Bolillo? Agua Tropical?? FISH???

Ahhh good morning Blog readers!
I am sitting, writing to you at the ungodly hour of 8:48am. Now, you might be saying to yourself, ‘that’s not so early,’ but you would be wrong. The fact is, I am a night person and on the weekends, do not go to bed until well after midnight. I believe I went to bed around 3 on Friday night and 1 last night. Additionally, as it is hot slightly warm here at times (and by that I mean all times), I drink a lot of water and thus have to use the bathroom 19 times a night, which gets in the way of quality sleep. Why, then, you might ask, in blazes am I up so early writing a blog? I will tell you.

In my apartment complex there is a phenomenon that I originally thought was charming and convenient. People walk around the different apartment buildings calling out what they are selling and if you should desire their product of the day, all you need to do is stick your head our of your window or over the balcony and yell your order down. Most vendors even bring your purchase right up to you, a very attractive marketing ploy for those of us who live on the 5th floor at the top of a hill! Well, it was charming and convenient until I encountered the ‘bolillo’ boy. For those of you who don’t know, a bolillo is a Mexican bun, often served warm and fill with some sort of delicious concoction. They go great with coffee. Which means they are sold in the morning. Early morning. Which means that, every day, without fail, the bolillo boy is outside of my apartment building yelling “BO-LI-LLOS” with alarming frequency and a voice that carries right into my window. On days when I am set to wake up at 7, it is a mere annoyance and I roll my eyes and roll out of bed. On Saturday and Sunday mornings, particularly when I have only been asleep for 4-5 hours, I’m not so thrilled with bolillo boy, as is the case this morning. But, such is life in Mexico and here I am, writing you this note.

Different vendors come at different points throughout the day and you get to know their schedules. For example, I can tell time by the “Donas y Empanadas” girl (4:15pm in front of my building). Also, you get to know your favorite vendors, similar to recognizing your favorite Madison street people, like good old Scanner Dan or Spray Paint guy. I quite enjoy Donas y Empanadas as she’s got the voice of a 50 year old smoker and has a nice song-like quality to her call. Agua Santorini guy used to be my favorite and I will imitate him for you upon request, but he must have been transferred to a different route because his replacement’s yell isn’t nearly as amusing. There is also Agua Tropical, Agua Hidropura, Agua Herendera (water is important here – it sure is nice that they’ll lug those huge jugs up my 5 flights of stairs though, no complaints there!), pescado (fish) guy, afternoon bolillo boy (not nearly as nerve grating as morning bolillo boy) and various other vendors whose calls sometimes Pako can’t even interpret!

I had to spend my weekend writing the first 2 exams for my 2 middle school classes, resulting in a long Saturday with Fantastic 6 by MacMillan and Touchstone 1 by Cambridge, not my two favorite companions. Compound that with the fact that Bolillo boy was non-Mexicanly punctual that morning and you can imagine my Saturday. Luckily, it’s now 9:05 Sunday morning and I have already proof-read my exams and am satisfied with them. That also means that I have made rough plans for both of those classes all the way through December! I pushed myself so hard yesterday so that I would be free to watch FOOTBALL today!!! OH THANK GOD FOR AMERICAN FOOTBALL SEASON! (My friend Vivi is smiling and shaking her head right now, asking herself how we can be such good friends). The Viqueens game with some guy named Favre is actually being aired here, so I’ll watch bits and pieces of that and then will head to a sports bar in town to watch my beloved Packers be lead to victory by studly Aaron Rodgers and a newly vamped up defense! I’d like to reiterate OH THANK GOD FOR AMERICAN FOOTBALL!

This week is a four-day school week as Mexican Independence day (Sept 16) falls on Wednesday. Woo hooo! Four day weeks are excellent!!! On Tuesday night there is a festival called “El Grito” (the shout/yell for you non-Spanish speakers) when people get all wound up and yell “Viva Mexico” a lot. It represents that one time that this priest-guy named Miguel Hidalgo gathered all these peasants and decided to march on Mexico city, declaring the end of Spanish reign in Mexico and eventually leading to the Mexican Revolution. Or something historical like that. (Just for everyone’s information, I actually know quite a lot about the history of the day and if you should like a more detailed and accurate account of that days events and consequences, don’t hesitate to ask). Anywho, this means that next blog will probably have some Green, White and Red pictures for you and a detailed description of how loud I yelled and what I ate :)

Ok, I’m off to make some coffee (discovered a tiny hole in the wall coffee shop that grinds the beans as you wait and makes up special blends according to what you look like – apparently I look delicious – and when I say discovered, I mean Pako took me there) and have a bolillo (just kidding). Then I’m going to curl up with my creepy book about fundamentalist Mormons in Utah. Ahh Sunday morning!

Weird, someone just started blasting Billy Joel’s Piano Man in Spanish… I keep trying to sing along and keep getting confused as the lyrics that I know by heart two times over are not the ones that are being sung… “un viejo sentado a mi lado, tragando su tonic y giniebra” (an old man sitting next to me, etc, etc).

Until next week, happy sleeping in on the weekends and Viva Mexico!
Saludos y besotes!
Leyah

PS. yesterday I made my first tortilla by hand! Picture next week!