El estúpido - quema

Yes, the stupid, it burns.....

I was really trying to do the right thing by paying my tenencias or car taxes early, but somehow things went awry.  I have to go to Colonia Reforma to pay them and it is always a strange trip as one immerses oneself into the Mexican equivalent of the DMV.  There are a series of numbers one has to get, kinda like at a deli, and then various lines to stand in and waiting areas, but eventually it all works.  Except that yesterday, the lines were too long, so I did the sensible thing and said, "Mañana."
I headed back to my car which was a few block away.  Parking in Reform can be a real bear and I almost never go there and if I do, I walk, but because I was dealing with car stuff, I had the car.

 However, when I returned to where I had parked it, it was not there.  It was not there.  An instant adrenalin buzz and I was asking if anyone has seen anything.  Maybe I had parked it in a prohibited parking area and it had been towed.  Surely, it had not been stolen.... I know I know, don't call me Shirley.  I walked around and eventually assumed it had to have been towed, so I headed out to the lot where they tow everything, which is fortunately in Santa Rosa, not too far from my house.  I hung out there for a couple of hours as the police tried to find my car, but to no avail.  They called around to the other lots, but no one had any record of it.  I hoofed it home and called my insurance company because the cops had said if they did not have it, it must have been stolen. 

My insurance agent got right on it and reported it stolen and then told me I needed to come back into the city to meet with the investigators and go to the exact spot where I had parked.  By then it was late afternoon and I had spent the whole day trying to track the car down.  The insurance manager drove me up to Reforma where we met the police.  After an hour of discussion and interviewing people, they said they had no idea, but for sure, it had not be towed and cars were generally not stolen in the area, especially 2004 Jettas. 

Finally, they said maybe we should drive around, that maybe someone had move it.  Who was I to question?  So we drove around the block and........ there was my car, exactly where I had parked it ten hours earlier.  I had the street right, but had not gone far enough down it.  In my defense, I had memorized a landmark, a school, but had not noticed another school a block up from the first.  I knew I had parked in front of the school, but I had the wrong school.  I am an idiot, so cut me some slack.

When I saw my car, I let out an embarrassed shout.  "What an fool I am," I said.  I got no arguments, but I did get lots of laughs and smiles.  I hugged the cops  I was so happy.  So kudos to the police and my insurance people, all of whom were incredibly kind and helpful.  Me, I just kept saying, "How could I have done that?  Facepalm much?  I did learn a new word - avergonzado.