Our Man in Antigua

Antigua is a wet and sodden group of Boy Scouts, marching and singing in the rain, headed for their den on 4th avenida, the one that doesn’t have electricity…or the fresh citrus tang of a newly sliced lime on the cutting board…or waiting between rain showers and hoping that umbrella #5 will last another month…or talking with old/new friends on the patio about places we haven’t seen and just how BIG is Ayers Rock in Austrailia? or deciding where to jump the street when the waters about THAT deep and your shoes are still somewhat dry….or going to your favorite tienda in the morning and they can’t change a 100q note and you find out that the owner carries change in her bra and pants pockets…the big notes in the bra, the smaller change in her levi pockets and you all laugh about it…walking by Hector’s and smelling the grill at work and the lovers at their tables…running into one of your two favorite beggars…the short old mama with the headscarf and no teeth or the other without shoes and a rock and a giggle…or following a delicious Capitalina for blocks, just to watch her walk..or the sounds  of the downpour and the splash of water in the streets as cars drive thru..lightning here, there..or waiting for a friend who’s an hour and a half late..and not getting upset because there’s always tomorrow or the next day..seeing your physician at a unionista meeting and waving as you walk by…seeing a friend who’s been outa the country and is back, having an espresso at El Portal and watching the ebb and flow of people, looking at your self winding watch that stopped half an hour ago and not caring…going to Bodegona and finding just what you hoped to find(but not tomorrow)feeling semi-rich because you’ve got a pocket full of small bills that doesn’t add up to more than a hundred bucks…chump change in the old days…the sound of the snarling tuk-tuks and the chicken buses going thru the gears…the fresh clean air after the rain has stopped…ah, Antigua…my home sweet home..and the ever smiling Lili …Prensa Libre!’…and the two grandmothers across from the school…one selling granizadas(shaved ice)the other nailing the coca cola crowd..and the other one up the street,by her window with the powdered sugar home made confections..