...and then there's Rosa's Cantina.

Rosa's Cantina...aiyaiyai. An unforgetable place.

On the main street you would not even begin to imagine how it would look like. It only hit's you after you enter the main door of the cantina and walk towards the back where you exit into a cosy little garden shaded by a wonderful horse chestnut tree...or so our host from australia tells us. I did not offer any arguments after all i am familiar only with the ang mo tan tree and the lulian tree and our local kayu balak.

The food...very Mexican of course. The waitress...very Dutch and very mooi. She caught my eye the moment i stepped into the cantina. Her eyes, her smile and her being... i can't seem to erase from my mind. It is like it has been etched into my mind. I just couldn't take my eyes off her...but of course i occasionally tried to avert my attention lest she thinks i am undressing her with my eyes. That thought didn't even occur to me.

How do i describe it...It's like walking in the forest and you chance upon a butterfly. Just pure beauty flitting about from leaf to leaf with never a care in the world. And she was like that, never stopping, moving from one table to another, making sure everyone was well taken care of. "Is the food enough. Would you like another drink?" Always asking, always checking if everything is all right.

There was but one thing she could not do. When my boss mentioned that the table look messy with the flowers...that dropped off the horse chestnut tree, she retorted by saying.." I am sorry, but there is nothing i can do. This is nature." At that moment i fell deep into the canal and i wanted to stay there. Don't safe me ...pleaseee....

Had I more days in amsterdam...I would love to traverse to canal with her, walk the straats, sit by the canal banks and watch the sunset and canal cruisers and sip vino at the Night Cafe.

Fantasies, dreams, canals, tulips, daffodils...and croissants and my butterfly.

Ain't life beautiful?