Just When You Think You're At The Bottom

living.boondockingmexico@yahoo.com

It's been raining cats and dogs here and that is a double entendre.  Yesteray the rains were so bad we couldn't get out of the house.  The street was flooded.  As some of you know, there is also a rio seco (dry riverbed) in the middle of our street where the water at one time was over one meter high.   I had left for the gym and had to turn back.   We tried several times yesterday morning but to no avail.

Finally, I made it out around noon as the rains had died down but the water was still pretty high.  I took my time and made it through the water only to get to the highway to findout the southbound lanes were flooded and they had shut it down.   Waiting patiently, they allowed cars to get through being ushered by our Fuerza Civil state police.  I headed to Allende to get to school and when I got home later I found that my front license plate was missing.  That requires making a police report, copies of the original invoice, title and registration.  Add that to the list of things pending;  missing passport and renewing my driver's license.  

This morning I headed for the American consulate.   I stayed in town last night only because I had a 10:15 appointment and needed to have passport pictures taken first.   It all worked out.   I had a great sleep last night as the air in Monterrey had cooled from the rains.  Windows open with the breeze and I slept a full eight hours.   I left the house this morning, had my pictures taken and off I went to find the new consulate.  They have moved out of the city and are just below the autopista to Saltillo.  That was an experience that I try to avoid.  Too scary to be there and they are very strict with their rules.  I won't go into details but I haven't been there for over 9 years and that was when I renewed my passport the last time.   Well, I passed with flying colors and I will have a new passport in two to three weeks.   They gave me a paper to show at the border next week along with my birth certificate to get to Texas for work.  

The clock kept ticking and Juan calls.  He wants me to pick him up on the way home so we can go file the report for the missing license plate.   First I stop for my driver's license renewal.  Great system I have told you about before.   It took me all of 12 minutes and I walked out with my new license.  They do a check for pending offenses, take my picture, I show my old license and pay the amount.   Done.  I called home to say I was on my way and Juan walked up to the highway to meet me.   

I pulled into the lateral in Los Cavazos and  could see him walking across the pedestrian bridge with paperwork in hand.  He got in the car and said, "let's go to lunch first".  What?  This could take all day I thought.   He then told me he started to leave the house and realized it was muddy.  So he went back for the car.  

As he headed down the street he walked across the riverbed, waters receded, and decided to look down inside.  He entered the riverbed mud and all, and there it was, all beat to heck, my little license plate.   Can you imagine.  There is a fence that goes across the water and that is where it got stuck.  

Saved by the bell along with lots of time, hassle and money, we headed out for a fried shrimp lunch and a long nap afterwards.  Now that's an ending to a story.