Our Man in Antigua

which meant fireworks at 4am…o boy…and it wasn’t ‘just for breakfast anymore’ to quote the long gone Anita Bryant…a splash of Gordons with the 4am OJ seemed to put me back in slumberville..Mother’s Day in Antigua? started early with the brunch crowd and was winding up nicely with the dinner folks…sobremesa quiet, Fusion doing an early party of 8 or so…El Cazadore Italiano empty and Chez Chris packed (maybe it was the pink & white balloons..even Cashbar offering a Mother’s Day dinner special…

and yes, another new bar/restaurant on 3rd calle between 5th and 6th avenidas…name? Kafka…a big open space below with yet another sign advertising ‘the best terrace view in Antigua’…you know, folks..maybe someone needs to do some research on this…for my two quetzals it’s the Blue Sky or what was El Caminante’s El Mirador’..I kinda like El Chaman’s site, being next to the fallen down church..and Lava’s views aren’t bad either, of the tasty latinas goin’ up/down the spiral staircase or the city views..

why the accordion aka stomach steinway concert in the park tonight? is this some kinda mother’s day tradition? he plays at the Whisky Den once in a while..can’t get him to play either ‘Lady of Spain’ or the ‘Beer Barrel Polka’…roll out the barrel, etc..

the ‘Perfessor’ checked in from the rainy/cold northwest aka Washington State…misses this place, for a lotta reasons and all of them good..well? drop off the key, lee…get a new plan, stan…the conversational content has dropped about 50% in meaningful stuff…it’s down to me and TM talking cars, if that’s a clue..that and bad car titles or no car titles..

the ever beautiful Flor at Dasha, working…she’s back to being a blonde again…she laughed when I said ‘Feliz Dia Del Madre’…shook her head..no, not me…same-o for me..dos Reilly’s very quiet but then they’re not exactly a Mother’s Day venue…just the opposite, if anything..one thing i never see here are condoms on the streets or syringes..those of us from big cities take this stuff for granted as being urban artifacts…

DaMayor made Prensa Libre last week, following the El Periodico article on his ‘side businesses’…and I haven’t seen his SUV parked in its usual spot on 4th ave by O’lot…it didn’t seem like there was a lot of money in the deals but who knows? hey, if you’re making 8 grand a month why n0t stretch it to 9? dollars, btw..Ruslan and beautiful lady popped in for the Happy Hour…he with a giant leek from the mercado(soup later) she with a radiant smile(as always) i’m glad they’re back from SF, if only for a while longer..Michael Tallon, jogging around while he distributes the latest La Cuadra issue..

Antigua…where else can you go to Bodegona, reach for a bottle of orange juice and the lady who’s running the pulperizer stops you…and fills up a bottle with the ‘just squeezed’  stuff?