Final destination

Final Destination Tomorrow I´ll be leaving Guadalajara for Morelia, which hopefully will be my final destination.  I considered several different cities but finally chose Morelia for the following reasons 1) I found an orphanage that I can hopefully volunteer at 2) there are a couple of langauage schools in town and while they´re not as cheap as the one in Guanajuato, they´re not as expensive as the schools in some other cities 3) My cousin Bobbi recommended Morelia a while back 4) The downtown is a UNESCO World Heritage site 5) It´s close to a National Park that´s famous for being on the migratory path of monarch butterflies 6) It´s located in the state of Michochan which is considered the most beautiful in Mexico 7) it´s a relatively short bus ride from where I am right now.  If for some reason Morelia doesn´t work out, then I´m going to head to Oaxaca.

Change I´ve been surprised at how little change some businesses keep on hand.  Three different times staff have had to scramble to give me change.  In all three cases, I owed the equivalent of $2 and paid with either the equivalent of a $10 bill or a $20 bill.  the most difficult was yesterday at an internet cafe.  I had nothing smaller to give.  After thinking about it for a moment, the clerk left to find change elsewhere.  He came back a few moments later unsuccessful.  We had a bit of a ¨standoff¨before he left again, this time in a different direction.  He came back with the equivalent of two $10 bills, handed one to me and left again, coming back a few minutes later with the rest of my change.

Reading I knew that Mexico was not a country of readers but the extent to which they don´t read has been a bit stunning.  Today, for the first time, I saw someone reading a book.  I´ve seen a few people reading magazines or newspapers but that´s it.  Otherwise, when they´re in a park or plaza, they just sort of ¨hang out¨or chat with friends.  I´ve also noticed that bookstores mostly sell information books (books on gardening or computers or whatever) but few novels.

Bimbo Bimbo is the name of the major bread company in Mexico.  In Spanish, the ï makes a long ë sound.  Still, it´s kind of funny to see Bimbo everywhere.  And what´s particularly funny is to see people wearing shirts that say Bimbo.  I wonder if they know what it means in English.  I suspect not.

The three oddest things  All happened today.  First, someone stopped me on the street and asked for directions.  If it had been a Caucasian person, I wouldn´t have been surprised.  But this was a Mexican asking me for directions.  Fortunately, I had a map in my pocket so I was able to help her.  Even still, I´m not sure why she would ask a ¨gringo¨for directions.  Second, was walking into a plaza where music was being piped in from loudspeakers and hearing Rod Stewart´s ¨Passion¨.  I kid you not.  Third was seeing a Mexican man walking down the street holding a little boys hand.  Okay, that´s not so strange.  Except the boy was Caucasian with blonde hair.  Must be a story there somewhere.

Living with a family While I enjoyed living with a family when I was in Guanajuato, I´ve decided not to do so in Morelia.  It´s just too hard.  Given my limited Spanish, we can´t communicate.  It´s odd enough to live with people you don´t know but 10 times odder when you can´t even talk to them.