My weekend work was going well today and I decided to quit at about noonish so I could go have lunch in town. I thought of going to a well rated restaurant near the Plazuela Machado that my riding friends love, Delirium, but that didn’t work out. I was guided to a table, given a menu, and promptly forgotten about even after I tried to wave down the server to put in my drink order. The menu was extensive and complicated, so I took my time with it and sat there for nearly 30 minutes while everyone else got service before concluding that they weren’t interested in my business. Once again, I refuse to beg to give a business my money, so I walked out. Good luck getting me in the door again.

I headed to the Malecón and decided to have lunch at La fonda de Chalio, a place I went to with Dale a few times last year. They were quick bringing me my beer, salsa mexicana, totopos, and menu, but I waited so long to be able to put in an order for a meal (yes, I signaled that I was ready and, no, they weren’t busy either) that I came very close to considering the chips and salsa my (very inexpensive) lunch.

My beer was a Pacifico Light, which has a low alcohol content, so when I poured it into a very cold mug, this happened:

Yep, it froze! I’ve never seen that happen before! I have had my non-alcoholic beer back home freeze in my too cold fridge, but a beer with actual alcohol in it freezing in a mug on a hot day?! Wow!

When I was finally able to put in an order for food, I went with the chicken tacos, requesting them soft rather than fried. Chicken tacos are interesting in that they are a Mexican version of Tex-Mex food because they usually come with a fried shell, lettuce, cheese, and sour cream, as well as refried beans, other veggies, and various salsas. I always request soft shells because I don’t need the extra calories and, in the case of La fonda de Chalio, I got chips so I really didn’t need any more fried stuff! They came with a very thin tomato sauce that tasted like tomato juice with kick and really brightened up the heavy meat and bean filling, and I also added heaps of their salsa mexicana.

By the way, if you haven’t been following me on Facebook, you haven’t learned my latest revelation. The stuff I and countless other people call pico de gallo is actually salsa mexicana and pico de gallo is a fruit salad! My veggie guy told me this and it was confirmed at a couple of restaurants. Restaurants here know what the Gringos want but if you listen to them talk amongst themselves, sure enough, the tomato/onion/pepper/cilantro sauce is salsa mexicana. Wow!

I love sitting at the restaurants on Olas Altas and people watching. Today, there were two older Gringo gentlemen apparently trying to hit every bar along the stretch to determine a favourite spot (must try this myself!). There was one Gringo couple walking by with the wife holding onto her purse for dear life with one hand, her husband with the other, and being adamant that they weren’t going to eat anywhere along that stretch (rather hilarious, because this part of Maz is Gringoland South). There was a Mexican group that must have known the owners because they kept getting things that I’m pretty sure weren’t on the menu (like gorditas). There was a rude man who decided to stand by my table to make a call that involved a lot of yelling and curse words (I’m starting to recognise Mexican bad language!). And, of course, there were lots of vendors, including two who tried to get me to buy a really ginormous cake.

Lunch done, I meandered my way back to the embarcadero by way of my favourite nieve vendor (where I once again got an extra scoop of prune!, as well as mandarin and lemon) for a palate cleansing treat. My outing cost me all of 13.67CAD, including public transportation. Not bad, huh?!

I stopped at the City Deli for beer when I got back to this side. I like getting four cans of Pacifico at a time since they cost an even $50 and four cans isn’t heavy to carry.

Hard to believe we’re already halfway through January and that my winter here is truly half over!