Mexico – Page 13 – My Thought Spot

We now have Starbucks

Like them or hate them, Starbucks is loved by many. We had our first one open in town this last Friday. We knew it was coming and decided to double date with some friends of ours. But, we certainly did not want to go in there on opening night, so we waited till Saturday.

After a very nice meal at our favorite Italian joint, we walked across the mall and through the parking lot to Starbucks. It was definitely busy. We had already decided that if the line was going to make us wait too long, we would hit one of the equally enjoyable coffee places in the mall. Starbucks logo

I have only been in two Starbucks stores that I remember. Both of them were small. Big enough for 3 or 4 of those dinky tables and a stand up bar on one side. This one is one of the larger style stores. There must have been seating for 50+ people. All the seats and tables were filled. The line stretched out to one door, but we were able to stand inside to wait. We decided to take part in the atmosphere.

The average age of our group was 40. We were much older than 90% of the people in there. I remember seeing 1 lady older than us and I will grant that there were probably a few our age. Everyone else was 18 to 24 years old.

I have only had Starbucks coffee 10 times or so, therefore I don’t really know the normal prices. What my wife and I had cost $38 (pesos) each. That is about $3.50. She had a white chocolate mocha and I had a hazelnut something. Both were the small size. (Someone needs to tell Starbucks that small is spelled “S-M-A-L-L” not “T-A-L-L”). The mediums were $4.00 (approx.) and the large we did not remember the price. Anyone know if this is about the same price as in the US?

It is fun to go there on occasion, but I won’t be in there too often. There is no need to spend that kind of money on coffee that I could brew at home. Lest you think I don’t like good coffee, I do. I just know where I can buy good coffee and cook it at home for far less than Starbucks wants to sell it to me for.

They will do well here. We will enjoy going there a few times a year. We hear they have plans to open at least 4 more in town.

We are going to have babies!

Our baby bananas Our banana plant that we saved from the trash pile will be giving us a great harvest in about 3 months. This is the hardest part of growing bananas, besides trying to eat them all. They have been growing happily for several months. I am not exactly sure when we planted the sucker, but it was probably in April or May.

What makes this part of the growing process so difficult is that you finally see the bananas coming out and you know it will be at least 12 more weeks. We have not quite gotten to the phase where we will have to wait the 3 final months. This is our first time to grow a banana plant ourselves, but we have been through the process twice with some friends.

In the picture you see the reddish leaves. Those are protecting the hands of bananas. There are 5 hands that are already able to be seen. I suspect there are at least 3 more that will come out based on what I can currently see. But there may be more.

How many babies will we have? Probably well over 100! This sucker came from a mother plant that produced 130+ bananas. I don’t remember the final count, but when the mother plant was growing at a friend’s house, we would count them every so often and just be amazed as to how many there were.

It will be several more weeks before this process is over. I will try to remember and give you pictures to see of our babies as they grow up.

I mentioned that we are in the hardest part of the process, except for the eating of them. I love bananas. My whole family does. But when you have 130 or more bananas become ripe on the same day, it is really hard to eat that many in the small window of time you have. We will be giving many of them away and freezing some.

There is some fascinating reading about bananas at Wikipedia. Mexico was the 8th largest producer of bananas in 2005.

Checkers

We have a Checkers here in town that is not like the ones back in the USA. What is unusual about ours is that it is not just a drive through. It is a full size fast food joint with play place and everything. There are even X-Box game consoles that the kids can play on. Well, not just the kids. Some adults play there too. We stopped by there Friday and I grabbed this picture.

Good rain and falling hammocks

Last week I was complaining about too much rain, but this week I welcome what we have gotten. Last week was excessive (32″ in 4 days, half of which was in one 24 hour period). This week it has been much more calm. At the end of a 3 mile run this morning it started raining. Not a hard rain, but a nice sprinkle. It was nice. Especially since today was a very cool morning. We got to an overnight low of 70 degrees and it was 72 at the end of my run. Sprawled out in the rain

I laid down in the back yard and enjoyed the rain for a few minutes until it stopped.

Later this morning I assumed the same sprawled out position on the floor of the bedroom. This time it was not so enjoyable. I was talking to my younger brother on the phone while lounging in my hammock. I had been swinging slightly and was laying in the best possible position for what happened next. One of the hooks that holds the hammock on the wall slipped out of its hole. I went crashing down! Because of the way I was laying in the hammock–perpendicular instead of longways–I hit the ground mostly flat. Because I was on my back, I did not damage a shoulder. I also had my pillow under my head with an exercise mat on the floor beneath me.

If I had been laying parallel with the hammock and the hook at the end closest to my head had failed, then I would have come down right on my noggin. Also, without the pillow and exercise mat, I could have been severely damaged. Fortunately everything was lined up just right so that the worst was avoided.

My son said that he felt the floor shake in the whole upstairs part of the house. My wife was downstairs and heard me yell out and figured it was one of the construction workers from the street behind us that had dropped something big. Needless to say, she did not come and check on me.

My brother, however, had the biggest laugh of the day out of it.

Look what we have again

More Diet Dr Pepper Yesterday my wife hit the store that has previously carried Diet Dr Pepper. Though we have somewhat given up hope, we still walk down the aisle where they are stocked. She was pleased to see some on the shelf. This is the first time since early June that the store has had any. She snatched up half of what was available.

The Cherry Cokes you see in the picture are my wife’s. She has been judiciously hoarding them. I believe she has plans to drink one a month so that the box she bought in July will last until next year when we go back to the border.

Maybe someday we will be able to get Diet Dr Pepper and Cherry Coke on a regular basis. After all, we have heard rumors of an ice skating rink coming soon. There was even talk about a Starbucks coming in. You think their coffee is expensive in the US, I can only imagine that it will cost twice as much, or more, here. We may go have a cup sometime just to try it, but it won’t be a regular part of our lives.

Thank you to all of you out there who sent good vibes our way to get me the Diet Dr Pepper again. This should keep me sane for a bit longer.