Whew! Lucky and I have been on the go! We drove into Merida and spent the night at my friends ( I took pictures but am not posting them yet..), on the return trip, we stopped in Motul to get the muffler fixed. The man I had scheduled the work with who spoke english -Arahel- wasn't in but the woman behind the counter remembered me and gave instructions to a leathery fellow. He was to show me where the welder lived/worked. We approached the truck and he hopped in back (Lucky had already called shotgun). After a very ciruitous path, we arrived and after a bit of rearranging of cars, I parked in front. My "guide" walked back to the shop ( about 2 blocks away). The welders shop was filled with various automobile shells, fenders, unidentifiable parts and a couple of dogs that roamed around. There was a tin roofed awning sheltering his collection of relics and he motioned for Lucky and I to seek shelter from the sun amidst the metal. We carefully entered and stood between two vehicles. One was an a big truck that looked like it might still be in use, the other was something I'm sure my husband would have excitedly told you what year and model it was. I , however, can only tell you it was- or had once been- a '50 something Ford, two tone red and white convertable. Two of the tires were flat, the back seat was gone and the roof hung in tatters like a broken unbrella. Amazingly, I saw no rust. A few minutes later, an ancient looking man that would have weighed in wet at about 85 pounds arrived teetering through on a bicycle. " Buenos tardes'" were exchanged and he shortly returned with a kitchen chair, kindly motioning for me to sit. It only took about half an hour for the welder to remove the old muffler and attach the new. I asked him if I was to pay him or the shop. The gist i got was, the shop, so after thanking him and wishing him a good day i left. Now, i could have been an unscrupulous person who giggled to myself about what suckers they were as i drove silently home with my new muffler, but we know thats not how the story goes...I of course returned to the shop, reminded him I wanted undercoating (diesel) sprayed on the truck to keep it from rusting out. Again, someone brought out a chair for me, this time a very young man, and a few minutes later, they were done. All of this, parts and labor, cost me $450 pesos- about $34.
The next day, i was businly painting the inside of the casita a brilliant sky blue when i remembered I needed rto pick up my laundry. I needed a break anyway so I grabbed my keys and called to lucky who ran to the truck with an excited grin and off we went to dzidzantun. As we passed a farm, a man who appeared to be the smaller brother to the tiny man from the auto shop, waved me down for a ride. I was going about 45 so had to slow down before I could stop. i looked in the rearview mirror and saw that he had a bad leg so i reversed it. He started to open the door to get in when he saw Lucky in the passenger seat. Now, folks around here treat dogs very differently then we do in the states. I'm sure he was dumbfounded by a dog riding in the front of the truck and, though he didnt say anything, probably wasnt happy about having to ride his skinny behind in the back of the truck while the dog rode in comfort...I let him out by the town square and he thanked me and toddled off. I rode the three blocks or so to the lavenderia and picked up my clean, folded laundry that cost me about $3 to have done. I also dropped off two throw rugs that will cost me about $1.50 to have washed.....
Lucky and i stopped at the tienda at the edge of town, some of you may know it, the "Santa Clara tortilliaria" where I got us a coka lite and some Cheetos ( they had no Chiwis torchiditos, my favorites..). As we rolled out of town, a truck that is normally used to haul livestock came towards me with a gaggle of sequined gals practicing their parade waves. It almost carnival you see.People everywhere are creating costumes and practicing dance steps for the big parades. These babes were wearing matching black sequined outfits that looked like something the Rockettes would wear, with fish nets, garters, feathers in their hair...and they were all men! I love it!! This is a very small town in southern mexico that, like most of the places Ive been here, have no problem at all supporting not just gay people but transgender, cross dressing people as well. What do you think the response would be to this truck load of hot mamas in say...Estacada?! I happily smiled and waved to them and they vigorously returned my greeting. Lucky and I opened the chips and coke as we passed and headed out of town to get back to our painting duties. "Did you see those fancy girls?" I asked him. He just smiled and watched an iguana cross the road....
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