coffee comedy

If I didn't actually get my coffee at the end of the story, I'd call it a tragedy. But since all's well that ends well, comedy it is.

The backstory is that Andrea and I ran out of coffee at our house about 5 days ago, and have each forgotten on various occasions when we have been at the store or in our office to buy more. Now, I am not what I would call an addict, but I do need a good 12 ounzes of caffeine in the morning to jumpstart my batteries.

So yesterday was SUPER hot, and after coming home from visiting friends in Mateare, there was nothing I wanted more than to sit in air conditioning and drink an ice-cold frappaccino. So around 4pm, Andrea and I headed out to this Starbucks like coffeeshop called El Coche. Which on any other day would have been nothing worth writing about.

Except that Friday was no ordinary day. August 10th is a holiday here in Managua, celebrating the city's patron saint, Santo Domingo; as part of the festivities, there is a huge horse parade that goes through the center of town, which attracts a large crowd of people, and about a million food and beverage vendors.

So said parade passed right by the El Coche--and the traffic was so bad that our taxi driver had to drop us about 3 blocks away. After navigating through a sea of Flor de Cana drinkers and delicious pollo asado, we arrived, only to find out that they were closed. Undeterred from our quest, we pressed on, contra la via of revelry looking for a salida (exit), and eventually got another taxi to one of the main malls nearby, Metrocentro, where we were certain that Casa de Cafe (our other favorite coffee hangout) would provide us the caffeine fix we needed.

Alas, no dice. Also closed. Apparently not enough customers on a holiday to be open. Now, practically salivating imagining the cold milky coffee mixture we were craving, we walked downstairs to a solitary coffee bar, which, aleluia, offered frappaccinos (for $1.50!). Unfortunately, there was no air-conditioning, but there was a fan and decent airflow, so we could not complain. And our frappaccinos came in HUGE glasses, and were a perfect blend of coffee, milk, and sugar. Just heavenly.

This could just be culture stress talking, but I think that frappaccino is one of the very best I have tasted in my life.