The Latest Fashions in Chacala

Painting on the wall of the smaller Kinder building

When I first came to Chacala, I was surprised to see men walking around town with their teeshirts rolled up and kind of tucked up under the armpits. The bare-belly look. And some of the bellies were pretty big. Eventually I got used to the style, and mostly stopped noticing it. Except occasionally, when a gigantic smooth, round, brown belly would catch my eye.

Then today, as I was tidying up around the house, I realized I had rolled my tee shirt up and tucked it up too. Without even realizing I had done it. And my naked (large) belly was nice and cool. Of course, this is not an appropriate fashion for women. Women and girls here wear cropped tops and tiny little blouses, etc. Always with a bra, always. But no rolled-up tee shirts for women of any age. Oh well, I was always a tom-boy anyway.

Flip-flops are another fashion statement around here. Most men seem to wear them, except for dress-up, when cowboy boots are cool. Even construction workers often were flip-flops. But even within the last couple years I have noticed more guys wearing boots, or even tennis shoes.
I guess they aren't called "tennis shoes"anymore, but I don't what they are called.

One of the things I really enjoyed about Patzcuaro and Morelia is most people seemed to carry umbrellas most of the time, even men sometimes. For the sun and the rain. Sometimes within minutes of each other.

I was supposed to start walking with Gracia and Narcissa every morning at 6:30, but I cancelled out last night. Too early, especially since I am still on rat patrol. This morning, just before light, Chiquita went nuts barking, and when I let her out she tore around to the back, after the rat. I saw his fat, ugly tail from my window. Ugh.

This morning I went down to the hardward store and bought some 1/4" hardware cloth from Leonora. She is very handy with the cutting tool. We sort of shaped the piece to fit the curved top of the window. My intention was to reinforce the mosquito screen, which is soft and pliable, so the dirty rat can't push his way through. Which is apparently want happened. Plus I removed the metal cage for the garbage cans, which had been installed right under the rat's favorite window. There was rat dropping on the cage. Anyway, it looks pretty good now. Juan came by to see if the weeds were dead, and we tucked the hardcloth cloth in even better and kind of reinforced the edges.

It's funny. I don't like Chiquita sleeping in the house, but I started letting her do it about a week ago. Mostly because she kept barking when she was sleeping on the porch. Now I am wondering if she was barking at the rat. Last night, and the night, before she slept in the kitchen, in guard dog position. What a little sweetie.

She hasn't gone home to eat the last few days. I think she is going to start losing weight if she doesn't go back to her house to eat. She knows I am not going to feed her. But, of course, she watches me eat with her eyes just begging me for a snack. No way, Jose. I don't want to own a dog. Having a friend-type dog is just right for me. I don't want to own one.

A man named Alan wrote today, after reading this blog. He told me about a very nice Yahoo Group, called SMAcoollist. I liked the posts I read. People talking about how to be in Mexico respectfully, how to be polite here, stuff like that. I liked it. He also mentioned bringing school supplies down for the Kindergarten next winter, which pleased me no end. Even a little cash is good. They have to pay the electricity and buy light bulbs and toilet paper, etc.