One last note from last night: we watched a truly terrible Mexican movie on Netflix. Do you remember its name JARED? We don't – that's how terrible it was. It was called something like blame it on Karma? I don't mind romantic comedies but this one was just plain bad.
We had a super late lie-in this morning which felt luxurious and we ended up going to branch at the same place we went for dinner last night. I had a coffee tonic, JARED had an Americano. I had a really nice açai bowl with lots of nuts and berries on top while JARED had an egg and bean dish with lots of sauces on top. After our brunch we decided to walk a little bit out of town to go to an artisans plaza. It was so freaking hot! One nice thing from the walk is that I got a gorgeous picture of JARED next to a cactus. I was so hot I didn't want to stop to take pictures but JARED insisted and it came out beautiful
The artisans cplaza was nothing special with most of the "artisans "selling the trinkets you seeing all the regular shops but there was a massage parlor there and we were able to book double massages on the spot. They had a room with two massage tables and JARED got his head hands and feet massaged and I got a Swedish massage – it was great! The only downside was that we did not know that the parlor was cash only and we had to scrape together every last dollar we had to pay for it because we had assumed erroneously that they would take a credit card.
The walk back was hot but didn't feel as bad because we knew where we were going and be we were all nice and relaxed from massages. We came back to the house to chillax in the air conditioning and then decided to make our way to Flora Farm. This is the place everyone recommends when they come here and it's been highlighted on goop and other such Instagramable nonsense. We didn't have a reservation and there were none available online but we decided to go up there anyway and at the very least we could walk around the farm and go to the little shops that were on the Farms campus.
The road out there was not paved and was very hilly. Our tiny little Nissan I was worried would not make the journey with all the potholes in the dirt road. But we made it! The campus of the Farm is quite large comprising many dozens of acres and has a spa and a pool in about a half dozen shops. We walked up to the valet and told them we didn't have a reservation and encouraged us to go check out the reservation desk which we walk to. They were able to seat us without a wait! Perhaps the heat kept some of the patrons away or perhaps since this is off-season they had availability. The place was packed and I do feel lucky to have a table.
The campus of the farm is quite large comprising many dozens of acres and has a spa and a pool in about a half dozen shops. We walked up to the valet and told them we didn't have a reservation and encouraged us to go check out the reservation desk which we walk to. They were able to seat us without a wait! Perhaps the heat kept some of the patrons away or perhaps since this is off-season they had availability. The place was packed and I do feel lucky to have a table.I started out with another mezcal cocktail this time a hibiscus margarita that was very tasty JARED had to Pacheco. We had the Barada appetizer. The thing about the Farm is that it's kind of like the Herb Farm in Seattle where a lot of the food you're being served is sourced right there on the farm. so the Barada was made at the farm. It was very good and so were the accompanying tomatoes and bread.
For dinner we had a pizza made with fennel and sausage – again the meat being sourced for one of their farms – and we had a three goat cheese stuffed ravioli. All three of the goat cheeses were made on the campus. Both were very tasty! We chatted briefly with the couple next to us who were there from the bay area and he said that their pork chop is the best they ever had.
The waiters must've heard us talking about it being our seventh anniversary because at some point during the meal they ask Jared if he drank. He told him he was 12 years sober. At the end of our meal when we declined dessert they brought me a glass of cava and they brought JARED a glass of Gingerale that was the exact same color as the cava. It was a nice touch and added to the sense of them having a good service.
The sun was starting to set and I was a little worried about getting down that hilly dirt road in the dark so I looked around some of the shops and drank some water since I had just had a glass of champagne and JARED went and got a coffee at there on campus coffee shop. I purchased some lotion at one of their fancy shops and then we got in the car to drive home. They were loads of taxis driving back into town at that time and we were able to follow some of the taxis down the road which made the drive a little less treacherous.
All in all I really enjoyed my trip to floral Farms. JARED liked it enough he said that if we came back he thought it might be nice to stay there for a night. I don't think the food was as good as Herb Farm but it was very nice.
We came home to turn on the air conditioning and drink some water and watched the first episode of the Sandman on Netflix which was way better than the shitty movie last night. I was close to getting my 10,000 steps so I took another walk around the town considering it's our last night here. I walked around the square and once again I saw families congregating and people riding their skateboards and rollerblading. Most everyone was speaking Spanish and I have a feeling that a lot of the tourists here are Mexican.
We came home to turn on the air conditioning and drink some water and watched the first episode of the Sandman on Netflix which was way better than the shitty movie last night. I was close to getting my 10,000 steps so I took another walk around the town considering it's our last night here. I walked around the square or once again I saw families congregating and people riding their skateboards and rollerblading. Most everyone was speaking Spanish and I have a feeling that a lot of the tourists here are Mexican tourists. One note: both JARED and I had the same thought – the people here speak better English than the people in Miami. I understand it's a tourist economy but everyone here speaks very good English and have been very patient with my terrible Spanish. Additionally they seem to understand my terrible Spanish where is the people in Miami don't seem to understand my terrible Spanish!
After hitting more than 10,000 steps and 175-ish exercise minutes today I headed back to the apartment where JARED was playing his stupid game on his stupid phone which seems to bring him a decent amount of pleasure. I started this journal and when I get off the phone I think we will watch another episode of the Sandman. Tomorrow we have to leave the Airbnb by 11 AM. I'll be sad to leave this cute little town – it's quite nice – but we're on our way to Totos Santos.
One late night note: construction started on the pile of rubble next door at 10 pm at night! It's 12:30 am and I can hear the backhoe try to collect the chunks of concrete and then haul them away. 12:30 Saturday morning is a very bizarre time for construction - beeping and scratching. I'll have to put my headphones in...
