Our Man in Antigua

damn…cold…9 degrees celsius…the NGO benefit at Ocelot, for Los Ninos de Guatemala?  place packed..SRO…Nelson held up at the airport but Ron stepped up…good stuff..Shawn recounting his narrow escape at the wheel/hands of a Guate taxi driver…’dodged a bullet, in other words…the Friday night gathering of the ‘unindicted co-conspirators’ holding forth in the patio…John, Michael and the delicious emma…who created a new cocktail…rum, pineapple juice, coconut milk and freshly grated nutmeg…exceedingly tasty…’both of them…there seems to be a new trend or at least new to me…salsa dancing and cuban music…los arcos with a cuban duo, sobremesa with a cuban duo…and ignacio is playing somewhere tonight..and the ex-havana cigar club…a crankin’ quartette…yes, went by but being cubans they never start on time…there’s a few boxes of cigars left over in the humidor, should that be of interest…El Cazadore Italiano? doing biz…there’s a couple of joints in this town that rock/pack and do steady business…El Caz and O’lot…Tartines had some people but the place across the street? El Dona Leonor? hey, i’m a gringo…tables full and a duo(music)coming in at 8 or so…tis a cold night..I’ve sent out for warm bodies..two would suffice..’can’t decide whether to do front/back or side by side…advise me, please..

another casualty of the times…the Casa Colonial on 4th calle…between 5th and 6th avenidas…gonzo and the shops that were hoping to suck from the traffic, like ‘victorias secret’? having close-out sales..or were they called ‘Chic’?…hasta la vista, baby…tis the new economy…as in..no one has any money….as Elvis sang, it’ll be a blue, blue Christmas…Moriah(mike’s daughter)seen in the company of a couple of equally smashing blondes..Riki’s? dying a slow slow death…sobremesa still chugging along..alex is probably glad he didn’t jump locations..will the new Reilly’s work? …50/50 odds i’d give…it was all about location, i’m a thinkin’…and 5ta norte is a ghost town now. i wish them well…told of the ‘shooting range’..by Barcenas and a sand mine…might as well wait for new year’s and join the crowd…peter the g’s new hostel/roof top patio  has a new year’s special…that may well be the place to be…the stairs are a menace but..Sangre! some kind of special event on the 17th…email invitation…Mary Lou Ridinger doing a 1st annual thing on monday…archeology and all that…yeah, i’ll be there..she’s a pistol…the beretta? cleaned, for the first time in 40 years..thank you, Ed, for stepping up with the 100 rounds..it’s harder to score ammo than blow…go figure..