St Patty's Day In Mexico

St Patty's Day is one of Ryan's favourite holidays. Whenever we are aboard we try our best to find an Irish Pub to celebrate in and we always make sure to pack our green shirts. Back in Canada this is not a hard task, pubs are everywhere and everyone is always excited to drink some green beer.

In Bali this proved to be a difficult task and actually turned into just Ryan and I having a few beers in 2020, as there were no pubs in Amed. Then in 2021 covid lock down had us drinking at home and trying to abided by the regulations. In 2022, we were lucky enough to be in Ajijic, Mexico with Paul and Rhonda. Staying at an AirBnB gearing up to celebrate St Patty's day in their bar WITH Irish Stew. We are finally going to get to celebrate St Patty's aboard properly and could not wait to have drinks with our friends!

Our afternoon started waiting for Paul and Ryan to return back to the AirBnB for some beers, while the rest of our Mexican family would join in around 3 pm. So naturally Rhonda and I started drinking without everyone and started gearing up for the festivities. Rhonda is a very talented special effects artist and she happened to have her paint with her.

She painted her left arm with a pot of gold and a shamrock, then turned to my right leg. About 45 minutes later from my thigh to my calf I had a leprechaun pooping out gold coins into a pot and some shamrocks dancing around my right arm.

Photo Credit: Rhonda C. & V.Gray

As Rhonda and I had already started, we found out Ryan had been up to shenanigans of his own while out at the bank. He told us after all his walking (10 minutes) in the sun, he had gotten thirsty and stopped for a brew. While he sat at the bar in his green shirt enjoying his beer, he had met a group of Canadians dressed in green as well and they invited him to join them. Paul was the only one who had to play catch up when he finally returned to the AirBnB.

Then the real fun began, our Mexican Family (Mel, Scott, Vanessa and Al) had arrived and were waiting at the bar for us. We were very lucky that the bar (Mel's Bar & Restaurant) is attached to our AirBnB.

Photo Credit: Vanessa

The drinks and jokes were flowing, but sadly Scott, Mel, Vanessa and Al had to leave us early in the evening because they had a bit of a drive home. As Paul, Rhonda, Ryan and myself carried on we took a walk out to the malecon to watch the sun set and have beers by the lake. The night continued we went back to Mel's bar to celebrate Mel’s birthday with her.

II do not believe the beer ever stops flowing on St Patty's Day. The night got very interesting when the tequila and Menzel came out of the bar. The laughter and smiles did not stop and around 10 pm we decided taco's were in order.

Photo Credit: Paul C.

Our first spot for taco's was a 2 minute walk from the bar, we were surprised to find it closed. So we ended up taking a 10 minute walk down Pablo's Taco stand. We had sat down, ordered and just received all our tacos. When Ryan took one bite and started choking on the spicy salsa (which was mild).

I guess this turned his stomach, as he passed the rest of his tacos to me. As I was finishing our tacos, Paul (who does not like spicy or "wierd" food) Photo Credit: Paul C.

took a taco to try, I do not think he knew he took a tripa taco (beef intestine) but he gobbled it up quickly. Saying it was not spicy and good, towards his last bite I asked him if he would try beef intestine tacos. I got a look and "why, is that what I am eating?" and with a great big grin I got to say "Yes, Paul you are.". He actually finished the taco too, which for Paul is a big deal.

As I said Ryan did not enjoy his tacos and at this point in the evening had had his fill of beer and tequila, he was feeling a bit off so we paid our tab in a hurry and started our walk home to put him to bed. As we walked home on this epic St Patty's aboard, I laughed to myself this was the St Patty's Day Ryan had been looking for while travelling.

We lucked out and had an awesome group of friends with us which is what made St. Patty's so much fun. Returning home that evening, we all knew Ryan was going to be in rough shape the next day but he had enjoyed himself, that's all that mattered.

Cheers!

**Please note that all opinions and views expressed in this post are my own, from my own experiences. If you would like to see more pictures follow me on Instagram vikki.gray **