December 20

I can live here, for 2 ½ months. What I have seen of Victoria doesn't appeal to me as I imagine Halifax might if I were a Mexican. So I will settle into this neighborhood, which is rich in supermarkets and other box stores, and has all the things I need, including an internet hot spot at the Villa Hotel, if I can use it without being told to go away. My life will be as Spartan as this room, but that was what I had intended when I started planning this trip. I mean to spend these days writing, meditating, exercising and housekeeping, in the order of their importance. And drinking a little beer, and cooking good food.

I will live cheaply, for a Canadian, richly for a Mexican, and eat well. Beans, rice, and tortillas at the supermarket are very cheap. In US $, a kilo of rice is $.86, of beans,$.95, of corn tortillas, $.52. With those ingredients I can make the base of at least four meals, for at most $.60 each. Salsa adds significantly to the cost. I bought three tomatoes for $.93, three chiles poblanos for $.63, a bunch of cilantro for $.40, an onion for $.24, mango juice for $.69, and a lime for $.05, for a total of $2.94. I already had garlic and cumin seeds. If that batch of salsa will last two days I'll have flavorful meals for $1.35 each. Then we come to protein. A length of chorizo, which is good for two dishes, cost $2.14. A package of five marinated chicken drumsticks was $2.39, and 250 grams of sierra cheese cost $1.47. That boosts the cost of each meal to a maximum of $2.35, or $7.00 per day. $9.00 when you add in beer, at $4.19 for a six-pack of Carta Blanca.

Juan is in the bathroom, pounding with a cold chisel and hammer to break the concrete floor away from a defective pluming joint. The prognosis isn't good. He is saying I should go to another apartment; I'm saying no. I've spent five hours cleaning this one, and the other is just as dirty as this one was, and not as well equipped. Rosie hasn't been around today.

I have a pot of beans on the stove, and those ingredients made about a quart of thick salsa. I need to call Erin. She loves the smell of beans cooking.