The hotel is quiet as I crossed the patio a few minutes later to start exploring. A good walk might clear my mind of the stress of these past few days. It will also allow me a chance to see if this is the same city I remember. It is and it is not, of course. A vintage atmosphere prevails among the older buildings.
High ceilings let the hot air of summer rise above and out of the living space.
They also give many neighborhoods a false appearance of urbanity and solemnity. More often than not they are facades for private homes which have only one or two rooms opening onto enclosed patios filled with plants, clothes lines and family life, reminiscent of the Moorish structures of old Spain. As I walk closer to Plaza Independencia, residences give way to newer high-rise office buildings and condominiums dominating the modern skyline, colored in tones of pink, gray and tan. A single cart with its donkey waits at a corner near an open slot in a four-meter wide iron door. The quietude of 35 years under a single governmental leader gives a mark of maturity to the streets and trees, in and around the central zone.