Plaza Bolivar

We eventually got up today at just after 11 after a rather chilly night, resolving to steal blankets off another bed for tonight to help keep warm. The problem with travelling is that you change climates overnight and it can take a few days to get used to the new weather, be it heat or cold...in this instance very British chilly rain! Anyway, the day seemed warmer than yesterday and at least it wasnt raining yet so after going out for a coffee with Richard, a great guy from Whitby who is staying here while he teaches English to earn some money to travel, we then decided to go out and explore some more, this time with our camera as it now had a charged battery! We headed out into sunshine and feeling more positive started taking some snapshots of the area, narrow cobbly streets, brightly coloured buildings, mainly bars, restaurants and hostels as this is the student district, our hostel being just 200m from the university, people selling random stuff and the lush green hills in the background. We worked our way towards Plaza Bolivar having found that this is where most of the interesting sights are to be found. On the way we bought a cup of fruit each as we'd only had stale bread for breakfast and went and sat on the steps in front of the Neoclassical Greek style Cathedral Primada to eat them. As we were taking in the scene of this huge square flanked by different styles of impressive looking buildings, the Cathedral doors behind us opened and a wedding party emerged throwing flower petals and blowing bubbles over the newlywed couple. Many people on the square came over to have a look and we watched as photograpers took pictures and family and friends passed on congratulations. When they left we got up to take some shots of the Cathedral and found a couple posing for pictures, I guess promoting some Tango event somewhere judging by how they were standing and what they were wearing, so they ended up in a few of our pictures too. We then went inside the Cathedral and found an exquisite interior of ivory and gold columns with beautiful chandeliers hanging from the ceiling. The choir loft of carved walnut was very impressive and wrought silver alter, amazing! The most famous painter in Colombia, Gregorio Vasquez de Acre y Ceballos is buried in one of the chapels here and many of his paintings adorn the walls. Leaving the Cathedral we walked past the Capilla del Sagrario which is apparently a very good and only example of colonial architecture on the square before heading down a street leading off the square and towards the Presidential Palace or Palacio de Narino. There were some lovely views up side streets with the hills in the background on the way and we were busy taking photos when we found the road blocked by armed guards and had to wait our turn to pass through the narrow gap they left so they could check who went along the street next to the palace. You could look through the bars at the palace from a distance as you weren't allowed to walk on the path next to them, but we could still see what a stunning building it was and the ornately dressed guards stationed around. Past the palace grounds we found the Church of San Agustin and after spying an elaborately ornate wooden frame work inside the doors went in for a look round. There were more paintings by Gregorio Vasquez but they faded in comparison to the fabulously decorated and carved wooden walls and ceilings not to mention the alters which were incredible! We eventually left and turning back along the street to pass the other side of the Palace we found ourselves at the Cloisters of San Agustin and as it was free went in for a quick look. It has recently been turned into a museum on the discovery of various plants with work still underway, although it was all in Spanish we enjoyed it for its tranquillity and remarked how good the wooden floors would be for dancing!! Next we carried on up the street, back past the palace and could see the observatory in amongst the trees in the garden and wondered if it was still in use or not as it looked a little neglected, before continuing back to the Plaza Bolivar where we sat in the sunshine for a while deciding what to do next. Deciding to look for something to buy for dinner tonight we ended up spending the next couple of hours looking at different restaurant prices as well as supermarkets in the end realising its cheaper to eat out than to cook!! We spent some time wandering through a touristy artisan market where we eventually found a nice T shirt for Andy that didnt drown him and looked at prices for hammocks, knowing that we'll need to buy some for our trip down the Amazon. Quite hungry now we went to a cafe we'd seen earlier and got our favourite 'menu del dia' for $3 each which included soup, a huge plate of rice, potatoes, meat, chickpeas and fried plantain, a glass of fruit juice and some sweet dessert thing after which we were completely stuffed!! We slowly wandered back to the hostel and found out shortly after arriving that Vinnette had had all her money and her apple notebook stolen out of her bag in the dormitory some time during the night!! The worst thing is that it had to have been someone at the hostel as people who aren't staying here cant get in or out meaning that some b****** we've been drinking and hanging out with is unashamedly sitting here knowing full well where it is and just carrying on as if nothing has happened!! Grrrrrr makes me so angry, if it was our stuff that had been nicked I would be tearing the place apart right now but everyone is just sitting around drinking beer and getting stoned...travellers!!!!!!!!!!!! I made my point and recommended to Vinnette to report it to the police as there is no way her insurance will pay out without a statement from them and to maybe in the morning look round any local pawn shops in case it has already been sold on, at least she might be able to get it back even if she has to pay for it. We then just got chatting and found that Richard and I have very similar tastes in books...Stephen King, Lord of the Rings etc and discussed various related topics before I decided I needed a hot drink as it was freezing again! Making a coffee in the kitchen I then sat down to write the days events in the blog while Andy studied some more of his game that he's got re-addicted to called 'Go'.