Lalo went out first thing and brought back Atole morado (it was a purple drink) and mixed it with a horchata he also brought -the mixture called campechana. I prefer the straight horchata, but I do always appreciate his desire to show and share the tastes that he grew up with.
Today for breakfast, we were fixed Infladetas (inflated tortillas) mole. Onions, Queso fresco, and eggs with chorizo. Delicious as always.
We sat around the family table and talked. Lalo went and got out family photo albums. It was fun to see the aunts and his mom chiming in on some of the pics. Lalo’s other aunt showed up today. She is other sister to Luzma, Chagua and Willie. She is Estela. Watching and listening to them all recalling certain photos and talking about the locations, antics, making fun of some and seeing the closed eyed remembrance of being in a time and place of others was so fun. There are no cultural differences when sitting with families as they look at family albums.
We sat by the pool and talked there for a while and threw in a load of laundry. Once the load was complete, we hung the clothes on the line on the roof of the house to dry.
Beth and I were headed up to the room to chill out for a bit as it was hot and humid again and we thought we could rest and make notes of our travels in the comfort of the air conditioned room, but the hotel staff was cleaning our room. Beth headed back downstairs and I headed up the stairs to see what the other floors were like and to see if I could find the roof access – as Lalo and Sys had said it had a great 360 view of the town. I found the access and indeed you can see the ocean to one side and the river to the other side.
After a quick nap, we hung out in our room for a bit and then went downstairs to sit with the family as they had their main meal -3:45 pm lunch meal. We didn’t eat with them as we were going to a friends auntie’s restaurant for the shrimp and seafood cocktails.
I had the everything seafood cocktail with shrimp, conch, octopus, crab and oysters. Vuelve A La Vida (bring back to life) it was called. All very fresh and delicious but the sauce was on the sweet side for my tastes.
The place was not air conditioned, so I was sticking to the table and chair and feeling quite uncomfortable by the end of the meal.
Welcoming a walk and the gulf breeze through the streets, we went looking for some zero beer for Sydney to make a michelada for herself later. Watching us have those big ones from our river boat ride the prior day with the tamarind around the top had given her a craving for one.
We all went to the beach for an evening swim – super fun and refreshing. Syd, Beth and I went out to the first sand bar and bobbed in the waves. The first sand bar was about chest high today. The current would quickly transport us down the beach and we would fight the waves and current to try to stay near/even to where we had left our belongings on the beach. We were sucked under by a few waves and came up laughing and waiting for the next. Lalo was out on the second sand bar and body surfed like a pro out there for a while.
We then slogged back to the pool in the hotel and hung out there for a while before heading to bed. Luzma went with us to the beach and in the pool and it was great.
I showered in the shower by the pool with my suit on. Beth waited to shower in our room. When she got her suit off, she found that there were strategic pockets of sand plastered to her body like someone had slapped mud pies to her (sand pies in this case). I guess she had taken more tumbles and had gotten really blasted by the ocean waves earlier and the pool water only seemed to solidify it. It was pretty hilarious looking and left us giggling in our own beds as we said goodnight. I drifted off with another appreciation of a great day.