Thank goodness for planning ahead. Let me tell you today's events.
This week is "Holy Week" for Mexico. Much of the country is on vacation, inlcluding my employer. It has been a relaxing week where I have been able to get all my runs in for my 1/2 marathon training plan, practice many many hours for my upcoming auditions and give daily mock auditions to friends, and I've been trying some new recipes this week. As the week progresses, more and more businesses are closing for the holiday. The streets are going to start looking like a ghost town as more and more people head out of town to be with family and relax at the beaches.
One more little tidbit about living in Mexico. All apartments and houses use gas - to heat water and for the stove/oven. My current landlord insists on herself buying the gas for a common tank that my entire apartment complex shares. It usually gets filled one time a month, but of course, it all depends on the use of all tenants in the building. If we make it to the first of the month without it running out, the landlord automatically gets it refilled. The only trouble happens when it runs out before the end of the month.
Like today, for example.
Yes, I woke up this morning and realized that the gas tank was empty. No cleaning dirty dishes, no hot shower, and no cooking any food. But the problem gets 10x worse in this situation -- the entire country is going on vacation and many businesses are closed so the possibility of refilling the gas tank is slim to none from today until Monday morning.
That's right. No gas until possibly Monday morning. And it's only Thursday.
This makes a sticky situation for someone who has ambitious cooking plans for the rest of the week.
Shea and I called the landlord around 9:30 AM. She is out of town on vacation. Since she is the one who calls for the gas company to come and also the person responsible for the 5000 peso bill, we didn't quite know what to do. We called another gas company (Gas Pasa) hoping we could just "put it on a tab" and not pay anything, but still get the gas. Heehee. By 2:00 PM the gas company still hadn't arrived yet, so I wanted to head to Walmart to get some sandwich stuff. We hop into the car and as we drive through a main intersection, Shea says he saw a gas truck coming from the other road. I stop the car, he gets out and runs back towards the intersection. The gas truck turns in my direction, but doesn't stop to talk with Shea. He walks back towards the car and we continue on towards Walmart. At the next intersection, we run into the gas truck again -- this time, they were making a stop! Shea gets out and talks with them, eventually finding out that another gas truck was headed for my apartment at that exact moment. We hightail it back to my place and find a different gas truck in front of my building. We talk with these guys and learn that our landlord used to use this company and had an account with them, but not anymore. If we want gas, we have to pay for it ourselves. Bummer. But they tell us the name of the gas company that is currently contracted for our building, but of course, they don't have the phone number. They tell us that there had just been a HidroGas truck near the police station just a few blocks away from my place. We book it to that neighborhood but couldn't find the truck. We decide to head to Walmart but stop at an Oxxo store first to ask for the phone number of HidroGas. While still in the parking lot, Shea calls the company to see if we could still put in a request for gas for today. The woman says yes, they will send a truck out "ahorita" (NOW!). More fast driving back to my place (still without the Walmart groceries). I wait around in my apartment for the rest of the afternoon trying to practice. Shea goes back to his place to also practice. No sense in us both simply waiting for the gas truck to show up.
But, it's 11:46 PM and I still don't have gas. I'm going to call first thing in the morning and HOPE that the truck comes tomorrow. While talking with one of the gas trucks we found out that the gas companies are working the rest of the week, so it looks like we might have some luck.
Good thing I planned on us grilling out for dinner tonight! I started marinating some chicken and vegetable kabobs yesterday. The recipe is very tasty!!
Not sure what tomorrow will hold............ lets pray for some gas.
2 comments:
An important thing to remember in Mexico is that sometimes (almost every time) ahorita means "in a little while" which sometimes means "tomorrow". It's about as accurate a term as "manana" :) But strangely, I love reading about this gas story. Hope they come soon! :) -Anthony
Very true, Anthony. Ahorita can mean anything down here. Any type of word referring to a time period is never clearly defined. Booo.
No gas today, either. The gas companies aren't even answering the phones. So much for being open throughout the week. Grr.
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