As is always seemingly my way on the last day of cruising, I have been busying myself perusing catalogs for future ocean jaunts. Today I am dreaming of British Isles itineraries or perhaps spending my 50th birthday next year on a ship heading to Cape Horn and the Strait of Magellan. Rob says he’s not a big fan of potentially visiting South America. Thus I have several months to convince him of the wonders of Chilean wine and Argentinean beef. Yes, with me…as with cruising…it’s often all about the eating.
Sadly, truth be told, I haven’t been wowed by the food on this trip. Our excursion in the Yucatan Peninsula yesterday included an underwhelming Mexican buffet lunch that featured cold spaghetti. Seriously?? Spaghetti? In Mexico? At a tourist stop? What’s wrong with tacos? Don’t even get me started on the cold part. Sheesh!
I boycotted the pasta and instead tried ceviche for the first time. Although our tour guide, Carlos, said it was fantastic, I quietly concluded it was sort of boring. I always thought ceviche was a type fish, like tilapia or mahi mahi or something else aquatic with a lot of vowels. Turns out ceviche is pico de gallo (salsa) with white, mostly flavorless fish chunks thrown in that look suspiciously like large pieces of onions. I wonder if I’ve actually had ceviche before and just thought I was enjoying a very oniony salsa?
A couple of days ago I also ventured out beyond the Tourism Village in Belize City to try some authentic rice and beans that our Creole tour guide recommended. I typically find rice and beans to be pretty bland and reserve my stomach space for other more intriguing options. But Miss Patty’s rice and beans were absolutely the tastiest I’ve ever had.
Best I can tell, Miss Patty cooks her selections of rice (regular or vegetarian), meat (chicken or fish), and potato salad from scratch every morning. Her kitchen consists of one cook top and 5 large cast iron pots. The folks ordering from her small take-out window were all locals, most with name tags from the neighboring stores catering to people who look a lot like me with my fresh sunburns, athletic shoes, and wallets stuffed with American dollars.
Standing carefully on the worn but sturdy wooden pallet, I placed my order for regular rice and beans with chicken. Miss Patty seemed happily shy when I asked if I could take her picture. Then, being a smart business woman, she recommended I also make sure to get a picture of her sign (which wasn’t a great picture well since I really wanted a photo of her not her sign).
The rice was made with coconut milk; I think that was the difference in both the taste and texture that made Miss Patty’s concoction so much better than any prior version I’ve sampled. My lunch livened up even more with the Fiery Hot Habanero sauce that was provided on the picnic table.
The local woman sharing the table with us warned me that the locally made condiment was spicy hot. Rob explained I hold the heat record at a Thai restaurant at home (45 stars of heat out of the 4 stars they offer on their menu). The woman sized me up, looked unconvinced, shrugged her shoulders in a “I tried to warn you” way, and went back to her lunch.
I typically don’t like Habanero sauces; they are usually all heat and no flavor. This one, though (Marie Sharps – I bought a bottle as my Belizean souvenir), was the perfect blend of heat and sweet pepper deliciousness. I shook a half-dozen drops on my rice to sample it and then returned to the bottle several times during my lunch. It, like the rice and beans, was the best version I’d ever had. Yay international food adventures!
I have to admit, I’m pretty proud of what happened next.
As I was finishing up my rice and beans, a very local, very dark, very dreadlocked man came over to the table to talk to our neighbor. When he was done, he turned to me with dark, relaxed eyes and said, “She like da hot stuff!” He explained with appreciative nods and the most awesome respect and surprise that he had been watching me douse my rice and beans with Maggie Sharp. Getting props from a local Belizean for my heat tolerance pretty much made up for not seeing any crocodiles on our airboat ride earlier in the day.
So yes, airboat ride in Belize and then an all-day tour to see some Mayan ruins sort of near Cancun, Mexico rounded out our excursions for this trip. The airboat was relaxing and the fast breeze was extraordinarily welcomed in the heat and humidity.
The Mayan ruins were surprisingly interesting. Turns out I knew next to nothing about the Mayan culture other than that the Mayans sort of died out (not completely true) and they predicted the end of the world a few years ago (not at all true once you understand their calendar-making history).
Thanks to a free drink ticket with our spaghetti lunch, I also decided I shall be scouring Hispanic markets at home for a bottled drink called Peñafiel Limonada (it’s sparkling lemonade), and that the local beer called Sol tastes like college. I also could not comprehend that it was legal for me to sample the cheap, watery memory on the tour bus. While we were driving. With my container of alcohol opened and everything. Despite Carlos’s assurances neither of us would get arrested, I still felt like I had to take clandestine sips of the swill. Please note: I did not finish it.
We will be home late tomorrow, a bit more sunburned and a bit less relaxed than hoped. Rob’s tooth chipped a few days ago, so that has been distracting. And I’ve determined that 5 full days on a cruise ship doesn’t lend itself to quite as much downtime as my mind and body need. With lots of floors to explore and stairs to climb and restaurants to sample and excursions to go on, I feel like today I am finally ready to begin doing nothing.
And instead it is time to pack.
No comments:
Post a Comment