Friday, December 24, 2010

Christmas in the Barrio

I woke up this morning to the wild barking of dogs, and off in the distance a repeating horn, and a bell jingling monotonously. It was the trash pick-up. The men were probably the only public servants working the day before Christmas, and as was tradition, they demanded a tip from the households they attended to help round out the year. The jingling and honking grew nearer, the barking intensified, and I scrambled out of bed to hand over our weekly accumulations and contribution.

They hadn't yet begun to ring the doorbell when I burst through the side-door, handing off a fairly inoffensive black back to one guy, and dropping $4 into the coffee tin held by the other. The latter, a young man of about 30 dressed for a day in, not in collection gear, thanked me and wished me a wonderful holiday, calling me "casera." That's the first time I've been called "casera" outside of the feria.

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