Dale drove down to Maz with a musician friend who plays at a bunch of venues around Maz. She’s been wanting to go hear him play since she got here, but was leery of going out alone after dark. Now that we’re both comfortable going from the panga to the historical district, going out after dark didn’t feel like a big issue.

She swung by my place at 5:00 and we headed out to the panga at around 5:15, already dusk, with a huge moon hanging over Isla. It was getting on dark when we landed. We had decided to walk to the venue, a B&B/restaurant called Macaws, but take a pulmonía back.

We walked down Emilio Barragán to Constitución, which took us to the Plaza Machado. It was so different from the plaza during the day, lined with restaurant tables and full of vendors and live music!

At the end of it, we had to turn left, then immediately right, and then walked more or less straight down to Macaws, which is right in front of the art museum.

Dale wasn’t hungry, but I decided to order dinner. Being tired of Mexican food (*sheepish grin*), I was very happy to order a burger, 60 pesos for a basic one with fries, but I added a whopping (*tongue firmly in cheek*) 30 pesos worth of pepper jack cheese, sautéed onions, and bacon. It was a really good burger, missing only a bit of mustard and relish, but otherwise as good as anything I could get back home.

The music tonight was jazz and absolutely lovely, providing atmosphere, but not so much volume that we couldn’t talk. My favourite song was their rendition of ‘Somewhere Over the Rainbow’, played very slow and melancholy. I said to Dale that I think I live over the rainbow and she clinked my beer bottle in agreement!

Dale is a slow drinker and had just one beer. I like mine cold, so I easily made my way through two. 🙂

At one point, an older gentleman sat with us because the place was quite full and he and I had a nice chat while Dale and her friend headed out to see another friend during a break in the music. He’s from Vancouver, is sailing, and is anchored in Maz.

Macaws makes homemade ice cream and Dale had decided when I ordered my burger that she was going to order their Butterfinger ice cream near the end of the evening. I asked if they had chocolate, yes, so I caved and got some too. OMG. Dale and I are pretty sure it was the best ice cream we have had in our lives! I couldn’t have had a full dish of the delicious Butterfinger (I have trouble now with ice cream that has a lot of extra stuff in it like caramel), but the chocolate was perfect with me and I had no trouble with the bitter chunks of dark chocolate that studded the ice cream.

It wasn’t a cheap night for me in pesos, almost 300 after the tips to the waiter and band, but such good value!

We left Macaws at about nine after the music was done and Dale could say goodbye to her friend. We then walked back to Plaza Machado. We had a look at all the wares and no one was pushy, to my immense surprise.

I somehow managed to come here without a notebook or much paper and have been scrambling to take notes, so I’ve had a notebook on my shopping list. Before going to Macaws, I had seen some beautiful notebooks made of recycled paper, the covers of which featured artwork that could later be framed. One struck me in particular and I was still thinking about it as we headed home.

On the first pass around the plaza, I saw that it was still there and as we walked around, I thought about how much I would be willing to pay, settling on 50 pesos. I stopped a third time in front of the table and asked how much. 50 pesos! I offered 35 and the guy said absolutely not, no less than 40. Sold!

We then headed to where all the pulmonías stop and I asked how much to get to the panga. How much were we willing to pay? Dale said no more than 40. The guy said, ha, no less than 50. Dale said that we would walk. The guy said fine, 45. We both found that pricey for the short distance that we were going, but fine split two ways. It really makes me realise that my trip yesterday from the Golden Zone was a good deal!

The panga runs at the regular price until midnight, when it jumps to a whopping 60 pesos each way. It was only 9:40 when we got to the dock, so we paid just 8 pesos each.

Dale doesn’t wear her reading glasses and relies heavily on me to sort out her currency when we’re together. I said drily to the rather morose cashier that Dale needed her glasses and the cashier burst out laughing, which was very rewarding. Dale said that ‘gafas’ is her word of the day.

The panga arrived after about five minutes, the first time I’ve had to wait for one. After that, home was only about 10 minutes away and I made it home at just about bang on 10:00.

We’re both so glad that we went out tonight. I would feel perfectly comfortable going out like that on my own, with the pulmonía ride back. The area around Plaza Machado was hopping and the ambiance was warm and welcoming. But Dale is eager to go try out another venue her friend plays at, so I doubt I’ll have much need to go out alone!

The singer. Notice the light above her is shaped like a firefly!

The best chocolate ice cream I have ever had in my life, even better than the best gelato.

Butterfinger has peanut butter in it.

The lights of home.

Ship in the harbour on the Maz side.