PR2: Day 7: We do less stuff.

We spent this morning ("morning") at a tattoo shop where a friend of Delly (our hostess) was having a piece done on her ribs. Eventually though, the girls got hungry and we went to lunch so the girls could decide whether they wanted to get their matching tattoo's done there, or head to a shop where Delly is considering working. As we ate, they decided that they would see if the other shop could ink them in the smaller size that they wanted, a size the first shop was hesitant to do.

Using Delly's car (mine was parked in by a fuel truck refueling a station - "You can't start it, it will explode.") we drove to the shop, almost missed it because it was in the process of moving across the street. This place was larger and better lit than the previous shop, and apart from the saturated colors (as opposed to calming pastels) could have been a doctor's office. To top it off the artist said he could easily do that size and came down to the price that the first shop had quoted them. A few pictures of his previous work sealed the deal.

We all went to one of the back rooms with our new best friend, an artist named Keko (short for Christian) who had just come back to PR from a few years in Lancaster. There the girls took turns as he transferred the stencil to each of their arms and then traced the blue text beneath their skin with black. I was impressed with the precise and delicate lettering and with the attention paid to cleanliness. Each girl saw everything was wrapped with fresh cellophane, misted with disinfectant, new gloves worn, and of course new needles, handles, ink, and lotion. In fact, at the end he wiped the medicine off each girl's wrist to take a picture (see below) of them all together, and then when he went to reapply the lotion he pulled out a new pair of gloves for each wrist.

The girls were delighted with the work ("..this too shall pass..." which is ironic if you get meta but not morbid with it), and since they took only cash I paid for the ink. (Ladies: Please don't worry about it. Think of it as a thank-you for a week of letting us crash / driving us around) and we headed out to pick up some groceries.

Later tonight we visited Aminta's brother which involved playing a 10-person game of phone-tag to get directions to his house; turning what could have been a 5 minute walk into a 20 minute drive. But all's well that ends well, and he not only recognized me as a Farrell, but teased me for not visiting him the last time I was in Puerto Rico. We chatted on his porch until we had to leave if we wanted to get to our movie on time.

We got to the theater 2 minutes before the new Pirates movie was set to begin. Luckily, there were enough advertisements and trailers that even with the line we found seats before the start of the movie. If anyone is wondering, the movie was great. The 3d was well-done but didn't add much to the movie. However, watching a movie filmed in PR while in PR, about Ponce de Leon in the city named after him was a fun experience.

We ended the night going out to La Guancha to visit Kike (the friend who took us out in Old San Juan) at his bar. It was a nice little place, but unfortunately right next to the karaoke. Which is too bad, since the other end of the boardwalk was playing dubstep. The girls showed off their ink and we traded our company and help cleaning for a couple free shots, chilling with him until closing time when the karaoke thankfully stopped. Kike then put on a CD by his translating cover band, featuring hits such as "El Ojo de el Tigre." A great way to end the night.

(Photo by Aminta)