The Serenade

It has been way over a week since I have posted on my blog. Of course we were busy enjoying every possible minute with Mary and Tom but they left on Monday....today is Saturday. The day after they left, my new friend Sharon and I fly to Guadalajara. My sister Barbara and I had gone in April to shop for things for Arriba de la Roca. It was a great trip, albeit rather exploratory. At that time we scoped out places, got prices, asked questions, drank margaritas, swam, but never did order any of the things we chose during the trip. When you do buy items here there are many shipping companies that will deliver them to your home. Since the main purpose of our trip that time was to buy doors...and we never did...I ended up vacillating the whole rest of the time and could not make any decisions.

This trip was incredibly efficient because of our original trip 3 months ago. Sharon and I are flying back today after purchasing: A 4 poster, antique bed for la Pacifica; 23 pieces of Equi Pali furniture that is being specially made to my specific order. Equi Pali is very popular in Mexico. Keith and Sharon call it “pig furniture” since it is wood framed and covered with leather. Sharon also ordered numerous pieces of this “pig furniture”. I also ordered 13 sconces for the outdoor lights and another 5 large hangings iron lights and some mirrors and smaller wall lights. We got some huge pots, mostly decorative. I am having made, from my designs, a couple of headboards, lamps, tables and hand blown glass shades, all from a metal store in Tonola, a town inside Guadalajara. A stained glass maker is creating 4 windows for me, two for la Pacifica and two for la Laguna. And finally, I am having a red leather sofa and two oversized arm chairs made to sit on either side of the antique wood and stone coffee table we purchased. We did all this in three days….as well as see much of the city in our rental car.

Sharon and I both love Guadalajara. It is a large city seeped in culture and heritage. The buildings in the Centro area are breathtaking and well aged. We are staying in Tlaquepaque, inside Guadalajara, in the same place Barbara and I stayed in. This part of the city in my favorite. It is lovely and has so much to offer. There are areas where no cars are allowed and these streets are lined with statues and sculptures.

The last couple of days we had been keeping our eyes open for an Italian restaurant here. We have had no luck finding one. Then yesterday, when I was searching the net for something else, I found “must eat” places here, and one was Italian. We went last night.

The place is called Tlaque Pasta..sounds rather touristy to have Tlaque Pasta in Tlaquepaque, right?? It turned out to be in a lovely boutique hotel and the food was great!! Not-Maurice-the-Italian great, but great! We had a leisurely 4 course dinner, in a romantic, brick and candle lite restaurant.

We arrived there before 6 o’clock. We ordered each course after finishing the one before. We told the waiter we were in no hurry and wanted to relish our last night in town. Glass of wine, César salad. Glass of wine, pumpkin flower soup (split into two bowls for us) Bottle of water, a shared shrimp pizza. Glass of wine and shared chicken marsala. Then we shared chocolate cake and ice cream. It was leisurely until we remembered we h ad to pick up a piece of stained glass Sharon had made for her and the guy closed at 8. It was 5 to 8! We ran, paid the bill, and gobbled down the cake! I am sure the waiter thought we were crazy.

We got the stained glass, after we drove a few blocks over ,and Sharon said how sad it was we had to end our wonderful evening like this since we were enjoying it so much….so of course we went back. Had to again find a place to park (not easy) and our table was cleared, but still waiting for us. We took up our chairs and the other two previously occupied tables shot us a glance or two.

We ordered a glass of wine. There was a man over in the corner playing guitar. He must have started around 7:30 but we were so busy talking we really did not pay much attention to him, except to appreciate the music in the background. When we came back he had all our attention.

He was dressed in black pants, a black crew-necked tee shirt, a black suit jacket, black shoes, salt and pepper hair, a subtle goatee....he was a beautiful man with a drop dead gorgeous smile! He was playing over in the corner of the room so people in the bar, as well as the three tables in the dining room, could hear him. I swear if I would not be seeing him I would have thought we were listening to a CD. His voice was sensual, and pure. His guitar playing was perfect. We were in awe. We sat and watched him play while another table of 4 sang along with him. Now, they were not loud, but certainly loud enough to be heard. It reminded me of going to a concert to hear Barbra Streisand sing and having the women behind you joining her with their own version of “People.” Irritating! Luckily they left about 8:30. There were a couple of others in the bar that also left 20 minutes or so after this. Sharon, in a soft voice says, “ Sin Te.” I say, “huh??” She is trying to request a song. I told her if I can not hear her, he sure can’t. She says it again, a little louder and he comes over to us. When she repeats the song request, he smiles, moves that bar thing on the top of his guitar to change the key, and starts singing this song just to us. OMG!! It was glorious. Slow, haunting and lovely. Remember, we are in Mexico. Everything here is in Spanish. Here he is, 5 feet from us, singing only to us. Really, it was to her, but I was close enough I was pretending it was to me, too.

So there he stands, serenading us, song after song for the next 45 minutes. It was the most memorable evening you can imagine. The sad part, we decided, was of course, that our husbands were not there as it was so romantic! Other than that is was perfect. When we got our check, after he was done singing, Sharon asked the waiter what the singer’s name was...it is Francesco. Ahhhh Francesco, pronounced...FranSEEEEEEsco...

FranSEEEEEEsco asked if we would be back the next night. No, we are flying out. I am sure he was not as sad as we were!!! I would have liked to take him home to do a nightly serenade but I do not think Maurice would understand. A 50-year old Mexican guitar player walking off the plane with us…no, probably would not make much sense...that is unless he serenaded you, in Spanish, looking into your eyes for 45 minutes....after you have had 4 glasses of wine. Then it made perfect sense.

Next time we come, and there will be a next time...Sharon and I travel fabulously together, which is a true sign of compatibility...we will stay at this boutique hotel.

Thank you FranSEEEEEsco for making our last night in Guadalajara absolutely perfect.