December 30, 2004
Palmillas, Sinaloa, Mexico

In the morning, we found the woman we'd met the night before selling shrimp at a roadside stand. She gave me a bag of shrimp, a few limes and a bottle of hot sause. Beth, being a vegie, was given a coconut. To show my appreciation, I made her a pair of earings. Her husband showed up and suggested I make a necklace to go with it. She knew exactly what she wanted and drew it. Then she led us to a diner across the road and told the kitchen to make what we wanted. We spent the rest of the day hanging with Eflego's family as I made the necklace.

As we were packing to leave, Oscar, Elfego's nephew, offered us a lift south to Acaponeta. He and Loi were going to enjoy a bontana, so we joined them. A botana is a beer garden that serves free food as long as you keep buying drinks. The beers were small, but not too expensive, costing $8 pesos, but the food never stopped coming and we were stuffed by the end.

Oscar drove us another 13km to Tecuala, dropping us at Julio's. Julio called Irvin Parra, who said he had the house to himself and invited us to stay with him.