In the rear garden of the delightful Restaurante Pizzeria Napoli is a garden which produces a lot o

I always ensured sister Suzanne has plenty of vino, as my dinner often got magically paid for :-)

We discover this jewel of a place, Restaurante El Caldero, soup like grandma used to make and for around $3.75 US!

Templo del Calvario, San Cristobal de Las Casas

Inside the quaint little church.

This man, removing all the camera equipment from an auto is quite nervously looking up and down the street. I can't help but wonder if this is his auto? Or am I too much the suspicious type?

Walking the extreme West side of town.

Wall art is everywhere. This city seems to be a little less plagued with the horrible graffiti that seems the foundation for most Mexican cities these days. Perhaps due to the many real street artists in town.

The PRI party just won the Mexico elections. Free carnival rides and musical performances at the rallies beforehand. Perhaps a coincidence?

Templo de San Nicolas

The PRI carnival goes on for a couple of blocks. Too bad this doesn't go over in the US, or are voters from the US just being fooled in other ways?

From the kitchen of Pierre Restaurant Frances we receive fresh artichoke salad.

Charizo, crumbled duck breast wrapped in tomato, hamon serano and French duck pate. I absolutely love this restaurant at the extreme East end of Real Guadalupe but not all critics share my passion.

Duck breast with sliced fresh figs and sweet sauce. This is my "blow my doe wad" self-indulgence. Meal with wine and desert, about $25 US.

A pork dumpling service topped with roasted prawns. (Forgot the French name.)

Tonight it's my turn to cook for the Dietz family. I start at 2:30 with a trip to the market for lettuce, shrimp, basil, avocados, mint, with a garnish of tomatoes and radishes.

Sterilizing vegetables after the required multiple washings takes it's toll. It takes me a full 4 hours to clean and cook the shrimp, wash and dice all the ingredients for Vietnamese Spring Rolls.

A major setback was that the rice paper I had shipped to Cisco & Dani last year had crumbled somewhat in shipment and I discovered this at the final step while cooking. Luckily I was still able to assemble something that vaguely resembled the intende

These lovely ladies were guests of Cisco's Sol y Luna B&B for the final two nights of my stay. They take a night off with a baby sitter and they treat me to a delicious meal.

It's Marguerite and daughter Fiona. These two "international citizens" were like walking encyclopedias of travel tales and adventures. Not too many places these two had not lived.