Last night was loud. The folks here celebrate the Christmas with a lot of music and firecrackers. Consequently, we were up a bit late. Things turned remarkably quiet this morning as there are very few buses about and people are with their families.
Jay was busily making a special, Christmas, chicken and shrimp biryani with saffron for lunch. (Dinner will be the more traditional meal.) I strolled to the closest church to take a picture of the nativity scene for this blog. Now that the baby Jesus is in the arrangement, it was moved inside. The procession must have been a part of last night's mass. The day seemed so beautiful and the temperatures so perfect, I continued walking along Aguacate street toward the river. From our end at the hill to the other end at the river probably takes only 8 minutes.
A white Christmas might make for beautiful greeting cards, but honestly, I'd rather be in short-sleeves and shorts. Isn't it funny how Euro-centric and Madison Avenue all the sleighs and snowmen are?
The Centro Cultural Centre is on the upper part of the island in the River Cuale. This is the river that separates the Centro area from our part called the Old City or the Romantic Zone. It is a sliver of green oasis with a walkway that runs right from the ocean. Today, things were really, really quiet.
Of course this afternoon I went to the warm sand by the water's edge; mainly, so I could say I hung out at the beach on Christmas day. The air temperature was 26C (79F) and the sea was exactly the same.
