Moscas y Miel

Saturday 16th January 1988

We awoke at 09:00 hrs. and bought bread, milk and jam for breakfast. I had a sore throat and a mild case of the shits but I felt better for the “early” night. We went to the park down the road for some sunbathing.

I went back to the hotel at 12:00 hrs. noon to meet Lety for my Spanish lesson but she didn’t turn up so at 12:30 hrs. we walked into town to do some shopping and have a hamburger. We found a dark doorway leading into a supermarket and perused the shelves in wonder.

In the afternoon we got talking to an American who seemed to be a fixture at the Hotel Placido. He “persuaded” us to go for a drink in the El Bambu bar over the road. We had a couple of Victoria cervezas and a stuffed chilli snack and he told us good places to visit in Peru. Victoria is a pale lager from the Cervecería Centro Americana Sociedad Anónima Guatemalan brewery with a 5% alcohol content by volume.

While we were sitting on the balcony the eccentric bald Italian opposite came out wearing dark glasses and carrying about five empty beer bottles. Everybody laughed including the hotel family. Another exciting pastime today was washing underwear upstairs in the hotels big stone sinks.

At 18:30 hrs. we went out for a meal at Suchows, cheerfully scoffing chicken Chow Mein as two children squawked over a picture book at the next table. We were overlooked by a picture of Jesus, a situation that we had got used to in Mexico. He was sitting at a table with his hands clasped in front of him and a “what can I do for you”? bank manager sort of expression.

We went on to Mio Cid’s but it was too early and boring, so we returned to the Hotel Placido to doss about for an hour or two. When we returned we got caught up in the usual social whirl of shanting (drinking) and talking.

Laars and Tom were back, along with the dark-skinned Australian who’s name was Chris. He had been relieved of $850 US dollars in Guate by the police! “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom” kept a lot of attention on the television. Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom is a 1984 American action-adventure film directed by Steven Spielberg. It is the second instalment in the Indiana Jones franchise, a prequel to the 1981 film Raiders of the Lost Ark, featuring Harrison Ford reprising his role as the title character.

The Australian girls and one of the English girls, Ann were also there. I chatted to a Dutch Physical Education teacher who was staying at our hotel. We went on to the “El Tarro” bar and sampled “anis”, an aniseed drink like ouzo or Pernod, while two guitarists played lively tunes at the bar.

Woody had been playing earlier but had broken his guitar strings. Finally, we ended up in Moscas y Miel (flies and honey), the disco bar, for another series of rounds of Cuba Libres. At 03:00 hrs. we left the others hammering on the door of “Los Pollos” and returned to bed.