three Mexican gentlemen

Yesterday in the late morning I was in the bathroom brushing my teeth when the bell rang at the front door. Toothbrush in hand and mouth full of paste suds I went to the upstairs balcony and leaned over to see who it might be. Three well-dressed (for the beach) and well spoken gentlemen looked up and were slightly startled to see some señora, foaming at the mouth and waving a toothbrush at them. I indicated, "Just a minute," got myself together and went down to the door. These three gents were asking if they could rent space on our next-door lot to pitch their casas de campo (tents) for their stay. I considered the situation: how many might there be? how many screaming children? how long might they want to stay? three days? a week? They assured me it was only for one night. I was completely won over by their very polite manners and by the fact that they had even bothered to ask before squatting and tearing up the place. They said they would be here until media dia today. In the end I said yes, but please clean up the place before you leave. They were very grateful and went away to set up their little camp site. Two cars pulled up and 4 adults and 5 little kiddies got out. They did indeed pitch two small tents against the wall. Then they headed off to the beach for the day. I didn't see or hear them again until about 7:30 this morning. I think the party divided up and some went to another spot as I never saw the full contingent again until this afternoon when they again rang the bell to say they were leaving, they had cleaned everything up and muchas gracias I wished them bien viaje and we parted with smiles all around. They'll probably be back next year.

The disco wailed and screamed until 3 AM this morning, but I slept pretty well despite the horrid noise (Marie calls it Monster Vomit). After the discos shut down the freelance bands start up. They are down on the malecón, having been boozing and carousing all night. Then they decide it would be fun to start playing various instruments, the louder the better. This went on for an hour or so. Then I guess complete exhaustion took over as they all fell silent at the same time. As I am writing this I can hear one of the bands tooting and drumming outside. Here's what I could snap:



The white pick-up campers from across the street have packed up and disappeared, leaving behind, besides my dead shrub, quite a pile of trash that guess who will have to clean up. This is really the worst part of these two weeks; the mountains of garbage left behind. The concept of "put it in the trash barrel at the end of the street, for God's sake" just doesn't exist.

The disco has opened up for the rest of the afternoon and night; it's now 4:30 PM here. They will probably go until at least 4:30 tomorrow morning. At least they waited until Good Friday Mass was over before starting.