Went to Baratapas (I may or may not be spelling that right...but if I'm not, I'm gonna need you to come to West Africa and give me a spelling lesson - please, enlighten me)...so yes - I went to Baratapas with: get ready - it's a long list:
Austin, Nick, Nate, Daneil, Dan Pinte, Josh, Sam, Margo, Amanda, Christi, Erika, and another PCV's name I completely forget the name of (no hard feelings)
We ordered food, beer and some of us got a round of shots - I soon realized that I am a complete light-weight in West Africa! After a shot I felt my eyes getting heavy. Talk about sad times. Gosh. But - let's first talk about these shots - er - well - how they are made, or mixed, rather. This French man who owns the bar soaks and flavors his own rum!
Y U M - O !
He had anana, mint, mangue, candy - or baileys flavored - ginger and probably more. So the 1st shot I tried was the anananaaa!! I love that word, and the fruit, and the flavored rum! Didn't taste anything like pineapple - just rum that completely burned as it went down - but still marvelous! After that shot we got our food: Pulled pork avec mangue and crudité! It was great! Probably some of the best food I've had since I got to this country. Amanda and I shared a beer - yes, beer - I know, I don't like beer. But I will say that in this country - I enjoy beer. All wonderful until I decided I needed to go check out the bathroom. I was fine - but for some reason the world was on a weird teeter-totter tilt and made it extremely difficult for me to walk straight. I will say - I covered it up quite well! At least I think I did. But boy was I feeling it. Stumbling a wee bit - but straight. Austin, Nick and Nate all made fun of me - thanks guys.
So here's the good part - got to the bathroom after walking down this long, dark corridor - and everything was wet! The floor. The sink. The toilet. I looked around for some kind of leak - but nothing - just Africa. Ha. Okay - so after contemplating whether or not I should take my chances in the oceanic bathroom - I looked at this picture, rather, mural: Two men. One man is standing while urinating into the toilet - yet, he is doing this with the biggest frown ever. The other man is sitting on the toilet while urinating - with the BIGGEST smile on the planet! The frowning man had a big red X over his body...the other man did not.
What?
Yes - I decided I could hold my urge to go - I'm not an expert at hovering yet.
After a few more sips and snacks I bought Austin, myself and Erika each a shot! Generous, I know. I tried mint this time and O H E M G E E it burned and was so strong! The French man, Allan, said that ginger was the strongest, and Austin said he about threw up after trying it two years ago. = Vagabond...I'm gonna need you to take that one like a champ. I know you can do it!
We left and all went to this jazz bar. It had old pictures of jazz artists everywhere - all B&W - so I was as happy as a bee in a field of daisies. And on top of that - the bar was playing a lot of old jazz in A N G L A I S. Definitely a good choice. Played darts. Watched people dance. Watched the fellows play pool. It was a pretty chill place. Good conversations too. Let's hear it for connecting with a fellow Texan from TX A&M...Gig'em. I'm actually pretty excited there are a few other Texans here to connect with.
Go lauren! Who was the Texan? Was it Austin? Cause that would be funny. I got your letter and have been inspired to write you back! I've been lazy!
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