Tradition – Numero Dos, Por Favor

It seems to have become a tradition, when we spend the month or more in a foreign destination, for me to get a haircut.  We find a barbershop, in this case in downtown Oaxaca, and I take my chances. They must make haircut razors from a universal format the world over, because all I ever have to do for my complicated haircut is ask for a number 2, and barbers regardless of their language know what to do.  The number 2 refers to the attachment they put on the clippers to give a uniform cut, in my case very short.

My Oaxacan barber was a real pro.  He trimmed; cut, shaved, and I certainly came out as handsome as ever!  For this sartorial splendor it cost me all of 60 pesos, a little less than $5 U.S.  I felt so good about this, that when we got to the Zócalo, I sprung for a 20 peso shoe shine.  You just can’t have too much special grooming.  After all this work, it was mandatory that we have a “Lester Moment”.  Whenever we are traveling with Les and Carol Cooper, it is absolutely necessary that at about 11 a.m. we need to stop for a latte or cappuccino.  In honor of Les, we stopped in for a leisurely half hour of people watching and coffee drinking at the Italian Coffee Company, the local Starbuck’s wanna-be on the square.

This was our last visit to the Zócalo, and it was only appropriate that the streets around the central zone were blocked off at the corners by taxi cabs.  Whfat is a day without a protest of some sort?  Our suspicion was that they were protesting to get higher fares, which most likely were being regulated by the municipal government. This was confirmed by my shoe shine guy.  They quickly made their point as the traffic was moving normally by about 1 p.m.

Mary Ann made her final stop at a couple of her favorite handicraft stores, and if you can believe it, she found a few things we really needed.  This consisted of an Atzompa style pot and a very nice native necklace.  She assures me there is adequate room for this in our luggage and this year we will not have to ship anything!  To top off the trip she selected three sets of ear rings from a street vendor costing the grand sum of 10 pesos each, for a total sum of less than $3.  Can’t beat that!

 

Numero dos, por favor!

The Taxi's make a stand!

 

Quirky Living Note

 

Fresh fruit and vegetables – It seems that you can purchase fresh and vegetables everywhere here in Oaxaca.  You find them in the mercados, supermercados, mini-mercados, at roadside stands, vendors in the middle of the highways, tiny fruit and vegetable stores in every block, and what today was a new one.  We saw a pickup truck with a canopy going door to door coming up our street loaded artfully with fruit and vegetables.  Well, if you cannot go out, they will come to you!