Stannous Flouride's Book of Truthiness

Some automotive beauty from South of the Border

I finally ran into someone who knows me from the Haight.

His name is Isaac, he goes to UC Berkeley. He was wearing a Cal T-shirt and I had just met another UC studentstudent a few minutes earlier and I mentioned that.

“Are you from San Francisco?” he asked. “I think I know you.”

“I work at Roberts Hardware and I give Haight Ashbury walking tours…” I answered, starting the litany of where  most people know me from.

“No. You live on Masonic and you sometimes have garage sales. I recognized your tattoos.”

This happens to me a lot. I’ve run into people who know me or I know in NYC, Rome, Portland, Honolulu, Vancouver, and in Bangkok (twice). I was beginning to think it wouldn’t happen this trip.

Oh me of little faith…

I’m back at the Museo Nacional de Anthropologia where I used these postcards and a few others to explain to a young Chinese student who Frida Kahlo was and to gave a quick biography. A clerk who was listening in complimented me on it.

Though it meant a bit of a longer walk to the Diego Rivera Studio Museum I got off one stop early to visit this small but significant museum.
There was much more than the photos I am including in this post. I am just posting my favorites.
The exhibit ‘Segunda Naturaleza’ is spectacular. Using the Huichol technique of winding and glueing yarn to make images, he creates fantastic geometric works.
I also liked the flags of the corporate G-8. Even without the photo of the key it’s pretty easy to figure out which is which. I’ve seen the ‘Google search’ piece before. Probably online.
The question as to “Why are Americans… afraid of dragons” made me laugh then and today.

I imagine that Diego & Frida would be spinning in whatever afterlife exists for commie atheists if they saw the stores next door.
The cultural imperialism represented by Starbucks would be bad enough but the store to its right bears the name of the guy who designed the Nazi & Wehrmacht uniforms.
To their credit, Hugo Boss acknowledged their complicity and use of slave labor to manufacture the uniforms soon after the war (unlike Ford, IT&T, IBM, Coca-Cola, and a bunch of other Murrikan companies)

This entire trip I’ve been collecting various clever solutions to life’s problems that I’ve observed down here.
I’ve been saving them up for a big post but this one that I saw today is AMAZING!
If you’ve ever sat at a table on a tile floor you have undoubtedly used matchbooks, wadded napkins, or sugar packets to stabilize the table.
What is shown in the picture is 2 of 4 threaded feet that can be raised or lowered as needed.
This could be retrofitted to any table by simply tapping a threaded hole and inserting the foot.

Instead of heading south, into Zona Rosa, I headed north into uncharted territory. Where I discovered THIS!
Hundreds of painters exhibiting their work in what is a regular Sunday occurrence.
The image with the rosy hue is of the adjacent market where I bought some fresh mamey (a local fruit that is only available at this the of year.

To discover that I needed a MC or Visa from a Mexican bank to use the great municipal bicycle system.
If I were going to be here more than 11 more days I would consider opening an account (I even thought about it when I first got to Merida but figured I wouldn’t need it) but it’s not worth it now.
I’ll find another place tomorrow.

A new discovery. In this case it is the Plaza José Maria Morelos and the Plaza del Danzon.
Once again my strategy of taking random routes pays off with something that leaves me grinning.
Countless women and men of a certain age, dressed to the nines, and dancing in 8 or 10 little groups to swing, salsa, tango, and zoot music. A wonderful sight to behold.

I spotted these in a market that has scores of stalls selling genuine artisanal objects and surprised the shopkeeper by asking if it was peyote. He offered me one but I declined.