Presidental Elections & Rearview Mirror...

So Saturday September 8th was the day before the presidential election in Guatemala, which means that there is no alcohol sold from Sat midday, until Monday morning… meaning most bars were closed on Saturday (I guess to make sure people don’t show up drunk to vote). So I headed down to Antigua with Bob and Pamela, stopped by Monoloco to say hi to a friend and see if the Bosox were playing, and then headed over to Vance’s house to have a drink. Bob and I had some beer, plus Vance had more beer and rum. When we got there, there were only about 5 people, but towards the end of the night, it was something like 25 people crammed in Vance’s place… I guess word got around that he had the “goods”.

As far as the presidential election goes, two candidates will be going to a second round of voting, as they were the two top vote getters without either one of them getting over 50% of the votes (I don’t really like either one). The second round will of voting will happen on November 4th, and then we’ll know who will be President of Guatemala for the next four years…

What else have I been up to? Went to this place called Black on Wednesday to enjoy some music and see my friends get happy with tequila & beer (I decided to only have beer), went to La Playa with my cousin and some of his friends (hadn’t been there since forever), had a cool Friday night at Antigua that ended at an afterparty, and started playing Flag Football again (haven’t played since I tore my ACL) with my brother, cousin, + friends. Unfortunately, we lost our first game, but it was a really close one that came down to the last play of the game.

On other sports news, the freaking Red Sox have started on a downward spiral… losing two out of three to the Evil Empire, and then been swept by the Blue Jays this week. The AL East lead that once seemed comfortable, is now down to only 1 ½ games… I was really upset yesterday, but I still have hope / faith that they’ll pull through and win the AL East (that’s what 2004 taught us, never give up). Technically, we should still make the playoffs as the Wild Card team if we don’t win the AL East, but it won’t be the same… we have been in first place for the entire freaking year!!! Thanks Erick Gagne... u suck!

Evil Empire is closing in... I can feel the dark side breathing down our necks.

Still trying to solve the unsolvable… taking longer than usual to figure this one out… but again, I still have faith and hopefully it will be worth it.

Abrazos,
CRCP

P.S. Congrats to Manuel and Josely on getting engaged… Tentatively, I have another wedding on March 08!!!
P.S. II - Feliz cumpleaños hermanita… Patty celebrated another year on Sept 19th, ARRIBA!!!
P.S. III - Arsenal is looking extremely good… unbeaten in the EPL and beat Sevilla 3 - 0 in the Champions League. Francesc Fabregas is da man!
P.S. IV - Saw “Blades of Glory” the other day… really funny movie, plus there was an appearance by Pam of The Office.

Hawaiian Wedding...

Before I left for the Hawaiian wedding, we had a little going away event for Jud, who was leaving for Minnesota indefinitely. Jud has been in Guatemala for about 5 years, and decided he needed some time at home to replenish the soul… can’t blame him for that, though we’ve lost a good buddy in Antigua. So on this day we started the day off with ceviche, next we stopped by Casa Santo Domingo for some rum and cokes, stopped at Monoloco to watch part of the Bosox game, and ended the night at Rattle and Hum…

Pamela, Zach, Carlos, and Jud at Rattle and Hum...

Here we are, our last drinks with Jud before he left us... traitor!!! Zach is about to hit Jud with the bottle...

Fisrt of all: Congrats to Dana and Luis on getting married!!! So I headed to Hawaii this past Friday for Dana and Luis’ wedding, leaving the Guatemala at 7AM, getting to LAX around 11 AM, and then getting to Hawaii at 7:30PM. I had a long layover at LAX, where I had time to do some work and a bit of shopping. Anyway, on the trip for LAX to Hawaii, I met this cool Texan dude (Heath, not Edgar) that was living in Hawaii; he was sitting next to me for the 5 hour trip. We somehow started talking to the flight attendants, and they ended up being super nice to us, giving us free wine, nuts, ice cream, cookies, and more wine. Really nice to be treated so kindly on such a long freaking flight…

Once I was finally in Hawaii (Island of Hawaii, or Big Island), I met up with Mickey B and Brenda who were already at the condo we had rented for the week in Kona, had a quick glass of rum (I brought some Ron Botran Solera with me), waited for JC and Sungi to arrive as well, and then went to a bar to have some beers and something to snack on. Saturday morning we went Hapuna Beach, one of the Top Ten Beaches in the world… according to the Travel Channel. The beach was absolutely amazing, unfortunately I only have one pic at this point, since I didn’t bring my camera… At night, we had the rehearsal dinner at Dana’s house, which was mostly for out of town guests to meet and greet, were we had some great food and some beer with a hint of passion fruit…. quite interesting.

Here's the view of the condo we were staying at... quite fancy... nice job Mickey B.

View from our deck area: all you need is great friends, warm weather, and a cold beer... miles away from the ordinary.

He we are trying to fix the screen door! So Mickey B had put the deposit down on the condo and had asked us to be extra careful around the house so not to break anything... First morning in the condo, Sungi walks into the screen door and breaks it...hehehe (u should have seen Mickey B's face... priceles... or about three-fitty). It was eventually fixed, but I must also mention that Mickey B and JC eventuall walked into it as well.

Here's the condo crew: Brenda, Mickey B, JC, Sungi, and Carlos (JC and his ringtone by Daddy Yankee would wake us up every single morning... )

Hapuna Beach... I wish I was back there right now.

At the rehearsal dinner: Carlos, Eri, Paul, Dana, Brenda and Mickey B... look at us, we all got leid!

Sunday morning we went for a walk along the beach, did some window shopping, had some kava before heading back to the condo for a nice barbecue lunch: burgers, salad, and pasta… hhmm. Most of us wanted to take a nap, but it was too late and we had to get ready for the wedding. So we all headed to a place called the Horizon House, which had an amazing view of Hawaii, as it was up in a mountain. The wedding was incredible: unforgettable first dance, great friends, delicious food, and plenty of drinks and dancing.

The wedding ceremony: Dana and Luis...

View I from the Verizon House...

View II from the Verizon House... sunset are great in Hawaii.

Wedding Party: El trencitoooooo....

Eri and Carlos singing the night away... and don't worry, it wasn't real singing as the mikes were turned off.

Kissing Ericita... thanks for the memories.

Love is all around... bride and me.

Hugs and more dancing...

Wedding cake: it was a rice crispies tower!!!

The bride and groom jumped into the pool and jacuzzi... wow!

Monday morning we headed Mauna Kea (13,000 ft) to see one of the many telescopes they have in Hawaii. It was a long drive, with great views and very different terrain. When we finally got to the top, after about 2 ½ hours of driving (and having some trouble with the 4 wheel drive), it was an fantastic view… and also freaking cold (about 50 some degrees). On the way back we were all starving, but decided to get some Thai food in Kona that was excellent. I had the Sum Tam, Larb Gai and Yellow Noodles… delicious! (Except for the Larb Gai that wasn’t on the menu and they said they would do it for me, but it didn’t taste right).

We be off roading... the Jeep Wrangler that took us all over Hawaii.

View from the top of Mauna Kea... man was it cold there! We did manage to score a quick tour of one of the telescopes, even though Monday was Labor day and the observatory was officially closed.

View from the Thai restaurant... more beaches and beautiful sunsets.

Tuesday we did a volcano hike, with a stop before at the southern most point of the USA. We also stopped to get some breakfast before doing the hike, and I got an interesting combo, the bakery breakfast: two eggs, two pieces of bacon, and two pieces of banana nut bread...

Southern most point in the USA...

Carlos, Eri, Brenda, and Mickey B... we tried our southern accent here, but it still sucked.

Hanging out by a huge ass blow hole...

Pretending to take a piss into the ocean... again, only pretending!

Dana's slippers somehow fell into the ocean, so she had to go down the ladder to get'em... and then her credit cards got into the water as well, which she also proceeded to retrieve (with no pants on....ppprrr!).

During the volcano hike, we encountred some enormous craters... Brenda was afraid to get too close to the edge.

Wednesday we did snorkeling for awhile after waking up really late…. we all needed the morning to recup our batteries. So we did some snorkeling, saw some really colorful and different fish... but no turtles... fudge. Anyway, had another bbq dinner at home, and then headed of to Dana's to say goodbye, since JC and I were leaving on Thursday at 1 PM. We got back to the condo around 12AM after saying aloha to Dana and Luis, and stayed up talking and drinking till about 4AM...

Our last Hawaiian pic together: Carlos, Mickey B, JC, Dana, Sungi, and Ericita... Aloha bitches (as Sungi would say).

So the entire trip was an amazing experience. I'm glad I was there for the wedding, and got a chance to share with some friends I hadn't seen in a long time. Question now is: who is getting married next???

Aloha and mahalo nui loa for everything,
CRCP