Bev & Terry's Travels in Mexico: In Da Hood

I LOVE street food

I started my day off with some darn good street tamales bought from the elderly genteman that was sitting on the curb across the street from the house. It freaks some people out - buying something that was cooked Lord knows where. But the way we have always looked at it is - these vendors make their money doing this. They feed their families and their neighbors...the people that are closest to them. When you eat at a restaurant you don't know whose cooking and they don't know you....why would they take better care than this sweet little gentleman sitting across the street from my house?

Each afternoon around 5 or so it rains now. Just on cue, starting the first of June, the rainy season began. The rains are very tropical...clouds build up, breezes die down, and a slow, drizzly rain sets in. The rain usually lasts 30 minutes or so and then the skies clear. Some days it happens more than once in the late afternoon and early evening.
Yesterday afternoon I needed to make a run the 8 blocks over to Chedraui, but when I stepped outside the sky was very dark. My first thought was to stay put. But then I thought....life goes on. What is the worse that can happen? I get wet and it cools me off - so what. So I left out of here and stopped by Wilber the blacksmith's shop on the way. I let him know I was leaving Saturday and was sad that I would not see the finished work before I left. Mi esposo y yo regresamos. My husband and I are coming back. And let him know that Yesenia would be paying him the remainder owed upon completion of the job. He informed me he would be installing part of his work on Lunes (Monday)...ahead of schedule and only 2 days after my departure. Oh, well.....I'm ready to see my esposo! Nothing will keep me here past Saturday...

Trying out the new hamaca

I went hamaca shopping, visiting several shops before I bought a hammock where I knew I would buy one in the first place...a place called El Aguacate. It is located right across the street from the red light district.....one block in Merida Centro in front of the Hotel Eden. The girls leave nothing to your imagination. I had seen them - red lips, high heels and very short dresses - when I went out galivanting on Monday, but yesterday there were none. It made me wonder if there was a sting or something. They are ALWAYS out there! I also went to the huge Centro Mercado and looked around. It was a good thing to do while Terry wasn't around because he can't really handle the crowds of people there. It's quite unbelievable and every time I go, I see a section of it I hadn't seen before.

One small area within the huge Centro Mercado----

Part of the day was spent walking around the neighborhood - La Ermita.
One of the things Terry and I were looking for was a traditional neighborhood where there were still street vendors and where people congregated at the neighborhood park. We wanted to have close access to public transportation but be somewhat removed from the noise. We wanted panarias, locally-run tiendas, tortillerias. and fruit vendors. We have all that here in La Ermita. People take pride in their houses. Bicycles, cars, horses/buggies, and walkers all share the street in front of the house. The front terrace has served its purpose - I have met Ina, Josef, Fausto and others while sitting on the front porch. I'm convinced with a pocket of pesos I could live on the front terrace...eating goods from the vendors, buying shampoos and brooms, sharpening my knives, and making deals to clean my house. Many of the same faces are seen each day. When I want my privacy it means its time to move to the back terrace.

IN DA HOOD

Yesterday I took some pictures of the things that surround us -

Botanical gardens directly across the street

I can see the mirador from the gardens, but I can only see the tops of trees and lots of birds from the house because of the high wall surrounding the gardens