Julio hung up the phone and told me what was going on through an embarrassed grin. I laughed and went immediately for my camera. Julio was made slightly uncomfortable by this and asked why I was taking pictures. Because it's funny, I told him. Susanna, who loves silliness, was greatly amused that I was taking pictures of Julio loosing face. She came running in her flip flops to jeer him and direct the photo shoot. Julio climbed up a small ladder and killed the power to his house by throwing a switch. Then he yanked down his wires and whisked them to a back room.

         Word was spreading through town that the power company had come and the scramble to remove and hide illegal lines was on.

         About an hour later, Julio wandered into my room looking lost. He was bored because the power outage meant he could neither build furniture nor watch TV. He announced, for the absolute lack of anything better to say, that my front window has a nice view of the town. It does actually, even if that town is El Tambo. Then we laughed at how quiet it was. No one was building furniture and no radios were blaring the same 5 songs over and over because everyone had removed their unlawful power grid taps.

         I showed Julio the picture I had taken of his neighbors removing their power line, which I had taken by pretending to itch my eye with the wrist of the hand holding the camera. Clandestine photography is one of the best things about digital cameras I told him. I demonstrated by adopting a number of unassuming poses while snapping pictures of passerbys. We celebrated our mischief with fits of giggling. This is how we passed the morning.

         With the power out and nothing to do, the whole town began spilling out into the streets. People I had never seen before were pasiando on my block and engaging neighbors in festive conversation. A volley ball game broke out. The blackout was becoming a town-wide block party. Not even the Fiesta Planning Committee could have scored this big. When the power company truck rolled down our street, it too became part of the fun. We laughed as the people who weren't home got their power lines ganked by the power company and we laughed even harder when the pick up almost drove over my toes with its bed completely full of 100's of confiscated wires. No body cared. Not even the power company really cared. They know the situation is hopeless. By nightfall, even the houses with their wires confiscated will be back in business.

         The phone rang. It was the vet, Oswaldo. He asked if I wanted to go with him to a university. I didn't ask what university or for what reason, I just said yes and started getting ready. He swung by 20 minutes later and we stole away to the edge of Salinas to a university where Oswaldo teaches English.

         At 6:15pm (15 minutes late) 8 of the 22 students enrolled in the class showed up. It was an English class that focuses on hotel management, as that was everyone's profession (a given in Salinas, no?). I functioned as a human tape player for the class. A real cassette had come with the textbook so students could listen to an English speaker speaking English during certain sections of the lesson. Instead, as I am easier to rewind, I spoke/repeated the parts slated for the cassette. This worked perfectly.

         When the class was over, Oswaldo put my phone number on the board and told the students to invite me to all of their parties. Then we crossed the hall and waited for the next round of students in a new classroom. Only 1 student showed up, so Oswaldo canceled class, took me around the school introducing me to crowds of students, and then returned me to Tambo, which was aga in fully illuminated in the darkness from its kilowatts of ill gotten juice. I heated Pop Tarts on my cement floor in Debi's old toaster and regaled them with tales of my university adventure. Somehow I got off on a rant about zillionaire media conglomerates and conflicts of interest and a lack of diversity in public debate until it was very late.

         I wrote until after lunch and then put together a few English practice tests for Saturday. I needed to type up and print out the practice tests at an internet place, but I first needed money from the mall ATM. At the mall, I made a call to Lorena at her nannying job to tell her I could not go pasiando with her on Saturday night as promised because Ela was coming for the weekend. Lorena asked where I was calling from. I told her I was in the mall. She exclaimed that her nannying job was just down the street from the mall and asked if I wanted to stop by. I said yes and did just that. The 3 kids Lorena nannys, ages 4-6, were the most vile pack of demonseed I have ever had the displeasure of almost mortally wounding. This was surprising in that the parents have good jobs and seem to really have it together. The parents have hired good nannies and seem very conscious of their children's upbringing, such as enforcing manners and assigning them educational activities to work on after school At 8:30pm, waaay later than I had intended to stay, I left for Tambo.

         In Salinas, it was a warm and sunny day and the beach was full of people. Found a 30 dollar hotel and checked in. The main strip that night was dead unlike how it had been when Debi, Francisco and I had last been there.