July 29 - Laundry Day

6:30 p.m.
Of course it is raining when I need to go pick up laundry. Of course I left the umbrella at school.
It hasn't rained for 3 days and suddenly it is pouring. Poop.

I started the morning by looking for the the laundry. There is a sign on Camino Ciruelos, pointing down a street and saying "Lavanderia La Mixteca #104". I went to #104 and it looked like a house, not a laundry at all. I went to a factory next door and asked and they said it’s right there.

So I went and knocked and waited. No answer. But it was before 9, so I waited. A woman drove up and I asked her about the laundry. She told me it was right around the corner.

Doh. I was glad that no one had come to the door of the house and seen this crazy gringa standing there with a big sack of laundry...I found the place, waited til they opened 9, and dropped my laundry.

It will cost 51 pesos - about $5 - to wash, dry and fold all my laundry. I am looking forward to clean clothes at last.

It is an interesting fact of life here that businesses and homes are mingled side by side, even in nice neighborhoods. In the middle of almost every street is a miscelanea - a tiny grocery store with other items like cigarettes, aspirin, hair clips - miscellaneous!
Then there are little doctor's offices, internet cafes with 3 or 4 computers, toy stores, what have you. It is all very compact. Our house has a doctor's office in the front room where Gaby practices when she is home from Mexico City.


These are dancers in traditional Oaxacan embroidered dresses