Day: January 24, 2015

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More Thoughts About Mazatlán

I remember doing some research about Maz this past summer and getting a figure of over 1 million for its population. I have no idea what I was looking at. The population of the city is about 440,000 and if you add in the metro area, it’s still less than half a million. That puts it at twice the size of Regina, but fully half the size of Calgary.

In terms of actual landmass, the city feels very compact. I’ve covered most of the core of the city. It’s a very easy city to get around in, thanks to great public transportation and high walkability, so you can quickly and cheaply find yourself from one end to the other. I would do very well here without a vehicle. In fact, I am toying with the idea of flying to Maz next year since I really do not miss driving this winter.

I’m already playing the ‘could I live here?’ game that I played through my travels in the U.S. and Canada. I do intend to live in Mexico for a few years if I can get a long term residency visa, so I think that getting a start on answering that question is worthwhile. It certainly paid off in Canada because it enabled me to buy property smartly.

I know myself really well now, know what is important to me in a long term home and what is a trade off I’m willing to make. Maz has a lot going for it, being a so evocative of the central core of Ottawa, which I still maintain is the perfect Canadian city for me except for one key detail. I’ll get into that in a moment. If I were to choose Maz as a permanent residence, I’d probably want to live on Isla to continue getting the best of both worlds.

But Maz has one big ugly issue that would make it utterly unsuitable for me as a permanent residence: its climate. I can hear all of you say WHAT?! Maz has a humid tropical climate. I do not ever again want to live long term in a humid climate. Humidity makes the cold colder and the heat hotter. You also have to deal with food spoilage, mould, odours, condensation, rust and a host of other issues. I cannot believe how much of my stuff, including bags in storage, the top and sides of my fridge, clothes hanging in the closet, and even computer parts are getting fuzzy with mould! Soon as I get half a day off, I really need to empty everything out of the closets and cabinets to make sure I’m on top of the mould issue.

I didn’t buy property in the back end of nowhere Saskatchewan just because it was cheap or because I had easy access to a lovely city (which I don’t…). I bought property there because of a generally dry and sunny climate, year round. As it turned out, my biggest priority wasn’t being able to walk to a bar or coffee shop or a movie theatre or a good grocery store, but to be in a climate that doesn’t make me want to curl up in a ball and sob three quarters of the year and keep me glued to an AC vent the rest of the time. Climate came first, cost of living second, and everything else was negotiable. That was as shocking revelation.

I love Maz very much and look forward to returning next year, but after that, I’m going to seek a different location to try to find that magical combination of hot and dry winter weather. Being near the ocean isn’t important to me (rather obvious if you look on a map where Haven is located, about as far away from an ocean in all directions as is possible anywhere in North America!), so I wouldn’t mind venturing further inland, although I will have to watch the elevation!

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Relocating the Hurt

There is a québécois expression that says, “changer le mal de place.” Literally, it means relocating the hurt. More figuratively, it means taking a break from a tedious routine. Having had a few tough work days, knowing that the week ahead is going to be brutal, and being blessed with easy files for today, I decided to take a long lunch break in Maz.

How wonderful it is for the city to be so close by that I can get there, meander around, have a meal, shop, and be home in just two and a half hours!

This was the first time that I went out with several stops in mind and didn’t at least glance at a map before leaving. I know where everything is now and actually getting quite good at finding the most direct route between A and B.

My first stop was the Santander bank in front of the Cathedral on Angel Flores. A few donations and an unexpected prepayment on a translation project meant that I could take out 1,000 pesos, which will go a very long way if this past month is any proof of that. I still had 200 pesos from my early January withdrawal!

From the bank, I went to Olas Altas to get sushi, but, alas, they were closed. 🙁 It was past 1:30, so I was quite surprised. I decided to instead check out a recommended burger joint, but they, too, were closed! Since I was in the Plazuela Machado area and have been craving chocolate for days, I decided to get dessert first and stopped in at the gelateria where 25 pesos got me a teeny scoop of craving busting goodness.

I then headed out towards the Mercado and decided to try lunch at Panamá’s bakery, which looks a lot like a Smitty’s restaurant or a Denny’s, a very Ameri-dian diner-style spot. I was given both a Spanish and English menu and had time to compare them.

As suspected, they were quite different, with the English menu omitting many of the Mexican dishes and adding more American dishes. The average price point on the English menu was also higher than on the Spanish one. I ordered the chicken enchiladas with creamy green sauce from the Spanish menu, hoping that they would be similar to the ones I had in Texas.

Unfortunately, no. And the Texas ones were actually much more authentic Mexican fare than Panamá’s version, which were rather bland and featured processed American cheese!

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Now, don’t get me wrong, the meal was fine. The sauce, while not super flavourful, was good and the roasted chicken filling was incredibly satisfying. Add in the huge helping of beans and I was stuffed. The meal was worth the 83 pesos I paid (plus tip), but it wasn’t one I’ll repeat.

It was getting close to two by this point, so I decided to head home by way of Ley. I really didn’t need anything, but I keep going to Ley in the hopes that they’ll have restocked an incredible all natural pineapple-coconut yoghurt I got there way back in late November or December. Today, they finally had some!

My knee was really bothering me today, so I decided to go home by Zaragoza rather than Leandro Valle, but then decided to instead meander through the small streets to create a more direct route to the embarcadero. That worked splendidly and I really enjoyed making my way through a warren of narrow cobblestone streets, so reminiscent of ancient Scottish cities, to emerge right in front of the entrance to the dock.

I spent just under 200 pesos today on public transportation, lunch, dessert, and groceries. Mexico continues to be incredibly affordable and I have succeeded in ‘changer le mal de place.’ Now, back to work. It’ll be a bit of a marathon session!