Black Friday in Mexico

 So, at first I thought Black Friday was a different thing called 'Buen Fin' (good end) here.  There were stores advertising 'Buen Fin' sales.  It's a week of sales in the middle of November.  So I figured, okay, that must be Mexico's Black Friday.

Nope.  Buen Fin was thier own thing.  They *ALSO* do Black Friday here.  But they don't do Thanksgiving.

La Paz has a high gringo population.  All of Baja California does actually, both above and in my state, Sur.  You can't beat the benefit of being able to drive with your USA license plate all throughout the peninsula.

A lot of gringos settled in little beach colonies on the Pacific ocean or sea of Cortez.  But many made it all the way down to La Paz (and further South to Cabo, or Los Cabo the rich gringo area).

Still, turkey isn't really eaten much here.  They have turkey slices for sandwiches, and that's about it.  But...we have gringo stores.  Sams Club and Walmart.  I figured I'd find a turkey there.

Actually, the regular grocery story, Chedraui, had turkeys!  Fricking expensive $30 turkeys.  Is that what turkeys normally cost now in the USA?  I seem to remember being able to get a turkey this big for under $20 before.  It's just me and my mom, so a small one is fine...there really wasn't much selection.  Just 3 or 4 to pick from from a freezer section.

No stuffing.  I didn't check Walmart or online, but it wasn't in the Mexican grocery.  I could probably order it.  I don't know.  

At one point I pondered inviting our neighbors over to do Thanksgiving with us.  We'd have to do it in the back garden area.  That's a big undertaking for us, and I'd want to make pumpkin pies (no canned pumpkin here--just weird light brown 'sort of' pumpkins in the stores that don't make good pies).  And pecan pie, and all the normal Thanksgiving dishes to really show our culture.

But...lazy.  I'm still going to put together a dinner for the neighbor, but she can take it and eat it at her own house.  Maybe next year I'll plan something.  We have two neighbors we can invite actually...so...I'd need to get a big table and chairs.

The second neighbor friend is because we feed stray cats.  We've done it since we got here, so we're known as the 'cat people' on the block.  When people lose their cats they show up at our house.  We leave out dry food, and feed a 3-cat colony (along with several others who clearly have owners but like to 'eat out').  

So far we were able to get one lost kitty back to their owner.  He was easy to spot.  He had a cast on his leg.  So no doubt this wasn't a stray.  Anyway, we're friends with the neighbor who lost his cat now.  

Having neighbor friends is great because in Mexico they actually do leave packages with your neighbors when you're not home, and neighbors actually do give you the packages.  Very convenient!  The delivery men always call you on the phone too.  When has that ever happened in the US?  

I normally don't have to buy many gifts for Christmas. Just some stuff for my brother and his family, and stuff for a family I sponsor through a charity.  I've sponsored them for years and their kids have grown up, moved out, etc.  I don't know what gifts to buy them!  So I just send one big gift card.  They always appreciate it.

Letter from the Family

This year I have my neighbor, her husband, and her two daughters to get gifts for!  Man...Christmas was never so expensive.  But the mother cleans our house so she deserves a bonus, and one of the daughter is an 'intern' for my game company.  So...I'll get gift cards at least.

We've been here 8 months.  Life in Mexico is beyond anything we could have imagined.  I met another gringo the other day and he asked with a smile how I like it here.  Like he knew the answer...of course we love it!  This place is amazing.  

And to think...we waited so long.