Just a Walk to the Market

This morning I walked downtown (8 minutes) to our weekly tianguis or market here in San Juan Cosala, by Lake Chapala. (Regular readers, do you ever get tired of my working the location into the first paragraph of most of my posts? It's because people come here from searching all sorts of topics online.)

I almost got attacked by a cat first thing. It was hissing at another cat or a dog under a truck and considered taking on my ankles.

Narrowly escaping that hazard, the rest of the outing was a piece of cake. I chatted with a Jehovah's Witness. She didn't say she was till I asked, just said she loved to talk about the Bible with others who speak English.

At the market, I sat down behind the stall of a friend of mine, Connie, who was looking especially beautiful today. I've written about her before... she and her mother sell plants. We chatted for a while. Then an American friend I hadn't seen in several weeks came by. I wandered down along the stalls with her a friend of hers. Learned that another friend of ours had gone back to the US to see about making some money. Got invited to a Christmas Eve party. Bought some produce from our usual vendors, Blanca and Carlos. When I commented on Carlos' beard, he said it was for the cold weather.

At another stall, I bought two wooden picture frames. I asked the vendor where they were made and he said in Michoacan, a state nearby. He lives here and his family is there.

While picking out a Mexican Christmas songs CD, I was greeted by another Mexican friend. Jose also commented on the cold.

As I wandered home, stopping in at the tortilleria for a stack of fresh hot tortillas (2 pesos, about 15 cents US), I reflected on cold weather. Taking off my long sleeved shirt because I was too warm, I thought: this ain't it.