2/4/22
Rio Dulce
72 degrees and cloudy
Well, as my 71st birthday was only a few days away, I began bugging Charlie about buying a birthday cake and taking to it to the marina bar/pool area and share it with all the cruisers who arrive every evening for happy hour. A day went by then another and again I said we have to go to town and get a cake. Finally, on Jan. 31 I was adamant about going to town for that damn cake. He then told me, “I got a damn cake already”! So I was shamed back into my place. The next day, Feb. 1, he told me to be ready at 6:00. ?? At 6:00 with a dress and lipstick on, we did not head to the bar but to our launcha. We did not hang a left out of the marina for Perico (the closest restaurant) but headed across the wide Rio Dulce. So then I figured there are only 2 restaurants there. We ended up at Boatique, a beautiful restaurant/marina/hotel in the jungle. The owner, Pamela, met us as I was tying up Solita (our launcha) and asked me if I was ready for a romantic dinner with my husband. Well of course! Then all the cruisers (18 of them) came around the corner singing happy birthday. I was totally surprised…and that is hard to pull off on me as I am somewhat of a sleuth. But he did it with a ‘I gotcha’ smile on his face.
We had cocktails and a lovely dinner of river prawns, Arrachara (beef), baked potatoes and beans. Found out later that Charlie had requested Arrachara and the owners did not know about it. So Charlie bought some went to the restaurant and they fired up the grill and he taught them how to prepare it. So, for those of you who know of Charlie’s chef secret powers, he was in his element. We had a great time with many conversations flying around this huge table of 20.
When ‘The Cake’ arrived at the end of that wonderful meal it was adorned with many candle, but thank god not 71. Due to one of our fellow cruisers, Mike, who was back quarantined with Covid…I told the party that due to Covid I would not BLOW the candles out and proceeded to wave my hand above the cake trying to extinguish them, one was left and the young Guatemalan waiter, pulled his mask down and blew the last candle out. We all died laughing and figured this waiter was thinking…these stupid gringos don’t even know how to blow out candles. Our friend Jon, in his dry sense of humor said, “I’ll take the cake on the right, please”.
A fun night was had by all. Thanks to Sheldon and Pamela @ Boatique for making a lovely table and meal. AND of course to my Charlie for pulling this absolutely fabulous surprise party off…I love you longer than the sky!
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