It was sort of a Groundhog Day 4: we did warm up at 7am, though Steve Dance was dealing with an issue which Tim helped him with (translating anyway). Steve won his match against Ricardo Grubler of Chile and advanced to the final.
Susan didn’t have singles today but warmed me up very well…I played Regina Fontinelli of Brazil today and won. (After the match she reminded me that we played against each other two years ago in doubles…she’s a better doubles than singles player.) I was called to court for my 9:30 match around 9:15, just as I arrived. I went to the court and only the ball man was there, then the umpire. I asked about having the court swept. There was a miscommunication and instead it was watered. Now you have to realize that it was misting all day and the court was already very wet. Anyway, we. played on a damp, unswept court and all went well, but the balls got pretty wet.
The umpire spoke no English, at least not to me, but I know the scoring drill and Coman tiebreak rules and he spoke clearly and slowly so all was fine.
I walked back to the apartment and Susan and I made our daily run to Wong’s for snacks and drinks. There are lots and lots of things made from quinoa here, from chips to add-ins in a chocolate bar to cereals to energy bars and more. Also there are lots of corn and potato based foods..chips of many colors, the small roasted kernels in ceviche and the giant kernals (also in ceviche). But my favorite are the buttery yellow thin skinned potatoes which are fluffy inside when cooked…so good. They are called Amarilla Tomboy potatoes and are mainly produced in the Huanuco region in Peru. They are also called the “queen” or “egg” potatoes because of their flavor and color (similar to an egg yolk once cooked). They are grown at 2800-3800 METERS (a meter is about 39 inches) above sea level. There are two main varieties, Yurak Tomboy and Tumbay Rosas; I’m not sure which we bought (but I will find out!). These and ceviche are so far my favorite Peruvian foods (the chocolate isn’t bad either!).
Friday June 20th update:
We finished our 6 pm doubles at 8:37 pm and won 62 61 under the lights. The match started well after 7pm, but there were still several matches to go on each court when we finished. The order of play was out by the time we finished, and I was scheduled for 8:30am! I asked for a 9am start (12 hours are required between matches from one day to the next), which was accommodated. But it was too late to finish this blog last night. It was difficult to see under the lights for me but Susan played “lights out” so it didn’t matter!
