Good Breakfast

The apartment is still in no shape to do any cooking, stuff is in bags strewn all over the place. So, I went out for an “American” breakfast to VIP’s this morning.

VIP’s is a semi upscale restaurant chain owned by Wal-Mart. It’s similar to Denny’s or IHOP with a mix of Mexican and "American/International” items. I had OJ, two smallish hot cakes, a slice of ham, four rashers of really lean bacon, two scrambled eggs, a sweet roll and coffee for 108 pesos including tip. That’ll be about $8.00 by the time the transaction hits my credit card. It’s only a bit more than double what you would pay for a typical Mexican breakfast in a “working class” place.

Then I had to go out an buy a broom, dustpan, mop, toilet paper and paper towels, all of which were supplied at my old place.

The downhill walk to VIP’s was 15 minutes, 5 more to the ATM and 2 minutes to the supermarket. The taxi back was 10 min and about $1.85. It’s a beautiful, clear, sunshiny day, temp about 81º with a nice breeze. Sunblock doesn’t last long around here. But, I enjoy the walks and would try the uphill except for shlepping all that stuff.

IM - Instant Messaging

My friend is Mexican with a Spanish keyboard. I only have English. Yeah, you can configure Windows for both, but what about the keytops or memorizing the new layout. Hell, I never learned to touch-type.

We IM almost constantly. We wander back and forth between English and Spanish. That’s no problem with a Spanish keyboard, all the letters, numbers. accents, punctuations, and special characters except @ = ALT+064 for both languages are on it. Anyone who has been to an Internet café in Hispano America learns that right off.

What to do? What to do?

The only real sticky one is ñ. Without it, year (año) becomes anus (ano). You can get around it by typing anio which would be pronounced almost like año. So, I hunted through MS Word’s symbol table and found that ALT-0241 makes ñ.

Leaving all the other accents off may look uneducated but nowhere near as silly as Have a Happy New Anus.

One clumsy character per language is a fair trade, I guess.

There’s a more pernicious side effect. The more I IM, the more cigarettes I light, sometimes having two going at once. The doc gave me some new pills to help quit. After two weeks, not a dent! I guess that shows that the Smoking Nazis and their pet shrinks don’t know what they’re talking about. The addiction is more habit than chemical dependence.

Fortunately, or unfortunately, smokes are less than twenty bucks a carton for Marlboros, less than ten for a couple of similar Mexican brands.

Where’s the will power?

Internet Idiosyncrasy #1

When I first got down here, I was initially surprised that all the major web pages – MSN, Yahoo, Google were in Spanish!!!! Wait a minute! I’m in Mexico. The “Internet” knows I’m in Mexico. No, it’s not big brother watching me. It’s those funny numbers like 123.456.789.012 that do it. Every computer connected to the Internet has at least one of those strings of numbers that identify it. It just so happens that the first part of the number identifies the country the computer is in and a lot of the programmers who build websites use it to decide which language to use. There are ways to find the English language page that you were used to and making it a favorite or bookmark so you can always get English. Usually there’s a link at the bottom of the Spanish page that will to English. Most of you probably know that stuff; I thought I’d mention it just in case. BTW, this website comes up in Spanish till I log in. Once I do, it’s in English because my account specifies I use English.

Time, Place, Travel

Life is good. At certain points in my life, I had my doubts. Retired now, there’s enough money to live where I want, enjoy what I want, go where I want. Rich might have been better, but. . . Looking back, I see I made some choices between goals and the price that had to be paid for them. I ended up OK. FWIW for all you younger people out there, think hard about your life decisions, weigh the costs in time, effort, money against your goals for your retirement. Try to set goals that you can reach while you still have the time to enjoy life along the way. That is, don’t just live for tomorrow, but don’t just forget about it either. Tomorrow comes a hell of a lot sooner than you might believe. Sermon over!

Beggars

Yeah, there are more than I saw at first. The worst are the ones that use their small children as shills. If they’re begging, they are not going to school, so don’t encourage it by giving. They wouldn’t be doing it if it weren’t good business. On the other hand, there the old people who may not have any other means of support. To those you give.

Some people, not content to accept the status of beggar, are the entrepreneurs who buy crates of fruit, bag up 3 or 4 assorted pieces and sell on the corners or in the street. Gotta hand it to them!

Junk Mail

Every once in a while, a flyer gets pushed through the crack in the door. These are distributed by individuals hired by the companies, NOT the Post Office. Is there an idea there? Today, the flyer is about carpet-upholstery-car cleaning on one side, general help around the house or business on the other. Including distribution of advertising.

Business Hours

I leisurely extract myself from bed between 7:30 and 8:30 AM.

I may wander out for breakfast as early as 9AM, at which time about the only things open are the corner grocery store “hole-in-the-wall” and the public market. It’s not until 10 that the other eateries that serve the breakfast crowd open. Remember, Zacatecas is no major metropolis.

With some exceptions, businesses don’t open till 11AM making 10-10:30 the right time to grab some breakfast before work. Then, they close at between 1 and 3 PM for a big lunch plus siesta, opening again from around 5 till somewhere between 8 and 9.

9PM is when the restaurants’ supper business picks up. I use the term restaurant loosely. It could be anything from a lady on the corner with a basket of tamales or a pot of corn on the cob to the fanciest place in town.

I have to admit I’m still not certain who is open when, but it is clear that there are few, if any, worms for the early bird to catch.

Change, money or coins, that is

Nobody ever has any. Banks like to hand out big bills. Small businesses can’t afford to keep enough change on hand to break large bills. Typically, if you present a 100 peso bill at the wrong moment, someone will have to run out to a larger business and get change. The flip side is that they do have change but it’s all in 1 to 5 peso coins. The weight ends up wearing a whole in your pocket. You get a restaurant check for 65 pesos (tip s/b 6 or 7 pesos.) You don’t have any small change and give the waitress a 100 peso note. She comes back with 3 – 10 peso coins and 1 – 5 peso coin. The service was no more than acceptable. You have a choice, leave 5 pesos or 10 pesos. I’ll leave the decision to you.

But what happened:
- She did it on purpose hoping you’d leave 10.
- The restaurant didn’t have any 1 peso coins.
- She wasn’t thinking about her tip.

In the US, I’d have guessed the first.
In Mexico, especially here in the Provinces, any of the 3 is an equal possibility.

Small Business

Excoriate evil greedy capitalism as much a you like, struggling to start and run a small business is the entry to the middle class for many Mexicans. It’s a way of life handed down from generation to generation. These business owners are no where near as affluent as most of the US middle class, but they do own somewhat nicer houses, cars, maybe a maid to come in from 1 to 3 days a week. These people exploit the poor? They make jobs that would not have existed otherwise.

Identification

For a Mexican adult, a driver’s license is of only secondary importance for ID. It’s the voter’s credential which is the primary proof of identity and age. Hmmm. . . ., there was a big flap over photo ID’s for voting and how it would discriminate against the disadvantaged to make them have to go get ID’s. Well, in Mexico where a far greater percentage of the population is poor, the people don’t think it’s a burden to prove they have the right to vote. The credentials are issued at no cost and are good for 8 years if you don’t move. Oh, you live way out in the boondocks or it would be a hassle to go downtown? No worry, mobile units canvas the whole area during sign up season. It seems clear that the Democrats’ refusal to approve this type of voter registration had nothing to do with fairness and justice.