for a Wednesday night, t’was very quiet in town…more so than usual…dos Reilly’s dead, El Gato Negro with the music up but no people…the so-called ‘Golden Gulch’? empty…5th ave/4th calle..again, my apologies for not posting the link about Part Two of the Bomb Factory..
http://www.examiner.com/article/turn-left-at-the-yellow-house
I like the smell of gunpowder but then again…
long chat with JEH this morning about the future of tourism in A-Town…he recently went to a meeting with Da Mayor and a few other ‘concerned people’…no one has a clue about what to do…how about cleaning/trimming up the Central Park and maybe even bringing out the mobile vacuum cleaner truck and sucking up trash/debris from the streets? ooh..significant progress! Know that I truly love this town even though the prevailing theme lately seems to be the ‘beige-ification’ of it…clean out downtown of those pesky yet colorful vendors, and transform upper 5th avenida from butts and broken beer bottles to chic shops. In many ways, as I’ve often said to friends, this is the Carmel of Central America (I lived in Carmel for ten years) and maybe that’s what the property owners in downtown want. This isn’t San Cristobal de las Casas, where the paint schemes require sun glasses. This is a beautiful remnant and relic that’s changing, as does everything eventually. Eventually the more affluent travelers will return and maybe the muttering of the discontent will diminish. I liked it when it rocked and I like it now.
in a week the Independence Day festivities start…some owners are painting their buildings and little blue/white Guatemalan flags are beginning to be seen..the road repair crews are chunking cement/cobblestones here and there..it’s all quaint and lame. Where are the plans for December 21, 2012? the biggest deal in 5200 years and Gautemala aka INGUAT hasn’t done zip? Mexico allotted 52$ million USD for this event, expecting to gross $500 million USD outa the concept…at least one business in town is planning something but I’m not telling..
manana en la noche? Piano Mike and Moriah, back at Caffe Bourbon…7:30…and also Friday night..plan on hearing “Stand by Me’…no word on if “Living on Tulsa Time” will be heard..
more faces on the wall at the ‘Lot…go by and see if you’ve been immortalized..Angie of Angie Angie seen heading for work about 6…i heard that she was included in a recent Wine Spectator article about Antigua..nope, the article isn’t ‘officially out’…I looked..but the idea that Wine Spectator did something positive about this place is only good news..overdue and about time…the news that 200 Marines have landed to ‘help out’ in the failed War on Drugs isn’t exactly what Gautemala needs for tourism..yes, it’s a reflection of fact and reality but…o well…save me a kilo, would you?
Our Man in Antigua 
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