Estoy Enamorado

The bar we went to was hilarious. They all sang Spanish songs and the host made fun of us gringos all night. A song came on where the chorus was “Estoy enamorado” – or I’m in love – and he picked on people to say the chorus, and of course I was one of the first. I said it wrong. But, it was pretty funny. Everyone cheered for me and hoped to hear me say it again. One of the cheers that was made was something about good health (or something like that) to the white girls. Yeah they used a slang term, but Daniella explained to me that it’s an endearing title, not an offensive one. So I laughed and clapped and raised my hand when they told me to, even though I had no idea what the heck they were saying. I left the bar to have some dinner and some men sitting in the corner were very disappointed I was leaving. I watched them talk about if I was leaving, subsequently yell at me, and stare at me as I walked out the door, Sorry guys, this girl is determined to find herself some Mexican food!

I used a taxi off the street. Safety of this is so-so, but I had a better idea of what to look for thanks to my cute taxi man. Jose was nice. We chit-chatted on the way there and he gave me his card and said “please call if you need anything, you have a friend in Mexico”. Aww cute. Little did I know that a half hour later I would.

Hacienda de los Morales restaurant was gorgeous. It was huge and felt like it was in an old-times function hall of some sort. It was also very pricey to go along with it. I wanted to take a picture of my soup and my waiter heard me and was going to take one for me. So, I started rummaging through my purse. Hmmm. I rummaged some more. Nothing. Hmm…. I was getting very nervous. It wasn’t there. It wasn’t on my lap, on my chair, on the table. I had taken a picture at the bar, so it was either there or in the taxi. But the taxi seemed more likely. So, I called Jose. Asked if by chance he had it. “Bueno” was what he said. Umm… does that mean yes? Ya, it did. So lucky. So, he drove all the way back to give it to me. I went out to check on him once, and one of the waiters followed me. He told me to go back and eat, he would stand outside and wait for him to come so my soup wouldn’t get cold. Now that’s service. By the way, my soup was tomato-based with fresh chilis, avocado and cheese sprinkled on the top at my discretion. Delicious! About 10 minutes later, waiter came walking in, and with him was Luis… and my camera! Oh my goodness I was delighted. I asked him to wait for me until I’m done with dinner. I was planning to get an extra tip. I was about to go home, but was asked if I wanted dessert. I didn’t. Though, then they brought the dessert tray out just in case, and damn they looked good! So I had one, and my waiter said sheepishly in English “it’s on the house”. (See? Like I said, there are benefits to being a woman and travling solo). He was a sweet guy. “You are welcome here anytime, this is your house” he said. Too bad my house for dinner charged me over 60 USD for the meal. But, well worth it.

Sure enough, Jose was waiting for me. I paid him 3 times the fare I owed him since he went out of his way to return the camera to me. He was stunned and very appreciative, I really am not quite sure why. He clearly doesn’t understand the extent of what that camera means to me. (Thoughts of when I lost half my pics of Italy right about now….) That was my day, and what a day it was. I’m off to Belize in a few hours (didn’t even have the chance to sleep tonight! Another 630am flight). But what a day. A great one. Luckily, it ended happily when it could have ended very differently.