McDonalds

I finally had to break down and visit McDonalds today, but only for an ice cream cone. Although  Oaxaca is famous for its ice cream, there seems to be no cream in it. It is more like ice milk, if even that.  The flavors are all good but I wanted real ice cream and McDonalds would have to do.  I would not have sought out McDonalds on my own but this is how it happened.  We had ridden the bus to Plaza del Valle to watch Planet of the Apes, and there were about 150 people sitting on the ground outside the closed mall. Nothing was open, so we decided to walk to the next theater which someone had told us was in the next mini mall.  Well, we walked and walked in the humid heat and found nothing except a Walmart, concluding that we probably translated the information incorrectly.  When we returned to the mall at about 1:30, there were about 200 people sitting in every patch of shade.  That was when I decided to visit the air conditioned McDonald and wait it out.  We spent another half an hour inside and still the mall wasn't open.  Finally, one of the theater employees came outside and told everyone they were closed until 5.  I said to Arin, "Let's blow this popsicle stand and head back to town."  I still have no idea why people were camping out 5 and 6 hours before anything was going to open.  Most of them were not in front of the theater but were waiting outside various closed shops, including a grocery store.  Maybe today is their black Friday?

Post script.  I found out later that this was a protest, a good old fashioned sit-it, which you remember was a popular type of protest in America circa 1960..