LIFE IN OAXACA

          I had breakfast at Mag's place again.  He had to rush out and offered to put the HD 60" TV on English for me.   I hadn't watched TV, except for an occasional local Phoenix newscast on the internet, since I left Scottsdale.  I declined and read my paper with my coffee then left for the library. 

        Tere got me some towels this morning so I was going to return Kay's I borrowed but she wasn't there.  I walked over to her place, returned the towel and invited her to join be for lunch at the Sante Fe.  We walked over, had a great lunch then I returned for a 3-5 pm Siesta.

        It is hot between 2-5 pm this time of year and no A/C in most of Oaxaca.  I showered when I awoke then took the bus to the Zocalo . I noticed about 10-20 % of the riders would bless themselves everytime we passed a church.  I remembered doing that when I was 10 but lost interest shortly thereafter.  It was comical to see them all at once bless themselves.  You have to imagine we passed about 5 churches on the way.   I expected bells to ring and the bus driver to give a sermon.

        I wandered around taking in the large amount of families with children, couples , all out enjoying the cool evening.   Then I treated myself to a big juicy hamberguesa on the street.  All for $2 and delicious.  I walked back home after dark.  Most businesses were open on Monday evening and the streets were bustling.

It is totally different at night.  My neighbor was not out on the balcony but a new one moved in below me. I wanted to get one poker game in before bedtime.
        While visiting the library Tuesday I came across Halina, the Polish lady with one week before returning to Michigan and not happy about it.  She wanted to see my new place and on the way out we ran into Kay who agreed to meet us for Comida at Mag's M & M Cafe in La Noria.  We would all go visit my place after. 
       Halina and I took the bus as it was so hot.  She had never ridden the bus in Oaxaca and typical of me, I got on the wrong bus so we still had to walk a bit before arriving at Mag's around 2:30. 
         When 3 rolled around we decided not to wait any longer and ordered our food.  It was fantastic as usual and all for 35 Pesos.

 
After showing her my place we walked over to Aso Villas nearby to show Halina their new Cafe.  She lived there last year and knew the neighborhood well.

 There was Kay wandering around in circles.  She had been walking for 2 hours and was determined to find us.  I gave her my map and explained but she appeared to be dehydrated and disoriented.  We stopped at the Aso Cafe so she could get some liquid and food in her.  We all went our separate ways.  
      The weather had cooled down and it was nice so I read a little instead of a Siesta then around 7 I went to an Italian place Mag had recommended for Pizza.  The Viejo Libre was attractive and gave professional service.  Two glasses of wine and a 1/2 Pizza later, I took a taxi home.

      Wednsday I shopped a bit and went to Mag's again for Comida. Shoshona was there chatting with Mag so I invited her to join me.  She is a pleasant young Jewish girl from Chicago whose brother just joined the Israel Army.  She leaves the end of this month to return.  She came here  after losing her job a Trader Joe's.  She had moved and had to ride her bike in the snow, board a bus and return the same way.  She loved working for them but when she was forced to move, they couldn't transfer her to the store near her and eventually she quit, packed it up and arrived in Oaxaca quite by accident.  We had a great lunch and I told Mag about my Pizza experience with the place he recommended and I concurred.  Very good. 
         

  I walked back to Oasis with Shoshona and she showed me her cubby hole next to Tere's place.   After a Siesta I took the bus to the library for my lecture by Susan Lyon's from Jamacia Plain Boston.  She was a world traveler and did a great job talking about Simplifying your life.  She did a powerpoint presentation, engaged the audience and for $4 gave us 1 1/2 hours of entertainment.  It was inspiring.

         Kay had given me a 5 CD collection of the Endangered Civilizations she had taken out of the library.  I renewed them in my name after the lecture on getting rid of the clutter in your life, I invited Kay to join me for dinner.  We were going to a Cafe then a Documentary movie called The Act of Killing but changed our minds when I discovered it was a ways away and we would have to rush our meal.  We returned to the Hotel Parador to split a Pizza.  The Chef made it from scratch and though tasty enough it really wasn't a Pizza.   
             

We took some home and I returned down deserted streets with police patrols driving around the area with their Red and Blue lights flashing to make their presence known.  Also a military armed patrol in a jeep  came through to insure the area was going to stay safe.  I had been approached twice on separate occassions for money by men saying they were Guatamalan's trying to excape to the US.  The first time I gave some change but the second I suspected a scam. I took a refreshing shower and retired.