Gambling My Pesos Away, in Chacala

I had a nice Chacala morning. Everything seems fresh and new and green after the rain last night. And the sun is shining. And there’s no dust from the construction trucks zooming by. I filled the three big (tinaco, lavendariva, and big trash barrel) water containers, and 5 smaller water containers when the town water came on about 10am. Washed some clothes and tidied up.

One of the kids yelled up from the road that Juan, at the tienda, wanted me to come down. To the tienda. It turned out my case (24 glass bottles) of apple juice had arrived. He gives me 15% off the town price if I buy by the case. It seems to be the only way to get liquids in glass bottles around here. I hate the taste of aluminum and plastic, so….

This is Coke truck day too. Usually they get my this house about 2pm if I have ordered the day before. Today I ran into the Coke truck guys down at the store, and paid up front for my two cases of Coke in glass bottles. I am set for the rest of my month now. My month starts on the third Wednesday of the month, so I have three weeks to go.

I paid up front so I wouldn’t have to be at the house until they got around to my place. These Coke truck guys have been bringing me Cokes since I figured out about buying by the casa and having it delivered. Almost three years. They are really funny and nice.

Today, it turned out I was home when they brought my Cokes. I gave them some Spanish language magazines someone had passed on to me. We sat there and looked at them for a few minutes. They were especially taken with a woman in one of the beer ads. Whatever.Pool at Paul's Satow duplex: two bedroom apartments

The collectivo driver, Samuel, dropped my case of apple juice off at home, on his way to the Chacalilla gate. I held out my hand with some change, maybe 30 pesos, for the tip, and he took only 10 pesos. That was nice.

Normally, I can carry a case of juice up to the hill to my house. But my excuse for getting it delivered right now is that I re-broke the bone I broke in my wrist last winter. It healed up but I fell down hard last week, and apparently broke it again. This time I had an ex-ray for $18US. The tech pointed out the line, the crack. I am wearing an elastic bandage at night, but it’s too hot and sweaty during the day. The doc has a plastic cast for 350 pesos, but I though I could figure something out.

After paying the Coke guys I went over to Mars Tres, and ended up playing Bingo with Marta and the two current waitresses. I have played cards around Chacala before, but never Bingo, and never for money. I won the first card (1 peso) and lost the next five cards (5 pesos). Then we quit playing for the noon rush. Which starts about 1:30 around here. The Bingo cards have the titles of the cards printed on them, so I learned some new words, plus the word for empty (as in pop bottles).

I am home right now, cooking two chicken breasts. One for today and one for tomorrow. Someone gave me some small cucumbers yesterday, and I am going to have a little tomato, celery, cabbage and cuke “salad”. Yesterday, when I was visiting with B. and B., we were talking about the struggle to find a daily menu here. One that satisfies my gringa food tastes, and one where the ingredients are available. I think it took me about a year to feel comfortable with my food options here.