Month: November 2015

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Off to Centro

After work, I decided to do yesterday’s postponed trip to Centro and the Malecón. I was just stepping out of my front gate when some tourists asked me where to buy beer in broken Spanish. Yes, they mistook me for a Mexican!

Then, I wasn’t even off my street when I found this:

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$5 (0.40CAD or 0.30USD) goes a very, very, very long way in Mexico! That’s nearly a week’s worth of tortillas for me, or almost my entire lancha fee, which is $8. By the way, I called the lancha the panga on the blog all of last winter because that’s what the Gringos here call it, but it is not a panga to the locals. They call it a lancha and that is the term I will use from now on.

Never mind that my knee is being bad, I still took Leandro Valle and its giant hill for the exercise. I used to rely on the La sirena sign to recognize my turn onto the street from Emilio Barragán, but thankfully no longer need it because it’s almost all gone:

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The wall in front of the very derelict house has finally fallen:

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Arriving at the Mercado was a real test of slipping back into my life as a Mazlateca, what with all the traffic and commotion, and it didn’t faze me one bit. I decided to stop in at my favourite dress shop for some skirts. I didn’t wear many skirts last year because I only had crappy tee-shirts to go with them, but having more tee-shirts this year that are presentable enough to go to Maz, I wanted equally nice bottoms! I’ve got the nice skirt I picked up in T or C (which I happened to be wearing today because, well, I’ve been living in it for months!), but a couple more were definitely in order.

The clerk at the dress shop remembered me and pulled out a bag of skirts that were all blech, with ugly greens, bright reds, and white. “I don’t want to look like the Mexican flag,” I joked and the gal burst out laughing and said, “How about the Canadian one, then?” “No red, no white, and not those greens!” was my firm reply. She told me not to worry and that she had another bag. This one looked more promising because there was some pink in it! She pulled that one out for me and it was a yes!

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She then suggested ecru and I said, “No. I have no luck with food,” which got another big laugh. I pointed to the bottom of the bag where I thought I was seeing a charcoal or black one. She pulled it out and said, “Café.” Perfect!

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This dark brown skirt will be a great neutral for me since I have a lot of tee-shirts that will look great with it, even more so than the pink one. It has some really nice embroidery on the hem.

The two skirts were $500 total. I don’t have to bargain at this shop anymore as I am now quoted their best price.

I then got very, very sad news. The seamstress has retired because of increasingly poor eyesight. 🙁 🙁 🙁 I was hoping I could hire her to make me some headscarves this winter. Dang. She recognized me from last year, too, and said I could have one of her last few smocked bodice dresses for just $200, but she wouldn’t hem it or make me straps, just so she could offload the stock. I picked through the dregs and found one I liked:

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I know I can cut it to length myself and the material doesn’t fray and rolls up to make its own hem, so it’ll be very wearable. And I can’t believe I’m going to say this, but I really don’t need the straps. I like the base colour and the splashes of colour over it remind me of a Monet painting. I don’t like it so much that I would have paid last year’s price of $350 (including hemming and straps), but it feels like a bargain at $200!

Then, I headed across the street to Waldo’s to see about a plastic tablecloth for the office ‘desk’, just to be looking at something nicer than I did last year. I really didn’t like what they had in the kitchen section and had the brilliant notion of checking the party wares section, where I found what I wanted.

By this point, I was very ready for food, so I started to meander towards the water. I stopped partway to see if the nieve de garrafa guy was still on his corner, and he was! He even had guava, which is a rare flavour. I had that with cheese and prune. So yum. Yes, I ate my dessert first. It’s a perk of being an adult!

Since I’ve had octopus, pork, and chicken tacos in my first week back in Mexico, I decided to have the beef ones at Copa de leche. Still as good as ever, especially since I can handle quite a bit of hot sauce!

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They serve Tecate, not Pacifico. I had Tecate at my friends L&N’s on Sunday. It’s not as smooth as Pacifico, but it’s good!


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After linner, I headed towards Plazuelo Machado. There is a ton of construction going on in the area, with lots of roads blocked to traffic. This is on Sixto Osuna between the Plazuela and Panamá’s:

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From there, I just wandered aimlessly, running into another couple that mistook me for a Mexican… I finally dead ended against Benito Juárez. It was getting late (ie. sun was setting), so I turned left and walked up to Constitución, took a right onto it, and went all the way up to Emilio Barragán, where I turned left to head to the embarcadero.

There was some sort of parade going on, most likely new Navy recruits. I took a discrete picture:

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There was a lot of chanting as well as folks sitting on the sidewalk enjoying the show!

A lancha was leaving as I arrived at the ticket booth, but the skipper saw me and returned to shore. I always feel special when that happens. 🙂

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A lancha going in the other direction passed us and an older Mexican lady was yelling, “Rae! Rae!” and waving her arms madly. I realised it was my landlady’s mother!

It was almost fully dark by the time I got to my front door! I don’t mind being out after dark in Maz, but my rule is that I have to take a taxi, unless I’m walking through the main streets around the Plazuela and Olas Altas, and especially to the embarcadero. I have no problem walking on Isla after dark.

Looks like I’m off work the next three days. I have no plans for tomorrow and will see if I crash. I do have plans for Saturday, however, but I’m not sharing those yet. It will be a new experience if I pull it off. 🙂

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Costs For the Trip Down to Mexico

I’m glad no one asked me in a comment about how I was handling the exchange rate in the US while I was traveling down last week because I didn’t want to talk about that until I was landed in Mexico. You see, the exchange rate wasn’t an issue for me because I was traveling with way more (USD) cash than I feel comfortable traveling with… One of my clients pays me through wire transfer into a USD account. For whatever reason, I’m not allowed to access that account from outside Canada.

So I crunched some numbers and made a large withdrawal that would cover all my fuel, hotel, food, and miscellaneous costs (like sandals), and leave me enough to pay cash for my vehicle deposit so that that amount, plus a little extra, would mean that I at least had fuel money in USD cash to get me back home in the spring.

So how did I handle the exchange rate? I refused to think about it. If I had, I wouldn’t have had nearly as good a time! I always plan my budget as though USD and CAD are at par and the currency difference, at least at this time, is ‘bonus’ money. So I didn’t get my ‘bonus’ for October, but I at least didn’t have to think about how much that $20 meal (or whatever) was ‘really’ costing me!

My fuel costs to come south were:

In the US: 244.35USD (about 330CAD)

In MX: 2,000MXN (about 170CAD)

Total: 500CAD. This is exactly what it cost me to go north in the spring!

My hotel costs were:

In the US: 463.35USD/66.19USD per night (about 610CAD/87.14CAD per night)

In MX: 1,200MXN/600MXN per night (about 102CAD/51CAD per night)

Total: 712CAD or 79CAD per night

My tolls in MX were:

About 445MXN, or about 38CAD.

Total in CAD to travel south: 1,250CAD

(I don’t count in food because I have to eat regardless of where I am so I don’t separate meals out from groceries.)

Of course, if I had less of a gas guzzler, the fuel costs could be reduced substantially. But my beloved gas guzzler will not be replaced until I know whether or not I’m moving permanently to Mexico. Anyway, she pays for her gluttony by being such a comfortable and reliable ride!

A flight to Maz round trip is about the same cost, but considering the hassle to get to the airport in Regina, the lost night of sleep because of the super short layover in Calgary, not being able to bring everything I need, and the fact that I love driving and took this as being a bit of a vacation, I am super glad that I don’t make decisions based strictly on my bottom line.

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A Surprising End to the Day

I had a busy and good work day, thanks to my no longer being worried about running down the truck battery. By 2:00, I was more than ready to shut down the computer so I could take advantage of the cloudy and cooler conditions today to head for the Malecón. But I had no sooner turned onto the main part of my road that I saw this coming down the street in my direction:

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That’s a TelMex truck, folks. As in an internet provider truck. As in I turned right around when I saw my landlady walking behind it. Well, first, I waved at her to confirm that I had this, and then I turned around.

It was the same guy as last year (!) and he was just as lovely. Since the cabling was already installed, it was very quick for him to get me online and he was gone by 3:30ish.

It was too late to go to Maz by this point (since it gets dark around 5:00 and I wanted time to have lunch and a long walk), so I instead went for lunch at Lety’s on the beach here. Shrimp quesadillas with beer and totopos. Is there such thing as bad food in Mexico?!

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I think Lety’s is going to be my go-to beach restaurant from now on. The service isn’t as good as at El Velero, but the similarly priced food is several notches better. I would have been happy with just the rice, salad, and pico de gallo on this plate!

Can you see the lime green slice of fruit on my plate? That’s an orange. I only learned very recently that oranges can be green and still perfectly ripe, but they are all artificially forced to turn orange for folks in non-orange growing places who couldn’t wrap their brains around that. At any rate, I had no idea what I was about to bite into and was pleasantly surprised by the very sweet orange flavour!

I’m pretty sure today was the last one at this pace for a bit because I now have no excuse to get back to my other clients. But if I can steal an hour or two a day just to sit on the beach with a beer, if not a meal, it’ll still be an improvement over last year!

Now, to start catching up on my online stuff backlog…

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Rebooting

My trip to Maz yesterday succeeded in depleting my batteries, so I was in bed super early and slept through the night for the first time in weeks. I’m not quite back to 100%, but getting close!

Working outside today wasn’t too bad. I could handle the distractions (including painters working on the house) and the bugs, but I was really stressed about running down my truck battery while using the booster. I found a USB cable that fits it that can be plugged into a wall outlet, so I won’t have that stress tomorrow! I also had the problem of the iPhone running too hot, which shouldn’t be an issue tomorrow since I won’t have to leave it in the truck all day. Most maddening, though, is something I experience frequently at Haven and wish Apple would fix already — I can have my phone plugged in all day and it will still drain if I am using it heavily. The hot spot feature isn’t mean to be used all day. And yes, I use the higher amperage iPad charger rather than the useless phone charger, but the phone still consumes more than the charger puts in.

The painters would have been content to just ignore me all day, and I them, but I just can’t do that. What I was doing all day must have looked really bizarre, especially when the phone started shutting down and I had to turn off the hotspot feature and just check mail from the phone while sitting in the truck. I thankfully had the vocabulary needed to explain what I was doing and why and that I’d clear out by 2:00. They were happy to hear this last bit because they were scraping and painting the porch overhang and I was very much in their way. By the time work was done, they were at my section, so the timing was perfect.

After work, I set off in search of a beach bar besides Carmelita’s with wifi and failed. No one else had wifi. Even though I don’t think their food is that great, I love how I’m treated at El Velero and so I went there. As it turned out, their wifi was down, but they gave me the password for next time. It’s a bit of a hike if I lose internet here and am rushed, but hopefully the wifi will be up if I need it next time… I had a beer and their chicken tacos. They’re very simple and need some pico de gallo, but now that I can handle the hot sauce, they have the zing I’m missing and are decent value. Even though I’m sure it’s not proper taco etiquette, I always fill them with refried beans and rice. Four of their tacos and a beer is a good lunch, without being over indulgent, as long as I remember to order them ‘suave’ (soft) rather than ‘dorado’ (fried). I eat the lettuce on the side because lettuce does not belong in tacos and have discovered that iceberg sprinkled with lime juice and salt is dang good!

When I was done, I thought to take the long way home along the water front, but it was way too hot! When I got to the last turn off before committing to the long schlep, I gave up and made a beeline for home. I read the rest of the afternoon under the ceiling fan while the workers finished up, and then read some more. I got a couple of packages full of books from my best friend recently and am working through them. I love my reading chair!

Off to make supper. It should be a veggie stir fry, but will likely be a quesadilla. 😀

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Shopping Trip to Maz

I ended up going into Maz after all today, starved as I am for a little social stimulation. It didn’t matter how hot it was, the sun completely booted my batteries and I was happy to walk from the embarcadero to the Fisherman’s Monument. Of course, I stopped for a cold fresh pressed grapefruit juice on the way!

I failed at flagging the first bus that came by down Avenida del Mar, probably because the bus stop was just ahead and he didn’t want to stop twice (you can flag a bus down anywhere and they’ll stop if they can, not just at official bus stops). Thankfully, the second one came quickly and I rode it into the Golden Zone, getting off just past the Rafael Buelna roundabout. It was then just about a block to Taco Loco for tacos al pastor!

They were as good as last year, as were their various salsas. The server told me to try the one I call ‘pimento’ and I told him it’s my favourite… even if it burns off my taste buds! I like it on cucumbers. Their pico de gallo is perfect, there’s another spicy tomatoey sauce, and, of course, there’s avocado sauce, which is brilliant on radishes.

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Not being in need of coffee yet, I didn’t hike down to Rico’s for beans (in fact, I would be more likely to ride the bus there and then walk back). I did grab an ice cream at Thrifty’s for the walk to Soriana’s. It wound up being much quicker than I had expected. Mega might be nearly right off the bus, but, truly, it’s not that much more trouble to walk a little further to Soriana.

There, I found most of the stuff I wanted for the house. I was hoping to find a cheap shelving unit for food, but didn’t and realised that a set of plastic drawers on wheels would actually serve me better, and be something I could use back at Haven.

I spent some time looking at tablecloths, wanting one for my six-foot table and one for the dining table as it is glass with a lot of edges where food gets stuck. I easily found one for the long table that I liked, even if it matches nothing else in the house, and made a compromise for the dining table that wound up working perfectly. The dining chair seats have a bit of red in their dark browness and the tablecloth is just dark brown, but they look decent together. Folded in half, the table cloth is just the right size for the odd shaped table.

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I also needed something in which to put smaller utensils and realised while shopping for said something that the pink bucket I picked up at the Willow Bunch Thrift Store would be perfect for that! My dad’s cookie jar is still my larger utensil crock. 🙂

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And here are my new kitchen curtains. I love the purple gingham and the sunflowers, even if the material is cheap and the edges are unfinished.

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I came out of Soriana and a taxi driver promptly accosted me. I’ve never ridden in a taxi in Maz, just in the pulmonías and aurigas. I would have preferred a pulmonía but there were none in sight and the driver quoted me the same price, so I accepted his offer. He loaded the car for me and then took me on a dizzying ride through some familiar, and some completely unknown, parts of Maz. What fun! I told him that I liked having a different route than I was used to and he asked how I would have normally gone from Soriana (Ejercito Mexicano). He frowned and said, “Too much traffic!”

The package carrier guy at the embarcadero came right over and took all my bags and drawer unit. He was loaded down and gasped, “Boat?” in heavily accepted English. I said yes and he promptly ran down to square my things away while I bought my ticket. Let me tell you, I wouldn’t have trusted that process NOB!

On the other side, a teenage boy helped me get my things into the back of the pickup taxi that looks just like my Moya and refused a tip! The truck driver wasn’t too sure where I lived even though the instructions I gave him have been perfectly clear to other taxi drivers. He at least knew where my street was and then I told him, “a little further, on the right, with a truck like yours in the yard.” That last bit helped him more than the house description! He brought everything to my front door. Home!

Let me tell you, I wouldn’t schlep home on public transportation with that much stuff NOB. But a few pesos in Mexico buys a lot of help and it’s not unusual to see someone lugging home a ton of stuff on the lanchas, whether it be a ton of shopping, a fridge, or an ATV!

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There was a casualty to my adventure… My butter got totally squished and quite melted! For some reason, I chose to buy two sticks and I was able to just barely salvage one, so it’s not a total loss. Good thing butter (and all dairy, actually) is so cheap in Mexico!

I actually didn’t come home with much in the way of groceries, but I should be able to get through most of the week. It’s not like Ley is that far away if I need anything I can’t find at the City Deli!

One sad note to close off with: Patty’s restaurant, which had the great burger and fries, is closed. 🙁 🙁 🙁 I’ll have to find another place open for lunch that isn’t a beach restaurant.