Errands to Do Before I Leave

Sadly this trip to Mexico City is drawing to a close.  On Monday I return to Ohio.  If it weren't for the fact that there are things that need to be done back home, appointments to be kept, and friends and family to see, I would just as soon stay here.

Thursday I took care of some errands before I leave.  First I went to the "papelería"... stationery store... around the corner from the apartment.  (Do we even have stationery stores any more in the U.S.?) 

I have a Christmas present to leave here for Alejandro's little nephew, and I wanted to get it wrapped.  "Papelerías" down here will do gift wrapping, and for 35 pesos (less than $2) the lady did a very nice job.  Surpisingly she didn't have any Christmas paper, but it looked very "Christmassy" with red metallic paper and a green bow.

My next stop was at a coffee stop down the street... not Starbucks, but a Mexican chain called "Cielito Querido".   It is becoming quite popular down here, and seems to be giving Starbucks some competition.

The signs say, "Coffee helps the one who gets up early",

and "I'm going to take away your sleepiness".

My purpose in coming here was not to have a caffeine fix, but to buy one more gift to take home.  My friend who house sits for me while I am gone is a coffee drinker.  On my last trip down here I bought him a bag of Mexican coffee, and he really liked it.  I told him I would buy him some more, so I'm not spoiling a surprise if he reads this.

Later in the day I made a trip to Woolworths.  I found another store along Line 2 of the Metrobus that I like better than the one I have previously visited.  My reason for going there was not to buy stuff for myself...  OK, there were some things I could not resist.  I found a really nice polo shirt for $7 U.S., a turtle neck shirt for $4 and a couple of soccer shirts.  I also found a birthday present for Alejandro's dad's 80th birthday in January.  He's a fan of the soccer team "Club América", and I bought him a team shirt and hoodie.  Everything was made in Mexico too.

But my primary reason for going there was to get some stuff to donate to the collection center for earthquake victims.  When I was there earlier this trip, the lady said that they have had plenty of donations of used clothing, but that they needed underwear since that had to be new.  So I bought ten packages of men's underpants.  I hopped on the Metrobus again, and took them to the collection center.