Day 83 – Antigua, GU

Day 83 – Antigua, GU     11/12/10     Mileage: 0

Last day of school (for now) today and despite what I think was a good effort I’m still struggling with even the most basic conversation. The students had another “recital” and mine was a recipe for cocadas…a local favorite similar to macaroons. So after bidding farewell to Christina and Probigua, I went back to the hotel to study before dinner. I actually had dinner plans tonight, not with some hot Latin number, but with two of my classmates…Max (from Zurich, Switzerland) and Alan (from Bavaria in southern Germany). I had mentioned to Max that I love fondue and have several fondue pots from Switzerland…and even a Swissmar raclette grill. Well, he saw an ad for a restaurant in Antigua that had Swiss fondue, so he proposed we give it a try. It was a short walk from the Black Cat to Cafe Teatro which is a very quaint place.

L to R: Alan, me and Max

The cool mountain air and setting also seemed to make fondue a more appropriate dinner choice than one might think. It also of course helps that we stumbled into the one place in Antigua that is owned by a Swiss ex-pat!

 Alan, the owner of Cafe Teatro has been living in Antigua for 11 years and is originally from Lozan, Switzerland!

Me and Alan, the owner of Cafe Teatro

Needless to say the fondue was excellent, and I even learned something new! Just before the fondue was finished, Alan (the owner) came over and asked if we’d like a raw egg. Max said yes and Alan cracked an egg into what was left of the fondue which gave us a few more savory bites. It was an awesome meal and great fun, and what would make it perfect was of course to cap it off with a nice strong schnapps! Well, unfortunately Alan didn’t have any on hand but Max asked what he would recommend as an alternate digestive, and he recommended…tequila! Lol! Well, we are still in Central America after all, so you work with what you got.

After we finished sipping our top shelf tequila, we said auf wiedersehen to Alan and Cafe Teatro and went out for a beer. We ended up in Cafe No Se where we had another couple of beers before sampling what Café No Se is really known for…mescal! The owner has his own mescal distillery in southern Mexico and he imports it. We tried 3 ages…joven (non-aged), 6 months and 1 year. There was quite a taste difference between the 3 which was interesting, but neither of us really cared for it much. I also bumped in Caroline who was there with some other Peace Corp friends.

We chatted for a bit and she helped me with my Spanish…it seems I learn better with a few drinks in me! Lol. After that it was back to the Black Cat to call it a night.