Today we went over to Santiago for the night with my two friends and the Marco Trio band. I spent the morning picking up a few groceries and getting the girls all set up for the night.
The guy continued to work on the patio in the backyard. He had to order some more tiles.
I took Kier for breakfast and gave her some last minute instructions. Then I walked up to the Porch to meet everyone who was going over to the Posada. The band, Marco Trio (my friend’s husband is the base player) plays at the Posado every other Friday night. My friend doesn’t like going over with just the band because she ends up sitting by herself for the whole evening.
We went over in a private boat for 200Q. We had to take the drum set, guitars, amps, everything down to the docks from the street. There was a lot of stuff to carry, and I don’t know how they could lift the larger amps.
A volunteer from Florida also came with us. He has done some work with the Porch before. Normally he works on a cruise ship playing the piano. Volunteers who are also musicians often join the band for a set or two when they visit.
When we got to the Posada, which is such an incredible hotel, we spent the afternoon going from the sauna to the pool to the hot tub, lying out in the sun for a bit, repeating. I’m not a big sauna fan, but the conversation was always so hilarious in there, I put up with the sweating part just so I wouldn’t miss it. My friend also had some of the latest magazines from the States that someone had brought down, which was an added treat. The bass player and his wife are missionaries and the guitar player was raised Jewish (but he calls himself a fallen Jew because he is non-practicing). So in this particular combination of people, religion is not to far from any conversation.
The lake was beautiful and calm, the sun was shining on the volcano, men out in their one-man fishing boats. Then from the one end of the lake appeared a wall of thick fog, from the sky down to the lake. It moved quickly, like a sandstorm in the desert, consuming the lake as it rolled in. We all stood there staring at it. When it engulfed us, the temperature dropped and it was drizzling. I went up to the covered area to spend some time with Oprah and Shape. The others kept up their faithful cycle of sauna, pool, hot tub until it was supper time.
I ordered the blackened fish, because I know for a fact that they don’t get it from the lake. It was delicious! My one friend fell asleep at 7:45, kid you not. We tried to administer coffee, but she couldn’t be revived. I have no doubt that her money concerns cause her quite a few sleepless nights. The rest of us enjoyed the band, there were hardly any people there, it’s a wonder it pays to have the band there. The owner likes to join in with his guitar, I think it’s just as much for his entertainment as it is good business. Santiago has no night life, not like Pana.
We had a great time dancing, until the last song played. After the band was finished we went up to the room. We all stayed in a small conference building. On the second floor there is a huge open room with single beds all around the edge, a big kitchen and two bathrooms. When we got up there, my other friend who had been asleep since 8, woke up and wanted to go to the sauna. Loves the sauna and hot tub. The volunteer guy went down with us because he is used to keeping later hours on the cruise ship. The three of us went down there, interrupted some teenagers. Sitting in the hot tub you could see the lake, the outline of the volcano, and lots of stars. The volunteer packed it in around 1:30, but my friend was now wide awake after her three hour nap, and wanted to stay out. The water started to cool down and we went in at 3 or so. That’s the latest I’ve been up in a while. At one point a cloud swept in from over the mountains and enveloped us, eventually moving on. It was a beautiful, beautiful night.