe soup, a cheese tortilla and papas fritos (french fries) and I tried a steak dish with rice, avacado, tomato, broccolli and french fries + dos cerveza, por favor!  More than we could finish and we waddled back to the stairs and descended slowly.  Made it back and found our laundry had been processed and returned already.

Gala opted to read and let lunch settle while I opted for cerveza, por favor as I sat on the terrace viewing the street fair and listening to the music.  Gala and I returned to walking through the street vendors on our way to see the exhibitions by skateboarders, rollerbladers and bike tricksters.  We walked part way up the stairs again to the Wunderbar Restaurant where we enjoyed meat sandwiches, a margarita for Gala and cerveza for me.  We walked to top of stairs and around a few blocks before returning to hotel where we sat outside and listened to the music and activities around us.  The partying continued until about 3:00 AM.