Changing tummy time

The people in the middle photograph are not limiting themselves to coffee. They have already scarfed down a number of freshly baked pastries drizzled with honey. That's my husband Larry sitting with our friends Chris and Ken mid-morning, mid-wander, in La Peñita.

There's something so civilized about being able to just sit and talk around a table without someone hovering over you or slapping down a ticket, or having to rush back to work. The Spanish word is sobremesa. It literally means "over the table," and it's practiced religiously by a large portion of the world's population which actually put their legs under a table rather than a TV tray on their lap. (Guilty as charged. Larry and I are usually found taking the evening meal in front of reruns of Law and Order or Without a Trace.)

But I've been making a conscious effort to have the main meal mid-day -- at a table. When in La Peñita, do as the La Peñitans do: early morning breakfast (we've smelled bacon wafting in the windows sometimes as early as 4:30 in the morning), a little "something" around 11:00, main meal and siesta from 2 - 4, and maybe -- if the tummy's growling -- some fruit or something light before bed. If you don't believe that late lunch thing, try to find a good sit-down restaurant in Puerto Vallarta open at 12:00 -- like we did today. Even Outback Steakhouse doesn't put out the abierto sign until 1:30. We were too starved to wait, so we settled for the new Chili's -- and had the place to ourselves. As we were finally leaving to head back to Guayabitos, a few people were showing up for the "noon" meal. Upside: driving home at that time, it was clear all the way!