Awakened at 6:45 am by a guy running a leaf blower! Sunup isn't until 7:30. Got up at 6:55. Leaf blower quit at 7:15. Then the first bell ringer started: bell - pause - bell - pause - ring bell 16 to 18 times - pause - bell - pause - bell. This ALWAYS happens in the morning, usually in the evening, and several times during the day.  

Worked on the blog until 11:00 am. Felt a little chilled all morning. Got a bit of a cold. The blog is finally coming around; the problem's been with the photos: if they don't fit into the blog the way I want them to, one of the things I can do is resize/crop them. I've had trouble re-importing them into the blog once they've been cropped. Pretty sure I've found a solution. I made slight adjustments to the first five blogs, so I'm on a roll.  

Time for lunch, and I needed a hot shower (thank goodness this shower gets nice and hot).  
Walked around looking for the restaurant I'd selected. Didn't realise the street changed names (again this happens to me?) So, I went a little farther, turned at the next street, went about five blocks all the way back to the main street, turned back to where I came from and past that a couple of streets, back down again and this time found the street I wanted. Hurray! No, boo: it's closed on Sun-Mon-Tue. So I hiked around some more, altogether almost an hour, 'til I spotted Bruno's, another restaurant catering to gringos.  
 
 
 







 







 


 



 






















 
 
Now I'm hot and thirsty. Found a relatively cool spot, asked the waiter if he had rum: he said no, but then I spotted 'Cuba Libre' on the menu. They use lemon instead of lime; had a definite lemon taste. Ordered meat loaf (the rest were sandwiches, or liver and onions) [yes this place caters to gringos]. Entrees seem to take about 20 min. everywhere (even the enchiladas I had yesterday), so I'm guessing everything is made to order. Well, I won't be ordering meatloaf anymore: it was about 45 min. 'til it got served. It was good, made with corn instead of onions, had a choice of fries or salad; salad was just iceberg lettuce with ranch and some red cabbage (but there were pine nuts on top). Cost: $3.50 Cuba Libre $3


 
Walked for about another hour. It's about 3:15 pm and hot out today: 86º in the shade, 99º in the sun.  

So here I am, back in the room, chillin' out.  

I want to stay in my room (still have a little cold). Went out and picked up some rum and coke. Came back and asked the desk clerk if he had ice. He said he was expecting a delivery soon. Worked on blogs for a couple hours. Still no ice, so I went to the local 7eleven and got a cooler and ice. The restaurant in the hotel makes pizza, but they're closed today. There's a little restaurant just a few steps down across the street, but it's 7:00 pm and they're closed.  
 Found another pizza place after about 20 min. Ordered a med. veggie. A minute later I see a young man walk out, go across the main drag to a vegetable shop, and come back with four tomatoes. Don't know if they refrigerate them or not. Maybe everything is always that fresh. It doesn't seem like anyone keeps much of an inventory of anything: I ordered a glass of wine one night in Jocotepec and one of the waiters went out and came back with a couple bottles. Luckily, there always seems to be a source nearby if someone runs out of something. If you have a 'big' bill (they run $20,50,100,200,500 here) of $200 (only about US$12) or more and you're in a place that has low prices, they can't break it for you. So they pop over to the shop next door, or send a runner (children just pop up as needed) down the street to someone who can make change. And it's not like you have to wait a while: in less than two minutes, it's a done deal, and no animosity shown from the clerk.  

So I get this 13 in. pizza with tomatoes, onions, green bell peppers and black olives - for US$7!
Rum and coke and pizza. I just vegged out (literally, ha), read and went to sleep happy.