Our last afternoon at Papa Gallo’s. We were going to meet Ron and Barb for the last couple of drinks before we left the next day. They had invited three other couples so everybody settled in for the afternoon. It was a great time and after everyone else left, we had our dinner. I had Mango Shrimp, absolutely delicious.
There was a lot to do when we got back to the casa so we poured another drink and started to plan. As we were sitting there, Rosalie watched a pickup truck pull up. Rosalie said, “Is that Gus?” The guy got out of the truck and indeed it was our amigo Gus, from Papa Gallo’s. He saw me, held out his arms and yelled “Mi amigo Chreees!” I yelled back “Mi amigo Goose!, (Gus, short for Gustavo.) We did the macho hug thing and as he had his whole family with him, we invited them in.
There was his wife Rogelia as well as his mother-in-law Maria del Carmen and his two kids Gustavo Junior and his daughter Renata who is very cute.
Gus took off to fulfill a commitment to take some stuff to storage for some Norteños who were our neighbours. When he came back, we invited the Norteños in too, for drinks with the rest of the family.
Gus speaks good English but at times we were alone with his wife and her mother. It was great as they stretched our Spanish to the limit. I managed to get most of what they were saying and was able to respond a few times. They saw my problem though and were very patient as they waited for my responses, they also corrected both Rosalie and me when we made mistakes.
I’m sure it’s a Mexican thing but was a little surprised when Rogelia asked Rosalie if we had any rum. She showed her into the house and Rogelia saw that we had Kahlua so she filled a glass with one-third and topped up the rest with milk. Later, she didn’t ask, just went in and helped herself. Gus did the same thing after I gave him a beer. We took no offence and the party progressed nicely.
In the middle of all this, we found 8 Million ants crossing the patio and trying to take over the party. I grabbed a can of Raid and the broom and proceeded to teach them a lesson. After the spider, ants seem to be a minor problem.
If there is a perfect conclusion to a perfect six-month stay, this was it. We had a fabulous time with these guys and I told Gus that he and his family were invited to our casa anytime.
The following morning, there was still a bit to do before the taxi arrived at 9:30. When he got there we had him take us to Restaurante El Patio for breakfast where the food is great and the whole place has an old-world Mexican feel to it. Then we dragged our cases a couple of hundred feet to the bus depot. The rest of the disaster was in a previous blog.