Yesterday, Tuesday, I left the Centro de Idiomas at 1:30 and headed for Ursulo Galvan Street where, days before, I’d noticed two bookstores across the street from each other: Da Vinci Libreria on the north and La Rueca de Gandhi on the south side of the street.

I browsed both stores—preferring La Rueca because it’s bigger and less cramped and has more books—but both had a large selection of classic and contemporary titles in Spanish and some books in English as well. So at the Da Vinci, I bought:

• A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century, a history by Barbara W. Tuchman
• Goodbye Senorita Julia, a novel by Javier Memba that looked like it was written in a readable style (that is, in a style that I could read without spending equal time in a Spanish dictionary)

And at La Rueca de Gandhi, I bought:

• El Crepusculo de los Idolos by Nietzsche
• Vida y obra de Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz y carta a Sor Filotea, an anthology and biography of Sor Juana
• The Beet Queen, the best-selling novel of several years ago that I never got around to reading, written by Louise Erdrich

I've found that I don’t like to read in Spanish at night before I go to sleep. I often use reading as a soporific, but books and magazine written in Spanish don’t have that effect on me because I still have to struggle too much to understand them.

After I left the bookstores, I found my way to the Restaurante de Mamá Belem where the comida corrida costs 30 pesos—less than $3 American—for a delicious four-course meal. I arrived at 3:00 p.m., the height of the comida traffic. I had to wait for a table, and soon after I’d found one, I was asked by a server if I would mind sharing the table with a joven who had also been waiting for a table.

I don’t think this would ever happen in the U.S.—a customer being asked to share a table with someone s/he didn’t know. And not just I but several others were asked to share their tables as well. I said that would be fine, and I enjoyed the company of the 18-year-old high school boy who joined me at my table. I can't speak for him.

---

Tonight, a hair stylist, Nic Té, recommended to me by Isabel and Pery, came to my apartment to cut my hair—and charged me 100 pesos, less than $10 American. Actually, the haircut itself cost 5 dollars, but she charges 5 dollars for the taxi she takes to get to her clients’ houses. What a treat—to have a haircut at home in the evening at the end of a long day. And best of all, I'm pleased with the cut she gave me.
---

Here’s a photo taken last Saturday, September 15, at Pery’s house. She invited me and the coordinator of the Centro de Idiomas, Miguel Angel, and his wife Irma and daughter Mariela for a meal to celebrate the 15th of September, eve of Mexican Independence Day on September 16.

At the risk of sounding like a broken record—once again—the food was wonderful. Pery served tamales (made by her neighbor) of chicken with a sauce of chile seco and chile ancho, encased in corn masa, and wrapped in papatla leaves instead of the corn husks we’re used to in New Mexico—and o what a marvelous flavor those leaves imparted to the tamales! Along with them, Pery served patriotic plates of red and green gorditas, black beans, arroz rojo, and chicken in a mole verde sauce. And for dessert, we had a tres leches cake that Miguel Angel and Irma brought. What a meal that was!