Showing posts with label Odd little story. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Odd little story. Show all posts

What Do You Do?

Full Moon Over La Paz

People often ask: "What do you guys do over there?"  The majority of our time is not spent sailing, or actually boating around if you want.

I'd say the majority of our time is spent either just sitting, reading, listening to the music or Howard Stern on Sirius, and our evenings are spent watching our favorite shows (right now that would be Shameless, Walking Dead and Californication).

Everything Takes Time... And Patience.

Broom Hilda? Come se dice en espanol?
Which we have plenty of (time), but the patience part? A whole n'other ball game! At least where I'm concerned that is! Not very patient at all...  *sigh* (Just ask Leonard in regards to the ongoing torture I've put him through these past few days because of my internet connection issues!)

La Paz has stores on every street corner. Some stores are "tiendas" like small general stores and hold everything from parts to build your own propane BBQ, to awesome terra cotta dishes and brooms. (Oh yeah, most stores have buckets of brooms right out the door, it appears as though these are always in need, especially when people sweep the sidewalks!) You can always find the unexpected...

The problem is finding what you're actually looking for!

And it's cool how some stores are almost organized per district. If you see a "everything-you-need-for-making-a-piñata" store chances are you'll find another right around the corner, and another one across the street.  And yes Virginia, there is a piñata store!

See? I told'ya!
But back (hee hee, I just said "but back", ya get it?) to finding what you're specifically looking for... Here's the simple stuff what we've been struggling with:
  • Markers. Regular old Crayola Super Tips Markers that WalMart sells at $5 for 40 markers of all colors! Kids are forced to color with crayons (wax kind) or pencils (wooden kind). Isn't that a sad thought for Mexican kids?
  • Pie dough. No dough! Here if you want pie you gotta make it yourself! And that means that I now also need a pie plate!
  • Half & Half Cream. Yeah they drink coffee here, but I guess they use milk or drink it black. If you ask for "crema para cafe" in a store they'll show you a can of cream that once opened has the consistency of sour cream. WTH?
  • Sunscreen. Oddly enough the sun shines here. Plenty. You would think this item would be a given. Actually I found some today, but it was total block. I don't want to block the sun I just don't want to be scorched by it!
  • Mushrooms. Am I hallucinating or are they simply not there? Again, today I finally found some mushrooms after searching and searching numerous stores, markets, etc. But still no baby bellas (my all-time fave) or portabellas. Sigh.
  • Caps. More specifically caps for gas cans. We have 2 diesel fuel jugs to hold extra fuel for the long distance runs and for some reason the caps broke! They just simply snapped off the top from being over-tightened. Our jugs are fine (at least I know my jugs are okey-dokey) but the caps are now useless. I've used up my shoes walking this town looking for caps. Nada. (See how at least I put good use to the Spanish I'm learning?)
  • 12-Pack of Coke. Forget about it. At least the regular Diet Coke with no added flavors of vanilla, or cherry, or other weird stuff. Can't do it. I guess Mexicans aren't about stocking up like their Northern neighbors - and simply purchase soda one can at a time. 
Mmmm... beer! Now THAT'S a tall one!

p.s. with everything coming in the quantity of "some of this" and "some of that" and "can't find some" you'd think the word "some" would be something I wouldn't struggle with when it comes to translating to Spanish!