Small World & XL Party @ Monoloco...

We went to Antigua about two weekends ago to Café Sky, wanted to enjoy the amazing view you get from the top floor and have a few drinks / snacks. Vance (Bosox fan I recently met at Monoloco) and his friends showed up as well, so we ended up staying there for a bit longer than expected.

What an amazing view of the city and the volcano in the background... great place to catch the sunset!

Carlos R, Carlos H, Lucky (arm doing better), and Chris (one of Vance's friends).

So last Tuesday everybody and their mother were in Antigua since we had a holiday on Wednesday. I caught the Bosox game there and learned that they were having a XL party at Monoloco that Friday (not that I need an excuse to go down there, but I had another one now). On that Tuesday night, towards the end of the evening, a girl tapped me in the back and asked me if I knew this one person, which I did, she then asked me if I was Carlos Cruz who had a blog, and I said yep! She (Irene) apparently had googled Monoloco and my blog had come up. Irene was in Antigua for a wedding with this other friend, got to talking and somehow figured that this other girl actually knew me from the DC days, and that Irene knew me from my blog, and then Irene sees me the next day at Monoloco… small freaking world.

So I showed up on Friday for the XL Party and got treated to: free chicken wings, free XL cap, free Monoloco t-shirt, and free rum!!! One of the best nights ever…

Jud and Carlos... classic pic! Had to wear the XL cap and the Monoloco t-shirt to get the free rum. I decided it was more fun to wear the t-shirt backwards.

Jud, Irene, Bance, Karen, and William...

Carlos and Irene... again, I can't believe she had seen my blog even though I didn't know her! Wonderfel world, beautiful people.

Vance, Carlos, and Jud... enjoying the night after the Bosox win and the free stuff!

Unfortunately Jud told me this past week that he’ll be leaving for Minnesota on September 5th indefinitely, he bought a one way ticket and claims he’ll be back at some point (once he finds another job down here). He resigned his job in Peten, and decided he needed to go back home for awhile… hopefully he’ll be back, otherwise that’s another friend from Antigua that bites the dust. Jud has been a fixture at Monoloco for about 4 years, and my Bosox rooting buddy for some time now… suerte jovenazo!

Carlos, Jud, and Bob this past weekend... could be one of our last pics together!

At some point of the night this past weekend, Bob decided to drop his pants... please pay close attention to the Spongebob / Patrick Star boxers... hehehe.

Remember back in February I couldn't get up on the wall in front of Monoloco and Jud was the only one who managed to get up... Keep on trying is my slogan, so I finally made it up there. Here we are with Kevin chilling on the top... getting down sure wasn't as easy, since I was wearing dress shoes and not sneakers, so I did stumble while trying to land after the jump.

Leaving for Hawaii this Friday for Dana’s wedding… really excited about going back there, we had such a blast back in 02. Plenty of friends should be there and the wedding should be an absolute blast. Will post details as soon as I get back from paradise...

Aloha and see ya in September,
CRCP

P.S. - Bosox have a 7 ½ game lead over the Evil Empire.
P.S. II - I'm in first place in the Fantasy EPL... yeah baby!
P.S. III - Margit... still waiting!
P.S. IV - Have a blast in Minnesota Jud, and make sure u work on trying to score tix for opening day '09...
P.S. V - Happy B-day to Marnix... turned 3 on Aug 21... My friend Estuardo will be celebrating his b-day on Aug 28th!

ER and Bosox struggling...

So I haven’t posted in some time, which means they’re plenty of interesting stories to tell. Two Thursdays ago I went out for dinner, and then met up with some friends to celebrate our basketball championship, which was not supposed to go that long considering it was a Thursday night. Long story short, I was planning on leaving the bar early, and didn’t get home till about 3AM… Needless to say, it was a real pain getting up in the morning the next day.

Since I had gone our later than expected on Thursday, decided to take it easy on Friday and went to a place called D’Fog, where a small concert was happening. It was a chill evening and plenty of songs were sung, except for the freaking traffic, as they were paving at night. Saturday went down to Antigua for a friend’s b-day, which was at this place called Sky Café (amazing view of Antigua on it top floor / terrace). We had a bunch of rum, as it was one of my former coworkers from La Licorera, plus I got to catch up with a bunch of people I hadn’t seen in awhile. Afterwards went on to Monoloco to watch the Bosox lose to the Angels, and called it an early night.

This weekend was chill… Friday night we went out to Rattle & Hum with my high school friends. I wanted to get home early and so that I could wake up early on Saturday morning to watch the kickoff weend of the English Premier League. Here we are enjoying the evening… salud!

Here we are at Rattle & Hum... We were a bit too tight, but still managed to have fun.

Healthy Lucky, Bob, and Carlos

As we’re leaving the premises, Lucky just happened to step on some piece of cardboard, slipped and took a bad fall. After helping her up, Lucky was complaining that her wrist really hurt and that she had heard a crack… We ended up going to the Emergency Room, where after having her x-rays done, the doctor informed us that she had broken her wrist in three places and needed to wear a cast for 7 weeks!

Take this broken wings and learn to fly again and learn to live so free.... Anyway, here's Lucky getting her cast adjusted. Do you see how big the freaking cast is??? I must say Lucky was a good sport over the entire thing.

After all this, I didn’t get home till about 3AM… I did roll out of bed around on Saturday morning around 9:30 to catch some soccer (saw an amazing goal by Steven Gerrard). After having some Korean wine and food with a friend, I headed over to Bob’s new digs… only thing is, it’s completely on the other side of the city, so it took forever to get there! Some pics of the small get together….

So this is not really breakdancing, as Bob says he's doing the pummel horse routine... but I still think it looks like breakdancing. I said a hip hop the hippie the hippie to the hip hip hop, a you dont stop ...

There was this dog named Spot at the house, the dog was full of energy... unlike Jud in the background!

As far as work goes, everything is moving along well… no plans yet for work trips this month, but you never know. Speaking of trips, I’m going to Hawaii for a friend’s wedding at the end of the month!!! I’m super excited, as I haven’t been do Hawaii since 2002… plus I’ll be seeing a lot of friends that I haven’t seen since forever, and a few of us are renting a condo rrrrrright by the beach! Now, if I only knew what to wear to a Hawaiian wedding… hhhhmmm… suggestions?

Aloha,
CRPC

P.S. - Bosox have really been struggling lately, Yankees are now only four games back! We need to start hitting, and Gagne needs to stop pitching like a freaking little leaguer.
P.S. II - Finally saw the movie “Hot Fuzz”, really funny stuff… highly recommend it!
P.S. III - Margit: I’m still waiting…. Let me know if u need any help.

Champs & Harry Potter...

We are the champions! Wooohooo! We won our basketball tournament this past Monday, this is the first time the team has won a championship over its 7 - 8 existence, I’ve played for the past year with the team… coincidence? Probably, but we all did a lap around the court to celebrate… no cutting of the nets here!!! We should be going out this weekend to celebrate properly… yeah!

This past week I was in Honduras for work, which went really well, as we got a lot of things done (plus I bumped into two of my former coworkers from La Licorera, including my former boss!). Still, there are things to finalize, which I’m hoping we can do over e-mail, if not, I might have to go back in the next couple of weeks. I came back from Honduras on Friday morning, did some light work, and went down to Antigua at night. I met Jud and Ritchie at Monoloco for some drinks, Bob showed up a bit later, and after some drama with someone I know (thank u Jud for the support, and Bob for being so patient), called it a night.

Ritchie, Carlos, and Bob on a Friday night...

Two Minnesotans: Bobtron and Britt...

Carlos and Britt chilling at Monoloco... damn I look good in a baseball cap!

Early Saturday morning I came back down to Antigua, as Bob’s girls (he teaches gymnastics down here on a part time basis) had a gym meet and had invited me to come see ‘em. After having some sweet lunch, came back to the city, took a little nap, had dinner, and went out to Margit’s going away party at her house. Before getting to Margit’s house, I had to stop by and pick up Lucky at her brother’s house, were we had about four drinks before heading out to Margit’s house. The going away party was a blast, as it involved: beer, rum, peach schnapps, pizza, and puking (not by me)… hehe…. too much fun!

Sports wise, happy to report that the Celtics acquired Kevin Garnett from Minnesota for 7 players… and the Bosox acquired Greg Gagne to bolster their already kick ass bullpen. Plus, I can’t wait till next weekend when the English Premier League starts… go Arsenal! I think they’ll do well even though Henry left for FC Barcelona…

Saludos a todos y abrazos,
CRCP

P.S. - Good luck in Sweden MARGIT… a echarle huevos y quedo a la espera de su blog!
P.S. II - Bob finally moved to the city… hope he adapts well to his new surroundings.
P.S. III - Another Late Show Top Ten…

Late Show’s Top Ten Things Overheard in Line For the New Harry Potter Book

10. "So where does your imaginary girlfriend live?"
9. "How lucky are we that this didn't conflict with a 'Star Trek' convention?"
8. "Isn't that the mayor of Philly in front of you?"
7. "Unless you brought your invisibility cloak, I would suggest going to the back of the line"
6. "With all those sorcerer's powers, you'd think he'd have a way to ditch those dorky glasses for contacts or something"
5. "I heard that Harry ends up in rehab and has to wear a magical ankle bracelet"
4. "Daddy, will the book end like 'The Sopranos' with a blank last page?"
3. "Who are you going to get to read it to you, Miss Hilton?"
2. "I'm out of the house on a Friday night, near other people who are also in line -- does this count as a date?"
1. "Please tell me that's a magic wand you keep poking me with"