Ceviche

The mornings bring with them just a tiny touch of a welcome chill. Cali and I wandered out on the beach and walked over to the point. She has been very curious lately and enchanted by all the unusual smells of the beach here in Lo de Marcos. Today she had to give the fishing nets a good long sniff before she would let me move on.

We went back for some breakfast and I began writing a post but was feeling the need for a can of Monster energy drink. I unleashed the bike and took it for a ride through the back dirt roads of Lo de Marcos emerging on the highway about a half mile south of the Oxxo convenience store. They had installed a bike lane following parallel to the 200 since I’d been here and in that short time it has already fallen into a state of disrepair with potholes and piles of sand and dirt. I stocked up on drinks at the Oxxo then pedaled just a few meters down the main road into town where I came upon Carnitas Sahuayo just before the road turns to cobbles. It is new to me, and boy am I glad I stopped because they had killer carnitas tacos for 15 pesos each, about 75 cents. These are the kind of places, just outside of the tourist zone that usually surprise you with the best food.

A truck with a loud speaker was selling shrimp and I stopped him to see if he had squid to use for bait when I fish. He didn’t but had pulpo, octopus, which has worked well in the past. He would only sell it by the bag, maybe a half pound. More than I need for fishing so I decided to make a ceviche using the shrimp from yesterday and most of the pulpo. I pulled over at the vegetable stand and collected the veggies necessary for ceviche along with a pineapple to cut up with my mango that I have at home. I ran into Pierre, my neighbor with the cat, and we pedaled home together.

I spent about an hour working at the cutting board I’d set up on the little cooking platform that is part of my patio. I diced up the onion, tomato, cilantro, pulpo, shrimp, jalapeño and shredded some carrots then cut and squeezed about a dozen limones agrias into the mix. A local lady at the veggie stand showed me how to select the limes that carry the most juice. I’d asked her if these were the right limes for ceviche (the smaller more acid variety), she said yes but you’re picking some crappy ones. Not really in those words but she showed me how to get the best ones. I had some reggae playing on the patio while I stirred everything together and set it to chill and let the lime juice do its thing. Meanwhile, I cut up the mango, pineapple and a banana and sat back on the deck to enjoy a bowl of fresh fruit.

I went out front for a body boarding session then sat on the beach drying off and reading a little. When I saw Pierre, I gave him a little container of ceviche and a few tostadas. He was stoked. I mostly beached it the rest of the day and sat out under the awning finishing off this book of crypto quotes I’d picked up before leaving. I got the same one for my dad and I can’t help but wonder if, like me, he’s constantly thinking as he does them that this is the stupidest quote I have ever heard in my life! Some of them made no sense at all. Glad it’s done. Maybe I’ll pick a better one next time. Ceviche for dinner and a little more reading before Cali and I went for a long night time beach walk. She didn’t want to stop. She got fired up and would run away from me and frisk around so I couldn’t make her go back until she was ready, it’s so fun when she gets in a puppy mode.