POST 18 (11/20/25) THURSDAY A WINDY DAY FOR A WORKOUT, ETC.

I awakened before 9am, and got off to a good start. I went down to the hotel gym and had a really good workout, which always feels healthy, accomplished, and worthwhile. I went back to the room to blog Monday and Tuesday. I enjoyed the two slices of leftover room-temperature pizza for breakfast. That stuff is good no matter how you eat it. Truly the best crust ever! I decided to let the housekeeper come in to clean, which I only do every 3-4 days. Since I have a pet cockroach in here, and there were a few food droppings around, I figured it was best.

In the afternoon, I went out for a coffee. I had heard such good things about Rokoko, but had that negative experience before when the guy never brought me the menu I requested so I ended up leaving. Now, a week later, I decided to give them another try. It is a very friendly, social place. I think the guys who run it are Italian, and they're all husky, tatted up, burly bear types. They kiss most of the guests on the lips, and seem to know most everyone as a regular. The service was a bit better this time, although after ordering a cappuccino, I would have had something else if they had offered or brought a menu, or something to engage me and elicit more business out of me. It's kind of sad to see a small, independently owned business lose out by such fundamental oversight of engaging customers to buy more. 🤷‍♂️ I will say that the coffee was as excellent as their reputation indicates. And I noticed the guy whom I had been watching at the bar the night before (from the sofa) here, but again did not approach him, this time because he was with some friends (foreshadowing alert).

I decided to walk around the block to hit the grocery store on my way back to the hotel. Seeing the OJ machine in the cafe made me want to get a replacement bottle for the one I had almost finished in my room fridge. Taking that route, I ended up running into John, Alex's Irish friend. He was on his way to check out a fun resort he had heard about and was considering for his next visit. He told me he's been coming here twice a year for over 15 years! At the store I got a bottle of OJ and some blueberries, which, along with the plain yogurt I bought previously, is what I know I should be eating as a midnight snack as opposed to the sweets I have been eating!

I returned to the hotel to write Wednesday's blog entry, call the IRS (for the third attempt), do a Spanish lesson on my phone, and do my chiropractor exercises before going out to dinner, hopefully with Luciano (if he answers the DM I sent him on Instagram this morning letting him know I made reservations for us...). I called the IRS just a couple minutes after they opened, and at least they didn't flat out refuse my call, as on a few previous attempts, but the wait was to be "30-60 minutes". After 90 minutes I got through to an agent. I mentioned to her that I called the last two days in a row, was left holding/waiting for two hours each time, and then get disconnected. Not that she could do anything about it, but who else are ya gonna tell? The process with her was tedious and circuitous, but eventually netted me an EIN for Bill's trust, something I had been after for a month. Ultimately she told me it was issued a few days after I applied, yet I never received notice. Plus the guy with whom I spoke a few weeks ago didn't manage to find it. Just a word of warning for dealing with this federal agency. 

I wrote Luciano again in the later afternoon to check if we were on for dinner. He apologized for taking so long to get back to me, but had been up until 8am and slept all day. He also apologized that he had accepted my offer when there was a 50/50 chance that he needed to go with a friend to see some local friends. He vowed to get back to me in an hour and let me know. After 45 minutes I went out for a walk and to try for dinner on my own at Mr. Greek if I didn't hear from him or if he wasn't available. I walked through Yumbo and snapped a daytime pic in front of Hummel Hummel (foreshadowing alert):

Sensing I was not going to connect with Luciano, I walked up to Mr. Greek just a few minutes after their opening at 6pm, and with two tables already seated, and was again refused and told to come back at 7:30. I gave up and went to the buffet that Dino had recommended, despite doubts about its quality and concerns of overeating. Walking in, it seemed ok. There were already a good amount of people in there, and no bad smells or anything. The staff seemed nice enough, and welcomed me in. I finally heard back from Luciano after an hour and a half, and he was available but wanted to postpone for 8:30. I told him that I had stopped for a snack and didn't feel up to a meal at that point (imagine that: a buffet as a snack! haha). He felt bad, and took the blame for not getting back to me all day, forgetting about his other plans, etc.

And here is my overview of the Las Camelias buffet. A couple pics outside as I walked in:

My dining adventure plate by plate. Salad course:

Mains (notice I kept the plates light and did not pile it on):

Nacho course (cause that's a thing, right?):

First dessert (just a little rice pudding):

Second dessert (coconut ice cream with a few toppings):

So I didn't pig out too much!! Notice how those plates were not full at all too. Here are some video overviews of the whole thing, so you can see what a Spanish island resort buffet looks like. 

Salad bar:

Mains bar:

Mexican taco bar:

Dessert bar(s):

When I got back to the hotel, I knew I would run into Luciano, as he said he was doing laundry, which is right by the entrance/elevator. Sure enough, I did. We hugged, and he was very sweet and apologetic. He told me I must come to visit him in Amalfi, which was sweet as well. We rode the elevator together, and he got off at the second floor while I continued on to the third, and that was it.

I wrote the blog for the daytime that you read at the top of this page, and felt good that I'm really staying on top of this now. I watched a few YouTubes, and went out just after 9pm. I went straight to Hummel Hummel (foreshadowing resolved!). It was pretty crowded, 90% of whom were grey-haired types. There weren't many tables available, but the one at which I had sat with Alex (at the back) was available, so that felt appropriate and nostalgic. I finally formally met Antonio, who was alone at the table next to me. We weren't attracted to each other, but had been social and greeted each other many times over the last week. I hadn't realized that he was Italian and also spoke English well. We had a nice talk, and he eventually left for Na Und. I noticed that Earl and Singh were at a long table in my eye line with a rather large group of friends. Two British older guys walked by my table to go the back/bathroom area, and one of them smiled at me rather affectionately. When they came out, it happened again, and I gestured for him to sit with me, which he did. His friend sat at the adjacent table where Antonio had been. Upon realizing that Gerard and I had a connection, John offered to leave, but I invited him to stay. We all had a nice chat getting acquainted. Eventually they took off for Na Und. Earl saw me sitting alone, and both he and Singh came over to greet me, which was really sweet. Speaking of sweet, I really like the bartenders and servers at that bar, and am becoming more familiar with them now. I don't believe I mentioned how chummy I am getting with the guys at Na Und as well by this point, but suffice it say that I am enough of a regular to simply order my "usual" and get what I am after. At one point the British guys mentioned the dark room in the back of Hummel Hummel, which I hadn't even thought about. I never did check it out, but it's always funny to me that these exist, especially as it seems they are in every gay bar in Spain. The cultural differences are always fascinating. 

After a while, I went up to the bar, settled my bill, said goodbye to Earl and Singh, and strolled over to Na Und, where they said they'd join me soon. Once over there I ran into the Frenchman Andre, who was looking dapper and adorable. He was showing me a bunch of pictures on his phone and I thought to ask if we could take one together (such as handsome French devil!):

His English is perfect, so it's easy to speak with him. And he seems to have been a world traveler his whole life, so he has interesting stories and pics. He was also quite warm and affectionate this visit, although he said he had been under the weather. This may have explained why I hadn't heard back from him. It also made me concerned to avoid catching whatever he had. But that caution went out the window, as I was powerless to resist the temptation of kissing when he was willing. He asked me to send him the pic we took, and offered to reply so we could potentially get together. (As of this typing I have yet to receive that msg...).

I cruised around the front side, and noticed that Earl and Singh had just come in. Somehow I managed to grab Earl's hand, and drag him directly onto the dance floor, to the back, put down my drink, pull him close, and......... It was a delightful rendezvous, despite his being nervous and wanting to get back to his friends before they realized what he had been up to. When we got back to where his group had sat, I noticed the guy from the other night, the coffee shop, etc. standing at a high table just across the aisle, and I couldn't resist walking right up to him. I asked him where he was from in Spanish and he told me in English that he didn't understand. When I asked him in English, he replied Florida. So I told him my mother was from Tampa and that I had booked a trip to Ft. Lauderdale for February. We were clearly mutually attracted, and discussed getting together on Saturday. He asked if I was on Whatsapp, but wanted to be discreet about exchanging info. To keep it simple, I handed him my card, which fascinated him due to the picture on it:

The funny thing is that he paid so much attention to it that it defeated his intention of being discreet about giving him my info. haha When we discussed where we were staying, we discovered that we were actually 1/2 block apart. So all that was left was to hope that he made contact...

I left Charles to re-join Earl, Singh, and friends. At one point I directly asked Singh, "Don't you just love this guy?" His reply surprised me as he clearly indicated that he did not. So I asked if I could have him then, to which he gave an enthusiastic positive response. I reported this to Earl, who had missed the exchange despite being right in front of him, but he doubted the sincerity of Singh's words. He still felt that if we did get together, even for a short visit, Singh would be jealous and upset with him. With 14 years invested in the relationship, Earl wanted to give it the respect it deserved, so we played it safe and were mildly affectionate right there at the table, which Singh did not ever seem to mind at all. At one point, however, I dragged Earl straight back to the dark room, where we did enjoy some fairly innocent heavy petting, along with a few extra hands pawing us a bit, which I didn't mind and thought was kind of amusing.

I left the bar very happy that night, and danced myself back to the hotel. I was tempted to get a midnight snack, but managed to refrain, and once back had my safe, healthy snack of plain yogurt with the fresh blueberries I had bought. If I could do this regularly and resist the temptation to indulge my sweet tooth, I would be so pleased with myself. And considering I had eaten that buffet food, I really didn't feel too bad when going to bed. It was 1:30am by the time I settled down... 🛌💤