We've all experienced special nights in our life, moments that we will just never forget. Well for Deb and I we had one of those occasions last night. As I mentioned earlier, John Gonzales (our neighbour) invited us to attend their weekly restaurant evening. Basically this is a large number of expats that get together once a week and meet at one of the local restaurants for dinner.

The owner/chef of Viva Mexico is Augustin, who came by our table, shook the hands of each and every patron that evening, dressed in his chef whites emblazoned with the mexican flag on both arms. You have to ask for the specials, his waiters don't present them directly, as Augustin seems so excited to tell you about his specials for the evening. He apparently had a stroke two years ago and lost his memory with all the recipes, which he recently remembered and is now bringing them back to life. This is the same man and restaurant that served hundreds of free meals to the locals when the mountain slid down into the Racquet Club and San Juan Cosala - no one was turned away and until Costco helped him out, he was paying for all the supplies himself. Augustin certainly qualifies as a CNN hero.

Last night's choice was Viva Mexico Tia Lupita which is located on Porfirio Diaz Pta #92 in San Juan Cosala, Jalisco Mexico. The restaurant is clean, well maintained and visited by Mexicans and Gringo's alike. The menu is quite large with lots of variety. Botanas ( snacks) are brought before the meal. The salsa is made right at the table, similar to a caesar salad routine, and wow - with freshly made tortilla chips and that salsa - bottle up this sucker and you've got a President's Choice winner.

Viva Mexico is furnished with equipale tables and chairs in a quaint atmosphere with Mexican touches such as a great wall mural depicting Mexican daily life and fiestas. Sodas are just $10P ($0.80), tequila $30P ($2.40) and cerveza (beer) was $15P ($1.20). The tequila's are varied but there is a house brand that is kept in a barrel. It packs a punch so watch out.

Based on the horrible margie's that Deb and I had in Chapala the other day, we decided to give Viva Mexico an opportunity for redemption. What arrived were two margarita's that were the size of a child's small wading pool. Deb took about two or three sips when she added a boat load of ice and passed the drink down the table to me to finish off. You just can't believe the size of these drinks. I mentioned the Chapala margies to one of the locals and he didn't seem all that surprised saying "Mexican's don't drink margarita's" - they drink tequila straight like brandy" - guess it was the southern states that invented this one ?

They do have different musicians at times playing and at other no music. We enjoyed the atmosphere, the mural is a sight to behold, and the prices are surely right. Hamburgers $28P, BBQ Ribs $60P, Chili Rellenos $50P, Burritos $50P, Filet Mignon $70P, Chicken Breast $50P, Pozole $30P, Quesadillas $7P, tacos 5 for $30P, and Arrachera $60P. I settled on the BBQ ribs and Deb went the quesidilla's, so with appies (this is for you Stacy), drinks and the main course our bill for this amazing evening was $220P or just over $16.00. One of the most interesting dishes last night was one that Charlie ordered called mojachetas (pronounced mocha-het-ey) which was served in a bowl made from volcano rock and it bubbled continuously throughout his entire dinner - "don't touch the bowl Bob".

We got the opportunity to meet fourteen interesting and diverse people from all over the U.S. Everyone has a story to tell. The one interesting thing here is that not one person has yet to ask Deb and I what we did NOB. One person at dinner said that we don't care what you have, what you don't have or what you used to do - the focus is on today and to enjoy life. To date, we've met more people and listened to more stories than I would ever think would happen in any community in Canada. Viva Mexico.

After dinner, we got invited to go back to Eloy and Ginger's (John's brother and sister-in-law) casa for after dinner drinks. Their casa was simply amazing and unique - it was exactly what Deb and I would snap up if we could find something like this. Eloy makes all his furniture which are replicas of Mexican classic pieces which just set off the whole ambience thing perfectly. As I said in the beginning, sometimes everything just seems right to make a memory. Last night was one of those nights.

Deb and I just returned with Bernice and Terry from our local theatre to Los Vengadores (Avengers) in 3D - the theatre was top drawer, good popcorn, good seats and good sound, it fact it was our first 3D movie ever. The funny part was, as compared to our regular haunt in Mission, the cost here was $60P ($4.80) per person - what a joke.

Before I close, I wanted to say to all of our friends that we were crazy to come to Mexico have no fear - everything here is all cool here at El Dorado. For those who didn't hear the CNN news today, in Chapala they found eighteen people that had been totally mutilated, heads removed and stuffed into two vans - so there's been a bit of discussion at the pool today. There is really no effect here whatsoever, these people are all cartel or associated with the drug trade. Last night when we were coming back from Viva Mexico (about 9:30 p.m.) we saw about 20 police cars and their officers armed with their AK47's but we paid no mind to this until we heard the CNN reports today. Not to worry, all is well here, we're totally safe and as of today we may be able to get a better price on a new casa for those gringo's that are affected and plan to head back to NOB.

Beyond that - We've got the a restaurant dinner planned for Saturday night with about 10 - 15 people and Mother's Day celebration up at the pool for Sunday a.m. - The men are cooking for the ladies - apparently pancakes, bacon and lot's of mexican pastries.

Stay Tuned..........