Our Man in Antigua

and just what the hell does that mean?….uh, nuthin’…how does Mikhail attract 20+ people for his Monday night salsa classes at Lava? who cares? it works…Henrik, sitting at the O’lot patio, watched the 20-somethings parade in…he’s probably wondering also..his Range Rover has the missing letters from the hood replaced and his was making rounds of the Gastro-Pub and dos Reilly’s…Granada Reilly’s is doing fine and no, he didn’t want Marbel’s new business card but Luis the Guide in the park did…hey, I’m trying to help, ok?

severe double-take…I’m in Sobremesa, admiring the internal changes and talking Pina Coladas with Alex…his new waiter, Carlos, per Alex, make the ‘best’…ok, fine…and then who walks by? she, who is/was supposedly in Iceland…Mercy aka Mercedes Balacano…

yep, wrong again, bourbon-breath..it isn’t Jades Antigua on 5th Ave for rent…it’s the space next door, #15…what the hell was there, before?

Claudia #1? of Da Vinci.. incandescent smile…as with Flor around the corner…even Carmen, the ex-Mayor’s daughter had one for moi…is it my new hearing aid? who cares…?

I’m walking by Ricardo’s Tabacos y Vinos and there’s a buffet line on the sidewalk…dozen plus of people dishing up…what a great idea! food on the sidewalk, no worries unless the PNC can round up a judge later and arrive with pepper spray, a la Coyote Rojo…at 3am, maybe…at 7…? not a chance…great idea, Ricardo!

Dishualded reports 10 or 11 local musicians jamming on Saturday night..i love the concept, the music room…wish they’d taken over the old Riki’s space…and what/who will go there?  La Ramba/Rumba, in the old Ixcot space? do they toss out the old ceviche makings or just pop it in the freezer?…oooh..good…week old ceviche!

ah….weird rumor #45…the ex-Mayor, Adolfo? coming back, released per lack of evidence…o yeah? anythings possible here…I can visualize the parade, the floats, the band…Hello, Adolfo! side-bets, anyone? 100-1 odds?

fine…I’m done…stick a fork in me…here’s Part 2 of the Kimchi saga..

http://www.examiner.com/article/bluebirds-skulls-and-gold-part-two

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and the smoke, smog and traffic of the City slowly fades in my memory….3X in 3 weeks, when I usually go once or twice a year. Yeah, I’ve gotten soft, not driving the usual 100000 miles a year (and blowing the lease agreement)…we call that retirement, ok?

“no repeat customers’ is/was Ponzi Bob’s label for his two staff members here…the latest scam involves cheap/discounted liquor/beer, of which I know of at least two people who have been burnt.

hey…you want to open a jade store? the existing store on the corner of 5th ave/3rd calle and a great location has said ‘adios’ and closed…..sort of…their main sign is gone…if one can’t make it there, then where?

or maybe it’s just part of the store…the  ’for rent sign’ doesn’t say  much..and great to hear from  mike D and Norm the K….and if you’re going out tonight, check out  Fusion’s new music thing at 8pm…I’d go but i’m only allowed 4 hours a day with the new hearing device….hey, 5 hours tomorrow and it’s great to hear things in stereo again…as Tall Bill said to me earlier, ‘getting old is a bitch, but it beats the alternative.’

the new shafts for the croquet set? a hit…except i’ve decided that another six inches would be better…here’s the first installment of the Iximche story….a mellow trip, no accidents/adventures and no  Land Rovers got plugged..

http://www.examiner.com/article/bluebirds-skulls-and-gold

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for gringos to make a living in this town…gotta work permit? oops…if you don’t have an independent income, you’re fighting the tide. Witness the recent departure, hopefully temporary, of Sierra…as with Wendy Wever and Peter Hodge, once they take the TEFL course, it’s time to  find a job teaching English (and not here)…my favorite Amazon, Tanya the H seems to be returning…will the  ’thing’ with the motorcycle guy pick up again?

and yes, love is in the air still…Ocelot staff…no names but I’m glad to see that nature still takes its course.  And yes! at last, Antigua has a new Mayor….he’s an attorney but we can’t hold that against him (yet)it might me that permits/licenses and such will now get kind of a green light…maybe even the streets washed down, eh? at present, the park benches are getting new sluts….no, slats….

ah, Iximche? easy in, easy out and different from any Mayan site I’ve seen…maybe because it isn’t that old (500 years)…Tecpan is neat also..

another minor miracle….the newly revised longer thicker shaft? the croquet mallet? ontime, perfect and it’ll get a test run this weekend…and then order the other five replacements, just in time for the rainy season.

Music in a new location tonight….Fusion’s patio, 8pm…’blues/jazz’….and why does Panza Verde charge a 100q to hear Seth play?….he’s great, but…Piano Mike is back from SC and playing Dishaulded (just what the fuck does that mean?) weekend nights…wish them luck, per location/empty spaces…Sobremesa’s new little room is getting a LOT of action.

last/not least…the delightful Marbel has a new concept…doing City tours of this/that…her business cards (I have some) are….hmmm….ask me and I’ll ask  your opinion, ok?

and what is probably the last road trip for Alabama Bob (he’s says June 1st is it)but we’ve found a new rider….Dr. J….HBT will continue to pilot…

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so….the 3rd trip into the City? not, for various reasons…maybe Friday, assuming a lot of things, like the audiologist gets over being sick…o well, that’s guatemala…at least, it seems to be a go for Kimchi tomorrow, that Mayan site up by Tecpan…with what might be the last road trip with Alabama Bob….he reverts to the US next month and ‘aint sure’ if he’s coming back. The Barfly Wall of Whatever in Ocelot losses another face.

kn ow any cunning linguists? one of the side benefits of belonging to the American Legion library, next to the Jardin Bavaria on 7th ave norte, besides having over 30000 books, for 100q a year in dues, is the occasional weird bookmark…this week? it looks like a  ticket for something called the ‘T.C. Kultur VE Turizm of Bakanligi, Muze Giris Bileti, Fiyati 250 TL’..there’s a faint outline  of some landmass or maybe its a wine stain…gotta stop/retry later…either wordpress is screwed or my net connection is…

ok, once more..if you see the delightful Miss M, yes, she’s back from Israel, Spain and Italy….looking for work in A-Town. She’s doing an ‘Author’s Night’ with me next month at the Sophos Bookstore in the City, as she’s more bi-lingual than I am (don’t go even go there, ok?)

more smart thinking…another jade shop on 5th calle…the venerable (old) Panchoy Restuarant has moved to outer 3rd calle, by the hotel Santo Domingo, making it even easier for customers not to find them…as to what’s going into their old space on 6th avenida…dunno, but they’ve been ripping the guts out of the inside for a while now. Probably a travel agency, spanish school/jade store, with  t-shirts.

and now that Rich and Raul have some golf clubs, compliments of some paca somewhere, it’ll be hard to  beg off playing next week….flog is golf, spelled backwards, which describes it very well. And yes, there are hordes of visiting christians, matching t-shirts, earnest expressions of good will…if they thought about how much their airfare cost, plus food/lodging….20X$1000 or so? and just found a decent NGO? nope…gotta go Witness for the Lord’ all that pale white flesh, over-fed and over here…they march in groups, night and day….do they? ah, hell..who cares? I don’t, you  don’t.

ah! thru luck, pluck and so on….I found a wood-working shop in San Felipe who is making a proto-type shaft for the croquet mallets…the others are/were just too f%$#@! short….these will be ‘man-sized’…bigger, longer…some kind of wood called ‘bollilo?’…all the better to whack my balls with, my dear…if this process is anything like the hearing aid thing, expect news next month, in time for the rains..and again, thank you f or all the kind words about the latest epic, ’100 miracles a year’….it’s a helluva project, that actually works, Will is a saint and so on…thank you…yeah, not Kimchi…Iximche tomorrow….breaking in a new rider/accomplice, Dr. J…hey, we warned him.

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whew….Antigua was chock-ful of tasty babes (moms, I assumed)on Friday but today? a dismal parade of the fat and the ugly. I’ve often said that one of my favorite things about living here is that, every day i see at least 3 beautiful women that I’ve never seen before…that record was broken today….even the usually fabulous Miss 8:30, despite her awe-inspiring/outstanding superstructure wasn’t up to her usual standards….wtf happened over the weekend? and here’s  a ‘feel good’ story about guatemala…

http://www.examiner.com/article/a-hundred-miracles-a-year

either wordpress is slammed or my ‘net connection is hosed….tomorrow…and the story about Coyote Rojo getting pepper-sprayed at 3am…or that’s what I was told…last saturday/early sunday, a judge with cops entered with spray….a very effective way to clear out a joint.

piano mike checking in from San Cristobal de las Casas….getting his visa renewed….i love SC..if it weren’t so cold there, etc….coming this thursday, a ‘run’ to Iximche to see if the folks who’ve said it’s great are right…if so, worthy of an inclusion into the ‘Top Ten’ of Guatemala, into next months’ version of Our Man…and taking on a new rider, Dr. J….breaking him in, as it were, into  traveling with the usual circus.

the ever lovely Evelyn M, in from El Salvador for a weekend with Bob…with him leaving next month, this has gotta be bittersweet parting…both fine people..alas

that Thai kick boxing school on upper 4th? Muay Thai or whatever….how do they stay in business? and if you leave before you finish the course, do they kick you out? just wondering, as i do about a lot of things in this wacky town…like what’s going to happen with the old Riki’s building on 4th, long vacant? when?

yes, this is the Tomster, who doesn’t remember shooting up the Land Rover…

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