Saturday market and odds and ends of a wandering mind....

Joanne and I have visited two Saturday markets here in the park. Mexican and resident vendors set up their wares under canopies, or from the back of their trucks or even just open ground. Some interesting things on offer from painted roof tiles, pictures, rocking round stone and metal birds and other animals as well as fruit and vegetable vendors, clothing and textiles and swarms of silver jewellery sellers. So far I have bought one necklace and earrings and four rings! We've learned how to tell the difference between silver plated to silver jewellery. All a lot of fun. I'm not hooked on the bartering system, but it too can be entertaining to see the pained look on the vendors faces.

At one stall I wanted to buy a colorful table runner. The young Mexican man said, these patterns were from his grandmother, who is gone now and he sounded so sad, but I think it's all part of the game to get you to feel badly for him and buy his grandmothers weavings.

The Mexican vendors are fun though for the most part, calling me 'my lady' or 'princess'! Quite funny! While going around the rows of vendors we came upon a couple of fellows with delightful smiles offering churros! Guess who is now hooked on this sweet and tender deep fried pastry? I noticed Costco in Mexicalli sells them in their concession.....along with the traditional hot dogs. I am still having difficulty figuring out the value of pesos but Joanne can usually tell me the value in our money and believe me, it's usually very cheap.

Tomorrow we go back up to Mexicalli, (185km) to pick up Joanne's car from body shop and return the Jetta to rental outlet. Oh, and we will go to Costco for our hot dog and pick up a few things to tide us over until we leave here on the 30th. The hot dog being most important!!!

I picked up a bag of dried ancho chilles to take home for under $2 and my eye spotted some dried tamarind pods which I may also pick up to take home to process into a paste. Tamarind is often used in Mexican foods, but also in Thai cooking which I really like.

Driving on the highways and byways here is interesting. Sometimes a dune buggy being driven by kids will go by you, or vehicles with no plates at all. Speed seems to be a preferred way to drive and Mexican round abouts freak me out! I said I would not drive here! Only within the park, but not in town or on the highway. In town, blocks are very short and all of a sudden you are braking because there is a stop sign (Alto means stop). Then you go a few feet and stop again!

When you fuel up, you only have one option...go to the Pemex. I guess you could say the government has a monopoly!!! I noticed a 7-11 in town but no gas station!

If you want to buy alcohol, go to the grocery store. Much of the US is like that, unless you happen upon a 'dry' county where no alcohol is sold. Car washes here are certainly different too, very few automated, they are all washed and wiped by hand, with buckets of water and a small hose. I think water is very precious here. Gives you pause to think about how lucky we are to live how and where we do!

Wishing you all a happy Easter, and hopefully a restful long weekend!