The urgent winds of yesterday had snuffed themselves out and today’s faint breeze did little to mask the inescapable heat. It was hot…damn hot. We’ve been averaging about 12 kilometres per day walking, but those kilometres today did not come easy.
After a leisurely breakfast we walked into the city centre and headed straight for the Centenario Park in search of animal life. The park was indeed open to the public today and it did not take us long to find a gaggle of tourists looking up into canopy. Two sloths creeped along the bamboo branches; one bigger, one smaller. We waited there for quite some time and surprisingly the smaller one made its way right down to the ground and nestled herself in the base of the bamboo, maybe having a poo? She didn’t seem too bothered by all the tourists taking photos of her, but then again it’s hard to tell with sloths as their faces don’t give much away and they don't seem capable of being in a nervous hurry. The larger one stayed high in the trees and at one point was hanging upside down while he scratched his head and armpits and fluffed up his hair. They certainly are beautiful creatures.
We found a couple of small monkeys in the park but were unable to spot any of the iguanas who also live there, but were probably high up in the trees. We remained there for some time enjoying the shade and reluctantly left to walk to our next destination – THE MALL – where Ana was hoping to pick up some new shorts.
Not being an enthusiastic mall rat, I instead opted for a comfy chair and sat pleasantly comatose while Ana browsed the stores. I was still very surprised at the scarcity of American and Canadian tourists, maybe because there is so little English spoken here, even from people in the tourism and service industries. I’ve been hearing English speakers maybe once per day. During our walk today we saw a skinny, older dude wearing a Chang beer singlet, tagged with a little Canadian pin. A couple of days ago in the Getsamani neighbourhood we saw a short, loud, middle-aged American dude with bulging biceps and skinny legs trailed by his partner, a Brazilian lady, heavily modified with facial leveling/plumping and these balloon butt implants that drew passing eyeballs like super magnets. We’ve seen a few backpackers, all speaking Spanish. Haven’t noticed a single German, Cloggie, Brit or Dane, which is highly unusual. It’s all Latinos here, and better for it.
Ana came away empty handed as she couldn’t find anything she liked and didn’t feel the need to spend a hundred bucks on clothes she didn’t love. She reported the clothing prices were astronomical, like jeans for $250 or basic t-shirts for $50. Fortunately, the food court places were reasonable and Ana picked up a Big Mac combo while I went for a Colombian bowl that had rice, guacamole, shreds of pork, tomatoes, beans, plantains and other unrecognizable additions. It was good.
We stepped out into the heat and walked a short distance to the Castillo de San Felipe de Barajas, a Spanish fort whose construction began in 1536 and was expanded over the following hundred years throughout constant attack and sieges by the British, French, and enterprising pirates. We nearly melted like Wicked Witches of the West as we climbed the steep hills to the top, exposed to the sun the entire way. Views from the castle were stunning but the biggest surprise were the tunnels. We entered in multiple spots through stairways which led to a network of deep underground tunnels. One in particular was fairly steep and maybe only five feet high and we continued down and down the claustrophobic tube until water started pooling on the ground then got a little freaked out as this was an ideal scene for a horror movie.
We called up an Uber and were soon back in the air conditioned bliss of our hotel room and didn’t leave for the rest of the night.
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