Being famous has some perks

Friday night I realized I was famous. Mike and I had of course been counting the days til the weekend because that means $2.75 shawarma, but when we got into town...the place was closed! Plan B would be the Cuban restaurant, but gasp! That was closed too! What the heck? The only thing we could figure, was the festival had plum tuckered them all out and they were taking a break. Well, on that note we decided to walk back to San Jacinto and eat at Ali's.

We had about a quarter mile still to San Jacinto when some men walking towards us, stopped and said "you're Paige and Mike, I follow your blog!" We chatted a couple minutes, found out they were heading into San Clemente for the infamous shawarma, but upon learning of the closure they decided to come to Ali's with us and get to know each other. Dinner was great, as always, and the company was better, we had a great time. Actually closed it down, and we made plans to try shawarma on Saturday.

Marty and Jim are from everywhere, been together like 25 years, and bought land down in San Jacinto on the Boca. (Mouth of the river) They've been building a house over the past year, and finally came for good. We found we had North Carolina in common, and talked a lot about the culture of the South, and how it prepared us for South America. (Hijacked this picture from their Facebook, hope you don't mind guys)

Saturday we did meet up for shawarma, Pablo was in Manta, but had everything ready and Fransisco did a great job putting the shawarmas together. Silvia was there helping him, and the two did very well, Pablo should be proud. After shawarma we took Marty and Jim next door to the Cubans, and we had a donut and coffee. Having lived many years in South Florida, they are excited to go back and try the Cuban sandwich and other dishes. But agreed that the donuts were out of this world.

We invited them in for a nightcap, tour and meet the pups, and in no time Veronica was in Jim's lap. She usually takes a while, even several visits sometimes, before she warms up, but he must be special. (we think so) They said their house was dog friendly, and we could bring them anytime. Even offered to dog sit, which is always an added benefit, we don't trust just anybody with our furry kids. We bid goodnight, and all agree this is the start of a beautiful friendship. Being famous rocks!

The sun was out bright and early today, no marine layer this morning. Tide is high, but won't be for long, maybe pups to la playa later, and we got pineapples from Angel yesterday, so I know there's smoothies in our future. The Cubans said they would be open today til 3pm, so maybe Cuban sandwiches for lunch, but whatever we decide to do, it'll be awesome. Beautiful weather, great food,  my best friend and love of my life, yep it's pretty good...stay tuned, the adventure continues. Hasta Luego.