Esperando

Greg sez:

"Esperando," or waiting, is an art in Mexico. "Esparar," to wait or, significantly, to hope, is a key to surviving here. If you wait long enough, you hope you will get what you're waiting for. If you hope long enough, whether in a line or on your knees, you may not be waiting in vain.

This morning I went to the ATM at the bank in the central plaza. Of course I chose to wait for the most inopportune time to go. Saturday morning is here, as in the States, the time when everyone goes to the bank. So I had no one to blame but myself.

No big whoop.

I waited in line about 20 minutes, in a queue of Mexicans and gringos (Americans and Canadians). Of course, it was only the gringos who complained. "Jheesh!" said the well-groomed lady in front of me. "C'mon now!" her companion chimed.

No big whoop.

I looked around and noted the sawed off sculpture of a dead tree on the closest edge the plaza. I admired two or three girls who hadn't yet whelped and lost their figures. I observed the Corona truck pull up with a bang and back up to one corner of the plaza. I saw the Barrilito store across the street (vinos y licores), where I'd bought a few beers the other day. I wondered if the bar just down the block, the Viejo, or Old Man, would be friendly to this old man this morning. (Waiting in line develops a thirst in some quarters, you know.) I tried to remember the word for blockhead, which I'd heard the other day somewhere, and thought might come in handy.

No big whoop.

I got to the head of the line, the head of the class, slogged through the Spanish on the ATM screen and got my fistful of pesos.

Now the whole rest of this gorgeous sunny Saturday morning lay before me.

I set off for "la tienda," or little store, of Felix, the guard who'd befriended us here two summers ago when we stayed at a gated community called El Parque. (Felix kept a few animals down the rode, and initiated me into the art of the pajarete, a concoction of fresh milk from the cow's teat, tequila, chocolate and coffee. I suffered no ill effects except disabling laughter! Salud!)

Nah, Felix wasn't there. No problema. I'd return in the afternoon, I told the clerk, and if I didn't, why, then, it could wait.