México - Day 1

April 6, 2007

I slept for a long time... about 9hrs.
I was up by 10am, turned the TV and the light off...

I open my door and head to the bathroom.
As I come out, my Dad says, "Buenos Dias, dormiste bien?"
and Irene asked if I wanted some coffee...
Oh, coffee... I so needed something to jump start my system after the system crash I've had the last few days.

It's "Good Friday" - "Viernes Santo"
and as you may, or may not know... nothing is open on Christian Holidays in Mexico.

Anyway, Irene asked what I want to eat for breakfast, I am NOT a morning person, that includes breakfast... I just wanted coffee..!

Irene made some scrambled eggs and home made tortillas..!
She know I wanted to get a "Boing de Mango" but didn't find one at "Super Siete" - 7-11 to the rest of us... so I had a "Jugo del Valle sabor Mango" and second hand smoke...
Yes, my dad and Irene smoke one after another one.

After we cleaned the table, we decided to go to "Gigante" a store similar to Fred Meyer... we needed to get groceries...
I tagged alone because they wanted to know what I like to eat... and I also needed to get some toiletries... and I wanted to leave the house and start exploring.

Guess what..?
It's raining..! - I don't like Portland because of the rain, and now I'm in Monterrey with rain..!
Not a very good first impression..!

Anyway, we're on the road... and nothings seems to be open... it hit me then that it's Good Friday... As we pulled to the parking lot, I see a "Casa de Cambio" - perfect, I need to exchange some US Dollars, but of course it's not open.... and next to them, I see a Radio Shack...
I walked in, and ask if they have a Wi-Fi Router... "un que?" - Never mind... I guess there is no wireless here, but I have a card... what to do..?

The four of us walk into Gigante... Carlos stayed home playing video games

The first thing I see... Plasma TV's - a 21" TV is going for US$900... no way..!

For those of you that don't know my Dad, he walks EVERY aisle in the store...
This time I didn't mind because it gave me a chance to see all the stuff that they have...
I ended up buying a bag of "Pinguinos Marinela" (cupcakes), "Sabritas de Limon y Adobadas (Lays Chips- Lime and yes BB-Q), and my "Jugo Boing de Mango" and some other things that I started to crave...

We had a shopping cart full... it took two "Cerillos" (child baggers) to put every thing in the bags, which by the way, are bright red... and 1/3 smaller than regular grocery bags...

We left the store, and Irene wants to go get meat from the meat market...
We drive for about 5 minutes, in the rain, on the "freeway"...
We get there... and they are NOT open..!
It's "Good Friday" and you are not supposed to eat meat, so the meat market is not even open..!

So we drive for 15 minutes, this time on side streets, we get to a part of town that is freaking ugly... and out of my smart-ass-mouth comes out... You didn't have to take me to the better part of town on a rainy day... and they all start laughing out loud..!
We get to a chicken market... "Pollereria"
And they have tones of signs... Their main sign reads... Spring is here to Stay... and next to that... they have a smaller one that reads... "Se busca persona que se quede" (looking for a person to stay) I asked my Dad... Dad, I guess Spring was so short that they had room for another person to stay, huh..?

Anyway, once we came back, the adults had a shot or two, actually I had three shorts of Jimador hehehe... and a lot of second hand smoke too...
Marisa called while we were having our second shot... and watching crappy TV coverage of Spring Break from Tampico.

In the mean time, Marco plugged in my laptop to their cable modem via Ethernet, and he has his desktop via USB...
I chatted with friends for a while, and took care of some finances via Internet...

Then I took a "siesta" while my dirty laundry was n the dryer...

8 o'clock came fast, and we were call to go down for dinner... it wasn't fish, nor beef, it was the chicken... made with Spaghetti Sauce and Aux Juice, but not baked... it was more like a "Mole" and it was good..!

After dinner, we turned the TV on... nothing good downstairs, so we all went to our rooms, I started to post my blogs, and chatted with some friends and family...

Oh, I talked to tia Sagrario... my Dad's youngest sister... she wants me to go see them next week...

I've watched a hand full of US shows dubbed in Spanish... Malcolm in the Middle, Sponge Bob, Derrick and Josh, Judging Amy, and even an Animal show that I've had already seen...

Well folks, it's 3:30am... it hasn't stopped raining, and I can hear my dad snoring, and I should go to bed... tomorrow is "Sábado de Gloria" and nothing is open either..!

But we have to order Sky for my room, so that way I could get more than the 3.5 channels I get so far.

I do miss my 36" TV with 70 something channels, I miss my Black Tiger Coffee in the mornings, I miss my new bed ;) I miss my liberty to come and go whenever I wanted and where ever I wanted - that will come as soon as it stops raining, and I get to know the city
But most of all, I miss YOU, the friends and family that I saw/talked to everyday..!

Besos!

Next... Day DOS..!