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Couple of pix from last night, sita with the Ciao Bella cat, and the all singing, all dancing wait staff. Something of a Santa Cruz institution this place…

A n t s found my desk today so i went to the local chinese 99 cent store and asked if they had any insecti cide, sprays, powders, or chal k maybe? He asked how many, I said 5 (cos this stuff is hard to source) and he solemnly reached into the depths of the area behind the counter and quickly put them in a black plastic bag and took his 4.96 +tax. This chalk stuff is incredible, ants sniff it and fall down dead. I’ve always been amazed that this ‘non-toxic’ mix of homeopathic herbs and lemon extract could do that… Maybe a little naive on my part… Anyroad, I read the label and this time, instead of ‘non-toxic’ it says low-poisonous which was a little concerning… so I googled it and here’s one of the articles about it. Not quite as homeopathic as I’d thought…
On the other hand, the active ingredient, deltameethrinee is a common insecticide, the D E A seems to have issues with it being in handy chawk stick form which kids might eat/use. Which is fair enough, but we don’t have kids. just a dog and rabbits and they’ll be kept well away.
What do you reckon? Comment me your thoughts…
In other news. Une autre jour infernale chez CA 95076.

The title’s a Father Ted reference, just for the record… Anyroad, another lovely meal at Goa last night, Guadalajara’s only, premier Indian restaurant. The menus there on Flickr if you click the picture and go a few slides forward or back… No Kingfisher lager, but the Chilean Red’s very drinkable. And there’s a chance I’m doing their website in a few weeks time… César, si se te antoja un curry apúntame a la lista y vamos. Te invito unas samosas vegetarianas.

Through skype’s pixie magic I phoned me grandma this morning, we hadn’t spoken in months and it was lovely to chat. 8 minutes, no less, which is probably the longest call I’ve ever had with her on the blower. Bless her, she’s not been out of the house in 3 weeks and sounded a bit out of sorts but I think the call cheered us both up. Email me with your phone number if you fancy a chat, anyone. Or as I’ve mentioned, download skype and live the free internet telephony dream.

After seeing no cheap BBQs at yard sales, charity shops and Fred Meyer’s we went to Lowes for a new one, then spent the best part of 2 hours assembling it in the garden. Things went faster once I found a hidden bag of screws under the dog.

Leif and Sudarat came round later and we had a well pleasant evening of Sita’s cooking, local veg and tales of squirrel hunting up north.

We ended with an ’80s music trivia DVD game, which I got for $4.99 from Goodwill (seemed more fun than Bibleopoly)

Hope our neighbours were okay with screams of Kajagoogoo at around midnight…

Click the picture for bigger, it’s a composite of 26 photos I took on Sunday standing in the market by la Iglesia Santa Teresita. Browse around on Flickr and you’ll also find pictures from La Barranca, the huge canyon where Guadalajara suddenly comes to a grinding halt. It’s also where the UdeG school of architecture is, so on weekdays the park is full of furtive young couples carrying their blueprints around in cardboard tubes. Lovely.

Well the plan was to go to La Fuente cantina @ 8am (when the England vs Paraguay match starts over here), but I didn’t make it after a latish night sampling the wares of Sacromonte (new top 5 Guadalajara restaurant) and a few drinks at the bar opposite. i can’t remember its name, but its logo is the same as Enron’s (a slanted E) and finished off with Dr.Who (Cheap and cheerful cross between The Restaurant at the End of the Universe, The Matrix, The 5th Element and er, Dr. Who). A well nice evening all round. So I watched the match at home, good first half, dull second half… but we won… Then I spent an hour or so pestering people around the world on Skype and now I have to do stuff: Sort out the divine salon . com .mx website, source a Sopranos DVD set and a few other minor errands. Sita’s got the camera cos she’s off with her professor friend and a gaggle of reporters interviewing tequileros in the countryside. It’s harder to motivate myself to go out if I don’t have my camera on me, but I’ve got a few new podcasts to keep me busy. Found a great kareoke program too, more of which later. Comment if you’d like me to post my rendition of The Bangles’ Eternal Flame… Darlin’

Instead of full blown reviews, check out the ‘Consumed’ iFrame to the right (bottom IE users) in 10 minutes or so… Righty, a la chamba…