Fun for a Buck

Next time you find a hot peso burning a hole in your bolsa, come on up to Broadway / 145th. Not since the early settlers traded smallpox for waterfront property has it been possible to get so much for so little! For one dollar you may choose between:

• a piping hot tamale sold fresh at the top of the subway stairs
• a refreshing glass of horchata (Mexican rice-milk spiced so nice)
• four pieces of artery-clogging fried dough powdered with sugar
• a cup of jello/pudding mix (choose from two flavours; vanilla and pink)
• a warm Jamaican beef or veggie patty
• or (and this is my personal favourite) a cup of Dominican-style oatmeal which is really more of a sticky, sweet, warm, thick drink than the usual pot of orphan's gruel.

Oh, and in the summer there's flavoured ice shaved right from the block, citrus fruits carved and mounted on pointy sticks, and, if you're white like some of us, you're guaranteed a refreshing fire hydrant shower if you walk past the children who rule 144th Street. The subway trip will be the most expensive part of your day!