We drove into the old pueblo Cuetzalan. What an interesting and old village. At the center, the zócalo, is a huge Catholic church. Huge and very old. It looks like a medieval castle. They must have had quite a building fund a couple of hundred years ago. Elders Collins and Ricks went inside with Mom. I parked illegally and guarded the van. I guess it was illegal. A guy trying to show us where to park, for a fee, said it was. So did a cranky lady inside a little grocery store. But across the street was a very interesting store loaded with tools and TV's and binoculars and knives and appliances and everything else almost that you could think of including toilets and several kitchen sinks. The proprietor had to be Jewish. I asked if I could park out there. "Of course," he said. "Come in.... but only for 30 minutes!" In other words, "I want some of your money and then you should leave."

He knew that I was very interested in a machete hanging out front. I have looked for a machete with something other than a plastic handle. This one was steel and the handle was wrapped in leather. It was in a nice sheath, leather, and was marked at 250. I asked if that meant pesos and he said that it did, but that today's price was 200. The best price I have seen for a decent working machete with an orange plastic handle was 550, no sheath. I pulled it out of the sheath and it was engraved! It was really more a sword than a machete. It had some Spanish saying which loosely translates, "Don't get your undies in a bunch." I will need to work on a more accurate translation. The elders and Mom returned. They immediately went crazy and had to have one, too. Theirs say, "It is better to lay your burden on a burro than to carry it yourself." Wise counsel.

There were about a dozen little TV´s turned on. They ranged in price from 6 pesos (very small, black and white) to a couple of hundred pesos. I don't know where this guy gets his merchandise, but the prices are right. They were all tuned to ESPN. Ohio State was playing the University of Illinois. Too bad we can't get that in modern Veracruz. Cuetzalan is too long a drive to watch a basketball game.

So a couple of days later we took Three Musketeers pictures.