SATURDAY

................I left the house about 10 am with my book today. Before I left Natalia reminded me that she was having a friendly get together with some friends at 2 pm and I should try to be there. I promised I would and she requested a bag of ice cubes too. I went to Costanza's for lunch today but the guy who usually waits on me who speaks a bit of English was not there so I ordered a Tuna Salad and a bottle of water. She brought a Tuna Sandwich on toast with French fries. I didn't complain and enjoyed the meal. The sandwich was made with dark chicken which is my favorite so it all worked out fine. I arrived back at the house at 2pm with 25 pounds of ice cubes and the party was underway with two people having already arrived. One of the two was a guy from New York that Natalia and her group had met the night before at a bar and she invited. He is a computer engineer working in Mexico City who just happened to be on a weekend side trip to MZT just because he had never been here before. He was interesting to talk too but she also invited Jorge whom I have met before and as before he was the life of the party. He and Jim had last night to talk about and I was able to join in because there was a lot of English being spoken. The party is still going on as I type this.. . . . .On another note, helicopters woke me up at daylight, flying low over head. A little later Natalia told me a friend of hers phoned to let her know the authorities had a drug cartel kingpin in custody after raiding his hotel room on the Malicon. This guy is big and there is a chance that it might have made the news in the States. A bit later she called  back and reported they had caught another drug big shot close by. I mentioned to Natalia that was a good thing and she reminded me that the folks around here may not agree because now there is a possibility that a Cartel war could break out in town to decide which person is going to take over the now vacant position of Drug King. I must admit that thought never entered my mind. Natalia feels bad things could start happening in town.

 These two cattle drives represent twice that Natalia stopped to ask the farmers how safe it was to proceed to the reservoir that supplies fresh water to MZT. Both times we were told that things were OK to the dam but they did not suggest we go much further because the police do not patrol that far away from town. Mary Jane is King up there and strangers are not welcome.

 

 There are a few rough spots on the road  but they never lasted too long.

We arrived at the dam with no problems, there were a couple of carloads of young guys there but they were friendly enough. I was taking pictures while Natalia was laughing and enjoying their company.