We were up for D’s final sunrise.

After we both did a bit of packing, we walked to Seso Loco for an amazing breakfast (see the photos and link here).

This is what friends for 30 years look like.

It was already time for good-byes for D, with the rest of the gang the previous evening and now with R & M. There is no sadness when we leave friends on the island though because we know that Isla will always be a part of our lives.

We ended up walking home because we couldn’t hail a cab. They were whizzing by full of locals heading to church and/or the beach.

D did a little bit more packing and then enjoyed a nap. When it was time for his departure we had trouble again hailing a cab but eventually managed to get one to stop for us.

I sat with the luggage while D tried to find something that he could eat for lunch/early supper. He ended up with a pina colada (which I finished) and a shrimp tostada. Then it was time for our traditional pouty faces and he was off.

When I returned home, I opened a beer and sat down by the airport strip sidewalk to wait for the sunset. it did not disappoint.

R & M made sure that I didn’t dine alone and invited me to join them. They loved our dinner at Basto Grill (see details and photos here). I went home to a drink of wine under the stars, even though it was not a sweet as when my husband is with me. Had the pleasure of reading for a long time in bed before it was lights out.

Kath’s quote: “Reading in bed can be heaven, assuming you can get just the right amount of light on the page and aren’t prone to spilling your coffee or cognac on the sheets. ”― Stephen King

Love never fails.

On this evening, my last on the island, I was solo as D had to be home before me and had left earlier that day. Friends R & M were still on the island though and they invited me to join them for dinner. We were continuing our circuit of restaurants in the Colonias when I discovered they had never tried Basto Grill.

D and I have been many times. Here are some visits from the Food Musings’ archives:

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

2017

I made my recommendations of favourite dishes and R decided upon the grilled shrimp which was served with fettucine, sauteed veggies and lots and lots of butter! He was very pleased although I thought that his shrimp looked a wee bit over cooked.

M asked our server what he would recommend and without hesitation, he indicated the Enchiladas Suiza! He said that they (the family that owns and operates Basto) were very proud of the dish. M was blown away! She couldn’t get over the composition of the sauce indicating that the fresh and sparkling tomatillos and cilantro produced an absolutely heavenly taste. Two or three times as we were finishing our meal and saying our good-byes, she commented again on the surprise of the sauce and as a result, the entire dish.

Since I had missed out on my traditional feed of chilies relleno at La Lomita on the trip, I absolutely had to have them before my eminent departure. Basto’s were equally good and I savoured each bite to capture the taste in my memory bank for another season.

We also shared a side of fries even though they did not enhance anyone’s dish. They were piping hot, not a bit greasy, with a glistening of salt and then it was my turn to know what heaven will taste like.

Kath’s quote: “What keeps me motivated is not the food itself but all the bonds and memories the food represents.”-Michael Chiarello

Love never fails.

“And so this is Christmas, and what have you done?”  John Lennon’s words resonate with me at this time of year.  I try my darndest to complete the circle of tasks that I have started in the year before the holiday season comes around, so I can look back with contentment and look forward with excitement at the new journeys ahead.  So with just a couple of days left from our Isla tale, I am back at remembering (not always with clarity) our time on Isla in 2013.

Day 13-We got so attached to our golf cart that we once again decided to keep it for another day.  This meant that we could scoot around the island to start to say our good-byes and finish up some shopping.  First stop was Hortenzia’s where D had a play with her granddaughters.

Next stop was at the shop of our old friend Gladys’s.  I did some shopping as I love everything in her shop, in fact, I loved the shop itself from the floor to the shutters, both pictured above.

While in Centro we ran into my new friend Jackie who was on Isla because she had discovered my posts about the island on my blog.  She and her travel companion joined us for lunch at La Lomita’s.  The familiar little place (we often stay across the street) was getting a hand-painted spruce up.

It was our friend’s first visit and she was blown away!

I started with the chicken tortilla soup.

Jackie ordered this amazing soup but I cannot for the life of me remember the name of the dish but, isn’t it exquisite?

Her friend sampled the enchiladas.

D and I split the chiles relleno, our all time favourite La Lomita dish!

Except for their papas fritas of course.

This lovely face belonged to our helpful server.

We spent the afternoon shelling the beach right in front of our apartment and then it was time to get ready for our date night that evening!

We started off  with happy hour at Villa Bella with beer so cold, it makes your teeth hurt.  The place was quaint enough in what Doug described as a kind of Rotarian club get together from the past.

But, the beer did indeed make my teeth hurt… assisted by the insulated cozy that it was served in.

D had a lime margarita shaken, on the rocks and served in a coconut shell.

We noitced that the sun had almost set and since it was near the end of our time on the island,we wanted to take in the last rays,

so we stopped at Iguana’s before we headed back to Minioes to share a fish Veracruz style and a couple more very cold beer with our feet in the sand.

It was too dark to get a really good shot of my fish but you would get an idea of the ingredients from this photo: tomatoes, Serrano chilies, green olives, capers, cilantro and fresh lime wedges. Omgosh, it was delicious.

Next stop was Bastos where we shared garlic shrimp.  They split the abundant meal onto two piping hot plates.  The perfectly cooked shrimp was served alongside a buttery fettuccine and steamed broccoli, carrots and zucchini sticks.  With a glass of vinto blanco and tinto, I think that it came to $25.

On the way home in the golf cart, we stopped to visit our gang (minus one bro and sis-in-law who had gone to Rolandi’s on their own) at Mangoes.  They were dining with Isleno Ricardo and his new wife Patty.  Sister #2 and her husband first met Ricardo when they stayed at Chac Chi.  He was such a helpful staff member.  I even remember that he accompanied our gang including our daughter on her scooter through colonias to baseball tacos so that we wouldn’t encounter any of those surprising sidewalk gaps.  Both were born and raised on Isla and Patty worked hard to get her education by traveling back and forth on a daily basis to go to university in Cancun.

Last stop was at an authentic gelato shop in centro (authentic because we inquired with the owner and he shared that his family was from Bologna).  So I enjoyed a satisfying coconut gelato on a sugared cone and D a pistachio one.  We had also met another Italian couple on the island: Mariuccia and Carlo holiday every year on Isla, all the way from Rome.  We first became acquainted when she was speaking to another traveler about my beach skirt.  She had admired it, but put forth her opinion that it must have not been purchased in North America but somewhere in Europe, guessing Italy.  AND she was correct, as I had bought it in Positano when D and I had traveled there years earlier.  The funny thing is that the bathing suit that is an exact match was picked up at a little second hand store along Osborne in Winnipeg; about as far away as you can get from either Isla or the Amalfi coast.

Kath’s quote: “Sharing food with another human being is an intimate act that should not be indulged in lightly.”-M.F.K. Fisher

Love-that is all.