Chixculub: my kind of town

Like little pueblos all over Latin American, the little pueblo of Chixculub comes alive after dark. The temp drops a tad: from mid-90´s to mid-80´s...whoopee doo! Under cover of darkness the town plaza doesn´t look all that bad. The plaza is about 75 meters square. During the day, it´s just a large patch of concrete, reflecting the heat, and not very interesting. At night, it undergoes a transformation. There´s enough room for EVERYONE! One section is marked off for the little kids. There are the usual rubber air-filled jumping things, whatever they´re called!, filled with kids jumping up and down blissfully ignorant of the humid heat. There is a small circular track for little kids to drive electric cars at a very conservative speed. There are stands with every conceivable kind of food, tacos to hot dogs to fish to pork roast, and of course the pizza parlor and ice cream store do a great business. Passion fruit ice cream is the best!
This life is to be lived in t-shirt and flip-flops. If you sit in a plastic chair for longer than 2 minutes, you stick to the chair. Clothes that I wash by hand take 2 to 3 days to dry.
At about 9 o´clock the music starts up and the young and old start dancing.
In the morning, I get up early and leave the house about 7 a.m. to walk the half mile to the town square. There I buy the newspaper, some fresh bread, and ripe fruit. There´s papaya, canteloupe, bananas, pineapple and much more.
The vendors are sweeping up and hosing down from the night before. The garbage man comes by yelling "Garbage man!" and the people hustle out to the street with their large hefty bags. It´s not cheap: 2 bags cost $1. The newspaper lady is filling everyone in (those that don´t buy the paper)on the latest news. The pretty girl at the bakery is dressed in a lightweight top, coppery skin glistening with moisture. It´s several degrees warmer in the bakery than outside. I´m reminded of a commercial I saw for a men´s dedodorant. It said "When she sweats, she´s hot. When you sweat, you smell!"
In front of the bakery,the tamale lady has set up her cart and even now she has a line of customers. The fresh fruit juice vendor is setting up his blenders and lining up his fruit. Some of the pineapples looked like soccer balls, huge! There´s a gaggle of older ladies working in the two "restaurants." This means there are stalls in the plaza, about 3 meters deep and 3 meters wide, where the ladies chop and cut and cook. Plastic tables and chairs are set up under an awning in front of them. With bread, fruit, and paper in hand, I walk past the sleeping dogs, past all the beach villas, some occupied, most empty, with "For Rent" signs on them.
When I re-enter the house, the coffee´s ready. We sit outside in the breeze off the water, read the paper, and eat fresh bread and fruit. Wonderful!