Movie Monday

Upon entering the mall we entered a state of rapture. It started with the restaurant at the mall entrance - Tabu, a sushi and martini bar. BAR!!!! Then the clothing stores, shoe stores, eye glass stores, jewelry stores - real mall stores with Sears as the anchor.

Tears welled as I took in my surroundings. It was as though I'd been incarcerated and just now released into the real world. On our way into town we'd been telling our new Kino friend, Lorraine, about the things we wanted/needed but couldn't get. Things like underwear, bras, toilet paper, ziploc bags, pizzas. She couldn't relate. She'd just come to town from Reno, Nevada. She hadn't yet been here for an eight-month or yearlong stretch without a trip to the U.S. She didn't understand our cravings for coffee or Wheat Thins. All this giddyness over a mall cracked her up.

Then we stumbled into the food court. "FOOD COURT!" I fell into Demo's arms. Every food stall was super clean, the aromas enticing. The Chinese food concession was run by a Chinese and not a Mexican like in the U.S.

At the Cinepolis we checked the movie times. Our criteria were two: VIP lounge, english. We settled on Hangover II which is called "Que Pasa Ayer."

Time for lunch.

Back in the car Demo expertly maneuvered through Hermosillo traffic and got us pointed in the right direction to our destination, the Italian restaurant Stromboli. One of the things I like about Demo is that she shares my seafood sentiment - we don't care if we never again eat another shrimp. Give us Italian! Give us Chinese! Thai! Hell, give us Mexican! Anything but seafood.

Stromboli is a lovely restaurant in the heart of town. The menu is extensive - everything from calzones to pastas to pizza. House wine served in a large glass is 26 pesos which is about $2.20. With that price, the food could've sucked and I wouldn't have cared but the food was excellent, from the bread with the olive oil and balsamic vinegar to the salad to the main course. I had fettuccini alfredo with chipotle and chicken. I'm looking forward to the leftovers even though they sat in the car for four hours in 110 degree temps. I'm sure they'll be okay.

Back at the Cinepolis Demo bought our tickets for the VIP lounge which cost around 60 pesos each, about twice the price of normal tickets but still way less than a movie in the U.S. (As of this writing the exchange rate is about 12 pesos to the dollar.) Inside was a bar. We were handed a menu which I didn't even glance at - someone said something about pizza - I was too barstruck to pay attention. I ordered Micheladas for me, Demo and Angie.

The theater had reclining leather seats, tables with lamps. There were buttons at each seat in case we needed to call our waiter. Can you believe it? I couldn't.

The movie itself wasn't important. I mean, really, "Hangover II"? (Which is ironic because the last time I was in a movie theater was two years ago in Portland having pizza and microbrewed beers at the Laurelhurst watching Hangover I with friends Marcia and Allen.) I did enjoy reading the Spanish subtitles. Never once did they use "fuck" but instead used the more genteel "shit" (mierda). "Chicos" is the word for "guys". I bet I could learn Spanish this way.

What was important was being there with friends, taking off on a Mexican adventure, taking advantage of what the big city has to offer.

We had to miss Margarita Monday for Movie Monday but it was worth it. We have other Mondays lined up like Mall Monday where we'll have lunch and shop before the movie. There's always Medical Monday where we can hit the physician office building at CIMA and get things like gyn exams and skin tag removals. I'm looking forward to Martini Monday (we may need to take the bus for that one.)

All in all, as Demo would say, it was the best day ever! Salud.