Limonada and Maybe Lobster

 I have a history with limes, in both Guatemala and Mexico. This was our house in Panajachel, Guatemala; to the right side of the house was a large lime tree, also pictured.

Once the gardener got it properly pruned, removing "the cancer" as he called it, it began producing beautiful limes year-round. I juiced them, I made lime marmalade, and a lot of key lime pie. I put limes in my diet Coke. I gave bags of them away. Those limes were a joy to me.

But the beginning of my lime history was 20 years ago in Baja, where our family traveled to celebrate our daughter's wedding. This was our first time ever in Mexico--our daughter, her husband, and about 5 of our kids.

Our son-in-law, being familiar with the area, said lobster was in season and was so much better here. We could have all the lobster we wanted for much less than in the US. We only had to find the right place, he said, as he led us to one coastal restaurant after another. None of them had lobster.

Finally, tired, hungry and thirsty, Bruce said with some irritation, 'Never mind. Let's just stop and eat somewhere." We went into a restaurant that had an upstairs with a view and were seated at a large table. There was no lobster, but still a nice menu of your basic Mexican dishes, many with seafood. 

Since we were so thirsty, our son-in-law, fluent in Spanish, asked about the limonada, if it was freshly made. He ordered a couple pitchers to come in advance of our meals. We all thought of it as lemonade, but of course it was not. It was from limes, way more common in Mexico than are lemons. I've never even seen lemons in the markets, but limes are everywhere always.

This picture isn't of us, but it reminds me of the table where our family sat that memorable day. In an upstairs room looking over the Pacific coast, drinking pitcher after pitcher of limeade. Being American, our kids had drunk their share of lemonade, but fresh limeade is so much better. We had no idea.

The pitchers of limonada turned out to be the most expensive item of the final bill. And totally worth it.