Today was a good day

When you never have a bad day, you start to wonder if you possess the necessary depth and perspective to recognise a really great day. Without the troughs can I truly appreciate the peaks? It's ok. I can. Today was a great day.

It started with a morning run along Manga Bay. The sunlight hit the water in the most delightful fashion, rows of white yachts lined up invitingly, other runners smiled at me with minimal ogling, I ran into (yes, literally) a friend and had one of those fantastic symbiotic exchanges.. you know those moments when you just get each other and what is happening without having to talk about it? I love those moments. As I ran back over the bridge to Getsemani and rounded the corner that led to Plaza Trinidad I had one of those heart-swell moments as the local traders and vendors waved to me.. I even felt affectionate towards my elderly pervert neighbour who greets me leeringly everytime I walk past (a minimum of 5 times a day). I live here! Amongst these bright yellow and blue and green painted buildings. In this neighbourhood where there is a radio permanently plugged in on every street, pumping out music you can't help but smile to. With these street dogs that I have named and assigned backstories to. With the guy selling cold coconuts and the other guy shouting out "Aguacate"! With the carrot juice man in top to toe orange. HAPPY.

Back to my house for breakfast with the birds.. literally dozens of finches, cockatiels and budgies singing and squawking their little chests out while I ate my porridge.. my crazy anorexic dog running around my feet, looking for attention, then darting off timidly when he got it. My 20 year old housemate singing Vallenato. The radio station with the corny announcer screaming sporadically "Tropicana Style Mon Niiiiiiinyoooooo!!" and my housemates giggling as I do a perfect impersonation. SO HAPPY.

I get to work, where I receive confirmation from a friend of my boss, that I am to meet the director of a movie being shot here with the view to me being cast as an extra. This would involve travelling to a gorgeous island for what would essentially be an all-expenses paid holiday. The movie is the sequel to the highest-grossing Colombian movie of all-time. A comedy.. kindof along the lines of National Lampoon's, starring John Leguizamo.  I still don't know if I will do it or not because it cuts things fine re:attending Leah and Mark's wedding (which I am mega-excited about by the way). But still. Pretty darn cool.

So then, my Boss tells me that some american food channel is doing a show on street food and want to interview me. Squeal! So next thing I'm eating fried pig and discussing the joys of hot-oil rendered fat on camera. Yay yay yay! We hang about eating and talking about eating and getting filmed eating. Dream job material, seriously.  At one point, someone in the crowd that had gathered to watch starts singing a little ditty. We were actually eating Arepas con queso.. those mounds of white, cheesy, buttery goodness I'd written about here. So anyway, the song was basically along the lines of "Oh! Arepa with cheese.. I want to give you a little kiss! Mwah mwah!" And because whenever I'm eating I'm happy and because when I'm happy I do a little happy dance and because he was singing.. I start dancing along.. and then some people in the crowd start cheering their support and then two guys in the crowd start shouting at each other and I don't know what they are saying but my boss explains they are kindof fighting over me. And I find the whole thing pretty amusing. But THEN my boss explains to me that in this song: Arepas con queso that he was singing and that I was dancing along to happily, the arepa with cheese they are referring to is ACTUALLY the lady's cha cha.. and THAT'S what he wants to give a kiss to. So the fact that I was wiggling along happily to it and calling out occasional "eso!'s" was kind of hilarious.

Also entertaining.. the fact that the local expert for the Cartagena-leg of the street-food series was local restauranteur Juan. This is the photo that my boss showed me of Juan before I went to meet him. So ofcourse this was what I was picturing whenever Juan asked me a question.

After this mega cool day of pretending I was a star of network food, I went a-calling for clients for the website AND managed to sign up one of my fave fave places here.. appropriately enough, a gelato store. Whee! 


There were other things.. a Michael Jackson dance lesson I publicly provided to my Boss' 5 year old son, a chess-game in the plaza with the grizzled stalwarts of the barrio, an email from one of my best friends, ice cream, yoga, a perfectly ripe avocado.. but I think I've gloated enough and I'm sure I'm inviting some kind of retributory wrath. 


I'll just conclude with one word and know you will understand: YAY!!!