Gunga-Ionesco would have loved it!

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In college I took a 'Masters of Modern Drama' class. I enjoyed most of it especially the plays of Eugene O'Neill. I never quite got the 'theater of the absurd' works of Ionesco, Genet, etc. Last night at dinner I couldn't help but think that the entire experience would have fit right into that genre´.

We had waited out another horrendous thunder storm and as it was getting late decided to run to the restaurant closest to our hotel at the tail end of the storm. We chose it for two reasons: it was close and it had a fire going in a small fire box in the middle of the restaurant. Turns out it was another Italian place run by a guy who came from Sardinia. There were two handsome young men ( 25 ish) who welcomed us into the empty place. One was setting up a table full of fruits and vegetables. He would stand back to admire his creation after each object was placed on the display. He would then bring items over to us to smell, feel, and admire. The other guy, Alessandro, pulled up a chair and we started a conversation. He immigrated to Colombia from Rome because there is no work there. He started giving Italian lessons but didn't have a lot of work. So now he helps out at the restaurant. At this point the chef came out of the kitchen to meet us. He was all dressed in black and took his job very seriously . The asst. chef was a very tall woman. So now we had 2 chefs and 2 waiters for 2 customers. To say we felt and were treated like royalty would be an understatement. We ordered and young man #1 came out with a camera and took our picture. We have no idea why. Then he returned dressd in a serape and wearing a straw hat that is typical in the area. He told us that a TV crew was coming soon to film and interview the owner ( who hadn't arrived yet). This prompted us to eat more quickly as we didn't want to be there when the TV crew arrived since we had been at the other Italian rest. across the street 8 a few nights prior) when they were there interviewing the guy from Venice who ran that place. Are you following this?
Then a couple entered. The man was carrying a huge bouquet of flowers. It was obvious that he was the owner. He bowed to us and each time he passed us he made some silly comment most of which we didn't understand. Finally, we finished but serape and funny hat wearing guy brought us a small after dinner drink of Amaretto as a gift from him. At this point another couple came in. They were from our hotel. We tried to fill them in on what was happening and what was supposed to happen. We left them and found out the next morning that the TV crew never came but a guitar player/singer did.

This morning we left for a flight to Cartagena. We got into the taxi that the hotel had reserved for us. We went about 2 blocks and the driver got on his phone. We could only make out bits of the conversation but it had to do with traffic and the airport. He kept backing up a street past a film crew, past bunch of high school students, past a police van. We had no idea what he was doing since he didn't tell us anything. Next he told us to get out and get into another car. Since our bags were being put into the trunk of the other car we followed our bags. This was a young man and he obviously had no fear of traffic. He turned out to be a very good driver. He got us to the airport with time to spare. There never was a good explanation why the other driver left us. Sometimes you just have to accept that you are in Latin AMerica and there are no explanations. All that 'magical realism' fiction seems to have a base in the realities of life here.

We arrived in Cartagena expecting to see the driver, who the hotel where we are staying, confirmed the night before. We waited and looked at every sign being held by drivers. Zip, nada, zilch. We were not listed on anyone's sign. After 1/2 an hour we decided to take our own cab. No problem and it was $ 10 bucks cheaper. The hotel couldn't explain what happened. They told us we would have to settle with the driver. I told them that was not going to happen and the amount agreed upon shouldn't appear on our bill.

Just another day where my travel motto of "if something goes right be surprised" was applied. If one is going to travel alone in 2nd and 3rd world countries then lots of 'plans' are not going to go smoothly. Best to 'go with the flow' and definitely not sweat the small stuff.

More later.
Carolyn -Gunga

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