Dale and I went back to Macaws tonight to hear Rob do his annual holiday singalong before leaving for a short vacation. It was my first time going to Mazatlán on a Saturday night and the atmosphere was completely different, even on Isla, with lots of traffic and noise. Because every street crossing took time, it felt like it took forever to get to Macaws.

I saw this car and immediately thought “this guy learned to park in Montreal”. Well guess, what? That’s a Quebec plate on the back of the car. LOL!!!

We arrived around 6:45. We weren’t planning to eat, so we hadn’t made a reservation.  The place was packed, the dinner crowd not having thinned out, and we were told to sit in the overflow dining room area away from the action.

The owner of the place came to check on us and I said we wanted beers. He replied that he was down a waiter, but someone would be with us eventually. Dale suggested that we go down to the bar to get our drinks and he said that it was preferable for us to stay at the table and wait for the server.

Well, an hour later, after watching the servers help everyone around us but not even acknowledge our presence,  I asked Dale if she would be willing to go. I had absolutely no desire to spend any money there by that point. If I have to flag down a server to get business, then I’m not interested. And this wasn’t a ‘you’re in Mexico’ kind of service issue; the owners are Gringos who serve Gringos and should know better. Dale and I are not going back to Macaws on a weekend.

I’d arrived in Maz in a bit of a grumpy mood from yet another interrupted work day and I was very grumpy when we left, but tried to be tolerable so as to not ruin Dale’s night. Frankly, I just wanted to go home, but I bit my tongue since Dale wasn’t ready to go yet. We walked around the Plazuela Machado for a bit and, feeling peckish, I casually checked out the various restaurant menus until I spotted one that had nachos, Dale’s Kryptonite.

She was quick to agree to split an order and then the question was which restaurant did the sign refer to?! There are a whole bunch of restaurants lining each side of the Plazuela with little distinction between them. We didn’t have to wait long, a cheerful waiter running up to us, pointing to the menu and then a table. And what a lovely table it was, right in the heart of all the action in the middle of a closed off street in front of wonderful live music! My grumpy mood vanished quickly!

View from our table (my back is to the restaurant and I am facing the Plazuela Machado). The music was lovely and not too loud so we could still gab.

We asked for Pacificos, but they didn’t have any on the menu (!) so we went with Tecate. We ordered the plain nachos and the server suggested we get guacamole, too. Oh, why not?! The restaurant was Beach Burger and I am keeping it in mind for a lunch spot in Centro because it has better prices than the places I’ve been to on Olas Altas.

The guacamole was tasty, but not nearly as good as mine, interestingly enough, since I’ve never had a formal lesson in making the sauce. This one relied on avocados and tomatoes for flavour, while I like red onion, lime juice, and salt in mine. It was still pretty dang tasty with the tortilla chips!

There was also tolerably spicy pico de gallo and this other sauce that made Dale and me gasp. Dale was so impressed she flagged down the waiter to ask what the heck it was, which turned out to be essentially a reduction of tomato, onion, and garlic with, I think, cilantro. It was fantastic with the nachos.

I thought the nachos would be just cheese and chips, but nope. There was also a layer of yummy refried beans, which elevated them from a snack to a meal in my book.

We cleaned up every dish, finishing up the sauces with our spoons! I’ve been pretty good about not over doing the tortilla chips since I got here, but this was definitely a very occasional indulgence type of meal! We were stuffed by the time we were done!

Our server was absolutely perfect, so cheerful and flirty, offering exactly the kind of service I needed tonight. Service at Macaws last time wasn’t great either. I prefer to go to places where I feel my business is appreciated.

The bill came to 140 pesos and Dale had me work out the money. We left a 30 peso tip, so that wound up being 85 pesos each, and that included beer! Really, a splurge in Mexico isn’t much.

We were both tuckered out and ready to go home after, so we went to the corner and actually had to wait a few minutes for a pulmonía. I asked for the price and was told 80 pesos! I said that we were used to paying at most 50. He said it was Saturday, but he was willing to go down to 70. Dale hemmed and hawed, so he said fine, 60. I have to keep reminding myself that 10 pesos is just 85 cents (ish), not worth making a huge fuss over, and agreed.

It had been a cool night and it was pretty dang cold sitting in that pulmonía. I was glad to have worn a light sweater over my dress and Dale was grateful for her coat. The panga trip was more pleasant than expected, though. And we saw a comet just before the boat arrived on the Maz side!

I’ve noticed something interesting about riding the panga. If I am in a skirt or dress, I get offered a hand 100% of the time exiting and entering the boat. If I’m in pants, I get offered a hand about 50% of the time…

It wound up being a fun night in Mazatlán, even though it didn’t start that way. I’m glad that I forced myself to shift my mood and allowed myself to have a good time in the end. Dale and I discovered a new place that’s more our style (we’re both ready to swear off any place oriented at Gringos…), we got to listen to some really good live music (not that Rob isn’t good!), and we came home with a belly full of yummy food without having spent much money. Life in Mexico continues to be pretty dang good!

I just returned from my getting some hot dogs for dinner, two this week. And I was right last week to feel awful, they are TRECE not tres pesos (13, not 3). OMG, I’m so embarrassed. The lady didn’t say anything about last week though, bless her.

We gabbed while another lady got my order together. One of the things she asked me if I’m staying here, on Isla, for the whole of my stay in Mexico. I didn’t understand her question the first time, so she rephrased it. I didn’t get it a second time, so she rephrased it again. And then I got it!

What threw me is she kept saying ‘siempre’ (forever), so my first answer was that I’m only here for the winter and then that I arrived in November and am leaving in April. How she finally phrased the question was something along the lines of “Are you stay here for that whole period of time?”

I am so grateful when people are so patient because how else am I going to learn?! Too many people would have just accepted my incorrect answers, but took the time to teach me. And all within the couple of minutes it took to get my hot dogs together!

BTW, a carry out order translates literally to “para llevar” (to carry). I said “para ir” (to go) to the first lady, who did not relay that to the second lady, who then asked me if I wanted my dogs “¿para aquí or para llevar?”, another sneaky way of teaching me vocabulary, albeit probably unintentionally.

Mayonnaise seems to be popular here and the lady putting together my order started reaching for it. I said no, eggs make me ill. The lady I was speaking with interjected and proudly recited my order from last week (cebollas, tomates, mostaza)! She really did remember me and let me save face about the whole 13/3 peso thing. She’s a darling! So 26 pesos (just over 2CAD) for these, pricier than for a couple of steamés in Quebec, but maybe even more delicious. As it turns out, the dogs are cooked in bacon. No wonder they are so yummy!