After a pretty decent night's sleep (apart from hearing Scottish John roll back around 2200) we were up, showered and ready to explore the town again just after first light.
The streets were pretty deserted and sadly there was quite a lot of cloud cover around as we'd hoped to see sunrise over Volcán de Agua (3,760m). A few, rather repetitive street/building shots which are frequently spoilt by modern cars.
This isn't Volcán de Agua, that's behind us.
There were some lovely wall textures to add to my collection.
The ruins of Iglesia San José el Viejo which stood completed for just 11 years before it was damaged by the 1773 earthquake.
This side of the street had already been washed.
Whereas this part was still being cleaned up from last night.
Apparently one of the most iconic shots of this city is of the Santa Catalina Arch with Volcán de Agua showing through it but given the amount of cloud we really thought we'd be out of luck. We hung around the arch waiting patiently whilst every man, women and dog stood in front of it for a photo and when it was finally his turn Ian, bless him, actually fell over in his haste to secure his spot. (When I looked at it there is one person + 2 dogs on the RHS and I can't be bothered to clone them out!)
But our patience waiting for the previous shot was rewarded as finally we saw the top of the volcano peak through the clouds.
We also spent a long time waiting for a berk in a wide brimmed white hat to get out of the way - it turned out he was flying a wretched drone and just stood in the middle of the road for what seemed like hours. I've I'd have had a gun, I would have shot it out of the sky!
Fancy allowing a car to park in front of the Iglesia La Merced; originally constructed 1534-39 but the building was razed by pirates in 1655 and rebuilt with this magnificent Baroque façade 1781-83. And don't get me started on the orange plastic netting.
Side of the building
And I love this shot as much for the myriad of knobs, switches and wires on the RHS as anything.
Fountain outside the church
I've no idea why we posed Ian like this
Time to head back to the hotel for breakfast before we have an official tour of the town with Emilio.