3 Wise Monkeys

I know what a certain municipal police officer was doing at a certain notorious corner in a certain part of Reynosa around 6:30 this evening. He was with the drug selling dudes that are present at this corner 24/7.  I watched the money being exchanged and the bags of drugs being stuffed back into pockets.  Geez, you'd think he would at least have driven an undercover car instead of a fully marked black and white unit with the cherries on top.  When my truck was broken into and almost stolen, I was asked if I called the police. What for?  They are too busy taking care of their business to bother with serving and protecting the good people of Reynosa. I thought about taking a photo but then the thinking side of my brain took over.  He's got a gun. Probably knows how to use it too. Who knows what kind of weaponry the drug dudes have?

I wish I could be like 3 Wise Monkeys. See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil. Too late

Something Nice to Say About Mexico

I doubt I'll ever be completely reformed, but I do have something nice to say about Mexico.

SAN LUIS POTOSI

I've been around a few places in Mexico.

1. The state of Durango. I had a good time in John Wayne cowboy country but did see a couple weird things to me.  More boots and hat shops for men than shoe stores for women.  I witnessed some strange rodeo thing. Someone once told me the name for it, but I forget what it was. Basically the cowboy on the horse chases a medium sized bull and grabs the tail to make it fall.  Kind of cruel, I think. When the bull falls, the band plays. No falling bull, the band remains silent. And it goes on all day. For hours.

2. Mexico City.  I've been there many, many times. I like it. It is huge. I swear I will never drive in that city. OK, I did once. But I had a GPS telling me where to go and how to do it so it doesn't count. The pyramids are totally cool.  So was drinking with Kathy in a bar as the only Americans, plugging the jukebox with English songs, and singing at the top of our lungs.

3. Monterrey.  Another nice city. I still haven't made it up to the Cola de Caballo.  Some day.

4. Oaxtepec in Morelos. Spent a few days at a spa. Who wouldn't like a spa?

5. Acapulco. I went with my sons. It is always a good time at Carlos 'n Charlies restaurant and bar.  It was the first time I was ever able to cut loose with my adult sons and not be the MOM.

But now I have a new favorite place in Mexico. San Luis Potosi is an old colonial town. I knew nothing about this place before I went for 3 days in April.  Wow!  It is beautiful.  Here are some of the highlights:

1. Went to prison. The old prison has been turned into a Center for the Arts. It is amazing how they have restored the prison.  It is next to the old aqueduct that brought water from the mountains.
2. Mona Lisa restaurant in the center. The food was so delicious. I overate. Gotta stop that.
3. Artwork at the basilica.
4. The sound and light show for Easter at the Cathedral. It was different. You might think you were tripping on LSD with the way they coordinate photo images with the architectural features of the church complete with music. But it was awesome.
5. La presa AKA the dam.  I've never seen a dam like this. Beautiful and good exercise walking around too.
6. Parque Tanga Manga.  It is a huge and beautiful park. With bicycle riders and joggers. And things to do!

What else is excellent?  I hardly saw any dogs in the street.  Everything looked so clean. And hardly any potholes in the roads.  People can actually go out and walk for exercise, unlike Reynosa. I like a city of this size. Not mega-huge like Mexico City but big enough to have good stores.  Thank you so much Jose Eduardo and family. I will be going back because there is so much I haven't explored yet. I can't wait!

100 Ways to Die

I stumbled across this website Top 100 Ways to Die while reading a favorite website The Darwin Awards. To those of you not familiar with the latter, in order to make the grade you have to die in some spectacularly dumb fashion or at least not be able to contribute to the gene pool of society.  I guess I have a warped sense of humor. My favorite on the Top 100 is No. 81, the balanced diet. The food pyramid is pointy and dangerous. Just ask my son Eric. He claims that fruits and vegetables are what "food" eats.

Recently on Children's Day we took all of primary students to the movie theater.  (We don't have this holiday in the USA because we all know that everyday is children's day.) During the commercials before the movie, one ad warned about dengue fever and how to stop the transmission.  Don't leave tires around your home to collect standing pools of rainwater to make breeding grounds for mosquitoes assuming that it will rain here some day. It hasn't in months. And since I have never been warned of dengue fever on the Texas side, I am assuming the Rio Grande River must provide some sort of barrier to prevent the transmission.

During the movie I slipped out to the bathroom where there was a huge poster warning me about cholera.  The sign says make sure that fish and seafood are cooked well. It should warn DON'T DRINK THE WATER IN MEXICO but then anyone with a half a brain knows that.  Mom is always warning me not to eat anything in Mexico that wasn't heated to a 1000 degrees  I'd like to see a Darwin Award given to an idiot, like me, who has dared to consume fresh fruits and vegetables. I'm living dangerously.

Easter Traditions

I was reminded that it is Easter when last night I turned on the television and ABC was running the Cecil B DeMille epic movie "The Ten Commandments".  Traditionally it was always shown on a Sunday night.  I know that for a fact because my son Eric would always watch it every year staying up way past his school night bedtime and I allowed it. Wouldn't I be a horrible mother if I didn't let my son watch Moses help free his people from the evil Pharaoh Ramses?  The cynic in me would normally think the son was just trying to stay up past his bedtime, but the boy did stay glued to the tube to watch the movie to the end... year after year.  So it shall be written, so it shall be down.

Niece and nephews on an Easter egg hunt in Iowa today

Speaking of Easter traditions, our traditions in Iowa included coloring hard boiled eggs and then eating deviled eggs and potato salad  for the next week.  We always used crayons to decorate before coloring.  I did this with my 5th grade students on the last day of school before our vacation.  When I polled the students, only about 3 out of 27 had ever colored eggs. And of those 3 they had never heard of using crayons to decorate before dipping in the dye.  I may have started a new tradition with my students because they had a blast and many asked where I got the supplies.  Walmart, of course. And an Easter in Iowa would not be complete without getting a chocolate bunny.  I always felt sorry for the poor bunny as I started nibbling off its ears and butt.  Apparently, not too sorry as the bunny was always a goner by the end of the day.

One of the gazillion roadside stands selling Easter stuff in Tex-Mex Land.

Traditions down here in the Tex-Mex area are different.  Why color Easter eggs when you can buy them by the dozens on the roadside about every 10 feet?  Except the eggs are not hardboiled.  They are emptied and filled with confetti.  The first year I was here I went home with a headache after my students found out I had never had a confetti egg cracked over my head. The kids smelled "fresh meat" and I had about a 1000 cracked over my head that day. As many confetti eggs I've seen for sale this past week, I imagine the confetti will be littering the countryside until the 4th of July. Also, Easter bunny piñatas are big here.  I have never been to an Easter party here but I imagine they beat the poor paper-mache bunny to death so the kids can collide while grabbing the candy that falls out of the bunny's butt.  Does it seem strange to anyone to string up the Easter bunny and then beat it to death with a stick?  Or Dora, the Explorer, a Superhero or a princess that so many piñatas are modeled after?  Seems rather sadistic to me. I guess one could argue that eating cute chocolate bunnies is sadistic too.

Excuse me while I go eat my bunny.

 

Ice Cream and Bacon Sundae

The latest menu item at Dennys is an ice cream and bacon sundae with maple syrup.  It must be delicious, I guess.

Best Pickup Line Ever

Best pickup line ever... "Would you like to come back to my place? I've got clean sheets."

Yes, I personally heard it.  No, it wasn't directed at me.  But, (snicker, snicker) that line was sooo memorable.  My friend Linda, a teacher from Canada living in Reynosa, and I went to a bar in Texas one night.  We met a couple retired gentlemen.  A few days later we went out for pizza. All was going well until the end of the evening when Linda's date actually dropped that line on her. Needless to say, we hightailed it back to Reynosa where I seriously doubt any retired, single gentleman could ever offer Linda clean sheets. I drank a beer with Linda a few days ago and we reminisced about that evening. I still don't understand why she turned that offer down. 

Parlez vous francais?

For about a month I've seen several motor homes and travel trailers all with Quebec license plates rolling up to the border of Texas from Mexico. Sometimes they travel in caravans. Sometimes solo. Apparently the Québécoise never received the travel warnings about Mexico like the Americans did. The Americans are staying away in droves. Hardly any are even willing to cross over into Progreso, the touristy little village on the border with a pharmacy and dentist every two feet.   Perhaps the travel warnings about Mexico are over zealous? Perhaps the Mexican road patrol trolls could not care less about the French Canadians just like the rest of the world?  Or maybe the Mexicans won't bother with them because of their direct rudeness and arrogant demeanor  spoken in a warped version of the French language?  I vote for reason #3.  Therefore, I am going to try responding with very bad French every morning the Mexican soldiers stop me as they have done every single morning this week. Maybe they will usher me away faster so I will not be late for work.

Signed Rita (Au Contraire) Gervais