The bee and the Horchata

This latest trip began Saturday morning, Nov 4, leaving our home in Tubac, AZ and driving via I-10 to Fort Stockton, Texas.  Dinner there Saturday night at K-Bob’s Steakhouse, highly recommended.  S chose a rib-eye steak and I had grilled catfish, obvious difference in preferences.  After a night at the Hampton Inn, (I get no kick-back from names of places) we headed for Laredo and instead of the Hampton Inn, one of our favored road stops, since it had no hot water, we checked into an Embasssy Suites, part of the Hilton Chain. It was crowded, only 1 elevator working and some other issues that needed attention.  I will let them know!

We had a long day’s drive Sunday, 549 miles from Laredo, Texas to San Miguel de Allende, and stopped to get gas and take a long lunch break along the way.  We sat outside at a small table in the sun and our food and drink were delivered about 20-30 minutes after we ordered.  This highway restaurant, where we had eaten previously, is not a fast food franchise.  S had the Torta Especiale and I opted for a traditional Hamburgesa con papas and an Horchata.   For those who don’t know or aren’t familiar with Horchata, a brief description:  Horchata is a sweet Mexican drink made from rice. Horchata is made by blending white rice and cinnamon sticks in water and letting them soak overnight. After the rice and cinnamon are discarded, the remaining liquid is then flavored with vanilla, sugar, and ground cinnamon.  I first discovered this drink years ago in Santa Fe, NM, ironically at Bumble Bee’s Baja Grill where the Horchata is on the counter in large glass container.

My bee yesterday was not a bumble bee but rather a honey bee who discovered my bottle of Horchata about halfway through the drink.  It crawled in without my noticing and when I lifted the wide-mouth bottle to drink some more I saw the poor creature swimming frantically.  However since it floated to the back rather than the front I thought it was OK to continue drinking, sipping slowly, and watching the bee.  S said, “You’re not going to finish that with the bee in there, are you?”  I said, “Sure, why not, as far as I know, bees aren’t toxic and I’ll keep my eye on it so I don’t get it in my mouth.”  Her response was something like, “Ugh!”  or maybe “Yuck!”

The bee cooperated, I finished my drink and the Horchata-soaked bee was on the bottom of the bottle, still alive and wondering, “Now what?”  Funny how anthropomorphism works sometimes.  Regardless, I wondered if the bee could recover what I supposed was traumatic for the bee so I turned the bottle upside down and tapped it gently on the wall and the bee dropped to the floor.   I watched it crawl, glad it was still alive and it tried to spread its wings but nada.  It crawled a little more and then stopped. I watched for a few more minutes to see what might happen.  No movement.  Had it succumbed?  I reached down and moved it slightly forward and it began to crawl again.  I needed to get back on the road and did not choose to take it along to see what finally happened although I could have done that.  I chose instead to leave it there with the hope it would dry out sufficiently to take flight and return home to its hive.  We continued on to our home to watch more bees on another day visiting our flowers, remembering the bee and the Horchata.