As cyclists we are goal oriented, and seldom stop in one place for more than a day. The challenge for us is to get from A to B, and however foolishly we do not even tend to do daisy petal or day rides from a given place. But there is something to be said for integrating into a place for a while. You get to know your favourite local stores, and sometimes they may get to know you. Every strange place is somebody else's back yard, and you can soon learn to recognize their daily routines.

Right now, the Price's are in Baja, where they have lodged for 9 weeks, and will surely get to know their local community.

I am thinking about these things because firstly, should we happen to test positive we are going to get to know this neighbourhood really a lot better. However  I am also really stoked because I just located my local source of fresh squeezed juice. Until you find that, you are faced with the fact that the locals can really only afford the equivalent of Tang, graciously bottled up by the Coca Cola company, in case they missed out poisoning anyone with "the real thing".  But that garbage is available in every local grocery.

Along the lines of getting to know local stores and vice versa, there is my local bakery. The counter is staffed by a teenage girl who must be typical of certain teenage girls everywhere. She is so bored with the job (I think it's her parents baking in the back room) that the boredom vibes are almost enough to shut down my vital bodily systems. Even as I might be handing her my 50 peso note, she is staring vacantly over my shoulder at the TV behind. Yesterday I threw her a challenge that  probably made her think she was back in the school she likely dropped out of. I pulled out a pocketful of change and a selection of bills, and invited her to select coins first and then bills if needed, for my 54.50 peso purchase. This resulted in a lot of lip biting and reaching for calculator. I should not be so judgmental, because if I am so smart, why didn't I do it myself!

The Price's are also on my mind because I have been reading blogs to Dodie, even through the night, to take her mind off any pain. With limited vision (smashed glasses) and only one hand, she can not really use  her cell phone or tablet. With several blogs read, I wrote to Sue Price to ask for any more stories, and yes, she has a blog for non-cycling adventures. So we read that in the night too!

One local custom seems to be brief ad hoc parades. Yesterday one passed by, decked out in black balloons, but with an upbeat brass band. Black balloon parades internationally are to call attention to the drug overdose problem. But this one turned out to be in support of a local political candidate. In some cultures black does not have the sombre implications that it has for us. This is a case in point, I guess.

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Dodie is still getting a lot of pain from the arm, and her original prescription is almost done. I went out to a pharmacy in search of some more, but they had none.  So clever me decided to try "another box". I pantomimed for the pharmacist where it hurt and came away with something that looked good, with a red blotch over the shoulder and arm. Not so fast. This included an NSAID, which is incompatible with Dodie's blood pressure meds. When evening comes we'll launch a search for a better dealer.

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Jorge is worried about Dodie, and turns out to also be a more sensitive brace wrapper. He also donated his last Paracetomal tablet to the pain relief cause.  Today for the first time Dodie did briefly say "I think I might be feeling a bit better", but she also found herself  unable to follow the tale of Jacquie Gaudet's  travel to home. It was slightly convoluted, but not at all hard for a normal Dodie to follow. That concussion effect is still in there!

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During the day I have been checking for the PCR result, with increasing anxiety. We so much need to get Dodie home, and with her being immobile we have spent the past days de facto locked in a hot concrete box of a room. 10 more days would have been really insupportable. But hey, it came back, negative!. I checked mine first (have to log on to a website to check) and going back in to check Dodie's was almost with trembling hands.  Double negative, bad in grammar great for us now!