1-19-2015 A Day of Exploration and Eating

For Terry and Trish's last day here (this trip) they made reservations for lunch at Miss Emma's Garden & Nursery.  The
restaurant is in the downstairs of this building.

The nursery is Miss Emma's main business, but if you make reservations you can enjoy a fabulous meal, and nine of us did.

First course: salad (including starfruit)

Second course: fried chicken and shrimp (most people didn't realize there was another course coming)

Cara's vegetarian main course, and that's fresh passion fruit juice in the glass - delicious!

Main course

Dessert: banana cake

After lunch Miss Emma was nice enough to take us on  tour of her garden.

A glimpse of the mango orchard (with 300 trees)

On the left is a papaya tree that is only about a year old, and already bearing fruit.

Miss Emma's garden is large and lovely, and had all kinds of plants that were new to us.

Not sure what this spiky tree is

Apparently part of the eggplant family, Miss Emma called these "young girl boobies" and held them up to her chest to
illustrate - lol.  The leaves also have large spikes on them.

Miss Emma with a Chinese tulip (if I remember correctly)

Twisting cactus

Royal palm trees (just 10 years old)

"Chinese Firecracker" tree

"Big Belly" palm tree

Cara liked the cute homemade sign for "Emma's Garden"

On our way back we stopped at the town of Maya Centre for some chocolate and more exploring.

We hiked down to the beautiful river that runs by the village.

This is where the Mayan women wash their clothes.

It was the first time for several of us to see a toucan.

Four of us had a late dinner - another fabulous four course meal at Chef Rob's Gourmet Cafe.

Instead of bread Cara and Sabrina got a cheese and olive plate with pesto sauce.

Eric and Mark enjoyed Shrimp Bisque.

Cara and Sabrina got a special (and delicious) gluten-free soup.

Watermelon salad with pear vinaigrette

Eric's fresh Grouper with ginger cantaloupe sauce

Cara's amazing vegetarian meal

Pineapple crepe with ice cream

Cara and Sabrina got gluten-free version -  delicious ice cream with fresh pineapple.