The Monkey

No, not the world-famous cider house, but the hostel that´s given me my first taste of ´backpacker culture´. It´s in a fantastic position overlooking the square and the building is a lovely old colonial place with big shuttered windows and high ceilings. (not the above picture)

The elegance of the place, however, is slightly marred by the messages from ´travellers´that have been scrawled all over the walls with marker pens. Gems include "when people much beer drink, I me sick" and "all I say at this moment are that feelings my so complicated because I not that I do want be". Between such unique profundities are dozens of "live for the moment, man" and "carpe diem" type messages, childish self-portraits and expressions of love for the proprietors.

The other guests include a Norwegian full of Scandinavian gloom about the world´s oil supply running out, a filthy dreadlocked American couple who do nothing all day but eat bananas, a group of three German blokes wearing matching brown shirts (old habits die hard) and a Chinese American who speaks without using consonants.

It´s quite disconcerting. For example, when he tries to say "today I visited the park" it comes out as "oo-ay hai i-hi-hih huh hargh." When I ask him to repeat himself he assumes that, being a foreigner from somewhere called Britain, I must be struggling with the English language, so he shouts it very slowly and ends up sounding like an approaching ambulance.

I think the fiesta that has been going on in the square below since I arrived is Día de los Immaculada Concepción, which the rest of the Catholic world, I´m told, celebrates on December 8. Mobile food stalls shaped like galleons, castles and churches circle the perimeter selling plates of local delicacies (mainly grey stuff wrapped in leaves) and cakes with neon icing. Last night there was music throughout the evening, but tonight, if I´ve got this right, the highlight will be a special dance with a severed pig´s head decorated with offerings of ribbons, flowers, bread, fags and booze. It seems an odd way to venerate a Jewish virgin, but there you go.

I had a good walk around the town today. The picturesque historic area is the part of the city that used to be ringed by a hexagonal wall, built to foil the pirates who menaced the city for 200 years. Parts of the wall remain, but most of it now is covered by the inner ringroad. Outside this area the city seems to be a playground for nutty architects, who have built flying saucer-shaped buildings, gleaming white pyramids and Swiss-style chalets. It´s quite surreal, and a huge contrast to the Old Town, but not unpleasant.