SATURDAY

...................Natalia was happy to report that her car will be repaired at no cost to her. This after she made a big squawk and the head of the Mzt section of the University admitted they wanted no noise from any lawyer involved. She is his secretary and has a lot of pull in Mexico City too. I think they were informed even before the boss. You do not want to mess with Natalia. You may recall the Salmon incident last year or the year before. Customs refused to allow me to bring her a package of Mel's smoked Salmon and she had it in her hand the day after I mentioned it to her. I posted a picture of her holding it up and smiling after she got home with it. To add to the story she didn't have to drive out to the airport to get it; the customs man took it home and held it for her.. . . . . . . I didn't go out of the house today except to sit on the patio for a while and read. Natalia was having a little family get together this afternoon and she was gracious enough to ask me to join in. I don't understand the language at all but they are fun people and most of them speak fairly good English. Natalia 4 is bilingual already at age 6. As soon as every one left this afternoon Natalia grabbed her purse and car keys at the same time announcing that she was going out for the evening. She does not know what stop means.

In Mzt they have bicycle lanes protected by iron posts buried in the ground. There is no parking in the bicycle zone! If you park beside the posts there is not enough room for the traffic to get by. All of the streets in Old Town are one way, Except the Malicon which is two way in both directions.

This is another un-enlarged shot of a 'starving' bird swooping in to see if I have any food to toss it's way.

Here you can see the entrails placed on the end of a stick that the guy holds up in this case shoulder high to entice the birds to come take it.

In this instance the bait is held only waist high.  They are brave, the bait is always taken by one or another of the birds.