Sunday, April 18, 2010

Another "Adventure" - Part Five

Our waiter seated us at a corner table by the front restaurant window. I think we shocked him when we began to place our order. (Perhaps he didn't realize that we hadn't eaten a meal for almost ten hours and that our last meal was just a bowl of vegetable soup!) The table quickly filled up with several orders of french fries; one cheese pizza; two orders of pollo saltado; one order of tallarines con pollo; and another order of tallarines con chancho saltado. Between the vast amount of food piled in front of us and the unusual amount (and racial variety) of children in our group we attracted a good deal of attention, both from other patrons and from those who passed by outside the restaurant (and seemed to think we were a window dressing!)

I've neglected to mention that all this took place on Pedro's 38th birthday. Fortunately, the redeeming factor of the entire day was this meal. He absolutely loved his tallarines con chancho saltado. Of all the restaurants we could have picked in Tacna, thankfully we chose a good one!

Everyone was tired enough to fall quickly asleep upon our return to the apartment, and morning brought with it brighter spirits and children curious to explore their new surroundings. While Martha headed out in search of an affordable dentist (many people head to Tacna for cheaper medical care) the kids entertained themselves by making up games indoors. Pedro briefly took the older ones on a walk to obtain some breakfast foods, and soon enough our noon check-out time arrived. After rendezvousing with Martha in the town plaza, we gathered the van and began what we thought would be a straightforward drive back to the border in the light of day.

Alas, it was not to be ...

1 comment:

John J Sweeney said...

I am loving this story!