Trip Report - in progress

The beginning of Day 3 is starting with a mostly cloudy sky. Yesterday, after an incredible sunrise, the sun played peek a boo, was out for a couple of hours, then the clouds rolled in. In all of the years coming to Zihua, the last 2 years are firsts for cloudy days and rain in January/February.

Recapping the past 2 days….

Wednesday was a good as you can get here. Blue skies, sun blazing. We went to the mercado early and stocked up on food for lunches. After a relaxing day, we went to the Sunset Bar for the sunset and drinks. We miss Rinaldo and his margaritas!! For dinner, we passed on Rufos in favor of el Arrayan. We love Mauricio and his grilled foods are excellent. His restaurant has been a regular stop for us over the last 4 years.

Wednesday was an off night, for sure. I ordered the tacos de pescado and Gary ordered the kebab of shrimp, chicken & steak. We waited 90 minutes to be served our dinner. That is not a typo. After our drinks and totopos y salsa were served, no one ever came back to our table to check with us or give us updates on our meals. After an hour, we were about ready to put money on the table for the beverages and leave. But we had already committed so much time, we figured we would give him a chance. At the 75 minute mark, Gary went up & spoke to Mauricio to find out what was going on. He had just put my fish on the grill but Gary's kebab had yet to be skewered. At the 90 minute mark, my tacos were served. They were worth the wait. Gary & I shared them. When we finished the tacos, his dinner was served. The kebabs were grilled to perfection….but….were missing the steak. Mauricio substituted fish but didn't say anything. Mauricio came to the table offering his sincere apologies and brought us a grilled onion & potato with compliments. The waiter brought me another glass of wine, on the house, but I was already finished and passed on it (he should have brought it to me during the 90 minute wait!) Mauricio checked on us again and Gary told him that he was disappointed that there was no steak on his kebab. Mauricio explained that he had many orders of kebabs before us and ran out of steak. Gary told him that he should tell his customers that he is out and is offering to substitute something else - to not say anything was not right. What if we had a food allergy or just didn't like fish? Mauricio understood completely and comped Gary his entree. Mauricio is a good man and did the right thing in the end. He take pride in what he does and likes to do every order to perfection. Perhaps it is time to add another grill! We will continue to eat there, hoping that our experience the other night was simply a hiccup.

We went to see Guadalupe at the bakery and purchased our postres for the next morning. Visiting the "pink bakery" is a daily ritual. She didn't have her sister's arroz con leche…but did have the pan frances!!!

Last night (Thursday) we decided to head into centro early for some shopping before dinner. You must check out Arte by Mayren. The gallery is located at 6 Galeana. Mayren is as delightful as her art! I purchased my 2016 souvenier - I saw a picture on a mug, selected the canvas size and asked her to paint it for me. Score! It will be finished on Tuesday and she will deliver it to me in Troncones! I will be sure to share a photo, if I can figure out how to upload them!!

We hadn't decided on dinner and then passed Agave. It has been on my short list for a couple of years now. We decided to go and weren't disappointed. Service was perfect. Our waiter, Lio (short for Lionel), was top notch. He doubled as the bartender - his margaritas were great! Gary ordered the Chalupitas to start and he is still talking about them! They were excellent. Our entrees followed, perfectly timed….Gary had the Camarones Agave and I had the Pescado con Hierba Santa. I can honestly say that this place tops el Murmullo in our book. The chef was spot on. There were 2 other tables seated while we were there. To top it off, they had a guitar player, Don Beto. He is an accomplished guitarist who covers Mexican and American songs…we could have stayed for hours just listening to him play and sing.

Stopped to see Guadalupe on our way back to la Ropa.

Now back to the cloudy day….it's 10:30 and no sign of a break in the clouds. We are off to Troncones tomorrow -hoping to stay in Zihua through dinner to make up for the day we lost on the trip down.