slowly she turned

On Monday, many places were closed, and we spent a lot of time just hanging out and reading and watching a long Mexican farce on Netflix.

Sandy decided to get on a city bus and just ride around to see wherever it took him. I found a little art supply store just around the corner that had lovely amate paper sheets, and I hit it again the next day when I was trying to use up my Mexican cash before we left.

There was a sweet little coffee and pastry shop at the point of our triangular block, Cafe Zenteno. One thing that I found interesting was how small many business places were.

During the week you might see just a door opened to a counter crossing the doorway, with the person inside selling cold drinks or tacos or laundry services. This door across the street from our hotel sold tacos on at least one weekday. A dog barked at passerby at the window.

That night, we found a small place, Venencia, a mezcal and wine tasting bar, with Oaxacan small plates and wandering musicians stopping by. My tamale was wonderful. Sandy’s taco was extremely hot. Wickedly good, though. It was another friendly spot, with locals sitting at the bar and a diverse group of older Americans at the other table. Maybe they were tourists, but I got a feeling that they were retired ex-pats. Note that fried crickets were on the menu. We didn’t try them.