Friday, July 18, 2008

Aljadrez!

At last I've arrived. We spent today wondering around the Zona Colonial in Santo Domingo. One museum had the coolest collection of weapons I've ever seen, including a monstrous scimitar-like thing known as the Brain Crusher (Rompecabezas). I probably couldn't even lift it. Later we visited the oldest working church in the Americas, which looks pretty much like any other old colonial church. The most noteable thing about is was that my friend got kicked out for having her shoulders exposed.
Just minutes ago I stumbled upon a game of speed chess. The locals were eager to have me play, and after my recent games with Your Red Room and others I felt battle-tested and confident. Until I sat down. With about a dozen people watching I got a bad case of the jitters and made bad move after bad move. I rallied briefly, but was crushed. Still, it was more interaction I'd had with any Dominican's who weren't waiters or hotel staff so as far as I'm concerned it was time well spent.
Pictures tonight.

3 comments:

Oregoncornhusker said...

Uh oh, but at least you played! Travis' dad Tom told me he played in Paris and was crushed, but the experience was well worth it!

G said...

Yes, the experience was great. Still I feel like I let us down...

Oregoncornhusker said...

Great story: I was playing a 4 min/4 sec increments on yahoo. I had an eight game win streak and have raised my rating to mid-1300s. Then, without warning, my computer died!!!! No more battery. So I ran into my room, plugged it in, restarted my computer, found my game, started playing again (with 45 seconds at that point and the game was only about 10 moves in), and won!!!! It was awesome.