Juegos Olímpicos de Invierno

Patriot that I am, I insisted that the Vancouver Olympics opening ceremonies were an event we must celebrate. And by celebrate I didn't mean sitting on the sofa with an Imperial, and a bowl of popcorn watching a grainy feed on my laptop.  No siree!  It's big screen, sports bar time!

We stroll into Montezuma.  There's a "sports bar" in town with a big screen TV.  I've watched some live soccer (okay, futbol) on that screen and know of what I speak.  This is the Olympics we're talking about after all, they are bound to be lined up for that one.  A nice 40 minute stroll and we're asking the pleasant greeter, "you guys are showing the Vancouver opening ceremonies right?".  He quickly shifts his deer in the headlights look to his welcoming look.  "No amigo, Friday night is movie night.  We'll be showing a movie on the big screen.  Try Chicos."

Chicos has a not so big screen which unfortunately is broken.  The bar gal comes up with a solution.  "The pizza place next door".  A quick look reveals a 19 inch TV stuck high on the wall and two plastic chairs next to the pizza oven.  This isn't encouraging.  I wouldn't survive the heat even if they could find a channel that carried the Winter Olympics.  That one word, winter, reveals where my planning was something less than razor sharp.  Winter has no cache here.

"Let's try Cabuya.  The round bar".  The round bar is your tipico bar.  It's the basic yurt structure with a thatched roof, open on all sides. "This will be fun.  Let's celebrate the Olympics"!

I see Max's pirate taxi parked in front of Chico's right next to a real, licensed taxi.  A quick check at the bar and Taxi Luis ("see that guy in the black cap") is pointed out to me.  Luis is engaged with Max and a couple of other gentlemen in a friendly card game.  I negotiate a departure time of twenty minutes with Luis, who, judging from his meager stack of bills doesn't seem to be doing that well.  We've time for a cervesa and get primed for our big screen experience in Cabuya.

Twenty minutes later I'm standing next to Luis who, based on the  healthy stack of bills on the table, has recovered and is now doing very well.  Luis is not much interested in going anywhere right now.  Ever the entrepreneur, however, he signals a faithful sidekick who disappears for a minute and returns with our new driver.  That's efficiency for you.

We happily backtrack, past our place and arrive in Cabuya 25 minutes before showtime.  After determing that the bartender is happy to put the Olympics on we purchase a beer and head across the street for some dinner.  The bar doesn't serve food, so obligingly the restaurant doesn't serve beer.  Now that's cooperation.

Across the street from the round bar is Lila's, a local cafe.  Lila's is the sort of place without a menu.  Basically, you eat what Lila is cooking.  Tonight we're in luck.  Fish, french fries and salad!  I haven't seen a french fry in over a month.  Exciting!

We head back to the round bar to negotiate the TV and our seating arrangements.  Staff and patrons are obligingly clicking through the satellite channels.  There seem to be a few good movie channels on satellite.  Hey, I've not seen "Tiger's Got Wood".  I like sports movies.  I'll come back some day and check it out.  Until then, it's Winter Olympics time.  Or, maybe not.  Well, more to the point; not!  It seems satellite carriers in this part of the world don't have a lot of interest in the Winter Olympics.

We negotiate a cab.  No problem.  Fabien the bartender gets Geraldo his buddy to find some guy who has a car who will show up in 30 minutes.  Back to Lila's and our food appears at the table.  Delicious!  We step out onto the street and Geraldo waves to Mr. Taxi who magically appears from around the corner.  On the road again; direction home.

I position the laptop on the coffee table and start surfing.  Vancouver Olympics site ... watch online ... Costa Rica ... there it is!  It takes a few minutes to figure out that I have to click the "aumentar button" to get full screen but soon we're in TV mode.  The Moldovans are just marching into the stadium.  We get to see that flashy Romanian flag, the Russians, the Americanos and those sturdy HBC clad Canadian athletes.  The picture isn't half bad and the Spanish commentators keep their interruptions mercifully brief.  Add to that I don't understand whatever inanities they are spouting and everything is just fine.

I guess we really didn't miss much.  Add in a tour of the bar scene in this part of the world, a great meal and the chance to meet a couple new taxi drivers and it turned out to be an excellent evening.  I just wish I could have caught our national anthem...