Not the torch for the Special Oympics
It kinda looks like it could be: the town is full, the bands are tuning up and if the rains don’t dampen things, the pipe mortars will start soon. I finally saw the contraption the other day….a 2 ft section of what appeared to be 4 inch metal pipe on a stand. The fireworks dude drops in the charge, which has a five foot fuse and then waits for the signal to light it off. …crack-a-boom, a blaze of initial powder ignition and the sucker goes straight up for three hundred foot and blows up: a sizeable cloud of dirty grey/brown smoke, a very loud BANG and that’s it, folks….its not about the beauty or the art: its all about the BANG. I’m starting to get it about how things work here. If only I could figure out the women.
There may be news of a minor miracle on the wine front: I stumbled across a ‘97 Merlot out of Haywood Vineyards in Sonoma for ten bucks….hmm…WTF? The semi-bad news is that the cork was on the verge of disintegrating. I drank most of it and consigned the remainder to the spaghetti that’s on the stove. For the sake of science, my fund of knowledge and never-ending quest for truth, justice and a decent bottle of red, I”ll have to go back and sample another bottle. Film at eleven…
I’m a bit early with this, since the actual day isn’t until Tuesday, the 15th: Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua and Costa Rica all share the same date of liberation from the evil clutches of Spain…after a few centuries of the Inquisition, slave labor and bad wine, who could blame them? Oddly enough…maybe not all that odd, is that Mexico celebrates a day later: manana in action, a day late and a few pesos short.
There is the possibility, probably slim, that a new type of motorized passenger conveyance may be seen on the streets of Antigua….
The Beast from India
Its a bit ugly and bigger than the standard tuk-tuk: rather than a little motorcycle engine, its got a liliputian one-cylinder diesel huffer and puffer…the mayor has been heard to say that he wants to get rid of the tuk-tuks…screw…what happens to us on the streets who get caught in the rain or have too much stuff in the bag to take home? When’s the next election?
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