Abandonarlos!
Just leave them...
The guy who bags groceries at the tienda stocks like a baboon who lost his ADHD meds. Moody and inappropriately loud, he acts like a 12 year old (despite being 30) when the boss isn't there. The place is full of cameras to catch a thief. I saw the old meat counter lady taking out "trash" yesterday and she showed it to the cashier that it was all just bloody bags really quick in an obvious NOTHING TO SEE HERE wave but there was def meat in there. The old trash bag trick is old as time. Every restaurant with a back door near a freezer and an underpaid employee has shortages. Even my well paid staff would occasionally grab a small bag of coffee and a few rolls of toilet paper without asking. Untold liters of wine. My grandpa had a bar in the 1940s and he said he knew Sam took a nickel every night from the till but he was a good employee so he let it slide.
Stocking here is on random days and it puts my hair on end. Food shopping and market perusing was my greatest hobby in my previous life. Now it's sporadic inventory, C grade veg, labels not facing front, the horror of broccoli on top of yogurt, radishes piled high in the milk fridge. Hotdog MEGA Packetas literally everywhere. Meat being unloaded and reloaded into their freezers dripping all over the floor from leaky coolers mixing blood and melting ice. The kind of How the Sausage is Made back of the house stuff that should be done after hours, not with shoppers squeezing around a 3 foot wide corridor. The list of unprofessional crap that goes on here where people aren't trained, where no one knows about merchandising and there is no competition is depressing.
This dude greets me with a Whassssuppp! and a made up gangster hand shake high five gyration. I do not engage with that. Even if I wasn't pushing 56, that's not my vibe. Mexican wanna be rateros who want to emulate thug life and think that's all we Americans do up there are obviously not my demographic. That's the extent of his English though, which I don't need. I'm the only American in a Mexican town speaking Spanish and doing Mexican things. I'm not looking to stand out by people yelling HEY Muverfocker, whasssup! his other word.
He also likes to retell his story about getting caught by ICE at the border for running the Mary Jane and I say they threw you back because you're dumb. Weed is legal on both sides, who runs that Mexican ditch weed over the line? The convenience store on the corner has started carrying dog kibble so I'm skipping the other shop altogether. I'm buying my meat and prepared at the guy with the wood fired oven and the rest of the time I'll eat avocados and beans.
Yesterday he greeted me with a "Why are YOU still here? Thought you were going to Nayarit..." in that snarky co-worker loser cousin sort of way. It's only been 4 days since I have found and interviewed a legit transport van that will take dogs, but he charges like a NYC taxi. By the mile $2 and up so there's a lot of negotiating to be done. They're in Nogales a couple times a month running cargo so when they come back it's an empty van. They all start high because they're young and ambitious and they figure I'll pay anything to move my precious doggies. In other words, Gringa Pricing.
But I've driven cross country twice already, going south on 15D towards Mazatlan isn't the scary part. I'm not sure his minivan with the seats removed sounds like Comfort Class at $2000. But he'll come down in price. If I don't hitch a ride, he has to fly his drivers back to Puerta Vallarta. Oh did I mention the extra drivers will be sleeping in the back? Yea, sounds like chicken bus pricing to me in the collectiva. Also I can literally buy a minivan for that or rent a new SUV from Hertz. But anyway, the dogs. Can't take all of them, must find another sanctuary and rehome some...the Big Bus to Seattle is promising if there's a home on the other side of that $100/per dog fee. Which is also the fee for a private plane collectivo I saw. Also who takes 60 bus dogs out for pee breaks? I need more info. Also I'm contacting the Cruz Rojo and the TOPOS Rescue squad since they've lost many search dogs this week in Turkey.
In other words, there's a lot of moving parts.
I explained that I had to make arrangements for the dogs first.
ABANDANARLOS! he yelled. Who cares? (just leave them)
It made me sick to my stomach. I came around the corner and all their faces were peering out the fence, sitting in order of height. Even Brady, who has seen me come and go for 13 years at this point, still watching for me to come home. Imagine how they'd feel if I never rounded the corner. Also, who would spend 24/7 with these street dogs and spend THOUSANDS of dollars over a year and then just open the gates and leave town. (I'm not saying it's not tempting, I have TONS of fantasies about it) but we'll go when it's better pricing. Everyone gets a little big for their pantalones around high season and then Easter. And companies that move first time border crossing rich Boomers and their crap down to Mexico are overpriced. I'm pretty sure this guy only moves cargo and occasionally a doggo. A minivan with seats removed is not gringo level for that gringo money. I gotta keep looking.