After a nice nap we awoke to more rainy, cold weather (hey, I thought this was supposed to be a beach paradise!) I decided it was time to bust out the cribbage board that my principe azul made for me for Christmas (photo of it will be posted here when I´m back in BA!). I suppose you could say it´s our game :) But I digress...
Cribbage, if you don´t know, is a card game that is easier to learn by observation than it is to explain. Anyone who has played it will agree that it´s an addictive and fun game. In a nutshell, you´re trying to add cards up to 15, make pairs and/or runs and do it better and faster than anyone else and make it to the end of the cribbage board. Angela had never played and in our first game I was getting at least 10 point hands on average, which is somewhat uncommon, and after getting double skunked thanks to an 18 point hand, Angela was starting to wonder what is so fun about this game, but by the last few pegs, it dawned on her and we set in for round two.
At this point, we were joined by our "friend", Nacho, who was napping when we were. He asked what the game was and how to play, after which he took over for Angela and was playing like an old pro. He scored a 20 point hand, to which Angela could only throw up her hands in frustration. We all died laughing because getting such great hands is rare. In all the ruckus, we drew attention from other people in the living room of our hostel and another guy came to see what the game was all about. He commented on my cribbage board and asked if all cribbage boards were like that, to which I responded with a definite "nope--there´s only one in the world like it, and it´s mine". He asked about the stained glass in the middle and if it had any significance, to which I explained that in addition for the board being symbolic of traveling the world as you pegged your way to the end, it also signified that while he may be from Alaska, and I may be in Argentina, we´re never too far because the heart is one. He gave me a hopeless stare--the kind that you get from people who don´t believe in love, and while I might seem crazy for sticking with it 6000 miles away, I don´t think I ever had a choice in the matter. Regardless of what my skeptic hostel-mate thought, in that moment I was never so sure I was in love with someone. Furthermore, it was even more reassuring to know that as he built it, I´m sure nights like tonight were exactly what he had in mind--everyone laughing, learning cribbage and enjoying the game as well as sharing some stories as we made our way across the board. It was such a reassuring moment, even if I couldn´t share it with the person that deserved it most.
3 games later, we realized it was late and we still needed dinner. We took to the wet, chilly streets to find some gnocchi (our "date night" food). We found a busy restaurant and decided that if it was good enough for 100 other people, it was probably good for us too. We shared a saucy, cheesy plate of our favorite pasta and felt sufficiently satisfied, despite how cold and miserable it was outside. It seemed like the perfect dinner, and it was until we got up to leave. Angela got out of her seat with ease, but I noticed that on my bench, I had a little friend...¡la cucaracha! Yup. That´s right. After we´d devoured our plate of gnocchi, we saw a little cockroach in our booth. I don´t know what´s worse--seeing it before you eat or after. Did I just eat some gnocockroachi? Yuck.
We came back to the hostel around midnight and realized that we told Nacho we´d visit his club, but we just weren´t up for it. In addition to the fact that it was at least a 30 minute [freezing and wet] walk, we´d be walking alone and didn´t have the energy to party. So we called it a night. Sorry, Nacho...Maybe tomorrow...
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