March 27, 2009 Hanging on Solomon's Porch

So we’ve been going, almost everyday, to this place called “Solomon’s Porch” in Panajachel. It’s a nice place, lunch and dinner and they serve Moza, the beer we have grown most fond of here in Guatemala. The guy behind the counter, Noe, he’s really nice –and versatile. He’ll be fetching us beers, making lattes, serving tables, hooking up sound equipment (they have live music almost every night, the owner is a musician, we saw him at the festival and that’s when we heard about Solomon’s Porch!) and then keeping the internet under control all in the span of a few minutes. I didn’t realize Noe spoke English because he kept speaking in Spanish to us, Sal spoke in Spanish to him, it’s a Spanish-speaking country, but then the other day after I finished my Espaguetti Primavera (yum!) he walks over and says, “Are you finished with this?” in perfect English, no accent, just… smarter than me, apparently, I can barely mutter “Gracias,” without feeling like a big silly gringo.
The internet is the main thing. Sal’s gotten way too impatient with the slow internets at the house. At first it seemed like maybe it was enough, but in office places where people chat through e-mail like it were instant messaging and everything happens through the superfast inner-office network and T3 internets… well, it’s hard to keep up with these ambitious career types. Sal’s been saying stuff like he doesn’t like working in IT anymore and I don’t blame him. Yeah, if he didn’t have a thousand other interests (including me!) he could probably obsess over all this bullshit, but he’s a sweet, brilliant and artistic man who deserves better than being underestimated and talked down to by obsessive egotistical nerds.
But our financial constraints make it difficult to just go to Pana everyday, we have to be careful, be on a budget. Still, we’ve been there three times this week, and twice eaten their yummy food. Tonight we were there a little later than usual (we usually try to be at the embarcadero right after 5 to catch the boat home before sunset) and since we missed the 5:30 boat we went ahead and hung out until the 6:30-ish boat and Sal got up the courage to go play drums with the band!
Now. I know that lots of people have lots of friends. Some people have several different groups of friends to do different things. Like work friends. School friends. Friends to do fun outside things with. Friends to talk about your feelings with. But Sal and I just do all that stuff with each other. Of the two of us, he’s more outgoing, but we’re both big introverts. We’ve been together long enough to want to call each other husband and wife now, and I’m still consistently relieved to just stay in with Sal, have dinner and watch TV. Other people, in my experience, have been mostly disappointing.
But Sal was brave and outgoing and walked over to Leroy, the owner of the place, while he was practicing some drumming with a marimba and a bass and asked to play with them. I was reading the new book I bought, “The Time Traveler’s Wife” (I like it, it’s romantical) and watching over our laptops, but when Sal finished and came back over he was grinning from ear to ear. Playing music makes him so happy! They invited him to some sort of drum thing they’re doing on Tuesday, that’s payday so we’re going. We just have to make sure we can get transportation back to San Marcos afterwards, shouldn’t be too difficult.
Anyway, unless we think of some better internet plan, Solomon’s Porch is our new favorite hangout. It’s got awesome people, musical happenings, good food, and great beer. The coffee shop in the foyer of the place (I guess the layout is sort of like a little mall, one big hallway/foyer/lobby opens to the street and has several shops and restaurants inside) has really good coffee.
I know it’s ironic since Guatemala is a big coffee-growing region, and they grow coffee all over the hills right here at Lake Atitlan. But they sell it all to Starbucks for very little money (damn you, Starbucks!) and it’s kind of hard to find good beans. Most coffee, when you order at restaurants, is instant coffee. Other than that, they make espresso and put microwaved milk in it, “café con leche”. But the coffee place near Solomon’s porch has good coffee, steamed milk, good espresso (I had an espresso con panna with no disappointment! chocolate powder on top and all!), and they sell local beans. If only we had a coffee grinder….
Anyway, we had a nice boatride home, too. It was dark and the headlight is right in the middle of the little roof, Sal and I sat right in the front watching the bow dance up and down. I just really like riding on the boats. It’s choppy and the hard benches hurt my butt, but I still enjoy it. Anytime (mostly when it’s daytime) you can glance over your shoulder and see the dark mystical waters of Lake Atitlan churning and shining, like a big sky. It’s really amazing. Good thing I like it, because sometimes the boats are jampacked with people and have to go really slow over the bumpy waters. That ride can feel like an eternity, especially when Sal’s sealed in between stinky drunk German tourists who piss themselves, as has happened in the past.
On our way home we stopped at the bodega for cerveza and pan and Sal saw a stack of empty bottles next to the jalapeño peppers. He was completely intrigued and asked the girl behind the counter what they were. “Some empty bottles,” she smartly replied (in Spanish, so Sal told me).
Anyway, it’s called aguardiente (means: water burning, or firewater) añejo (we guess that means aged). A hard liquor made right here in Guatemala. Tastes like Spritevodka! I love it! It costs about a dollar for a little bottle that got me and Sal about four shots each and it felt nice. He made a little video when we brought it home, the girl at the bodega warned up it was strong, I was nervous it would be disgusting. But it’s not! On that note, goodnight, internets!