2015-12-12-0003Z


so I was just at El Parnazo drinking un litro de clara. a song was playing on the Spanish MTV equivalent on the outdoor TV, and I asked the guys at the next table if it were Maná. they said no, it was Jaguár. I said they sound the same. the older guy, sitting on an inverted 5-gallon bucket on the sidewalk below the tables, said the 3 groups: Maná, Caifanes, and Jaguár, all came from the family of Ricardo Arjona, hence the same sound. that made a lot of sense to me. he also mentioned Café Tacuba, which I also like. all this took place in a mix of Spanish and English, and since only one of the three had any English vocabulary to speak of, I believe I just might be getting better at Spanish.

tried some aloe vera leaf today. I prepared it according to a YouTube video which I have since been unable to find: cut it off near the base, then cut along both edges to get the sawtooth part off. submerge the leaves in water. since I was only preparing one leaf, I just cut it into pieces that would fit a quart-size canning jar. left them for a while to let the bitter latex out, then sliced off the flat outer leaf from each piece, and scooped the pulp out of the curved side using a spoon: holding it near the halfway point against the cutting board, scoop from the middle to the edge, then holding the skin from the scooped-out part, scoop the other piece of pulp out. I sauteed the aloe with some squash, adding the rest of my brine-pickled salsa to the mix to counteract the remaining bitterness, and it turned out OK. I ate one of the pieces raw: it was bitter, but not distressingly so, as in every other such experiment before this one. the extended soaking, and repeated rinsing, of the pieces seem to have done the trick.

I also hit upon the solution to my pockets wearing holes a few days ago, and finally implemented it today. bought a pair of gloves at Waldo today for 20 pesos, roughly USD1.15, and used those as pocket liners for my 2 front pockets. they actually work quite well, since things such as my pocketknife, sharpie, and nail clippers each have their own "finger" containers, whereas the folding hairbrush, dental floss, and reusable bottle caps can fit in the palm part.

one of the tiendas set up in the Cathedral area that specializes in tacticool shit has a plate carrier for about USD70, but of course I can't get any good titanium steel plates down here. what could I get from a welder that would serve the purpose? 3/8" cold-rolled steel? 1/2"?

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last updated 2015-12-11 19:21:25. served from tektonic.jcomeau.com