Friday, March 14, 2008

"Pure" Mexico


Recently I was eating bbq brisket at Longhorn Cafe in San Miguel.......a little bit of Texas in Mexico.......when it was pointed out to me that my right rear tire was almost flat. Ay caramba -I finished my delicious meal and headed to Pemex for air in the tire..........three days later, the same thing.......oy vey! I HATE to deal with anything that has to do with a car BUT I knew I HAD to.......so I got out my trusty Spanish dictionary to figure out how to say "patch" in Spanish and headed to a place that I "thought" they would fix the tire.........worrying all the way that I might not be able to communicate. (I don't know why I continue to "stress" about that) Anyway, I started out by telling the old man when I pulled in to this place that my Spanish was "muy mal" - "very bad" and then said could he patch the tire.......si, si he says........With that two teenagers take the tire off and all the stuff like getting it off the rim, putting it in a bathtub of water - truly an old bathtub - and then the old man comes over. I guess he is the "maestro" - he finds the problem, puts on the patch and then lets the teenagers do all the work to get the tire back on my car. Total time - 10 to 15 minutes: Total cost 30 pesos - so cheap I HAD to tip him. He broke into a HUGE grin and thanked me all the way as I got in the car..........I love it - I SO love Mexico! No pretense, just a place to do a job that needs to be done.

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