Day 23: 14 May – Conference at the Hilton Colón

Ay ay, wakeup call at 6.15, the guys are going to pick us up at 7am. The night was warm and noisy. Primarily because that’s just the climate here, secondary because someone below me has air-conditioning. For breakfast I have just one croissant left and I’m too late to make some coffee for myself.
Today, I spent the entire day at the Hilton Colón hotel. EScoffee has a stand at a conference and is promoting its coffee, and machines. When the guys pick me and Ingrid up, we first go to the office to pick up the coffee machines. We load them in the camionetta and drive a short while to the hotel. We unload the stuff and take it to the place where the stand is. Miguel shows up later and encourages me to attend a conference. So I do so and it’s quite nice. I think I was able to understand about 80% of it. Towards the end, Miguel picks me up and tells me to follow two women to the office. He will arrive with some other people. We get lost a little bit, but eventually find the place.
It’s a meeting with two men from PUM, a Dutch organisation that sends out retired experts to developing countries to help in small projects. Miguel is looking for such an expert. One of the men is Dutch and it’s nice to speak some of that again.
After the meeting, we go back to the hotel again, we take a small bite and attend some more conferences. At about 3 it’s time for lunch. We head out to the swimming pool outside, where some tents have been set up, with a couple of dozens of tables with chairs under them. Miguel, Ingrid, Ricardo and me sit down at a table, but it’s better to split up a bit, to talk to other people, so Ingrid and me go to another table.
The tables are set with plates, 3 forks and 2 knives. A glass of water ready and a basket of bread with butter. The first course is some kind of potato salad, with camarones (shrimps) on top. So I shove those off and eat the potato salad. When I see the waiters bringing in plates with big pieces of meat, I ask whether it’s possible to get a plate without it. Later they bring a plate without a piece for me. Still, the vegetables taste funny and I’m surprised about the bad food in such a hotel. Luckily the dessert is better.
The rest of the day continues with going to the conferences and hanging around the stand. The only bright spot of the afternoon was Mary calling, telling me she misses me a ‘monton’. At 9.30 we are finally finished and wrap up. Meanwhile, my stomach is empty and I need to wait to head out to buy some food. Somehow, there is nothing edible in the house. Ingrid will show me where it is, but needs to take a shower first or something.
The shop is small and has no wholemeal bread or something else I desire. So I buy some rice, an onion and a carrot to cook something myself. The girls seem surprised that I know how to cook. During cooking, vacita is panting and staring at me, probably expecting some food, and it is already annoying me. When the rice is finished, it is almost midnight and I’ll probably need to get up early again in the morning. What a long day it was.