10 Bucks a Day!

Friends often ask, why I chose Mexico. No they are thinking about change also as change attacks their complacent comfort zone. Not being Rockefeller or T Boone Pickens, we only have a limited amount of dinero to last until dirt hits my cold face underneath the crab grass. California is worse for making the funds last, Ok maybe Idaho would be better, but figure on how many trees of cubic feet of natural gas it will require to keep the frost of my cold bones, we needed to seek possible alternatives.
I figure that Mexico will catch up to California at some time, but it will thankfully be after I am recycled for cilantro or a nice tomato plant. Yesterday we walked around the plaza, I splurged on buying several pairs of earrings for my wife, had a coffee and then we decided to have a shrimp cocktail.
A shrimp cocktail in an average California restaurant is usually a small ice cream dish perched up on a little stand with maybe a half dozen 21-25's impaled on the rim of the glass, dusted with drippings of a cocktail sauce. (21-25's is the size, of the shrimp, you get anywhere from 21 to 25 per pound)
The cost usually between 9 and 12 dollars depending on if the place has white paper, or white cotton table top covering.
La Chema a small dive on the street which circles the town which proudly displays 3 separate refrigerators loaded with beer, softdrinks and flavored sugar water adjacent to the master chef's counter where he chops the onion, avocado, cilantro then mixes it with Katchup then dumps about 25 (35-40's) into the tall glass for the waiter to present to you along with tostadas and an assortment of hot sauces. The damage per cocktail 30 pesos. A ice cold Negro Modelo was 18 pesos and for the two of us, sharing a beer plus individual cocktails and tip it was 105 pesos.

Ok, I was wrong, it's less than 10 bucks. Yesterday we were getting 13 pesos for the dollar. Let me do the math for you. Figure on $ 7.50 in California dollars. Since we had those large cocktails our dinner tonight will be a gordito that we bought at the plaza, for about a buck or so.

It is interesting to note that our chef was wearing nice white duds while mastering the manufacureing of our shrimp cocktail. The chefs jacket was actually a pharmacists coat. I guess any white smock will do, a white coat is a white coat!

We don't go out every day, so the whole chicken that we get for $ 3.50 lasts us about 3 to 4 meals. Day one we have roasted or grilled chicken. The garbage bones and body start as a stock for soup later on in the week. Day two we skip the chicken, day three we will have a cobb salad or such with diced leftover grilled chicken. We skip the chicken on day four. Day five will have a great mixed soup with the stock, vegetables that are either left over or starting to get old, maybe a chili or two and some magic herbs and spices.
Were not finished!
Day 6 will have Breakfast with Ciliquililes. Thats Eggs, with beans, little cheese, tortillas with chicken in a sauce.
The next week we skip chicken for a whole week!