Today is La Quincena

living.boondockingmexico@yahoo.com

Today is La Quincena or payday. Most Mexicans are paid every two weeks or on the 1st and the 15th. So being Friday, traffic will be a mad rush and everyone will be out at the malls, restaurants, casinos, and video game stores. I have a wedding to go tonight but I am feeling a bit under the weather today and have decided to stay in bed this afternoon. I don't know if I may have eaten something bad or if I caught a bug. If I do go to the wedding I will post some pics tomorrow.

This morning on the way to my classes the clouds were laying low over the city as a cold front has moved in. I was able to take a pic of La Huasteca. It is really beautiful. I hope you can see the detail in the photo. Monterrey is actually situated right in the middle of the mountains but I think most people are so accustomed to them that they don't pay much attention.

After that I made my usual stop at the 7 Eleven to get a cup of coffee and pickup the newspaper. The paper boy wasn't on his corner this morning, maybe because I was too early. 7 Eleven here has the best coffee. They even sell the ground coffee to go.

Can you figure out what all the publicity says on the front window?

On my way home I needed to stop by the print shop. I ran out of "recibos de honorarios". Those are my invoices I use to charge the companies I work with as an external consultant. The forms are regulated by Hacienda (Mexican IRS) in terms of calculation space, use of RFC (registration number) and the printing company that does the work. The print shops are audited by Hacienda on a regular basis to eliminate any funny business. My print shop has been around for as long as I have been working on my own, about the last 15 years. They are fast, inexpensive, honest and most of all nice guys. They have the print shop and in the last two years opened a tienda de aborrotes (small produce store). I'm happy for anybody who works hard and does well. They are located in la Colonia Independencia which is where many people from San Luis Potosi settled many years ago when they came to Monterrey. It has its reputation as the most dangerous neighborhood in the city but I have been going there for years. Who knew?

Feel free to pass along my blog to family and friends. I won't be shy about the fact that I am trying to build readership here and to spread the word about living and boondocking in Mexico. If you have any thoughts, comments, or things you would like me to show on the blog or investigate, drop me a mail and I will respond. (you can't offend me, and if you do . . . . . ) :).

Have a great day and if you see a penny on the ground, pick it up. They all add up.