Taco Tuesday, Baby!

As my time in St Thomas is drawing to a close, I am sad to realize that I have just one Taco Tuesday left. My island friends and acquaintances know I will be stationed at Duffy’s on Tuesday nights. I request to have Tuesdays off of work and it’s a ritual outing for PJ and I. PJ is one of the bartenders at Duffy's and is my “bff” (i.e. best friend forever, for those of you not familiar with middle-school slang). On one such outing, Jennie joined us and brought along her camera, capturing the Taco Tuesday revelry. And now I get to share it with you...

Here's one of Jennie and I toward the end of the evening, sharing mind erasers. One of many drinks she saw fit to buy me that night...



So here’s the deal: the fun begins at 9PM with a round of FREE (hello!) upside-down margaritas, which is a margarita shot poured directly into your mouth (see photo below). Thereafter you can get tacos and Miller Lites for $1.25. As if that weren’t enough, it’s just generally a good night to be out. Not too busy, not too slow, and the crowd usually contains a lot of “transplants” like myself so it’s fun to see familiar faces and catch up with everyone.

This is Kevin pouring my first-ever upside down margarita on my first Taco Tuesday back on December 4.

My plan every time is to meet PJ a few minutes before 9, get the free margarita shot, have 2 tacos and 1 miller lite, then call it a night early. Of course it never works out that way. PJ usually gets my second taco and the number of drinks increases as people buy them for me. (Thanks, Matt, for all the Zoom Zoom Shooters!) I have, on occasion, entertained my entire half of the bar using the fun stuff available at Duffy’s (toy car from the zoom zoom shooter; plastic animals such as roaches, flies, fish, and giraffes; whistles; etc). I end up with 4 or 5 hours of entertainment, often for free. I don’t think my Taco Tuesday tab has ever been more than 5 bucks.

Here's a shot of PJ and I. PJ is the leading man in the next story. That's Sebastian (Sea Bass) in the background, who works at Caribbean Saloon and happened to wander over that night.

Some of my favorite nights here have centered on Taco Tuesday. Most notable among them is the night PJ attempted to break the taco-eating record. Of course there was no record, so Rich (another Duffy’s bartender, photo below) and I just kept making up the maximum as the night went on. “I think the record is 9.” Later, “Oh, no, there was that guy that ate 13, remember?” Etc. PJ ended up eating 20 tacos, and let’s just say he also ended up not feeling very well. I actually had to take him home early (i.e., before 1AM) because he simply wasn’t going to last any longer. I would have felt guilty about encouraging this whole thing if it wasn’t so darn funny. Taco Tuesday, Wicked Wednesday, as PJ would say. PJ sent me a text early the next morning that simply read, “I feel like ass.”

Somehow I ended up behind the bar, and here's Rich taking full advantage of the photo op. There is certainly no shortage of love at Duffy's Love Shack.

What's a Mexican-themed evening without a blow-up chihuahua? Let's not even talk about the Taco Tuesday that I found this little guy sitting in the back seat of my car Wednesday morning...

There's more fun to be had, so come join me this week for my last Taco Tuesday…

Come sit on the beach with me

Dear Friends,
I am sorry that I have been so quiet of late and thank you for your continued interest in the blog. Turning 30 was not a good idea at all, as I have basically been under the weather and falling apart ever since. Thankfully, antibiotics have offered intermittent reprieves that allowed for work and for fun time, but that's about it.

I think I am all healed now, but my time in St Thomas is drawing to a close. I have been reflecting a lot on my time here and have been slow to prepare for my return to the mainland. I had 5 glorious days off this week and spent them all off island. "Off island" is the island equivalent of the mainland's "out of town." Every once in a while we St Thomians all have to get off the rock and enjoy the beauty that surrounds us.

This has been a great week because I have been able to enjoy what I love most about this island - time with friends. I went on two trips (an overnight trip to BVI for the Bomba shack's full moon party and a 3 day voyage all the way to Anegada) and the only thing on our minds and on our agenda each day was to do things we've "always" wanted to do (like jump off the Willy T), have fun, and spend time together. Nobody was thinking about work or stuff that we knew would have to be done upon our return. We thoroughly enjoyed each other's company and had great moments together that will provide smile-inducing memories for a lifetime. We also have some really awesome pictures which I hope to share with you all.

I hope in the next few weeks to share my reflections and stories from the island that have kept me busy and offline. So, please do check back periodically and come sit on the beach with me for a while and listen to my tales.

(This picture was taken yesterday on my trip to Anegada, an island in the British VI that I will tell you more about. Until then...)