The majority of you here (66%, better known as 'two out of the three of you that read this') are at present taking a pelting of snow, wind, ice, ie, the KC area. I'm truly very sorry, what scares me even more is perhaps the cold - if I watched correctly, it looks like Saturday you're in for a 4-day run of temps below 20. Ouch.
I have buddies (THANK GOODNESS THAT I HAVE BUDDIES) that can occasionally be a tad sarcástico when Mother Nature drops her fiery on the Midwest, and said buddies will post pics of the beach.. the forecast.. women clad in hardly anything (those I really don't mind)... but you get the idea, they make fun of us dealing with cold, snow. I won't do that, promise.
If any consolation, it's a tad chilly here.. Very strong winds yesterday - no, no blowing snow, but, blowing sand. Ouch, close your eyes. Car dirty in a millisec. Sitting on the deck peeking out, requires a blanket when the winds pickup... long sleeves.. ie, this ain't Mali where average yearly temps are 84 degrees.
So........ we (my buddy Tip, lifelong friend from Sigamanu days) navigated a trip to Bodega (WallyWorld) for goodies. We were without our MVP (or, MVT, most valuable translator) Margie.. (wifey, and good friend of anudder Sigamanu, David.) Neither Tip nor I speak Spanish. It was an eyeopening lesson. We each grabbed a shopping cart to lean on, we're old, a have to.
Of course, the minute I walk in the door I gotta pee. I finally had learned "El Bano", but, in looking around, I ain't seein' anything like that at all on walls, doors, yada. A really, REALLY nice lady, led me by the arm, prolly forty yards (OK, thirty-some metres) to 'cabellero'. Of course now Tip and I are separated. Thank goodness, he's 6'5", most Puerto Penasco residents ain't. Still, we got separated.
It is 'different' grocery shopping in a different country. Zero, absolutely zero words on products you recognize. Don't believe me? We needed sugar to put on cereal. One of us (IT WAS TIP, NOT ME!) somehow found a bag of 'sugar', success. Except, later when I had a bowl of almond flakes (the only cereal name I recognized) I opened the 'sugar', ceptin' it wouldn't pour... it was more like tooth paste... come to find out 'grasa comestible' actually means edible fat.. uh huh, I was trying to put lard on my cereal. (Oh well, our MVP Margie gave us some sugar, she is very sweet!)
Three times I tapped Bodega employees on the shoulder to ask where something was. I did my preliminary homework, googling the translation of corn on the cob (maíz en la mazorca), then showing them my phone for them to read. Language was a barrier. Two of the three times, the Bodega employee, VERY ANXIOUS TO HELP, each) tapped a feature on their phone and asked that I 'speak into it' what I wanted, it would propagate a picture, then, they quickly would lead me to where the product was.
Later, I related the story to our MVP Margie (about them using the audio translator, versus the translated word from my phone) and she informed me it might have been simply because they might not have been able to read. This saddened me and I felt bad. I looked at some stats and learned 16% do not have a basic education, and, 4% ages 6 to 14 do not attend any type of institution of education. MUCH, education-wise, thankfully, has improved since those 2010 statistics.
While I give Tip a hard time for the 'lard' sugar, he (and the GPS lady) have navigated us around town nicely. He ain't driven thru an Alto (stop) sign.. we have no idea whatinthehell speed limits are in metric, but, we ain't been thrown in the clinker yet.
At Bodega, my age, affliction showed, I had to go sit in the car. I got the car keys, headed to the car.. clicked the opener thing, started to get in, nope, wrong, big, white car. Some feller with a towel over his shoulder pointed out to me, the lights'a flashin' on the big, white car about twelve spots down. Uh huh, he was right. So, walked there. Mehico has very many entrepreneurs, and this feller was no exception as he already had our windshield wipers 'out', ready for him to wash our car. For some reason, a 6'5" dude and a fat, feeble ginger, driving maybe the only car in the parking lot with US plates, stuck out.
Vendors are always very nice.. comprende' "no", but, sure, oft times try to talk their way into a sale. It is recommended to not have someone wash your car that only had one bucket. Ha. True, on toppa a dirty rag, there'd be no way to get the soap off. Thankfully for them, the cars do get dirty quick here (blowing sand, dirt) so, they stay busy - the going rate is 5 bucks, cheap. Our buddy Pup (the other Sigamanu dude) has a favorite car-washer across the street from our favorite watering hole, and favorite car-washer had access to a garden hose to get dirt off. 5 bucks, plus, 5 dolla' tip, each, happy.
I feel very blessed to have this experience. Inexpensive (mostly) travel. I wasn't aware there was sucha' thing. I hope you out there get to get up and go as well.
I also hope you travel safely in the snow, ice... and stay warm in your homes.
I'd better run... gonna Goodle whatinthehell we can use this lard for.
Love, Victurd
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