To mail the postcards, I went to a postal center and what a quirky affair it was! The place felt like something right out of Harry Potter's Diagon Alley. Welcoming people to the center was a sign on the front door that read, You're welcome to bring in your cat but it's at your own risk. Being as I didn't have a cat with me, I felt it was relatively safe to enter.
Once inside I found myself in a dimly lit and dusty room. There was a tall counter to one side that was piled with kitsch. A couple of wooden stools were positioned in front of the counter and a man sat there, his shoulders hunched over his phone. The light from the screen lit up his face but he neither glanced at me nor moved a muscle as I let the door clang shut.
Not knowing if the man was a customer or the proprietor, I began browsing the nic nacs that filled the space. Postcards, greeting cards, mugs, flip flops, gum and candy, sunglasses and so on lined the walls - I looked through them carefully while always keeping one eye on the silent man.
All of a sudden, with a flash and a meow, a white cat appeared at my feet. Looking up I found that not far behind this four legged creature was a women with silver, curly, hair tumbling down her back. She peered at me over her glasses with a questioning gaze and, recognizing this women as the likely owner of the establishment, I stretched out my arm mumbling, "I need to mail these please".
The women snatched the postcards from my hand and bustled off with them behind the counter. "That will be seventy cents" she said with her hand outstretched. I fumbled with my purse until I found the necessary change and placed the coins in her waiting hand. With that the transaction was over. The women turned abruptly and walked back into the darker recesses of the store. Even though I really just wanted to leave the place, I felt uncertain as to whether my carefully chosen postcards we're ever going to reach the children they were meant for, and so I called out to the women in a doubtful tone, "You'll mail them?" As she disappeared behind a pile of items at the back, she threw an answer over her shoulder, "Yes, I've got this!".
I left the building and stepped out into the hot sunshine of South Texas. Was it all a dream? I look forward to hearing when and if my postcards are received.
In the evening I met up with my RN co-patient for dinner. There really aren't very many places for a vegetarian to eat out in Brownsville and so I let her choose between Jason's Deli, a vegan food truck (which I'm going to try out) and a Chinese restaurant. She chose Chinese, which sounded good online, so that's where we went.
The restaurant was started by a couple from New York and they've opened two or three other locations in other cities nearby as well. The menu had a vegetarian section which was what originally attracted me. Nevertheless, once our food arrived (I had vegetables/tofu/steamed rice and she had chicken/mushroom/fried rice) it was pretty mediocre. My vegetables were swimming in a flavorless brown sauce and the steamed tofu was boring as well. Still, all was not lost as I received this fortune in my cookie:
That was last night. This morning I tried to find a more scenic place to walk but was once again challenged in this endeavor. I ended up trying out a small neighborhood park. Images of it online were pleasant enough but when I got there it felt like a small sad lot. After consulting google, yet again, I made my way to Resaca de la Palma National Battlefield. The battlefield was surrounded by a neat dirt path and, of course, the trees were pushed back to the far outskirts. I say of course because Brownsvillians apparently have a thing for exercising in full sun. The real highlight of the park was a small brown rabbit hopping along through the grass; we'll call him Fred. I would have preferred a deer but didn't let Fred in on this secret. He was a sweet bunny and there was no reason to cause hurt feelings.
And this finally brings us to this evening. I had my haircut which was a good opportunity to learn more about Brownsville and the surrounding area. I was really just supposed to get a trim but the lady did a more thorough job than that. She shared with me that Progresso is really the best place to cross the border for a good Mexican experience - so I'm hoping to make my way over there in the coming days.
After my haircut I went shopping for retrieval socks. Patients are supposed to bring socks with them on retrieval day as, apparently, it gets pretty cold in the procedure room. I'll be going with polka dots as those are my favorite!
On this note, have a good night all. Tomorrow morning I head back over to Mexico!
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