Back in November 1997 whilst on the Manx Club Baja 1000 trip in Mexico, my nephew Brett and myself took a trip into San Filipe to do a spot of shopping & have a meal. I was too hungry to shop, and told Brett that I would meet him in a certain Mexican restaurant called Rosa Marios that was recommended to us by a female Californian club member who’s a drag racing driver. Brett decided to go shopping, and said he would meet me later for the meal. I made my way to the restaurant where I sat down & ordered a nice ice cold beer; there was a nice view across the bay with an Empi Imp buggy (photo opportunity!). As I looked around I noticed lots of paper plates hanging on the walls, advertising dishes of the day; one that caught my eye was ‘meat balls, our speciality’. Feeling hungry I wasn’t prepared to wait and dine with Brett, so I went ahead and ordered the meat balls. As the waiter served the dish my stomach rumbled, it smelt delicious…the meal tasted great, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I then called the waiter over to thank him, and asked him what the meat was, he replied “In Mexico, senor, we have bull fighting, and when the animal loses the fight we cut its balls off and cook them – its a delicacy here in Mexico”. I felt totally sick at the thought of eating this dish. As the waiter left my table I looked across to the door and saw Brett carrying his shopping. “Have you eaten yet” Brett asked, “Yes” I replied. “What did you have?”, “The meat balls – wonderful, you must try them”, I said trying not to laugh. Brett went ahead and ordered his meat balls, but when the waiter put them in front of him I noticed his meat balls were much smaller than mine. Brett tucked in and seemed to be enjoying them. I called the waiter over and whispered in his ear “how come my friends meat balls are much smaller than the ones I had?”. The waiter replied “Ah, senor, sometimes the bull he wins”…
By Mel Hubbard
