It's not The Taco Prince. I'm not talking about a guy with a taco crown on his head!
Taco Prince is a restaurant...of sorts. You wouldn't dress up to go there... You probably wouldn't even go out of your way to eat there... Ok, it's a dive, really. You know, a local hole in the wall, owned by a handful of Peruvian guys, who make some of the best tacos around. They're not Americanized tacos, but more like what you get in South America...which makes sense, I suppose! I love the place, but let's just say accessibility isn't their forté. (Cue eye-roll)
Located in the old Dairy Queen building, in downtown Boca, Taco Prince has had limited updating since it was built, somewhere around 1970. It's probably one of the few remaining original buildings left in downtown Boca. So when my daughter and I decided to have lunch there, we shouldn't have been surprised at what happened, and yet we were!
The blue-tag parking space was an afterthought located in the back, very far away from the entrance! It was squished between 2 regular spaces, in front of a very old beauty shop, which had also seen a better day! We struggled to get my equipment out of the van.
But, we persevered!
We might've mumbled some expletives, but we persevered! The parking lot was predictably lame...and somewhat dangerous for me, really. There was no wheelchair path and the cars were literally jammed in. We tried to weave our way around the parked vehicles the best we could. We had our game faces on!
Approaching the tiny building, we noticed a ramp. 'Oh good!' I thought and started rolling toward it.
"Don't bother, mom!" Kristin yelled back at me.
She was a bit ahead of me now, scoping out the entrance. "It's the ramp to nowhere! Don't come this way! It drops off!"
A smile made its way to my lips...
She was laughing. Sure enough, there was a 2 foot drop off where the 'ramp' just ended. ...Why? I could only wonder. I shook my head.
We had seen this before. We've seen lots of crazy things before and we have learned to keep our sense of humor intact! I wondered how many rollers had been fooled into going up the ramp only to back down the same way they had come..!
It was only one small step up onto the sidewalk. Kristin helped me pop a wheelie.
"Oh my gosh.. Look!" She sounded incredulous as she pointed at the front door.
Two steps were between us and our tacos!! Yep. Two steps up don't work for me. We just looked at each other! We might've rolled our eyes...again. Ok, we did.
Now what? We discussed our next move.
At some point, I noticed a small sign on the door that read, "Ramp available at cashier"
I read it to BB. (Kristin's nickname) Whaaaa? We have to go in and ask for a ramp?? What if I were alone? Is this a joke? All this for a couple of tacos..? My tiny brain swirled with the silliness of the situation.
"Mommy, I'll go in and ask for the ramp!"
I peered into the restaurant through the glass door.
It was then that I noticed the patrons and the employees of the restaurant had noticed us...All of them were staring back! BB waved at the guys behind the counter. They ran to the back room and came out with a huge box! Their eyes were big and they looked very serious, frightened, even. I was amused, but also felt a little sorry for them. Clearly, they knew their little business was in violation of some law.
As they started to unpack the ramp, my eyes got big. This ramp was 20 feet long! We were only about 6 feet off Federal Highway! I was going to be out in the middle of the road in order to get into the taco joint! Oy vey!
Let's just say my friends at Taco Prince had gotten a little carried away with their purchase of a 'portable ramp' for their restaurant. The requirement was maybe a 3 foot ramp.
By now, BB had the front door open and was desperately trying to get me inside. We were determined. We struggled. The counter guys had bailed on us. We continued making a commotion and drawing attention to ourselves!
About this time, we could see that we were the only women in the place. Yep, the only females in this packed little space, filled with, you got it, construction workers who began cursing at the poor employees of the restaurant. (But didn't offer to help us into the place, by the way!) Talk about awkward!! All we could do was keep our heads down and try to keep from laughing...! I mean, we couldn't help it! This was too much..!
My sweet, determined daughter gritted her teeth and struggled up those 2 steps until we were both inside. In case you don't know how that's done, you turn the wheelchair backwards and pull it up each step. Neither of us weighs very much but she is weakened from the disease herself. I hated it, but she just carried on!
When I say that every eye in that place was on us, I am not exaggerating. Part of me wanted to crawl away as fast as I could go.. which isn't very far or very fast at all, of course! We seated ourselves at the last 2 remaining seats in the front, at the bar, which faced the street. We fought to wedge my chair out of the way so I could transfer to a barstool. It made plenty of noise and I said, "Excuse me," a lot! At least we didn't have to look at the rest of the restaurant once we finally did get settled! We stared out into the street and talked about what had just happened in disbelief. Our shoulders shook with laughter.
Eventually, BB squared her shoulders and went up to the counter to order. I swung around slowly. Every man, to a man, watched her. Some of them glanced back at me. I forced a smile. When she returned to sit next to me, we broke out in laughter and we giggled all the way through our tacos. We always have fun, no matter what's going on, and we still talk about that lunch experience. But you know, we haven't been back there. My new scooter doesn't jump steps!
Truth is, there was a time I wouldn't have put myself or my daughter through all of that for anything! Having a 'disability' is a quick lesson on not getting to live under the radar anymore. (Used to be my favorite place to fly)
People look. Some people stare. Sometimes, like lunch at Taco Prince, I give them reason to stare!
But it's ok. It's all ok. Having muscle weakness and using assistive devices has made me more confident, not less. Who'd have thought that? And my daughter? What can I say? She's amazing.
Peace my friends xx
