Interesting things

Some interesting things:

1. I purchased some Oxy and when I squeezed the bottle, it came out brown. I think now I will be more conscious of my skin color. It’s like living on a planet where everybody has 3 legs, and the pants are made to accommodate. Applying brown facial cream is like putting on pants and discovering an extra leg. I wonder if elsewhere, where the Oxy is white, a brown person raises their brow as I did.
2. There are no gas lines. Apparently, gas is purchased in limited quantity. Some guy comes by and fills your tank. If you’re not home when he comes by, your tank doesn’t get refilled. They show up somewhere between 9am and 5pm – er, excuse me, 17:00. I’m not sure what the cost is quite yet and frankly I don’t give a damn. All I want is a hot shower. It would be nice also if this place were heated by the same tank (or heated at all – electric for example), but that may increase the chance of it being depleted come shower time. It’s currently 58F in my room. A small price to pay for a scolding hot shower, whenever it may come.
3. Mexicans drive with futility. There is a severe lack of stop signs and lights. The existing lights and stop signs are held in low regard anyway. I don’t know what the word “yield” is in Spanish, but I’m sure plays no role in the Mexican driving game. Whoever is supposed to go and who stops at a crossing is determined by whoever has the larger vehicle or whoever is the most insane. After driving around town with the boss fellow today I must have counted a dozen games of chicken while crossing intersections or merging. Nobody honks. What a coincidence, I just heard screeching of tires and smashing of metal right outside of my room.
4. Everybody has heard that you shouldn’t drink the tap water here. This really sucks when you’re thirsty and you’ve no bottled water. A sandpaper throat temps one to stick their head right under that spout, but then the prospects of dysentery helps to make the right decision. I worry about brushing my teeth of washing my face.
5. When it’s really cold some people put on gloves, a scarf, and/or a beanie. Other people wear surgical masks. At first I thought it was because they were protecting themselves from pollution or something. Realizing that the pollution isn’t that bad at all in SLP, I asked an English speaking local what the deal was. Turns out it’s because it’s cold. I have to be careful of letting in ethnocentricity when passing judgment, but sometimes reason kicks down the door. The only thing I can think of is that a surgical mask keeps their nose warm from their breath.
6. The wine section of the grocery store is divided into the regions from where they were bottled. I didn’t recognize a single label in the Estados Unidos section. Either their being scammed or these mystery labels aren’t that great. Canned beer is more expensive than bottled, chewing tobacco is totally alien, and the Spanish version of Maxim is Sexo. And like Mexican television, it’s better (well, the pictures are anyway).