Esperando

Esperando: waiting, hoping, expecting

Yo estoy esperando. I am waiting. Yo espero. I have hope. I am waiting and hoping and expecting - for a letter from customs.

Last week sophie and I went to the post office to see if it was there, maybe forgotten on a shelf somewhere. Really we went because I feel I have to DO something besides wait.As we walked I practiced my spanish on her. " Yo estoy esparando para una carta de aduana en Mexico. Sabe usted esta aqui?" close enough. I am waiting for a letter from customs. Do you know if it is here? The postal clerk looked. It was not.

My problem is that Margaret, my mini cooper, has been in quarantine since Dec 17.

It happened like this. I was driving my Dutch friend, Sasha, and I to the cinema. She said,"Vers yur ticker fur yur kar?" I said, "What sticker?" "Da oun dat ya ned ta driv en Mexico?" "I don't know. Noone gave me one." "Ohh, I thk dats bad.I thk dey cud tak yur kar avey frevr widoud da ticker."

That is bad.

Sasha was right. They could. For forever. So, I paid 350 US bucks to a woman to write up the proper paper work which will result in permission, in the form of a letter that allows me to drive back to the border legally, to get the sticker. I will have 5 days to do this.I don'tknow if those 5 days are from the day the letter is mailed or the day I get it. She said I could expect the letter to arrive in a month-mas o menos. That was December 17th so it's already mas. And getting more mas.

I'm not good at esperando. Most Norte Americanos aren't.We expect quick service. When it doesn't happen we get bitchy.Quick is not the Mexican way. I am struggling to adjust. On Friday my neighborhood post man was coming out of the building as I was going in. We spoke in spanglish. He asked me to tell him what it was I was looking for. He promised to watch for my letter. He got my phone number and said he would call when it came in. Yo espero.

As soon as the letter comes I will leave Sophie here and drive north for a turnaround trip for a fucking sticker. To southern California it takes three days. Amazing. What century is this?

A few blocks from me a faded sign reads: Maria Calendaria Authentica. Who knew Marie Calendar was Mexican?

My new favorite food is alote or esquite: corn in a cup. They boil corn kernels in big vats then spoon the hot corn into plastic cups: a little mayo, queso, lime, & some hot sauce.yum. And homemade ice cream: vanilla, coco, or another one I forget,and long skewers of grilled shrimp or fish fillets squirted liberally with lime, and fresh fruit and cucumber sticks, on the street! I love the street food.

In addition to the kid who bangs on the pan behind my departmento, and the gallos and barking dogs and very loud even for me music, there is someone tonight playing the tuba. I kid you not. It's been going on for over an hour, BOM bom BOM bom. bom bom Bom, bom.. It's not bad tuba playing. Just different. I never lived next to a tuba player before.

My neighbors are eating the pigeons. I've watched several pigeons come and go from various cages on the wall of the house behind me. It wasn't until I saw a woman stroking one and then put it back into a small cage that I got suspicious. When I observed them throw out corn meal to fatten them up I was certain.

My suitor from Guadalajara called me last saturday night. It was the 3rd or 4th time he's called and I've missed them all. Sunday I decided to call him back. I went to Lianna's so she could interpret for me if I needed her to. With the speaker phone on I asked " Es esta reyes? I asked. He said, "No." It's incorrecto or something to that effect. Wrong number. Wrong number? He hung up. I think he panicked. I'd used the redial so it couldn't have been the wrong number. The lying bastard. I called back. A woman answered. She said she was his wife. Lianna did most of the talking." She asked what did we want? Who were we?" Lianna said, Nada. Nada. and hung up. I wanted to call back and say, " I am a woman he calls, a woman he met in a bar." are you really his wife?

What is up with that? Why would a carousing man give a woman his phone number where his wife lives-which he did, and why would he call this woman on a phone that is apparently a home phone? Color me perplexed.I will never understand men.

Our cold spell is abating. If anyone has the notion to visit the weather is perfect. The bay is dotted with white sails. You can have my undivided attention porque yo estoy esparando.

paz en tierra,
ruby

"You were born with wings. Why prefer to crawl through life?" -rumi









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