BY THE UNKNOWN GRINGO
I Just Wanted Breakfast.
I had noticed this place before. It was right next to a now long-gone mezcal store that I used to go to a lot. Right on the beach but a longer bicycle ride than I wanted to take. So I caught a city bus three blocks from my hotel for 13 pesos, about 70 cents currently. I’ve been going there now for years.
I like the city buses. Cheap and you usually don’t have to wait very long. Maybe 10-15 minutes max. They are all small, retired rural-country buses from the U.S. since they were only meant to seat about twenty. In Mexico they can hold a WHOLE LOT MORE. (They usually still have signs in English inside telling you what to do in an emergency.) A full bus in Mexico can be an experience that might challenge you but I find it interesting in how people treat one another. The men are often quite gallant. Children and seniors are treated with consideration. The buses going north in the morning towards El Sauzal will always have a lot of students who are going to the cluster of universities around the Punta Morro Hotel. When they get off, the bus is often close to empty.
When it gets close to the restaurant, Terra Noble, I tell the driver to stop at the City Express Plus building that is next to it. It is 12 stories tall and I assume all the drivers recognize it versus my small restaurant. If you are approaching from El Sauzal to the north then point out the 20 stories tall Viento building since that blocks City Express visually going south. Both of these monsters were not there when I first started going to Terra Noble. To get off any city bus you just ask the driver to stop. I hunch down close to him and point as well. You do not have to get off at a bus stop with a sign and bench. Magic!!
Walk towards the restaurant and look for cats before you enter. My favorite is Bellota. That means acorn in Spanish. She is a total lover and might flop on her side so you can rub her belly. She often follows me in but I walk straight through the restaurant to the outside tables just above the beach. As I do this I will ask for coffee, with milk, no sugar. I already know what I want to eat; the omelette Mexicano. The guacamole that comes with this is excellent. I seat myself… and look.
The ocean is right there. I have seen dolphins right in front of me, jumping and swimming. This last time I saw a flight of 14 pelicans in a tight formation. Of course there will be squawking sea gulls and sometimes an elegant white crane going by. The coffee cup gets refilled while I wait for the food. I’m in heaven. The omelette comes and gets devoured. I do have to ask for salt. There’s more than one table but I almost always have the ocean to myself. I pay the check and then the real adventure begins.
I go down a small bluff to the beach and hike north. It’s a rock beach. If the tide is low you can try walking on the exposed sand, but I prefer the rocks. They are about the size of a clenched fist or bigger. You will slip and slide. An unusually high tide might get you pushed up against the short bluff but I’ve never had a problem. I walk the rocks carefully to find pieces of boats, thick plastic or fiber ropes, fishing nets, rubber boots and shoes, sea shells, driftwood, dead pelicans, plus lots of interesting things that I have taken home over the years on my motorcycle. It isn’t easy packing stuff on a motorcycle so that means I must really like what I take. Walk carefully on those rocks to avoid a twisted ankle. It’s worth it. Finders Keepers.
A few hundred yards up the beach there’s a stairway built into the bluff that easily gets you off the beach. It’s at the Ramona Beach Trailer Park. And they have cats and dogs there. At the office and those of their customers. A bonus for me. For years two hound dogs there have greeted me with their distinctive howls.
The coast highway is right there. Get out your 13 pesos and flag down the next southbound city bus. You don’t have to have exact change for the driver but I wouldn’t give him anything larger than a twenty peso note or coin. The bus will either go down the coast / Costero road to the McDonald’s / Three Heads Park intersection and then turn left towards the downtown bus station or will head inland / downtown / Centro from the big intersection just below the universities / Punta Morro. If you take that bus it will end up at the bus station across from the Soriana on 6th between Gastelum and Miramar. The coast bus gets me closer to my hotel but the downtown bus only makes me walk another three blocks. I would rather take the first bus that comes along in front of Ramona Beach and save time waiting since there are lots more Centro buses versus Costero buses.
Terra Noble opens at 8:30 and closes at 5:30. I have never eaten from their dinner menu. I have never eaten anything but the omelette Mexicano because I like it so much. Maybe I’m the Village Idiot. They are starting to build a website and I was told you can find them on Facebook and Instagram. They are closed on Mondays.
I just wanted breakfast but I also got an interesting bus ride, cats, an ocean view, a beach hike, more cats, dogs, and another bus ride. Even the Village Idiot knows when he’s found a good thing.
This last time I built a shrine to my deceased family on that beach. I can’t imagine it will survive the waves for long and maybe that’s the point. None of us are here forever. And some of us aren’t even here for a long time. We should work hard to be here for a GOOD time. Time is the most precious commodity on Earth.
