SUCCESS!!!!

I head to Jung early this morning, after I water the trees across the street from my 'space' and make myself coffee to brace myself for my trip to maybe pick up oil.

I park out front, walk into the restaurant and in seconds, a young man comes out carrying 20 litres of aceite vegetal, still warm in the contenedore! Yeah!!! 20 litres down, 280 to go!

I rush to my Spanish lesson - the last in the mornings - and I am the only student who has showed up! YEAH!!!! again.

I learn future conjugations of regular and irregular verbs.

I was going to go to the museum today but I decide I MUST find more veggie oil, if I'm to head out of Hermosillo.

So I decide to go back to the Sushi place that was going to give me oil, and by the time I brought the container and strainer to the back door, they changed their minds, saying someone else picked up the oil. Cesar told me he'd get the name of whoever picked up their oil for me.

Today, I drive my truck into the tiny parking lot and impress the workers as I turn it around. They are much more friendly to me, not that they were unfriendly, I think I just did a poor job explaining what I need. Thankfully, my friend Gloria has given me more words that should help make the collecting smoother! THANK YOU Gloria!!!

Anyway, Cesar tells me to come back Friday evening and he will get me some oil. He has been recently deported from the U.S. - fucking Arizona - after spending 20 years of his life there. Terrible. He must have been a child when he arrived, for he can't be over 30 years old now. I might ask him Friday how old he is.

I decide to go the the other Sushi restaurant close by my organic coffee shop where I am at now, getting access to fast, free internet for 20 pesos for coffee - which is about $1.50 including tip.

I speak Spanish to the womon at the desk who seems to understand me. She takes me to the back to speak with the man there & as I talk to him, a customer translates into English what I'm saying in Spanish. He is older, grizzley appearing, someone I would not have guessed knew about using vegetable oil for fuel, but he did!

The young man disappears into the back and comes out with another 20 litres of oil, cold used oil. YEAH!!!!

I want to run and find immediately somewhere to filter the oil but if I am to leave tomorrow or soon, I need to work on getting more oil so I decide to try my luck at a hotel. I don't want to stop too near to where I'm staying in case they say, oh, you're driving that truck that is parking illegally overnite! hahahaha

So I go to the last hotel farthest away and ask them for oil. Again, I speak Spanish with the womon at the restaurant desk, she calls a guy from the kitchen, and we speak together. They call another man who is working across the hall in the hotel lobby. He comes over and tells me they are looking to try to find some oil for me and it probably won't be very much - he gestures about a litre.

The man from the back comes back to tell me they don't have any today but to come back tomorrow. I ask if they want a container to which they reply yes. So I return to my truck and get them my largest - 5 gallon - container just in case. By the time I reach the front door, another woman has come to pick up the container from me. We say "hasta manana!"

I cross the street to the next hotel restaurant. There are 2 men hanging out at the buffet, and another at the desk. I ask them for oil in Spanish. They call another man over, and then yet another man comes out of the kitchen.

I finally make myself understood and the man from the kitchen tells me un momento. At that point, a womon who is bi-lingual appears and asks in English if she can help me.

I tell her I believe I've been helped and explain to her in English what I am doing.

People's eyes get so big when they hear you can run a vehicle on vegetable oil! Most of them really can't believe it, but then there are some - 2 thus far - that know about it already too.

The man comes out of the kitchen with a plastic gallon jug that has about 3 inches of oil in the bottom - hot oil! I am grateful for this and think about all the times when on the road when I needed just a tiny bit of oil to make it a couple of miles to the next fuel station or home or wherever!

I get out a sock and strain the oil into the Sushi oil container. Yeah!!! Cookin' with grease!

Now I have one more Spanish lesson tonite - so I could leave Hermosillo happy I've learned as much Spanish as I have - as soon as I filter the oil I have and get more oil.

Tomorrow I'll concentrate on going EVERYWHERE for oil! I guess I'm here until Friday night at least. I didn't really want to be here for Saturday and all the soldiers and police marching in the streets... hmmmm