Hop on the Bus Gus

It wasn't until after the table was sitting in its space that I realized I had jumped in about a 1959 flatbed Chevy with foam and springs sticking out of the seat that the thought hit me....I just jumped in this truck with two strange men in a large city in a foreign country and they had to open the door from the outside for me to get out of the truck!!! I never would've done this at home.

I had been perusing the antique stores and second-hand stores in Centro looking for a dining table and chairs. I started doing this once I learned the larger dept.-type stores had only very modern dining furniture...not what I wanted at all. It had become somewhat of a game looking for the perfect table at the best price imaginable. (that's what you do when you have time) I had found a couple of possibilities that I had decided to sleep on. Well, in sleeping on the decision I woke up in the night and realized I needed to not just be measuring table tops to see if they would fit the space....I needed to be measuring table heights and configurations of table legs because the front door opening is only 74 centimeters wide. I had found the set I was gonna buy IF if it's cabinet pedestal leg would fit thru the door.

But when I got back to the store - it had been sold!

However, they had another one very similar, I was told. The very young man I had been talking with took me towards the back and we walked thru cobwebs, furniture stacked up to the ceiling - some old and some new. We got back to this dark room and he turned the light on and there it was! A dark wood Mexican rustic table with 6 chairs. I was in love and I knew Terry would like it too. It was very similar to the one I had first wanted to buy. So I got out the measuring tape and measured the width and height.....74 centimters! He said "no problema....no problema". We talked price and then I did the Terry negotiation trick-----after we dickered and he gave me his "final price" I threw out there "but what if I bought the 2 nightstands I had seen too?". Ha! We finally did agree on a price and they told me they could deliver it...hoy...media dia. (today at noon) I didn't have enough dinero on me to buy it. I told them so and said I would be back shortly....diez minutos.

Thought that would be easy because I knew where the Bancomer ATM was just a couple of blocks away. Got over there and every man, woman and child living in Merida was in line for the ATM. I guess it must've been govt. payday as we have learned the Mexicans get paid via an account, but they all rush down and take their money out of the banks ASAP. I walked about 14 blocks to go to the Chedraui and get the cash. It was after 12 before I made it back.

But it all worked out and there we were loading the table, chairs, and 2 nightstands. That's when I "hopped on the bus Gus" and away we came to Calle 64A. When they came through the front door the table wouldn't fit! They had to raise the table into the air and find the widest part of the door to get it in. Not making that up! But, things have a way of working out!