Our Man in Antigua

Antigua’s usual merry-go-round of chisme is flowing nicely…the music plays and the figures go up and down, round and round. Hector has sold his restaurant to a Canadian and is supposedly working as a private chef on some fancy yacht…if so, ‘it’ probably will never be as it was. I know, nostalgia isn’t what it used to be, so get over it.

Maybe…the menu is the same and there will be ‘specials’…the wife is sweet and the name of the place will still be Hector’s…

Reilly’s 3, supposedly  moving to what was Le Esquina, then WokCo? heard they’re putting in pool tables…por que? they don’t cash flow and it’s a failed concept…put in pin ball machines, pachinko boards..hell, even Whack-a-Mole and  Skee Ball games, something not seen around here and something that might even spin off some spare bucks..

Pit Stop, on their 2nd  afterhours ‘Free Booze/take the shuttle attempt’….they should be starting their breakfast trade this week, the original concept..I don’t get the  shuttle up the hill idea, per the transient nature of Antigua’s drinking crowd…tis hard enough to get them outa the three block radius of  downtown but then, I’m not an  ‘after hours’ kinda guy….wrong again, rum-breath…per one of the principals, the after-hours thing is working very well….breakfast probably won’t be the focus/cash flow king..and the mix of late customers is very unusual…I suggested a brass pole/stage but I wouldn’t expect that to come to fruition…maybe if they dedicated it to HBT…hmm 

4th Calle east? more new places opening, past Domino’s…the  mex joint, Le Dona (not bad)a d new bar called Saga, and so on..the center of economic gravity still seems to be shifting to 4th/5th calle. Think about how many successful bars/restaurants actually make money? maybe one, every block? walk the blocks and you tell me..5th ave norte, por ejemplo? night after night, Ricardo’s…4th calle, east? Sobremesa, B5…El Caz Italiano…and yet, folks(suckers)still keep coming, throwing money away…4th ave? Ocelot/Lava have a lock on that street…La Playa is gone

a big tip of the panama to HK for getting me into a tour of the most fabulous/outrageous art/artifact collection…better than the Castillo donation  in the Popul Vuh, better than  the Guzman in   San Salvador….amazing/mind-boggling/stunning and here, in…well, on the outskirts of town. I’ll be writing of it in the weeks to come.

Piano Mike, leaving us next weekend (20th)for two months…Nelson leaving us the next month, for several months…extended road trip to the US and then Europe…and sorry to hear of the break up…they were a nice couple, for  four years…longer than some of my marriages (true)  and thank you, PM, for editing the ‘A Year of Driving Dangerously’…now i don’t have any more excuses to drag my feet and insert photos of   last years’ mayhem/rude behavior.. 

is Roberto de Oro returning sooner than usual and bringing his wife (who hates Guatemala)? heard it at Carmen’s and as we know, hairdressers know everything…I like her new location: bigger, lighter, brighter and yes, new places opening all over…so? there’s not enough biz for the existing ones…is there lithium in Antigua’s water supply?

a lotta folks should just drink the Kool-Aid and fade…take their losses, go home and fuggedaboutit…hey, it’s a torpid Sunday on the farm and that’s exactly how I like it…see you around this week, here and there.