poker face

so in the end last night i met up with my pilot friends robert and victor who'd we'd met on our way through this town last week. we had some drinks and soon were deeply embroiled in a very serious game of poker with some locals. i have never played poker before for real, i don't know the rules, i don't know how to bet, i don't know how to keep a poker face. i do know, however, how to spend other people's money - robert gave me 200 belize dollars (around 50 pounds) to bet with which was pretty exciting stuff, especially when it all got changed into proper poker chips. these guys were all pro's and not used to playing with some oaf from england. somehow i got first deal. great. they instantly all had a go at me for not dealing properly (how was i to know you should keep the cards so close to the table so nobody can see them?), but on the 3rd attempt i seemed to have got it right. i actually had a really good hand but being a total novice i didn't really know that and also didn't want to go in for the kill on my first go.. maybe not the done thing and all that. i kept trying to ask robert for help, all the other guys were like shut up, stop it, you cheat! so i soon learned to keep my mouth shut and look vaguely like someone who knew what they were doing. a good skill to have i think, in belize, and in life in general. weirdly i actually won a few rounds and came out at the end 52 dollars up (which i got to keep, though i gave the other 200 back to robert). not bad for a total beginner, but it could have been that because it wasn't my money i didn't actually care what i was doing with it after a while, so lots of caution was thrown to lots of wind. the game ended rather abruptly when a huge row started between victor and some local who had built the table himself and felt therefore he should have a monopoly on making all the rules up. victor has lots of money so just kept buying chips as he kept losing them, and because there was no maximum buy in agreed upon, the other guy got really peeved with this cos they all don't have as much money as victor. i could see both sides of the argument, but duly kept a poker face, apart from a few times when i had to stifle some laughter at the ridiculousness of the entire situation. i seriously thought it was going to end in punches and testosterone flying, but there was just some severe stomping off instead. turns out this guy is always starting fights round the poker table. victor then accused the banker of not giving him the right amount when he cashed in, but i think it was just that victor was fairly drunk by this point and couldn't see what notes were what.

we then made our exit (quite swiftly) to a bar over the bridge in santa elena called happy's. this is owned by a guy from taiwan, who ran for president of belize in the last election here, and was a former pool champion. i was slightly scared and in awe of him. until he asked if i wanted to sing karaoke. i politely declined, though then backtracked as i didn't want to offend a potential future president (who knows, he might run again), and said if he wanted to then we should. we didn't. phew. then me and robert thought it would be fun to challenge him and victor to doubles at pool. we bet 2 dollars on this (i didn't want a rerun of the ruckus at the poker bar so kept the stakes low). amazingly, as mr taiwan was the absolute best pool player i've ever seen in real life, me and robert won. i think mr taiwan didn't take it properly seriously, we're just small fry to someone like him. i asked him to teach me how to play like him (by this point i was obviously hoping for a role in his future belizean government so was buttering him up), he said he would. we drank some tequila and victor talked business with some locals (he's always talking business, god knows what business though).

we then left this bar and headed back the way we'd come. for some reason, robert decided it would be a good idea to drive over the small rickety wooden bridge which was closed due to the river being so high. there were quite a few obvious signs that it was closed, like traffic cones, and a 'this bridge is closed' sign, and some people sitting on the bridge fishing off it, and some fallen branches on it. however, none of this deterred robert who ploughed over the poor little bridge, taking out one of the guy's mountain bikes on the way. i was astonished at such strange behaviour and made him stop the car. we peeled the bike from under the front wheel and i made robert give the guy enough cash to buy a new one as it was a total write off. jesus, even by my standards this was all getting somewhat deranged. victor then sped off in the van and i had a big go at robert for being so stupid!

all in all quite a night. anyway, am having a peaceful day today with no major incidents so far. there is still time though.... more poker maybe? tomorrow i get out of here back to guatemala for some normality i hope.

i have heard from abi, who is safely ensconsed in las vegas, she has had a burger king and a pizza so far (hmm, i practically had to fill in an application form with her if i wanted to eat junk food, i see the worm has turned) (not implying you are a worm abi, sorry, wrong metaphor i think). she has also been to the mall and generally chilled out.

over and out