World's Smallest Bar

31 January 2012 -- Cabo San Lucas

After a lazy morning and early part of the afternoon (what else do yo do on "vacation"?), we decided to stroll into town as we knew that many of the cruise ship people would be heading back to ship. We saw only one ship (Carnival), and it was rather quiet along the marina. There were a few fishermen returning with their catches in bags and buckets, and so the boats had to be cleaned. Even the pelicans had to clean themselves after a hard day of work, but they seemed quite content and pleased with their work for the day.

We headed along Marina Boulevard to a little place that we'd seen for years and years, but the big sign was gone. Oh well, shops comes and go around here. What was once a thriving clothing store is now a jewelry shop, and what used to be a cantina now has a "Se Renta" sign in its window. It's no different here than it is anywhere. We walked past a little bar called Slim's, but I said, "That can't be it; there was a 'World's Smallest Bar' sign out front." Darlene thought I was wrong, but we kept walking anyway. We turned around one block later and headed back to Slim's -- Darlene was correct. The barmaid said the big sign I was referring to had been stolen . Gee, imagine that -- someone stealing a sign here in Cabo San Lucas. But we were now in Slim's Elbow Room drinking a beer-- what a perfect name for the World's Smallest Bar because there isn't much more than elbow room inside the bar. But it was a fun atmosphere with people's names and dates on one dollar bills plastered all over the walls and ceiling. We can now say we've been there. Check.

One of the thing we do like down here is to buy and eat the fresh fruits and vegetables. They are colorful, flavorful, and they're pretty darn good for you, too! I did make up batch of guacamole from some of the avocados, and we'll use a few tomatoes to extend the life of the salsa that we get at the local mercado. The limes you see are a little different from the "normal" limes; these are bigger ones. They are called limones sin semillas (limes without seeds). They cost all of un peso per kilo more than the regular limes -- that works out to about four cents per pound, or less than one cent per lime to not have any seeds to deal with. That didn't take me very long to make that decision; plus you need to cut fewer of them when you're only wanting the lime juice.

Dinner tonight was a chicken stir fry. Darlene took a fresh chicken breast and cut it into cubes that I then marinated in olive oil and a sweet Chinese 5-spice blend. She then sauteed some diced garlic plus a serrano pepper in the same pan that I marinated the chicken cubes in, so the flavor of the spice blend came through -- a combination that I was hoping for. She then added the chopped onion and then the mix of the four bell peppers. As you can see, there was quite a combination of vegetables that made the dish quite tasty. We put this over re-warmed rice from the previous evening, and we had a great one-dish meal. Our wine was Santo Tomas 2008 Vino Blanco Chardonnay from Baja California. It was chilled nicely, and it was a perfect complement to the chicken and vegetables. We listened to soft piano music on the iPod and speakers as we enjoyed our meal.

Stuart cleaned up in the kitchen (that was his commitment years ago to "do the dishes on vacation"), while Darlene relaxed and started reading another book -- getting an early start on her February reading. All in all, it was another good day. Of course the motto down here is "No Bad Days," so today fit in just perfectly. Until tomorrow, adios.