Thursday, March 2 -- Dining Out All Day

We started off a little slow -- a pleasant habit here in Tepic.  Everyone had turned over for another hour after an early-morning sound that was for all the world like a tornado warning klaxon.  Turns out it was a sugar factory quite literally letting off steam, a result of cooking down molasses.  The cane trucks are everywhere (we really lucked out coming up on Monday, didn't get stuck behind a single one) and the roads are littered with mangled pieces of cane that escaped.










 Late in the morning, we drove up to a small restaurant up a steep cliff, where Native families cook breakfast and offer beautiful beadwork for sale.  There's also a "grandfather" or shaman in the area who concocts a cream which eases a variety of discomforts.  Veronica came along and we enjoyed very fresh tacos and hibiscus "water" along with a beautiful view back across the valley below.

 












Tomorrow's our chance to feed the family, so we wanted to get off to an early start.  Martha's table is at maximum with our expected guest count of eleven, so we're strategizing how best to serve everything up.



After all kids were picked up from school, we headed to a nearby restaurant for "lunch" ... oh-so-fresh fish fillet or shrimp made in a variety of enticing ways.  No one really NEEDED dessert, but the flan was highly recommended.  It was really good, but we'd have been wiser to order one slice for the table!

 

As soon as we got home, we set off again as we had committed to help a friend of Martha's who serves a casual dinner to the many people who have relatives in the local public hospital.  Most of them don't have the funds to stay in a hotel, and sleep on the grounds wherever they can find a place, and Martha's friend provides a free meal with donations she's received.  Unfortunately, though, after we waited an hour she was nowhere to be found.  It turned out she ran very late that day, we were sorry to miss helping but it was good that she was able to offer her usual meal to these needy people.

After all that running around, we were happy to turn in at a reasonable hour.  Tomorrow we'll be plenty busy!