Monday, December 24, 2007 (Ron)

Pretty rough day – hanging out on the beach at the hotel. Great weather for catching some sun. By late afternoon we were starting to think about supper. We went to the front desk to ask about places to eat downtown. They recommended a place called La Parilla. It sounded good, so we took the bus into town.

The guys at the front desk said to get off at city hall. We’re riding the bus – where’s city hall? We got off and walked back the other way, enjoying the interaction with the Mexican families on Christmas Eve. We turned down a small street towards the restaurant. Just about the time we thought we weren’t going to find it, there it was. A really nice looking place so we went in. They had a special buffet for Christmas Eve. It wasn’t quite ready so we ordered a couple of margaritas and enjoyed the crowd and the restaurant. Pretty soon the buffet was ready so we got our plates and started dishing it up. I had to check everything out and talk to the help, Pat already was sitting down when our waiter brought the drinks – on his head! The drinks were really big and balanced one on top of the other on his head. He was quite the character. A table next to us ordered three drinks and he served them the same way! One on top of the other, on top of the other, on top of his head.

Dinner was great, the drinks were very strong, and we had a lot of fun. The waiter came by and we said we were ready to go, but he said ‘No, No, No.’ We have to stay, the mariachis will be here in just ten minutes. We said OK and ordered a couple of Mango Margaritas. Pretty soon I saw our waiter leaving the bar with two drinks on his head, going the other way, dancing thru the crowded restaurant with the drinks on his head. He cha-cha’d his way to our table and delivered our drinks with everyone enjoying his performance. Eventually the mariachis arrived – there must have been eight of them, all dressed up and looking quite sharp. They performed a song then came over to our table and asked if we’d like a song. Pat and I looked at each other and decided sure, that would be fun. They said it would be $10USD per song, I said go ahead. They did ‘El Rancho Grande’ and it sounded great. Very nice. They performed several other songs at other tables and everybody had a great time.

After leaving the restaurant we walked up to Tulum Street to catch the bus back to the hotel. We walked along towards the hotel until the bus came along, but no busses. A taxi stopped and asked if we wanted a ride; we said no, we’ll take the bus. He said the busses aren’t running ‘cause it’s Christmas eve. We said sure, we wanted a taxi. He said he’d give us a special rate for Christmas. We got back to the hotel and found out that he must have meant a special high rate for his Christmas. Oh well. It was a great evening.