Memories

|52| • Not a Dream •

Brian and I gathered a few suggestions, and in the end we decided that we would have a look at a few beaches in the Puerto de la Cruz area the following day. When the other men noticed that we were planning our trip, they all offered suggestions of what we could do. We definitely wouldn't run out of activities during our week and a half here, that was certain.

And then it was soon time for the food. María and Isabel carried pot after pot to the table and soon Luis helped his wife. They got the high chair for Paco so that Brian wouldn't have to share his food with the curious little boy, and then it was time to dig in. We took our time because it was a lot of food, but it was delicious. Before we started, María once more explained what everything was so that she could be sure both Brian and I knew what we were eating.

Naturally Brian was a lot more limited in his choice than me, he only had the chickpea stew, the salted potatoes and the pella de gofio, the baked something that tasted surprisingly good. I, on the other hand, tried everything there was, because I was curious and because everyone at the table insisted that I do so, clearly curious to hear what I thought of their food. And I liked it, all of it, even the rabbit was good even though I had been quite sceptical of it at first. It was a good thing that Brian didn't judge me for trying and eating meat. And the fish - which Brian explained to me was called parrot fish in English - was also very good. If it was just because María was a good cook or because the fish itself was so delicious I didn't know, but I liked it, so I ate a lot of it.

In the end everyone was quite full, so we decided that we'd wait a little before dessert and make the time pass with some of the alcohol that Pedro, Antonio and Manuel had brought. Some of it was wine, Luis had made Sangría so there was that, and some liquor found it's way onto the table. Personally I stuck with the Sangría and tried some of the wine Brian decided to have. Neither of us had a lot though, because we still had to find our way home somehow.

Eventually María decided that it was time for Paco to go to bed, so she and Luis took their son upstairs, and on the way back they brought out the dessert - grilled bananas and the other thing, bienmesabe which María explained as a dessert made of ground almonds, eggs, palm syrup and lemon. Funny enough the name literally meant 'it tastes good to me', which turned out to be true, it was delicious. And in the end I asked her for the recipe of the dessert, and she gave me not just the recipe for the dessert, but for everything that we had eaten that evening which I thought was very sweet.

Brian and I stayed at María and Luis' house until surprisingly late. My dear boyfriend watched his alcohol intake carefully so that he would still be able to drive, but despite original plans I ended up enjoying the Sangría maybe a little too much so I was starting to feel a little light-headed. I wasn't drunk, but I was definitely a lot more relaxed. When we decided to start the quest of finding the way home. Brian kept his arm around me after we had said goodbye and thanked them all for a lovely evening before he led me out to the car.

It amused Brian quite a lot apparently to watch me climb back into my seat, I was very clumsy even if I was just tipsy. "Alright," I told him, searching my handbag for the little notebook. "Are you ready for this treasure hunt?"

"Treasure hunt?" Brian asked a little confused before he started the car. "What are we hunting for?"

"The treasure of a comfortable bed," I explained the obvious.

"Right," Brian chuckled and nodded. "Okay, I'm going to drive and if you disagree with me tell me - in a reasonable way," he added.

"Yes, sir," I agreed and flipped open the notebook. Admittedly I was struggling a little to read the pencil writing in the darkness, but luckily Brian seemed to know which way he had to drive. I was getting a little sleepy so I couldn't keep up with all the turns he took anyway. But what I could do was a round of applause for Brian and a kiss on the cheek when he did manage to find when way home and stopped the car to open the gate that separated the driveway to our house from the street.