Month: April 2016

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Not the Best Day to Go to the Movies

If a movie has “Batman” in the title, you can bet I’ll be interested in seeing it. So I decided to head to town today to see “Batman vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice.” I decided to try the Cinemex at Insurgentes, next to the Soriana, as that was by far the easiest theatre to get to. But I had a sneaking suspicion they don’t have subtitled movies since the website wasn’t clear on that subject. There was a 1:20 showing there and a 2:30 showing at Cinepolis in Gran Plaza, so if I struck out at Insurgentes, I had plenty of time to get to Gran Plaza.

I left home around noon, didn’t have to wait for a lancha, and the bus stopped at a red light at the corner of Juan Carrasco was heading to Plaza Ley, so I was making record time until that point. But traffic on Juan Carrasco and then Ejército México was really heavy, so it was rather a long ride. I got off in front of the Pemex at the corner of Insurgentes and then hoofed it to the Cinemex, the equivalent of a block or two away. Sure enough, they only have dubbed movies. Oh, well, it was worth a try!

The walk to Gran Plaza wasn’t long, only about 2.5KM, but getting across Ejército Méxicano was scary! Insurgentes was busy, but there was a sidewalk the whole way, so the walk ended up being okay even if traffic was heavy. I got to Gran Plaza with a full hour to spare before the movie started there, so I went off in search of lunch.

After some wandering around, I found a food court. In my limited experience with Mexican food courts, they all offer Chinese, sushi, Mexican, and pizza, with some adding in a salad and sandwich place. And you know you’ve been in Mexico for a while when the Chinese and sushi are satisfying instead of being disappointing. The trick for Chinese is stick to rice since Mexico apparently hasn’t figured out Asian noodles and will serve you spaghetti instead. And the trick for sushi is to accept that the “soy sauce” will be sweet and citrusy, there will be cream cheese, and forget about ginger. Even though I had sushi a few days ago, that was the most appealing option and something I really haven’t had much this winter (this was only my third time since I got here!). I went through an extensive menu and settled on their ‘special California’ roll, with it being special because the outside had masago (fish eggs), a treat I haven’t had in ages. At $68, this roll was their best deal, too. I was amused when I was handed this lobster with my receipt. It vibrated to let me know my food was ready!

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I don’t do popcorn at movies, so I decided to have a Thrifty’s ice cream for dessert since there was a stand right there in the food court and I still had 30 minutes to kill.

At about 2:15, I headed to the cinema. I had a thought en route about the last time I went to the movies here. I had made a note in my post about the seat I had chosen then. So I referred back to the post and was reminded to ask for a seat in the H row. What would I do without my blog to remind me of stuff?! 🙂

And then, it was time for the movie, which was rather disappointing. I’d gone in “cold,” having only seen the trailer and no spoilers, which was a mistake. I should have seen “Man of Steel” first for context on the Superman side of the movie. I really enjoyed the Batman side, but the Superman stuff left me cold. I’m glad I saw the movie and would see future movies in this universe that feature Affleck’s Batman, but I would have been annoyed if I had paid a Canadian price for my ticket. But at the Mexican price of $43, it was worth taking a chance.

I came out and once again wasted too much time and energy trying to get out of Gran Plaza. They really need better signage to the one exit on Reforma. I headed up to Mega, noticing that traffic down Reforma (heading towards Centro) was at a standstill. I realised that getting home might be tricky…

Mega really isn’t my first choice of grocery shopping destination, but it was the most convenient. I picked up a few sundries, including veggies to make a stir fry when I got in. And I’m embarrassed to admit I had to get more hummus…

It was still light when I came out and there were no taxis… I waited and waited, then decided to cross the parking lot to Rafael Buelna and see about a bus instead. No buses either. There was tons of traffic and loads of people because of that motorcycle rally, so I suspected that public transportation wasn’t going to be very difficult to find in that part of town. Thankfully, I didn’t have an unmanageable amount of shopping, so walking was an option. But it was going to get dark fast. I stood at the corner of Rafael Buelna and Reforma for a bit trying to decide what route to take that would be more likely get me an appropriate bus or, ideally, a taxi fast. I think that last year I would have been concerned faced with such uncertainty as to how I’d get to the embarcadero, but I was fine tonight, just annoyed with myself for not having taken this into consideration when I planned my day.

As I was mulling that over, I saw a pulmonía heading my way! I couldn’t see if there was anyone inside, so I waved at it. The driver pulled over. Crisis solved! 🙂 I expected to be quoted $100 for the ride today (normally $60-$70) because of the traffic and he said $80! I made sure to say that I was only accepting that price because of the traffic. He said, “Of course! Normally it’s $60 but this will take a while!” I assured him that the price hike was fair and we headed off down Reforma. It was moving fluidly by this point, but traffic was heavy and I could have walked faster!

After a few minutes of not really getting anywhere, the driver asked me how well I know Maz. I replied, “Well enough to know that we should head towards Juárez and take Gabriel Leyva.” He gave me a thumbs up sign and replied, “Exactly what I thought! Hold on!” He took me on a dizzying route of side streets to reach the corner of Deportes where you turn right to go towards the water, but we went left. We chatted as we whizzed along and he asked me if I’d like to go out sometime… If I wasn’t three weeks to departure, I would have said yes. But I don’t see a point in entangling myself with someone when I’m leaving for good so soon. Shame. I suspect I won’t have a hard time meeting a special someone when I’m settled in Mérida and ready to start thinking about such things…

The lancha was leaving the dock when I arrived, but it came back for me. On board, I met an American fishing boat captain who is picking up a load this evening and had a few free hours. I gave him some Isla tips about taxis, beer, restaurants, and the lancha. He seemed very grateful to find an English speaker who could assure him that he wasn’t going to get murdered or kidnapped walking around Isla after dark. I told him that concern is very valid these days on the outskirts of Maz, but not on Isla!

It got properly dark about halfway home from the embarcadero. Isla does have some streetlights, but I take the back alleys to get home and many of them were in pitch darkness. I know my way around and I rather enjoy these quiet dark hours… as long as I don’t wake up a dog. Once one starts barking, they all do!

I got in and set to work making that stir fry even though it was super late. I threw rice in the rice cooker and then got the veggies washed and chopped in record time. They were done at just about the same time as the rice, so I threw in some of the chicken I picked up yesterday as well as some sauce and voilà! It was more work than I’d been in the mood for, but was worth it, especially when paired with a glass of crisp cold white wine!

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Sometimes, You Gotta Run All Over Town

Today’s errands were to go to the bank, get coffee, and come home with chicken. Unless I wanted to bring my chicken back from the northern end of town (no), I had quite the route ahead of me. Red is what I walked, blue is the first bus I took, and green is the second bus I took. The whole thing represents 20KM of travel.

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I started by going up to Rico’s in the Golden Zone for coffee. This will likely be my last trip for that… 🙁 It was very slow going and standing room only on a very crowded bus that lurched through nearly standstill traffic. Thankfully, a gentleman offered me his seat. As we inched our way north, I was glad that I’d decided to postpone a trip to the Mercado first since I’d gotten a late start and would never have had a chance to get to the bank before it closed at 4:00.

The Golden Zone was hopping as there is a motorcycle rally this weekend. But, surprisingly, Rico’s was almost empty. I was out of there in record time. I then crossed the street to get a bus back, but thought to do a little window shopping instead.  That was a dumb idea. The vendors were way too aggressive, even worse than in the Mercado, and prices were inflated. I gave up and went to a bus stop to grab the bus back down to get off a block past the Domino’s and casino to reach to the Scotiabank on Ejército Méxicano, but…

I waited and I waited and I waited. And then I waited some more. Traffic was insanely slow, which didn’t help. When I saw a little local bus marked Plaza Ley, that was good enough for me as it would get me to within about 2.5KM of Scotiabank. I wasn’t saving any time by far, but it would at least get me away from the traffic and give me what might be my last nickel tour of Maz.

The bus did its lurching route and after we passed the Ley del Mar I suspected, correctly, that we would be turning left on Insurgentes, my cue to get off. I did, debated getting on another bus to get me to the bank, checked the time, and decided to hoof it. That would mean a hike of about 4KM to the embarcadero, plus another KM or so on this side, a perfectly reasonable distance.

I reached the bank at 3:38, 22 minutes to closing. There were two people ahead of me in line for the ATM, so by the time I got into the booth, it was almost 3:45. I had 12,000MXN in my account and could withdraw up to 700CAD, so I requested 8,000MXN. The machine would not give them to me. I’ve heard that there is a withdrawal limit of 7,000MXN per transaction, but Scotiabank won’t let you take out odd numbers. So I had to take out $6,000 and then another $2,000. Thankfully, I’m not paying for each transaction!

It was just pas 3:50 when I was finally able to queue inside to see a teller. There were 37 people ahead of me in line. Yes, I counted. I had a sneaking suspicion that the doors would shut at 4:00 and whomever wasn’t being served would be kicked out. I decided I didn’t need small bills that badly when I heard a teller call for the lady with glasses on her head. I looked around and realised that she very likely meant me! I pointed to myself and she mimed for me to go to her window!

She greeted me with “How much would you like to change today?” Then, she asked me for my name, gave me hers, and said that from now on, I can cut ahead and go to her as soon as she’s free! Wow! I probably only have one more withdrawal to make here, but I’ll definitely take her up on that when it happens. I have no idea why I was able to get ahead in the queue and judging from the stares I got, I don’t think this is normal… But I was very happy! It would have really sucked to walk away without my smaller bills after the trip and a half I took to get to the bank by closing time!

Then, I headed to the embarcadero, stopping to get two roasted chickens for $120 along the way. They smelled like heaven and I was happy to tuck into them when I got in. I hadn’t thought I’d be that late and hadn’t had lunch, silly me. I have plenty of leftovers for the next couple of days, too, of course!