We awake feeling groggy from our early morning wake up and Malcolm comments on how noisy it was in the night till at least midnight. I'm glad I do not remember. We go down stairs to the small kitchen and one proprietor asks what we need. We inform we are ready for breakfast and he then informs another man who appears to only speak Spanish. He starts preparing breakfast for us: buns, butter and jam, hot water and a choice of herbal teas (coco, chamomile,aniseed and cinnamon as best we can tell). He later brings out a small egg omelet like thing on a plate. We do some internet browsing for attractions and the like about the place which is tricky as both local 3G and hostel wifi are spotty and intermittent. We speak with English speaking propriety to go walking in opposite direction from last night. We head toward a local market which I am weary to enter. There are ppl selling all manner of wares and food in very close proximity. Lots of grains beans and flours. I was less keen on the featherless chickens and chunks of meat just sitting exposed to the open air with only an occasional swap of a branch thingy to keep bugs off ( not that we have seen many-but the risk of infection must be huge). We continue walking past a medical like clinic and church buildings. Also many child care centers in small gated sections in front of buildings. There is a flow of taxi cars, bus vans, 3 wheeled rickshaw like things (only for short journeys apparently) and small busses traveling by. All and any tooting their horns for often no apparent reason expect to maybe garner customers.
We again return to the hostel and Malcolm talks to English speaking proprietor about tourist spots to see nearby and he helps us where to go. He says he knows no Adventist church nearby, but that other customers reported to him a morman church next door. We have to catch a small bus van to our destination. Spanish proprietor comes with us to main street and hails the van, we get in and are off. The bus/van works in an interesting fashion: one drives and one sits in the back opening doors for passengers, collecting fares, and informing driver of stops and customers. He is almost constantly calling out the window to ppl. I cannot find his words in our Spanish phrase book and seems to be saying something different to what the book suggests.
Our destination is La Punta, a navy base and beach point. On the way we see large lots of brand new cars Malcolm informs me, but the are all so dusty it's hard for me to tell. There is lots of the same: little shops and stalls selling all sorts of goods, especially chilled drinks and ice creams at street corners. I see a few carpentry shops with some goods out on the street for display and some on 3 wheeled bike contraptions being transported.
We arrive at a plaza next to a large walled fortress, which I presume is part of the navy present or past. We walk out to the sea where things are more tidy in there upkeep. We see workers watering grass. We walk past a few cultured gardens about the fortress and then down to La Punta. It's sunny, humid and very hot with the buildings blocking the breeze mostly. Everything is a bit nicer down here. Apparently we were told very little importance is generally placed on the importance of nice looking homes etc which would explain the general appearance of disrepair of buildings where the hostel is. Some appear derelict, some half completed. We walk around the point and get asked several times to attend tours out to the close islands offshore. We would probably consider but we don't have enough cash. We try to get some more out, but the transaction doesn't go through. I wonder if the machine doesn't have amount we requested. We start walking back to the plaza, all the time looking out for the right bus van to get back to the hostel. Eventually we get on what we hope is the right bus. The lady I sit next to is concerned about something, either our destination or fare charged and speaks to us which I can't understand. The bus worker apparently addresses her concerns. On the way back the bus pulls over and gives a coin to a man with a clipboard. We noticed it a few times but unsure what is happening; it seems routine. We wonder if it is a bribe for saying/not saying something. They squish many ppl on the bus and is a tight fit most of the way. We get back safely, shower, take a nap then have some food and opening sabbath. A 2nd shower is in order to cool down. As I write this we hear nice singing; from the church next door. Overall it is much noisier at night: there are children running around and yelling and ppl talking and music playing. Our friend Mario from Australia is from Peru and has put us in touch with his sister who lives here. She did find a church for us, but a long way away and not possible to reach easily by bus due to some bus rules. Seems only by taxi, & we have very little cash left. We will see if we can find out anything further in the morning. We hope mario's sister can take us about on Sunday and to our starting point with the tour.