Our Man in Antigua

to paraphase Mr Dylan…the town? overflowing with Guatemaltecos, some tasty Capitalinas(and they know it), the Silver Guy  in the park, clowns and a performance art guy on  north 5ta..

what’s up with all the dirty streets/calles/avenidas? where’s the little truck with the vacuum cleaner or the muni water truck?…at least, when Adolfo was the mayor, things were clean….well, except for deals like the Finca Chacra…ooh. a subdivision? mighta been the final straw for a lotta folks in Antigua, another sign that the Alcalde had reached too far and too deep…the 5 or 6 folks nabbed last week, who were part of this, have probably begun to sing….

the Banco Industrial rip-off? happened in the City, over the weekend after the first of March..confined to some large shopping malls,with a lotta withdrawals…payday, $$…a million Q mentioned and BI is going to reimburse and switch to cards with ‘chips’ this spring..

Papa Town?  reopened(why?) the lone guy at 13, the ‘concept bar’ probably wondering why he bothered to open….the patio below, owned by Whiskey Den with a bunch of beer-slugging folks, Lava fulla Guatemaltecos…

my trusty travel agents? a bit of price confusion per next week, so I thought i’d go by and have a word…closed at 4….Pappy’s BBQ, around the corner, down to the dregs of the day’s smokeroo…Neil of Micho’s and Alex of Sobremesa, getting ready for the night…two great chefs, on the same block…Antigua’s finest..

Epicure? Jon Mellen gifted me a jar of  their ‘bread and butter pickle relish’…I was buying the Trader Vics sweet pickle relish anyway…damn good, Jon…35q, if you’re missing bread and butter pickle stuff..

so, it’s a perfect sunset/twilight at the finca…town, frankly, fried me: the people, crowds, traffic…guess I’ve lost my tolerance for such. The dogs play with each other, and the next big thing is to have the bushes trimmed in front of my kitchen window…whooo…eh?

so, assuming that the ‘price/rate issue’ can be resolved favorably by next week, it’s a ‘go’ to go tromping thru the canefields of Santa Lucia Cotzumalguapa sometime in the fear nuture..and maybe a little after hours ‘stuff’…