Salsa, Aerobics & Prostitutes

That got your attention didn't it??

For lack of planning (imagine that) we didn't make it to the beach this weekend, but we ended up having a great time just hanging in the city. One reason I was glad we stayed in SJ is that Saturday night there was a live salsa band at Jazz Cafe. Son de Tikizia was AWESOME! They just arrived back to San Jose after touring Europe so this was the first time I was able to see them. I don't think I will miss a show from now on! I LOVE live salsa music. There were 10 or so guys in the band and they are fun to watch. We were all ready to dance: Diana, Kate, Me and Neto. Even though we got to bed late we made it to the outdoor latin aerobics that are in La Sabana Park every Sunday morning (well, 1130a...not too early) Ernesto and I ran to the park and met Diana & Kate. Then the 3 girls sweated our asses off with an hour of high energy latin aerobics, (using a lot of latin dance moves) in the HOT SUN! YES...it was great!! Ernesto was the photographer, even though I tried to convince him that it would help his dancing if he tried the aerobics.....
You can see below, there is a stage at the front of the crowd, which I would estimate was over 200 people! I was so sad with the hour was finished, I felt like I could go on forever!
Ernesto and I ran home from the park too. It was a great weather!!! Wait, Oh my god, I don't think it rained yesterday...WOW!! We took showers and Me, Nester and Maureen got on a bus heading downtown.
The San Diego Chargers were playing football (americano) and Neto found a place in Barrio Amon where he could watch. We had to walk down Paseo Colon which was filled with shops, so Ernesto left us behind and we did a little shopping. Here is my new linen fedora....Isn't it cool?!

Barrio Amon is such a beautiful neighborhood. It is one of the few remaining colonial areas of the city and home to some of the few surviving coffee baron mansions. This has to be one of them:
This one is my favorite, with the creeping fig covering it.
We finally made it to where Ernesto was watching the game. Its called the Sportsman's Lodge....which looks innocent enough from the outside, beautifully historic even.........but one step inside the lobby and you could see there was “somethin’ different” –maybe it was that Maureen and I were the only girls who weren’t prostitutes….no, really.

The girls at the table in the back right corner. Prostitutes. The girls on the couch right in front of them. Prostitutes. The girl standing in the middle at the bar. NOT a prostitute. It was so seedy. I didn’t know who I felt worse for, the girls or the old American men who were making deals with them…..yes, I read the lips of a man across the bar negotiating something for $45, hmmmmmm??? We were also getting a lot of stare-downs from the girls, as if we were on there turf. I mean, I did have my new hat on, but we were wearing shirts that covered our boobs, and sneakers for pete sake!! The look on Maureen's face here says it all.

Here the true sportsman barely noticed everything going on in front of him at the shady Sprtsmans Lodge. The chargers lost in the the last second of the game...literally.

The front door to this seedy joint is so nice and inviting, the unsuspecting customer would be surprised....appalled even. Crazy Nester insists he will bring my dad here when they come to visit.
On our stroll home we stopped at POPS for Ice cream and walked in the plaza. Here we are in front of the beautiful National Theatre. A great ending to a beautiful weekend!