Déjà vu…

After watching Survivor on Thursday night and seeing Jonathan get voted out, I picked up Lucky and headed down to Don Emiliano, which is a steak restaurant, but has this very cool lounge that gets packed Thursday thru Saturday (where the Zimeri twins were celebrating their b-day). I was only planning on staying a bit, but once the vodkas started flowing, it was hard to remember I had told Lucky we would probably be back by 11 PM…. Needless to say, that did not happen and I was extremely tired the next day.

Pamela, Estuardo and Carlos (Lounge at Don Emiliano)

Carlos, Valery (one of the bday girls), Gaby, and Lucky

Friday night I headed down to Antigua and met up with Jud at Monoloco for some beers. While sitting there, we exchanged some funny drunk driving stories, and were later joined by Bob, Kevin, Erin and some other people. Then, a couple of people that I know from work came over and said hi, they told me that they were with a group of friends upstairs and should come join them later on. When I did go upstairs, funny thing was, even though we all work for Industrias Licoreras (company that makes rum), we were all drinking beer... We all left Monoloco at closing time, and headed over to the Central Park to chill there for a bit.

Later on the evening / morning, while waiting for Zac (bartender / manager at Monoloco) to finish closing, one funniest thing ever happened. Some random dude started talking to me, and said that he thought he knew me from somewhere… I told them that I came to Antigua often and hung out with some gringos, including one named Bob. He then says he thinks he exchanged shirts with a Bob some months ago, which of course I remembered…. (link to August entry referencing the event http://carlosrcruz.blogspot.com/2006/08/beers-and-bowling-and-basketball.html). So I called Bob over and asked him if he remembered the dude. Bob, having puked the night of the shirt exchange, didn’t remember much, but it was established that it was in fact the same dude and that he still had the shirt in his closet… Hahahahehehe. The two dudes from San Marcos ended up being really cool people, though a little crazy, since they drive about 6 hours almost every weekend to come party in Antigua.

Jud "watering" the plants at Central Park...

Bob, Jud, Kevin, the dude from San Marcos, and some other random dude talking to us

Saturday some more family came over to visit since they wanted to see the nephews, and later on my sister had asked me to baby sit, since she had invited my mom, two aunts, and cousin for dinner in Antigua at Panza Verde (amazing food and hotel). After Marnix went to sleep, I watched “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest”, which was actually very entertaining.

On Sunday, I played some flag football (I dropped two TD passes… but also caught two), had lunch with the family at TGI Friday’s, headed over to grandma’s for advent, and watched “The Sea Inside” later on the evening. It was a really cool movie that reminded me a bit of a dear friend back in the US…. I sure hope Quique is doing well.

The family on Saturday...

At Grandma's on Sunday...

Finally, my dad came into town yesterday for the Holidays, so he came up to the house and we later met up with him for dinner. He’ll be in town for a month, which means he’s done with work for 2006. Speaking of 2006, I’ve almost been back in Guatemala for a year!!! I left my home in DC on Dec 17th 2005 … country roads, take me home, to the place, I belong…. How time flies!!!

Ahoy!
CRCP

P.S. Freddy Adu got traded away from DC United!!! What?!?! Why was he traded to Salt Lake City?
P.S. II - Still first place in my NFL picks… I have a six game lead with only three weeks to go!!!
P.S. III - Another Late Show Top Ten…

Late Show’s Top Ten Questions To Ask Yourself Before Eating At Taco Bell
10. "Have I notified my next of kin about my lunch plans?"
9. "Why is the counter kid wearing a hazmat suit?"
8. "Will the hot sauce kill the bacteria?"
7. "Is this how they poisoned that Russian spy?"
6. "Do I really want to succumb to a taco-related death?"
5. "Should I go somewhere safer for lunch like Fallujah?"
4. "Will this help me meet the recommended E.coli daily requirement?"
3. "Why are all the customers hooked up to IVs?"
2. "What would Kristie Alleyy do?"
1. "Wait -- when was Taco Bell not tainted with E.coli?"