We met up with our technical people, Hernan & Oseas, at breakfast & spent the morning catching up on their work & vision of how the project could continue. We talked on the rooftop patio until the heat became unbearable, at which point we decided to find a) a place where we could buy some cold beer, & b) something to eat with it. After lunch we were on our own so I set out to walk along the seawall & slowly trickle my way back through the Old City.
The seawall, exposed as it is to the wide open Caribbean, was beautiful but it's hard to beat the Old City for its richness of little snapshot events:
- stepping in to view the beautiful old cathedral, watching a pigeon fly far above in the cuppola (does it have a nest in there??), a little feather fluttering down to the pews below
- a young policeman, giving directions to a couple of tourists. Immediately after they leave he pulls a brush out of nowhere & shines his shoes
- the wall surrounding the Old City has regularly-placed openings where sentinels once watched the harbour. Now they are places for young lovers to sit or stretch out together & neck
- a taxi driver, pulling up slowly behind a sidewalk coffee vendor, leans towards the passenger window. He stretches his hand out with thumb and forefinger held about 5 cm apart, the sign to order an expresso, 500 pesos (about 30 cents).
But I think the holiday is over! We had a working supper with one of our project coordinators & tomorrow, early, we will begin the main part of the job we came for. I am hoping for a successful start to the work & an air-conditioned meeting room most of all.
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