On a Mission

Headed to the Mission district today and was bombarded with purchase options from everywhere in Latin America. It’s muy fantastico over there and right away I found what I was looking for in one of the many many produce outlets on Mission.

Cactus! So pretty! But also so peligroso. The thorns are still on them but I am in luck because safety cactus comes in a jar.



The guy who owns the produce place was behind the counter and he was amazing. Check out the giant original oil painting behind him, the Virgin of Guadalupe appears to the cowboy grocer. Only in the Mission, friends.









The Mission is a 99 cent store jackpot and I wandered into this great big place at around 18th. I bought myself a nice windup alarm clock, that features a chicken image on the face, with a head that bobs up and down and pecks with each tick of the clock.




I started chatting with the guy behind the counter, Ramon.

Ramon it turns out is not latino, though he speaks Spanish and English. He also speaks Farsi because he is originally from Afghanistan. He asked me if I voted and I said yes and he said he voted for Obama. "We have to give him a chance", he said. Ramon got the money to open his 99 cent emporium by going back to his country and working for the US Department of Defense. "Good money", he said, "220 thousand a year." I asked him if it was dangerous and he said "Look, someone can come here and boom boom shoot me. Only God knows when it is your turn to go. And until then God protects me." I hope Ramon, you are right about that. So far, so good, my friend.

I forgot to ask him what his name was back in his country. I doubt it is Ramon.This is Moe, sifting through the diasporas, saying adios and salaam and farewell from the Mission.