.....Westy.....
I'm the kind of guy who'd happily travel 1,500 miles for a taco. Actually, I'm the kind of guy who has traveled 1,500 miles for a taco.
Understand, please, that this was a sensationally good taco.
It came from a taco stand on the beach next to the Hotel Posada Real in San Jose del Cabo, at the southern tip of Baja California. The warm corn tortilla was filled with succulent, grilled shrimp right off the boat, gently seasoned and accompanied by a few sweet grilled onions and a touch of cilantro. One bite and I was hopelessly smitten.
After that first taco, my wife Jeri and I threw out all our dining plans for the trip. Almost every day, for lunch and dinner (and once or twice for breakfast) we'd walk down to the beach and order a couple of shrimp tacos apiece. We'd squeeze lime wedges onto the shrimp and, with the warm sea lapping near our feet, we'd sip from chilled, sweating "Coronitas" - 8-ounce bottles of Corona beer. Trust me: life doesn't afford many pleasures as reliably satisfying as this. One evening we walked into town and dined at a fancy, expensive restaurant, and I spent the whole meal pining for the seaside taco stand.
As soon as we got home we started planning our next trip, and, with visions of shrimp tacos dancing in our heads, we returned at the earliest opportunity. Our rooms weren't ready when we arrived, so we dropped our suitcases at the desk and made a dash for the taco stand. I got my taco, paused briefly to savor the moment, took my first lusty bite, and . . . What the hell?! The shrimp was mushy on the outside, cold and hard on the inside - as if it had been frozen and not entirely thawed - and as tasteless as cardboard.
I looked up and noticed that the man running the stand wasn't the same as before. "Where did the other guy go?" I demanded. The taco man gave me an apologetic shrug. "Gone, se–or." Then he put his hand on my shoulder. I must have looked as if I were about to cry.
Thomas Wolfe said you can't go home again, the Greek philosopher Heraclitus said you can't step into the same river twice and I'll add a third warning: You can never have the same meal twice
......Westy....