I am having my first dinner guests over today. A wonderful couple from British Columbia whom I met at church are coming for dinner tonight. I when to the meat market yesterday and bought hamburger to make meat balls and ended up hanging out there for about an hour. Two of the guys there want to learn English and I need help with my Spanish so a chair was pulled up for me and we just started conversing, once in awhile getting interrupted by customers. One lady bought a whole pigs head and I had to ask “what do you do with that?” Turns out it has many uses but mostly used to make tacos, which would explain all the “head taco” signs I see everywhere. I ask the guys where I can buy scallops and they tried their best to give me directions to a guy that sells them out of his house (of course) but I could just not understand the directions. It was decided that I could just buy the scallops from the shrimp market downtown Mazatlan; I wanted to get some shrimp as well anyway. Before I headed off one of the meat guys wanted me to see his piece of land where he is starting to build a house, he was too busy with customers so he gets his cousin to take me up the hill on his guad (which is the meat delivery vehicle) We go way up the hill, he will have the tallest house on Stone Island. He figures he will be safe up there even if a tsunami comes. The view took my breath away, he had told me about the great view but I thought he had been exaggerating, wow, it was amazing. I could see the north side of Mazatlan and all the way along the Stone Island beach and all 1700 hectares of coconut plantations. He has a lot of work to do, so far they are just digging his foundation which is done by men with a spades. I hope I get to see the process of this house going up, I’m currently watching one being built across the street from me.....most interesting. Anyway, I head off to the docks to go to the shrimp market and run into Senor Papa, he asks me where I am going, I tell him I am off to buy scallops and shrimp. He says no need to go all the way to the market he knows a guy that sells scallops right here, tells me to get into his truck and off we go. We arrive at a house that is right around the corner from my house and a girl comes and gets into the back of the truck and we go a little further and she runs into a house and comes out with 2 bags of fresh scallops....money and scallops are exchanged and I get driven back home. Quite happy that I now have a scallop guy living right up the road a bit. I am really enjoying buying my groceries from individual people instead if shopping at a big store where you never actually have to speak to anyone if you don’t want to. This is so much more personal. I have a guy that I buy my fruit and vegetables from, he comes to my door everyday, I have the guy that I buy tamales from almost everyday, he also comes to my door. (He also has cheese and cactus) I have the lady that I buy my peanuts from, and of course the meat guy. There is a guy that walks door to door selling pastries and bread whom I have not bought anything from yet....I should get to know him as well. I found a lady that makes bread in a stone oven everyday....No, I don’t buy bread everyday. Of course we cannot forget the lady that sells me my tortillas and the alote lady. What will I do without tortillas and alote when I get home? I’ve learned how to eat tortillas with almost everything.
My trip to the shrimp market was uneventful; I came home with ½ kilo of great big shrimp and set to work getting ready for my guests. Meatballs had been put into the crock pot this morning and were ready. Usually bacon wrapped scallops would be done in an oven but since I don’t have an oven I fried them and they turned out great. I fried my shrimp in garlic butter.....so good! We had a great time just sitting on my roof and eating and chatting and eating some more. I am so blessed. I have some more friends coming for dinner next week and I think we will do the scallops and shrimp again...maybe chicken instead of meatballs. Or should I attempt to make head tacos?
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