The Shrimp Ladies etc

Before I write about yesterday I have to tell everyone how nice the Mexican people are. Rick left this morning on an errand to buy cigars. He had some information about a man who made--or imported Cuban cigars and operated from his home. He took the pulmonia to the place but the man wasn't there yet. His wife--an abuelita like me--and spoke no English invited him into their home to wait. She offered him a glass of cold water and served it to him on a saucer with a napkin under it. He could have been a bad guy but she offered him her hospitality anyway. (by the way he bought a box of Cubans)



Yesterday we met a bunch of people at Casa de Leyendas to go for lunch at 2 PM. Hotter than hell at 2PM. Most of the twenty three of us got on Red Trucks, they are Pick-ups with benches in the back and headed off with loud Mexican music playing to the "shrimp ladies". Every day in shrimp season the ladies sell the shrimp and other seafood along the street. You pick out what you want, do a little bargaining and then take it to a restaurant to have it cooked. It was 780 pesos(60 bucks) for all of us. We walked around the corner to the restaurant, Dunia's. (By the way I WILL NOT be posting pictures of me because I was totally drenched and no make-up by that point, although Rick looks totally perfect....grrrrrr Dunia's looks like a regular dark storefront but it was deceptively large and very dark. No a/c but fans blowing, but it was cool inside. They sat us all at a long table and started bringing out the food, family style. Of course, there were chips and two kinds of salsa, a cruda and a chipotle, and jicama with lots of lime. The ice cold beer was put in buckets at the ends of the table. The first dish was ceviche raw shrimp cooked in lots of lime juice, chilies, and salt, then came the shrimp in garlic butter, followed by fried shrimp We were entertained by a large Mexican man with a huge, loud voice and a boombox.

On the way out there was a kid selling absolutely fresh sugary doughnuts. Lots of our friends bought them and sighed.

I sat next to my new friend Mikki from Washington, who is a passionate knitter, and all that entails (Ravelry, stash, books classed etc) like me.
That was a fun day!! Off to a Mexican baseball game tonight. The Venados.