Our Man in Antigua

gimme a cheer! gimme a C!….gimme an R!…ok, fine..you’ve got the drill…this town needs a Committee for Restoring Antigua Properly and I’m talkin’ about the %$#@! road crews on 4th avenida norte of which there are presently two sets…one, who takes their time and leaves something vaguely similar to the pattern of the surrounding rocks…the others? how the hell can one screw up removing the cobbles, prepping the base, mixing the cement and replacing the %$#@! rocks? Crew#2, the Ned Anderthal gang, has figured out a way to have piles of stones left over…here and there, along 4th or in the back of the pickup truck…and not just one or two…%$#@! piles…and a lake of cement over everything..how do you have leftovers from a cobblestone street?  don’t these guys have some kind of supervisor?  deep breath….deep breath…re the La Pena del Sol Latino…it’s actually ‘de Sol…anyway, that’s what the sign says…is it grammatical? is it correcto? wtf knows? more importantly…screw it..tried to shoot some interiors of Da Vinci tonight…told Luis last night i’d be there tonight..was he there? per Claudia #1, sporting a swollen cheek compliments of her dentist, he was in the City…ok, fine…i can make shit up just as easily…nah, i know enough of the history to put it together for an article.

Twas a very quiet night biz-wise for the bar/restaurant trade…some say that the season’s over, some who’ve been here longer argue that it runs til mid-September and then….gringo/turista-wise, i’m kinda inclined to go with Door #1, from my bi-tri-daily rambles..upper 5ta showing some ‘closed for Tuesday’ signs…from my perambulations, i’m seeing Thursday, Friday and Saturday being the $$$ days/nights for bars/restaurants..Sundays for fast food, ice cream….El Muro and El Caminante snagging the incoming Guate’s…No Se and Angies picking up some gringos from that part of town…the usual upscale restaurants are sucking…midscale lo mismo…Fusion 2, Abassi and Sobremesa and El Cazadore Italiano got their lights on and somebody’s home..how much longer can Chez Chris keep the doors open?…renting the apartment? ‘haven’t been past the pearl themed place lately…5th ave sur…las Conchas!…smelled like there was some deep pockets at first but this town…more than a few places here financed/supported by illicit funds..”o gee, we’ve been open for 2 years and we’ve lost money every month? i just don’t understand it.’  Hector’s will always be here,nailing down that part of town…startin’ to wonder about La Esquina/La Sala, though..dos Reilly’s will survive..there’s an interesting economic exchange of viewpoints between myself and JEH, a long time Antigueno…been here longer, travels more than i do and I’m coming around to his point of view that Gautemala may be…probably is…semi-mortally wounded tourism-wise per the constant stream of bad publicity…let’s see..we’ve got stabbings, robbings, beheadings, shootings, rapes…have I forgotten anything? bus crashes, purse snatching, drive-bys…home invasions, kidnappings, crooked cops, politicians and taxi drivers…and I’m worried about cobblestones? C.R.A.P needs an anthem…”let’s go get stoned.” Is Lucy Luscious dancing this weekend? gawd, i hope so..she brings a whole new meaning to the old phrase of ‘movers and shakers.’