More Noche Buena 

Noche Buena in the park 

Greg in his usual pose in front of my new sink 

More hunting and Gathering

I have a kitchen sink with hot water - and a drain!! I have a new door on my bedroom and one on the main bathroom!! They don’t fit too well and the one on the bathroom swings the wrong way, but hey, this is Mexico. I have a new gas heater in my bedroom. The serious camping is just about over.

The hunting and gathering schtick however, can get a bit boring. I had to make 2 trips to Queretero to get a tap assembly that actually had all the right parts, and clamps for the sink. I must have gone to 10 hardware stores looking for clamps in SMA and although they sell the sinks – no clamps. I had to go all the way to Celaya to get some white melamine and edge facing. The American kitchen is still a bit of a mystery in this country – although they are featuring them fully installed at some big hardware stores. They are being sold side by side however with twice as many copies of the old cement jobs.

The guys in Celaya would not deliver the melamine sheets to SMA so I had to get them cut in half so they would fit in the Chev. I was told in no uncertain terms that I needed a red flag on them to avoid a fine or worse from the “Federales” as they stuck out of the trunk more than four feet. I dropped into a ladies clothing store next door and the cheapest thing they had in red that was “appropriate”, (remember red underwear is de riguer in Mexico for the New Year), was a pair of children’s culottes. My “flag” did not go unnoticed by amused Mexicans where I stopped for lunch on the way back. Anyone need a nice pair of culottes for a 2-year-old??

I bought a 5-gallon pail, for mixing cement among other things, on my way back from paying for the stair railing (railing price did not include installation by the way – it now sits uninstalled in my living room – hope it actually fits). On my way to the house I passed a campesino, also carrying a new 5-gallon pail. The cool thing was that the irony was not lost on him.

I spent today trying to get the best part of the dust out of the place – I need a maid.

I used the local garbage “pick-up” for the first time today as well. They come 3 times a week but don’t actually pick up. A little guy on foot precedes the truck with a loud but distinctive clangor, which he beats on with enthusiasm. That is the signal to take your garbage to the truck, usually parked a block away, where two guys carefully take your garbage and pack it onto the truck. Most of the people with garbage in hand were, of course, maids.