Return of the Incas

Saturday my friends from Peru left the summer sun of South America behind and arrived in brisk New York city for a few weeks of fun. I haven't seen my friend Vanessa for about two and a half years, so it is great to be back in her company, and now I'm getting to know her sister as well. Thus far, they've kept me busy and entertained with their antics. Lucky for everyone, I was well on my road to recovery when they arrived, though the sudden increase in the use of my vocal coords definitely led to my demise and the loss of my voice on Saturday night.

Nonetheless, D had scheduled a dinner get together at Shun-Lee's on the Upper West Side for Saturday night because her mom was in town. It was very good food, but was very very expensive. As much as I like waiters hovering around the table and a very good roasted pork dish with scallion sauce, I'm not sure it justified $36 a person. But, it was an experience, paper mache dragon and all!

One of the big events that the girls wanted to attend was to see the show Stomp! Cooincidently, this was the first show that I saw when I visited the city for the first time. Since it's been a few years, I decided that that would be fun, so we hit it up on Tuesday night, when I knew we wouldn't have any problems getting in to see it. It was as entertaining as I remember it being, it's funny how characters can be developed on stage when they don't even use words. The performers are certainly amazing, the way they can hold a rhythm with so much going on. That's certainly something that I'm not capable of... ;o)

Following the show, we checked out the local neighborhood in the freezing cold weather (it snowed yesterday) and had a few drinks and some tapas at an alphabet city establishment called Yuca Bar & Restaurant. It was blistering cold outside though, and though I really wanted to make the long walk to the subway for an 11:30 ride home, I caved in and went for the $10 cab ride up 1st Avenue instead :).

Tonight we're going to try to attend the Wednesday night festivities at the local Euro hangout Baraonda's. The late night discotheque at this place is legendary, so hopefully tonight I will finally get to experience this cultural milestone!

Wish me luck,
The J.