I was running low on coffee, so I emailed Dale yesterday to see if she wanted to meet up today. As it turned out, she had a late morning meeting in Centro, so she suggested I give her my coffee order, she’d pick it up, and then we could meet in front of Waldo’s around 11:30. That worked!

I left early since I wanted to go to the bank and also stop in at the dress shop and have the straps adjusted on my new dress. Feeling lazy, I took 21 de marzo from Emilio Barragán to avoid the giant Leandro Valle hill. The ATM for the Santander bank is on 21 de marzo anyway, one block past the cathedral.

After my withdrawal, I walked the few blocks to get some nieve de garrafa. For the first time, they had lemon. I haven’t had lemon since I got to Mexico! It was so good, like frozen lemonade, and a perfect compliment to the sweet prune and mandarin scoops as well as being very refreshing.

Since there was a cruise ship in port, Maz was thrumming with people, but it wasn’t overwhelming the way it would have been when I first got here. I know my way around now, so I can easily avoid crowds and most of the places I shop and eat at aren’t places the casual visitors would frequent.

Refreshed by my sorbet, I hit the dress shop, which was empty. The seamstress said she had been expecting me. The straps on the dresses are stretchy, so everyone who buys them gets at least one adjustment done. I had brought another dress to change into while she fixed this one, but she preferred to do the sewing by hand with me in the dress to make sure she got the straps perfect. The adjustment was, of course, free and she said I could come back in five years with the dress and she’d still repair it at no cost.

Then, I hit a few produce vendors and bought two kinds of mangos, to do a taste comparison. And then, it was time to meet Dale. She had only one thing on her mind, a cold beer, so I suggested we go to Olas Altas and have one last beer by the water.

You see, Dale’s meeting was with some RVers who are headed east on Tuesday towards Texas and Dale is going to tag along. She’s leaving. It’s official. I am so sad. I hope that she makes good on her promise to come visit me this summer!

By the time we got to Olas Altas, it was only 11:45. I used to order beer in Scotland from 11:00 a.m. onward, but people were still eating breakfast here and it felt way too strange to order beer! So I suggested we double back and get some pastries at Panamá for later.

When we returned to the restaurant, it was noon. We ordered beer and after perusing the menu for a few minutes Dale confessed that all she really wanted was nachos to share and that we could have chorizo on them, too. That was fine and like the last time we ordered the chorizo nachos, they came with a side of chips and salsa. So two beers, ‘lunch’ and a generous tip came to total of 150 pesos!

A well balanced Mexican diet. Hey, pico de gallo more than counts as vegetables. 🙂

We both marveled at how far we’d come since our first forays into Maz. We both know our way around now, have favourite haunts, and are much, much browner than when we arrived. We both know that we are forever changed by this experience, but we have yet to understand how exactly that will translate into our lives back home.

After we rolled out of the restaurant, I insisted that we both had room for a tiny scoop of gelato since Dale had never been to the little gelataria off of Machado.  She agreed and off we went. The place was packed with cruise ship tourists. One of the servers was doing a good job with her English, but the line was moving slowly. I may have done a little translating to get some people out of there more quickly…

My favourite flavour there is Ferrero, as in Ferrero Rocher, the little wafer balls filled with Nutella. I knew that Dale likes Nutella, so I told her that I was going to order and that it was on me! I got us each a scoop in a cup. She loved it, thanked me a couple of times for pushing her to go, and agreed that there was indeed just enough place left after lunch for such a yummy and tiny treat. 🙂

She needed to get home to her dogs, so we headed back to the Mercado, where she would catch the bus. I continued on to Ley to get a few things that were on sale, including some sliced ham I discovered at Soriana that is quite good compared to the brand I find at the City Deli.

Now, I need to get to work! I thought I’d get the whole day off, but my client apparently lost leave of her math skills and sent me a huge job that I am going to scramble to do well if I don’t at least start it today. I didn’t want to refuse since I’m taking a few days off soon to go to Durango.

At least, I’ve got tons of coffee to get me through the next few days! 🙂

Turkish proverb: Black like night, strong like sin, sweet like love, hot like inferno. Used by Rico to describe their coffee!