Realtors for Ventura | Oxnard | Camarillo

Wal-Mart is just 2 MetroBus stops north of us.  At the beginning of our stay at the Casa earlier this week, we weren’t brave enough to venture on the bus so we walked.  It’s maybe less than a mile or so up Insurgentes (super big boulevard) from where the Casa is and this is a Super Wal-Mart – meaning it’s huge.

While Leslie went off to explore, I wandered over (like always!) to the electronics area and looked around the cellphone displays.  We’d already bought a new SIM card (telCel) for Leslie’s iPhone (so now we have a local number) but I haven’t done anything yet with my Sprint 4g CDMA phone (that’s for another post – most of the world is GSM, not CDMA).

So I took a look at the Moto X and Nexus 4 they had on display – whoa! The prices were almost double from US prices (over $9,000 pesos) and I couldn’t even buy the new Nexus (Google phone) 5 here.  $9,000 pesos is about $700 US , so I a snapped a picture of some lesser phones to consider and research.  Take a close look – they use the US dollar sign for pesos here!

My CDMA phone (which I love) works for data and Skype here as long as I get wi-fi, but it’s limiting because a lot of the time I’m off internet and cell coverage.  It’s something I’m thinking about, but for now we’re just connected via Leslie’s phone.

But – my phone works great as a camera, so I always carry it with me and I’m using it to start learning Spanish.  I take pictures a lot (like menus!), then figure them out with Google translate when we get back to the Casa.

Our coursework next week required us to get a printer.  So off I trotted to a HUGE mall 2 bus stops up from here to Best Buy (see below why there appears to be shiny glass below Best Buy in the picture!).  The initial clerk didn’t speak English and so he went and brought back Benjamin with him.

As Benjamin was showing me different printers, I casually remarked he spoke English well and he said he knew Latin, Greek and was studying French – wow!  I asked if he was a linguist and he said yes, but as we stood there and conversed he said he was very “into” Cicero, the ancient Roman philosopher and writer.

According to that Wikipedia link, Cicero’s “influence on the Latin language was so immense that the subsequent history of prose in not only Latin but European languages up to the 19th century was said to be…”

Benjamin said he’s studying linguistics at UNAM (large university here) and ultimately would like to get his PhD focused on Cicero.  He was somewhat embarrassed he was working at Best Buy, but I assured him we all have to earn livelihoods. Since he was a young “dude” I gave him a high 5 for his achievements and future goals!

But on to my printer.  He took me up to the cash register, explained to the cashier my order and I flashed out my brand new “chip and pin” MasterCard.  Problem!  I didn’t have my passport for ID – but I did show them my California drivers license and after a very careful analysis of my drivers license by a store manager and (I suspect) a lot of persuasion by Benjamin that I wasn’t a blackmailer, they accepted my card.

I don’t understand it, but Benjamin said that somehow a credit card transaction can be used for blackmail (or worse).  So when a “foreigner” shows up, and you want to use a credit card, be sure to bring your passport!

Chip and pin credit cards – we don’t have them (yet) in the US, but they are becoming common in the rest of the world.  There is an embedded chip in the card which requires you to type in a 4 digit pin number for greater security.

So off I went with my new little printer!

PS – the glass in front of Best Buy is a skylight for a large train station below!  You can look down and see the tracks.

Our new printer all set up in our room at the Casa and ready for school!

This is what a “chip and pin” credit card looks like. That gold thing is the embedded chip.

We’ve really started doing a lot of walking around here – to the Metro (subway) just around the block, the MetroBus (a few blocks away) as we start to get our bearings.

But walking here isn’t like walking around Ventura!

After a while, I think watching where you’re walking becomes kind of a sub-conscious thing because although I’m aware of dangers (gaping holes where a manhole cover used to be) and lots of things to trip me up, it’s become kind of a second nature to just know where my feet will be on my next step!

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We’ve been here several days now and a highlight of each new day has been meeting an eclectic mix of interesting people! Like who for example?  Check out these 3 good looking guys we met on Wednesday morning (I think it was).

When you’re grabbing that first cup of coffee from the coffee table, filling your cereal bowl boarding house style, grabbing a spoon and fork from the container in the middle of the table, exchanging morning pleasantries, etc, you’ll see a mix of people probably from around the world.  What stories – experiences – there are to be told!

While sitting next to Levi munching my cereal I casually asked where he was from.  The short answer is that he and his 2 amigos graduated from Goshen College in Indiana but the long answer is that the 3 of them have ridden their bicycles all the way up from Paraguay (or was it Uruguay?) – regardless, a super long and highly adventurous journey.  Amazing!  Ultimately, they’ll be riding until they get back to Indiana.  Because of dangerous narco activity in northern Mexico, they’ll fly from Mexico City to Texas then pick up the ride from there.

Never a dull moment around the breakfast table!

The Casa opened at 8 and we found out they also served breakfast starting at 8, so we just dropped off our luggage across the street at the Hotel Texas in our room (as Realtors would say – “cozy”, “intimate” – never “small”) and then walked back across the street to the Casa.

The Casa originally was a large home and the dining room has a table that maybe seats a dozen or more at a time. Multiple groups and individuals come and go, so every morning is an eclectic group of travelers from around the globe.  This Monday morning saw a Mennonite group from Saskatchewan learning about migration issues in Mexico (a future post) at 10, so we asked if we could join in and lesson.  After being up all night it was hard staying completely awake through the PowerPoint, but the topic was fascinating.

At lunch time, we walked back across the street – and crashed!