Zelda and Mateo left this morning after breakfast, They arrived here in St. Martin two days ahead of us, which enabled them to get the lay of the land and guide us through our first day here. We’ve taken a few trips with them now, and I have to say I enjoy their company. I’ve known Zelda for over 55 years now (Sally knows her even longer), and Mateo since they started dating more than 45 years ago. Old friends are the best friends.

As this was our last day with the car, Sally and I decided to drive up to Grand Case, a little town at the north end of the island. Grand Case is known for its fine food. In the evenings, it has reputedly the best French food on the island. During the day, simple restaurants called “lolos” are strung out along a single street in town, their backs open to the water, and all offer the same menu: barbecue. They are found in different places in the Caribbean and have evolved over the centuries. Today, they are open air, often with long picnic-style tables, and arranged so the barbecue grills are adjacent to, or in the center of the tables.

After walking around a bit, we carefully chose the first lolo we came to and sat down. Neither of us are big barbecue fans for different reasons, but it was fun watching the controlled chaos as the chefs cooked on the open grills, the waiters ran around getting orders and delivering food and drink, and the patrons all having a good time. The portions were huge and the prices were low.

We got back to the room mid-afternoon, rested a bit and then planned dinner back in Maho. It seems like today’s agenda was all about planning and eating meals. We went back to Mr. Chow, the Asian place we enjoyed a few days ago, and had another good meal. After dinner we took a quick walk through the casino (1) next door. We weren’t impressed. A couple of 21 tables, a roulette table and a poker game were open. Lots of slots, mostly sitting idle. We didn’t play, making this the least expensive casino visit ever.

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(1) The casino was named “Casino Royal”. Very creative.