The International Language of Liquor

Yes! I made a crucial blow in night three of the fibre fight and am FINALLY fever-free! (Say that ten times in a row…) I am SO relieved. I was definitely going over the “regularly prescribed dosage” of tylenol and was just beginning to fear that I might actually have to USE my traveler´s health insurance. You see, I paid good money for that insurance under the presumption that the simple act of purchasing it would guarantee that I would never actually have to utilize it. Isn´t that the way insurance works?

So somewhere in between my night cold sweats, and Spanish classes….I became a BARTENDER! Okay….I´m really gonna have to hold back my excitement here…but why didn´t anyone TELL me how FUN bartending is? It´s just like the movie Cocktail!

Okay, so maybe I don´t work beside Tom Cruise, and maybe I can´t do all those fancy flip trips *yet*. And, *shrugs* okay, yeah…so maybe I just learned the difference between Mr.Walker and Mr. Daniels, but I have a feeling these drink-mixin´ skills I´m learning are going to come in super handy later down the travel line o´ mine. For just like the “language of love”, the “language of liquor” is also universal. (Even if you don´t know a lick of Spanish, I bet you know, “Una cerveza por favor.” Si?) The bar is called the “Monoloco” and is one of the hottest spots in Antigua and is owned by a 25 yr-old guy from Virginia. (Yeah…you know what I´m thinking? He´s one step ahead of me on his “before-I´m-25-yrs-old list”) So not only do we get to play loud music, dance behind the bar, slap high fives, drink it up and chat with cool people from all over the world…but with gringo tips, it´s the best pay in town. Which reminds me….you know how much my “bosses” know about me, their employee? My first name. That´s it! When they hired me they didn´t know anything from my last name to my age…let alone the felonies I´ve been convicted of.

So I heard there is some weird little skirmish going on between the States and China about some spy plane…yada, yada? That´s all I know about it….and that´s all I want to know about it. The only reason I bring it up is to give perspective on what life outside the States is like. President who? War what? Care less I? Sorry. Maybe I´m just being an ignorant little brat, but it´s just SO nice not to have overblown issues shoved down your throat by every medium possible 24/7. In fact, I haven´t watched TV for over three weeks now…wait! I´ve BEEN here for over THREE WEEKS! Unbelievable. You know that someone asked me what dot com I worked for last week, and it took me a full minute to stutter out the name “CollegeClub”? Yup. It took me a entire three weeks to forget the name of a life that CONSUMED me for two years. Unbelievable.

Okay….I´ve gotta shut up now or I´ll rattle on forever…too much to say…too little time….meeting friends in the park in 10 minutes….adios!

(Sometimes you just gotta give sickness props for making you appreciate feeling “unsick”…ohhh to have un-crawling skin again!)

Got time? Got Napster? Download Sergio Mendez, Magalena.