Guayabera's - Latin America's answer to the leisure suit?

Ok, so right about now you are asking "What the hell is a Guayabera?" Google it, and you will immediately recognize the type of shirt. It's called a Mexican wedding shirt. You know the ones. The button-up shirts with the 4 pockets and embroidery that the guys in the Mariachi bands wear. I've also seen quite a few old white guys wearing them with their Sansibelt slacks.

Well, Shelly and I were invited to a Cuban themed party this weekend. The invitation said to wear your best Cuban attire, and specifically mentioned guayabera's. Ok, I've secretly wanted one of these shirts for years, but never got one. I started looking for one this week now that I finally have a legitimate opportunity to wear one. Much to my surprise, there are quite a few different types. These things are actually stylish. I picked up one that is a dark blue with a wide stripe on each side in a lighter blue shade. There is even some fancy embroidery on these 2 stripes. It's also linen /cotton instead of the normal polyester. Couple it with a pair of cream colored linen pants and some brown sandals, and I'm going to make a damn fine looking Cuban impersonator. I'm even thinking of picking up a wife-beater undershirt to make sure I'm dressed the part completely.

Of course, this get-up was more Shelly's doing. When I read the invitation about a Cuban themed party asking me to come in my best Cuban attire, my first thought was a swimsuit, some floaties, and a "Miami or Bust" sign.

The linen threads are pretty slick, but I still like my idea better.

Also, to show my host that I'm not a complete boob, I stopped at the local smoke shop and picked up a decent assortment of cigars as a gift. Goodness, decent cigars sure aren't cheap. I'm not a cigar person, but the guy running the place assured me that these were fairly good smokes. If any aficionados read this, the brands are Ashton, Cohiba, and A Fuente. I also picked one up out of the discount bin that he said was a good one for me to try. It says Camacho. Hopefully he was right about the Camacho and not just trying to make the Gringo sick. If You don't here from me after Saturday, you will know why.

Oh, and by the way, I do own an authentic Leisure Suit. It's lime green and the label in it says "Johnny Carson." It was supposedly top notch stuff back in the day. I happened to be wearing it the night I met Shelly, but that's another story for another day.