Post 8 (11/12/25) WEDNESDAY IN PARADISE (getting better...)

I was still feeling stomach discomfort upon awakening, and could hear the wind outside. I was grateful to feel wise for scrubbing beach plans for this day. Sleeping in was the order of the day, so I worked it until about noon. Clemens invited me to visit his hotel and lie by the pool with him, and figured if he was doing ok out there it was probably worth it, so off I went. My hotel was holding a "Big 🍆 Pool Party", which had yet to really get going too much by the time I walked through it to leave. Here's the poster:

It took me 16 minutes to walk to his hotel, and he met me out front. We walked right to his spot by the pool where he had two lounge chairs going, one with a towel for me. We chatted a bit, aided by the translation app, as he knows not a single word of English. After a bit of catching up, we focused on the sun for a bit. After about 15 minutes, he told me he was going to go and grab something to eat. My thoughts and feelings waffled from being grateful that he didn't invite me since I wasn't feeling well and really didn't want to eat, and thinking that was the first time in my life I went to hang out with someone and then they were going to soon after go off and have a bite by themselves without so much as inviting me to join. Interesting, but ok, it was better for me anyway. He returned in short order and seemed satisfied. We spent an hour in the sun and I mentioned that I was going to go to the bar and get a sparkling water for myself and offered to bring him something. He cautioned that without the requisite blue guest wristband I may not be able to purchase a drink. He offered to take me up to his room at that point though, so I agreed. We no sooner arrived through the lobby door from the pool and he made a realization, stopped us, told me to wait, and he went to the bar just outside, and came back in with a soda water for me and a Coke for himself. OK, cool! Up in the elevator we went, and walked the long corridor (walk of shame?) to his accommodations. So it became fairly immediately clear his intentions, and they were of an adult nature, which was fine with me. Without getting into the TMI realm, I will just say that it was not the most stimulating nor satisfying experience of the trip so far. teehee I'm sure he felt bad for his performance and wrapping things in such short order. This was all fine with me, mind you, as I now had other new friends to whom I was more attracted and in whom I was more interested. So we got dressed and wrapped our visit. He walked me to the door of the hotel and off I went with a hug... 

I decided to walk a different way back to gain exposure to further territory, but it did not pan out. I checked the map and there didn't seem many paths through to the next street, save for what looked like one through an apartment complex parking lot. It wasn't until walking all the way across the length of the two buildings that I discovered a wall at the back. So in true walk-of-shame fashion, I backtracked and stuck to the original known path upon which I had ambled to get there. Although still feeling cramped in the stomach, I decided to eat a salad at The Bistro. And here's what it looked like:

Something made me feel like having a cappuccino after lunch, and I am not too fond of them at The Bistro, so I searched for a good local one, and was quite satisfied with what I found. Less than ten minutes walk from there is a very Italian little coffee place. I just couldn't seem to resist this incredible looking cherry/berry cheesecake in the case, and ordered a slice of that as well. Fortunately it was a sliver, which was about all I could handle anyway. I'm sorry that I didn't get a pic, but perhaps I'll go back sometime in the next ten days and capture it. I must share that it was spectacularly delicious!!!

I returned to my hotel, still feeling a bit off, and decided to lie on my side while watching some YouTube videos with the laptop on its side on the bed as well. I may have drifted off a bit too, which was satisfying, especially in anticipation of going out to Yumbo for the late night scene for the first time. I worked on yesterday's blog entry for quite some time, and then did all of my chiropractor exercises, which make me feel quite good and accomplished for doing. I am committed to the program and excited for the results in the next couple months.

It was just after 10pm when I finally left for Yumbo. My understanding is that some of these night bars don't even open until 10, so this felt the right time to stroll in. I put in one Airpod and was rocking out to my own soundtrack yet able to hear my surroundings and greet people as necessary. Immediately upon entering Yumbo I realized something I had net to experience: THIS PLACE COMES ALIVE AT NIGHT!! It was quite a scene there, very different from the daytime. It was fun having my own music in one ear and dancing to the songs I was playing on my phone but among the crowds dancing to the music in the bars. haha I did this through three bars and attempted to visit the ones where I received hints that older guys might be among the crowds. One piece of good news is that walking around I realized that I finally felt better! Nothing so far, however, showed much promise in that regard. UNTIL..... I happened to be in one of the back corners of the center, and noticed that in this one bar "Na Und" the grey hair was on display. This was IT! I had at last stumbled upon PARADISE. This was MY bar!!! And let me tell you, it was FULL of old men! A bit of a mix of course, and even a few groups of friends with some women as well. So a friendly, social, lively mix to be sure. Disco classics played on the dance floor. In my first pass through, I saw the most gorgeous man dressed in all yellow. I walked right up to him, got close, and he immediately began kissing me! Woah! I almost couldn't believe it. Turns out his name was Rudy, he is German, but spoke English (thankfully). I asked him to come back to my hotel with me (he was that good). He refused, but offered to go into the "dark room" with me. Since I am not too comfortable in those environments we were at a bit of a standstill. He told me he had a lover who was actually back there at that time, and in a minute he showed up with another guy, so I was introduced. His lover didn't speak any English so it got a tad awkward when I tried to use the app to translate a line or two with him, but he didn't have his glasses, etc., and it fizzled out. So I moved on. Plenty of proverbial fish in this place. I spoke with a few nice guys, got a drink, and cruised around. After a while, I realized that Dino had shown up there with his Italian group. They were hovering over him a bit, but at just an opportune moment I grabbed his behind, squeezed hard, and turned at just the right moment while walking away to reveal that it was me. I got a nice smile, but I knew he was stuck with his overlords. I stood back a ways, and watched him from afar, but he was quite engaged with his group. And this was well after 11 or so by then. And all-of-a-sudden, this cute little man was next to me and I introduced myself. He was Raymond from Belgium who spoke perfect English. Almost a miracle! haha We immediately hit it off, got a bit acquainted, and I invited him back to my hotel, which he accepted joyfully. We snapped this pic on our way out of Yumbo:

We had a delightful visit together until about 2:30am, at which point I walked him home the 7 minutes to his nearby hotel. I danced the whole way home, and crashed after 3am... Whew, what a Wednesday! haha