Burrito Expresso Guy Dies

Carlos Guardado at work

Commemoration At K and 17th Sts NW

Today I write with sadness about Carlos Guardado who died recently.  I'd wanted to buy an expresso a few times recently in the morning, or go get one of the delicious black  bean burritos with guacamole for lunch, but his stand wasn't there at the usual corner of 17th & K Streets N.W.  Perhaps he's gone back to El Salvador for a trip to see his family or went on vacation, I thought, but it turned out he'd died unexpectedly of a heart attack.  I found out word of mouth as someone from my office had passed by the commemorative signs and flowers that were taped up on the scaffolding where his stand stood and that now told the story of his demise. Then, it turns out, there was a story in the Washington Post on Carlos which provided details about his family and about how many people also missed him.  I'd gotten used to the wonderful food service he provided and had talked with him a few times about the weather, or coffee, or El Salvador or whatever.  It seems a lot of people noticed his absence as there were several stories in the paper about him. I will certainly miss Carlos and those marvelous black bean burritos and expresso coffee he served. It is a reminder of how all things pass and we all will too.

Train To DC

Today I took the Amtrak Acela fast express train to/from DC and Philadelphia and enjoyed having Internet access even though the WiFi was a bit slow. The seats were very comfortable and roomy and the trip up, at least, was all that it should be for the extra price -- over a regional train seat cost -- that I paid. The trip back was delayed by about half an hour because of "police activity on the line" was what they first told me. Ever inquisitive, I asked for more and it turned out someone had been killed while trespassing on the track,  north of Philadelphia, God rest this poor soul!  There were a lot of TSA and train police guys visible for the wait, as I guess they investigate things right away.  The tragedy was enough to delay all the late afternoon and evening trains so my "express" train back to DC ended up about 45 minutes late and for a good portion of the journey moved quite slowly. Because of the death, it seemed I noticed how open and exposed the rail tracks are to any passerby. While there are fences, it doesn't take much to climb onto train lines. But I was blessed by a number of spectacular scenic views, including one stretch in Delaware where there is water on either side of the train and the train tracks seem barely above the water level. Ducks, fishing boats, ripples and reeds and lily pads were all to be seen, making for unexpected sights while returning home. I checked the news later and found out the incident occurred in Woodbridge, NJ but not a lot of details were supplied.