One Month To Go!!!

I blew a fuse yesterday. No, I didn't get angry, I literally blew a fuse. I had the CD player on and when I turned on my blowdryer, the lights went out. Good thing it was the middle of the day! I went downstairs to talk to my neighbour Estelle since we share the electricity bill and she still had power so we walked down to the fuse box and I reached up to open it since she is too short. Inside were two fuses. One looked almost brand new. The other one had disintegrated so much you could hardly recognize it as a fuse. She really alarmed me when she reached in and started rooting around the box, trying to dig out the fuse.

Then she yelled down the hall to our other neighbour who arrived brandishing a HUGE butcher knife! Estelle started using the butcher knife to dig out the fuse. I kept backing further and further away from the box, expecting a big explosion! Finally, Estelle handed me the fuse, in two pieces, and explained that I needed to go to the hardware store to buy a new fuse. I was almost ready for my lunch with the girls and figured the stuff in the freezer would keep until I got back. As I was getting ready to leave, Estelle came to my door and said she would go to the store so I gave her some money and she went, bought the fuse, brought it back and inserted it. Bingo, bango, bongo ... the lights went on! I have very nice neighbours ... :)

My friend "P" (not using her real name in order to protect her identity) got stopped the other day by the police for running a red light. We often hear stories down here of the police stopping people with non-Mexican license plates for various unsubstantiated reasons and demanding money in exchange for letting them go. This is what we call a bribe, but in Mexico, it is called paying a "mordida". Anyway, the cop asks her for $500 pesos (over $50CDN). She knew she was in the wrong but she didn't have $500 pesos. She only had $100 pesos. He dropped the price to $200 pesos but when she showed him she only had $100 pesos, he took it. My friend is quite the bargainer ... I think I want to go shopping with her! *smile*

What else is going on? More of my friends have experienced thefts in their homes. The primary targets seem to be small expensive objects: laptops, gold jewellery, cameras, etc. While filing police reports, they have been told by the local constabulary that all these thefts are drug related. Drug addicts looking for quick money to support their nasty habit. Thank goodness no one has been hurt ... yet. And anyone out there reading this who thinks that drugs and crime in Mexico are not related, think again. And get your head out of your ass while you're at it. I am doubly thankful for our newly gated entrance and my ever vigilant neighbours!