(Post 106 of 263. Thanks again to those who participated in the Fundrazr. As I mentioned in the post announcing Bast’s passing from COVID, I thank everyone for your generous donations to the original Fundrazr campaign, which resulted in sponsored 263 posts. I will continue to honour the commitment to write those 263 posts, but I will not commit to more. The link above is to a new campaign to help Bast’s family.)

I can’t believe how efficient the vaccination process was. My Uber surprised me by being right on time at 11:30, so I was at the Siglo XXI centre by about 11:40. The driver pointed out the start of the line and I thought, “Oh, boy,” what with the number of people milling about. It turned that that they were just milling about.

I was promptly funnelled into a general entrance, then the document check entrance, then the paperwork processing entrance. At this point I was sat in front of a young man who went over my documents, made sure I was in good health, and directed me in the general direction of where I needed to wait to be taken for my vaccine. There, a lady led me to a chair in a line. Within a couple of minutes, everyone in my line was directed to another line of chairs.

There, we were given instructions for the next few days — no alcohol but you can keep taking your meds, these are potential side effects, etc. It was very loud and echoey in the room, so I was very pleased that I understood everything. I don’t know if there is any assistance for non-Spanish speakers.  Then, I got my shot and had to sit for a few minutes before being directed to another chair in which I had to wait nearly 15 minutes before being allowed to leave.

My return Uber was quick too, so I this was a 55-minute door-to-door trip.

The vaccine I got is the Astrazeneca. I stayed up late last night reading about it because it has gotten so much bad press, but I was satisfied with what I read.

Now, the wait for the second dose starts!

(Post 105 of 263. Thanks again to those who participated in the Fundrazr. As I mentioned in the post announcing Bast’s passing from COVID, I thank everyone for your generous donations to the original Fundrazr campaign, which resulted in sponsored 263 posts. I will continue to honour the commitment to write those 263 posts, but I will not commit to more. The link above is to a new campaign to help Bast’s family.)

I first came to Mexico in 2014 at a time when it was starting to modernize. In just seven years the country went from primarily using cash to debit cards becoming so common that a Facebook Marketplace seller showed up at my door with a little machine to take a card payment from me!

But probably the biggest changes have been to immigration. When I started the residency process in 2017, I was getting very outdated and very bad advice from folks who went through the old system and hadn’t updated their knowledge (a problem in all areas of life here with old-timers, so be careful who you get advice from and ask how recent that advice is!).

Immigration has gone digital and is tracking visas and permits now. The days of being able to live here infinitely on a tourist visa, leaving every six months for a day and coming back in, are over. If you want to leave here long-term, get a residency visa. If you are here illegally, tou will be caught and you will be deported. This video covers all of this in much greater detail.

I’m seeing a lot of complaints from folks here illegally about these changes, which is pretty funny because these tend to be the same folks complaining about illegal aliens in their country! My only complaint with the current immigration crackdown is that the rule that you have to carry your residency documentation is now being enforced. In that case, they need to make the replacement of that card in case of loss or theft a lot less terrifying and onerous!

It’s exciting to living in a modern country with a brand new digital infrastructure!

(Post 104 of 263. Thanks again to those who participated in the Fundrazr. As I mentioned in the post announcing Bast’s passing from COVID, I thank everyone for your generous donations to the original Fundrazr campaign, which resulted in sponsored 263 posts. I will continue to honour the commitment to write those 263 posts, but I will not commit to more. The link above is to a new campaign to help Bast’s family.)

I woke up this morning to several posts on FB from various government agencies and news outlets announcing that the vaccination for my age cohort was starting tomorrow, according to birth month! That meant I was on day two, this Thursday, between 8 and 6PM. Thursdays are Lulu days, so I figured I’d greet her, then head up to the convention centre to get my jab. Well, I just got a text message from the department of health with an actual appointment. I’m scheduled tightly this week, so it’s great that this should be just a quick outing. It is a teeny bit frustrating that there is a vaccination centre two blocks from my house, but based on my postal code, I have to go all the way up to the convention centre — I’m not complaining, though!

They are telling me to bring printout of my CURP card and vaccination registration form, and also official ID (I’m bringing both my PR card and my CDN passport). And because I’m a belts and suspenders gal, I’ll probably bring a couple of proofs of address, like my latest utility bills. I’ve only heard of non-citizens having problems getting their jab in small villages, so I don’t expect any trouble, but it’s good to be prepared for anything!

(Post 103 of 263. Thanks again to those who participated in the Fundrazr. As I mentioned in the post announcing Bast’s passing from COVID, I thank everyone for your generous donations to the original Fundrazr campaign, which resulted in sponsored 263 posts. I will continue to honour the commitment to write those 263 posts, but I will not commit to more. The link above is to a new campaign to help Bast’s family.)

Horrible software difficulties aside, it has been so much fun to plan out my house in software so that I can visualise its potential. I thought I’d save these designs for posterity as I’m sure they’ll evolve over time.

One thing that I’ve come to realise is that the floors need to be a bigger priority than I thought they would be. For the bulk of the rooms, a lick of paint and new furniture is all that’s needed, but I don’t want to bring in new furniture when it will all have to be moved out of the way to redo the floors. So, yep, soon as I get a contractor here to give me a quote for redoing the office, I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I’m going to get a quote to redo the floors in the entire house except the two remaining bathrooms and the kitchen, which will be done when I do their complete renos (since they’ll have different flooring anyway. This summer is promising to be quiet with work (time to manage projects), I have some savings built up, and I also have my line of credit to draw on if I need to. Might as well get things done!

(Post 102 of 263. Thanks again to those who participated in the Fundrazr. As I mentioned in the post announcing Bast’s passing from COVID, I thank everyone for your generous donations to the original Fundrazr campaign, which resulted in sponsored 263 posts. I will continue to honour the commitment to write those 263 posts, but I will not commit to more. The link above is to a new campaign to help Bast’s family.)

Many months ago, as vaccines started to come out and plans were made to inoculate as much of the world population as possible, Yucatán made a schedule for its own vaccination rollout based on priority (eg. first-line health workers needing theirs first) and then by age cohort. My age group was promised a vaccine by the end of June 2021. That felt so far away and like a pipe dream, but I grew optimistic as I saw that our vaccine rollout, while seeming very slow compared to other countries, was going along exactly as scheduled. Sure enough, June had barely arrived that registration for my age group’s cohort opened up!

The registration site had hiccups at the start, but all the wrinkles were smoothed out by the time I logged on to register. It was a very easy process. I put in my CURP, which is like the Mexican SIN or SSN, and my information popped up. I just had to confirm my address and I was good to go.

It’s a bit frustrating that there is a vaccination station at the college two blocks from my house but that based on my postal code, I have to go all the way up to the Siglo XXI convention centre, but I’m not going to quibble!

Now, I’m just waiting for a call or text to confirm my appointment, as well as following various sources to track progress and get an idea of what my date is going to be. Mérida and its suburbs seems to have always been last, but with things moving so fast, that doesn’t mean end of the month. I have a friend in the 70+ cohort who was vaccinated on the 9th of April. My cleaning lady got her first dose this week. Having the people I spend the most time with get their first jab really makes it feel real that this nightmare is coming to an end and that soon I will be able to have a proper dinner party to celebrate my new status of homeowner!

I didn’t hesitate long about getting vaccinated — I just have to look at history (smallpox, polio) to know that the odds are in my favour that this is the right decision, but I also consulted trusted medical sources. I also have no doubt that proof of vaccination is going to be required to travel in the future. I would not hesitate to get, say, a yellow fever vaccination to visit Kenya, so I don’t see any difference with a COVID vaccination being necessary.