The winds have picked up since this morning, something really incredible, covering the near by Lake with a blanket of white caps. Of course I now think sailing, this might have been a bit too challenging, even reefing the sails to their smallest triangle would have not made the sailboat too manageable. But we are on land, not much worries here. The Internet Dish amazes me as it is shaking like a leaf, 6 tie downs to its stand today, as I added one not too long ago, when I already lost the signal once because it simply moved a few inches! I will probably take the Dish and Radio themselves down when I am done, stubborn as I am to have signal, but not much sense pushing my luck. We also have been told to stay near by camp as the Border Patrol, Park Officers and other Law Enforcement agencies are looking for three drug smugglers running around in this area. They came by boat from Mexico, got caught by the Border Patrol upon landing on US shore, jumped in the water giving up their contraband and started swimming in this direction. Spirit is keeping his eyes and ears out! He will let me know if there any is movement out there… right? They are not armed by the way… Where else could you get such excitement?

Before I tell you more about Acuna and the couple Pies I made, and this will be for most likely the next time, I want to let you know if you ever visit Del Rio, the "Whitehead Museum" is a must!  Dog friendly too… imagine that! As long as you pick up after them. With 21 exhibits covering 2 acres one can spend days just reading about everything on display. Lots of pictures, lots of History, trying to sort out the ones truly pertinent to the Tour, not easy with about 300 of them…

I love the vendors in Acuna. I noticed that they do not come to life till afternoon, the streets then start to fill up, traffic with their sounds mixed with the lingering smells of food being cooked right out in the open. I like eating off the vendors as I like to munch having worked in kitchens all my life. Very had for me to sit down and have a full dinner. But we had already experienced a good lunch and I could only look and take pictures.

We arrived in the Square. I think the shoe shine booths are always there, but Christmas was probably the special occasion for all the others being present. I have been thinking about spending Christmas over there maybe… it would be a nice change for us, everyone in a festive mood, eating and smiling and waiving as already many did.

Taking pictures of others sometimes is a touchy situation as I don’t like when people pose for it, but for the better, it happens sometimes. At the same time I don’t like doing it without them knowing… so there is generally a silent exchange of understanding, they will smile as I do. No one minded that day having their picture taken which made the day so pleasant. After all… I was only a tourist! I am sure that this will be different when we return with Spirit and the rig… I can just imagine already the commotion he will create.

So it was getting late by now, much walking and more to come. We checked again on the Taxi fares back over the bridge… had not changed from its $12 fee. The exercise was needed and the walk back seemed to be much faster. We actually made it through customs ahead of the cars which were starting to back up… back to the car and back to camp filled with great times I must say.

I made these Pies the other day. They are already on the Recipes page. The first one, "Apple Green Chile Pie", is not a novelty idea as I had something similar at the Pie Shop in New Mexico. I don’t think it had the Chili powder, but the balance that day was just perfect. The second one "Roasted Tomato Mole Pie" is a great vegetarian dish which I have been working on for a while. I had been using chocolate and it just was not coming out too well… using Mole was the solution. I hope you get to try them, and if you don’t feel like making the crust yourself, well, as much as I am against it, some store bought ones are really not that bad!

While on the food subject, this is the picture of the "fried pie" from Shirley’s Burnt Biscuit Bakery in Marathon. This one was Apricot… I could not even tell it was fried… another place to stop when you go by! Now maybe you understand why walking over the bridge to Mexico!

Don’t forget or "Spirited Doggie Treats" and "Art Cards"…. Dogs cannot live of Love and food alone… they need treats, they like treats… we know!

The feedbacks are coming in… this is from real people… with real dogs!!!

* My dogs went crazy over the Spirited Pumpkin Treats!

*I just got the pumpkin doggy treats. JC loves them. He’s prancing around my apartment with one hanging out of his mouth..

* Ara, just wanted you to know someone ordered our dogs some of your treats and they loved them.

We are always under deep appreciation toward the readers that have send in a contribution helping this website’s expenditures. For those who have not, continue enjoying the site, pictures, recipes, and if you feel it’s worth $1 a month, the contribution button is above, snail mail is below…

Ara Gureghian   853 Vanderbilt Beach Rd #245   Naples, Fl 34108

Always, be well…    Ara & Spirit

This entry was posted on Saturday, December 22nd, 2007 at 2:40 pm and is filed under travel, spirituality, pit bull, sidecar, motorcycle, cooking, photography, riding, homeless. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.