Not doing too much today

The trip about wiped us out (meaning me and Ivan) so we're taking it easy today. When we arrived yesterday we turned the air conditioning on right away, but it was so sweltering hot in the suite (one of the hottest days of the summer so far) that it never did really cool down. About midnight Tina went down to the front desk and asked for a fan for the bedroom. The a.c. unit in the far corner of the living room was barely keeping that end of the room cool and not even beginning to reach into the bedroom. The fan helped some.

Until about 6 a.m. when the power went out.

No power. No air conditioning. No fan. No water.

No power also meant no continental breakfast in the lobby since they could neither make coffee nor toast bread.

We did discover it had finally cooled down outside so we opened the windows for some fresh air. Ivan and I ate banana bread I had fortuitously brought along and then Ivan went back to bed. He 's still recovering from being so sick with food poisoning last week AND is currently taking antibiotics for a severe ear infection. I just read for a while.

Meanwhile Tina slept through almost all the power outage on her day bed in the living room.

Once the power finally came back on at 11 a.m. we ventured down to the lobby, relieved to find they were willing to make us coffee and toast. A good cup of café con leche and functioning internet improved everyone's mood.

Then we put on our walking shoes and headed for Plaza Independencia, one of the bigger city parks. By the time we made it there, it was siesta time and deserted. We'll go back later when the artesanos have set up shop, and we understand there's free live entertainment nightly during the summer. On the way back we stopped at Carrefour's (the French equivalent to Walmart) and picked up food to fix for supper.

Today it's much, much cooler and the city streets are lined with trees which make walking around quite pleasant. One of the co-owners of the hosteria where we're staying spent quite a bit of time showing Ivan where things are on the map so later we'll take the car and visit some of the places farther away. There's a nice zoo, other city parks, and just a short drive up a nearby hillside there's an observatory that looks out over the whole city. Lots to see and do, but we're in no hurry.

Right now we're just going to enjoy the siesta hours by taking a siesta. 

¡Hasta luego!