PNUMA (UNEP) x-mas party.

Big house & waiters & wine & cheese & my first official piñata-bashing experience. Unless piñatas count when they're not in Mexico. I don't think they do. Luis added eggs to the mandatory fruit-filling. Inevitably mess upon splattering. Lowered my motivation to be the one underneath at the time of explosion.

Later, random walk with Danila (Italian engineering student living in our apartment for 3 weeks on some scholarship). Came across Casa de Fidel, a Cuban cafe like 5 blocks from the house; the owner's is, in fact, called Fidel, which makes the name of the establishment more ambiguous than it seems at first.

Drawn in by the music, a boy playing guitar as his table of 3 more, the only customers, sing along. As the night went on, everyone got acquainted: Jorge/Frank - 28-year-old Nestle chef who claims to earn $25,000 a month (yes, that's USD) and also owns a restaurant; Emiliano (21) - also referred to as Zapata, a cheerleader/finance student (also the aforementioned guitar player-singer); Bolivar (19?), who wants to travel and be a museum curator but is currently being a high-school student and working at another cafe near my house; Angie Roux (2_), who works as a lawyer's assistant and likes to speak English and knows somebody living in Vancouver; and Fidel Ernesto Enrique Gonzalez, who owns the joint and whose dad is Cuban and who invited me to come lead a discussion on GEO/environment issues. Conversation got pretty interesting at points. Like when I mentioned I'm not a big fan of Nestle and Jorge asked why and I explained about the breast-milk/formula-pushing issue, and he didn't deny it; he bought me my tea, though, which was nice of him.

I think I'll be going back. Chill environment, good vibes and neat community-type events like movie nights and coffee talks and stuff reminiscent of Commercial Drive in Van.

It'd be better with sofas, though; I've already put in my order.