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Horseback Riding, Safari, and Language Lessons

Well, it’s been another amazing day on Isla! I went riding for the second time and our one hour ride turned into TWO! Wow! We were taken all over Isla to the point that most of us were completely lost. Remember, Isla is not actually an island and there is a lot of ground to cover!

We started on the beach.

Heading onto the beach for the first part of the ride. We did lots of cantering!

Heading onto the beach for the first part of the ride. We did lots of cantering!

Love low tide on the beach.

Love low tide on the beach.

What a great surface for a canter!

What a great surface for a canter!

As if any reminders were needed that I have the best life ever. :D

As if any reminders were needed that I have the best life ever. 😀

And then we headed inland.

Heading into the coconut grove.

Heading into the coconut grove.

We saw several coati (téjón). Our guide was adamant that they are not raccoons and I look forward to telling him next week that they are in the same family as raccoons. 🙂

Fields of squash.

Fields of squash.

And then our ride turned into a safari. I wasn’t very quick with the camera, unfortunately.

We passed a turtle.

We passed a turtle.

Mrs. (?) Turtle posed for a picture.

Mrs. (?) Turtle posed for a picture.

I saw cranes and FLAMINGOS here!

I saw cranes and FLAMINGOS here!

I saw where mangoes come from!

Heading into the mango grove.

Heading into the mango grove.

It felt like a whole other world in there!

It felt like a whole other world in there!

The mangoes are just starting to come in.

The mangoes are just starting to come in.

We did some literal bushwhacking:

Heading into the bush. Our guide was ahead hacking a path with a machete!

Heading into the bush. Our guide was ahead hacking a path with a machete!

These cacti looked like an alien creature.

These cacti looked like an alien creature.

We came to a part of Isla that was once used for playing baseball.

We emerged on a flood plain.

We emerged on a flood plain.

The remains of a horse.

The remains of a horse.

More of the alien cacti.

More of the alien cacti.

Coconut graveyard.

Coconut graveyard.

We passed a people graveyard.

The old cemetery.

The old cemetery.

And came to a new graveyard. I was riding in the back and the guide yelled out “Chica that speakay Spani, comay translate!’ (with all due respect to him and his accent!). We all joked that our rides are just a cover for language lessons!

The new cemetery. The folks resting here are all immediate family of our guide.

The new cemetery. The folks resting here are all immediate family of our guide.

Those of us who had been to New Orleans were reminded of its graveyards.

Those of us who had been to New Orleans were reminded of its graveyards.

Heading back towards the main road.

Heading back towards the main road.

This truck is just like mine. It once passed me on The Road and the driver yelled out 'Hola, gemela' (Hi, twin)!

This truck is just like mine. It once passed me on The Road and the driver yelled out ‘Hola, gemela’ (Hi, twin)!

Pretty flowers at the stable.

Pretty flowers at the stable.

Pretty dang good value for 100 pesos, huh?

I’m not nearly as sore as I was last week at this time as my saddle and stirrups were much more comfortable. My horse was a little headstrong, did a lot of head tossing, and was uncomfortable to ride at walk and trot, but was soooo smooth at canter! I could have cantered all afternoon on him!

We’re riding again on Monday. Can’t wait!

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Monday Lunch Date

Dale confirmed this morning our tentative plans to meet at the Mercado today for lunch. I’d been up early working and was eager for a break, so I took off around 10:00 to do some shopping before meeting her at noon.

My first stop was the clothing aisle in the Mercado, where I wanted to buy a peasant blouse in dark purple or rose. I found a shop that looked promising and had lower prices than the one where I bought my dresses.

I thought that the clerk was very good. I said I wanted a blouse and didn’t know how to say peasant style, so I showed a dress with a bodice in that style and she understood. We then went through colours and she dug deep to find exactly what I wanted. I didn’t feel pressured.

I love the detailing at the sleeves and down the front, but not the boxy shape. I'll see if I can find someone who can nip in the waist a little.

I love the detailing at the sleeves and down the front, but not the boxy shape. I’ll see if I can find someone who can nip in the waist a little.

I was able to knock 60 pesos off the quoted price and got it for 290 pesos.

It’s been so long since I’ve bought nice new clothes that the prices never cease to amaze me, but, really, $24 for a nice top is nothing!

Then, I did an amble around the area, just to see what was open on a late Monday morning before ending up at Waldo’s to get a few things on my list. Dale was coming into Waldo’s as I was coming out; good timing!

She did her shopping, then we went back to the Mercado for a bit before going upstairs for lunch. Unfortunately, my enchiladas today, while tasty, were nowhere near as yummy as they were last time. Dang! But we still came out of there stuffed for 90 pesos, including the tip, for both of us!

We did a bit more shopping after and I finally found an apron in the style I’ve been looking for, which I was able to bargain down to a mere 70 pesos, so I snatched it up. I’ll have to see if I can find a seamstress to put a few darts it as it is definitely made for a stereotypically corpulent abuela, but the price was too good to not grab it!

Pinafore-style apron, a bit shorter than what I would have liked. The colour scheme is acceptable and I love the pockets in the front. It is *huge* though! :)

Pinafore-style apron, a bit shorter than what I would have liked, but I’ve never seen in person an apron in this style in any length. I bought my last one on Etsy! The colour scheme is acceptable and I love the large pockets in the front. It is *huge* though! 🙂

I was initially quoted six dollars in English and I asked in Spanish for a price in pesos. That wound up being 75 (15 pesos less than the USD price). I countered with 60 pesos and the lady said the best she could do was 70. Shop in the currency of the country you’re in, folks! 🙂

Dale then wanted to show me a new bar she’s discovered that has photographs of old Maz along the walls. It’s called Edgar’s and the beer was cheap. Two Tecates were just 37 pesos!

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The sign made me laugh “Ladies welcome (GentlemAn also)”

We looked at a bit more clothes after as Dale was looking for a blouse and I was looking for a skirt, but we struck out. We parted ways at the corner of Leandro Valle and Aquiles Serdán, where she got on a bus and I headed off towards the panga.

En route, I stopped in at Ley to see if they had my favourite yoghurt in stock. They had one, yay! There was another flavour there that made me curious as there was an ingredient I wasn’t sure about. I asked a lady next to me if ‘pasas son uvas secas’ (literally ‘pasas are dried grapes’) and she looked at me for a moment looking rather bemused before smiling and saying yes. I will try the raisin one the next time I see it!

I can’t believe it’s quarter to four already as I have work to do unless I want to be working by 6:00 again tomorrow. But I have to say that the break in routine was really welcome!

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Gal About Maz

I have a farmer's tan on my legs! :D

I have a farmer’s tan on my legs! 😀

I had a lunch date with Dale today, so I worked a few hours this morning and left around 11:30.

I realised this week that if I were to take the expensive beach panga, I could get picked up right at that embarcadero by the bus that goes both to the Mercado and into the Golden Zone. I have no idea what sort of time saving that would be, though, since the bus meanders. But it’s a good thing to keep in mind if my leg ever starts acting up too badly to walk far or if I have something particularly heavy to carry.

Since I need the exercise, I decided not to explore that option today and just do my usual route of village panga and walking down Gutierrez Najera, stopping for a grapefruit juice along the way, to get to a bus stop on Avenida del Mar.

For the first time, I arrived at the bus stop just as the bus was pulling in. In fact, I was a second behind it and if another passenger hadn’t bodily placed himself with one foot in the door and one foot out to force the driver to wait that second, I would have missed the bus! They really just pause rather than stop for passengers!

The bus was packed, but I found a seat and rode all the way to about a block shy of Rico’s Café. I walked there and got a pound of coffee. It was nice to get some before I got to a ‘need to count how many scoops I have left’ quantity at home. 🙂

Love is like WiFi. It's in the air, but not everyone has the key.

Love is like WiFi. It’s in the air, but not everyone has the key.

It was then a short walk to the RV park, where Dale and her boys were waiting for me. Dale has been in the Golden Zone a full month now and loves it so much that she is going to renew for another month. The location is really convenient, I’ll give it that!

I was craving a hamburger, so we went back to the same place we ate last time I visited. Service was as good as last time. We ordered a giant ‘chocomilk’ again (*smiles*). Dale got the chicken quesadillas, a good value for her as she gets three meals out of them. I got the hamburger and opted for chips and salsa to share rather than fries.

Their salsa was phenomenal! It was definitely Gringoified as it wasn’t spicy. There was chile in it, I could taste it and feel just a little heat, but nothing major. It was just perfect for me and I got to the bottom of the bowl!

My hamburger today was nowhere near as juicy and oniony as the last one I got, but it was still fantastic and I would definitely go back all the way out there for a burger even without Dale.

We then walked a bit further north so Dale could show me a stretch of beach she discovered.

Gorgeous beach day!

Gorgeous beach day!

Waves crashing on rocks make the prettiest sound.

Waves crashing on rocks make the prettiest sound.

Low tide, looking south.

Low tide, looking south.

We had fun watching the parasailers (people pulled behind a boat while wearing a parachute) and I am going to research that as it’s something I’d really like to try.

That looks like fun!

That looks like fun!

Then, something quite unexpected happened: a beach vendor actually managed to sell me something I hadn’t planned on buying! I really don’t buy a lot of jewellery, but I saw these pretty sun and moon earrings and just had to treat myself! They are very likely not real silver and I surely paid way too much money and I really don’t care. They are just gorgeous!

I love dangly earrings, but rarely indulge.

I love dangly earrings, but rarely indulge.

The vendor said they were his 'eclipse model.'

The vendor said they were his ‘eclipse model.’

The afternoon was moving on, so we headed back to the RV park to walk the dogs quickly.

Then, Dale drove me to Soriana. She had already done all her big shopping, so I told her that I was very happy for the lift and could get home on my own. We made tentative plans to meet for lunch at the Mercado on Monday.

Before going to Soriana, I stopped in at Office Depot next door to do a little research for the English school here on Isla as I am helping them make the decision for the purchase of a printer.

I’ve also been looking for an agenda since the end of December and hadn’t found one, to my immense surprise. Dale also had trouble finding a calendar. So I thought an office supply store would have agendas and all Office Depot had were quite pretty hard bound perpetual agendas for a mere 82.50 pesos. I really like those because I can start them at any date, but they are super hard to find and expensive in Canada and the US. So I came out of there quite pleased!

Soriana was next. I started by wandering around the store looking for non-food things on my list and got help finding “the white cotton things to clean your ears” since Soriana staff don’t know what Q-tips are (whatever works!).

Food-wise, I didn’t want to lug home things I can find at Ley or the City Deli, but I did find some treasures. I bought all the hummus they had (two containers *g*) and spent a full 15 minutes in the ginormous cheese section drooling.

They had everything from local Mexican cheese to cheeses imported from Quebec, France, Italy, Spain, and more! I bought some ‘Manchego’ and another one that looked hard and aged that claims to be Mexican Parmesan. I look forward to trying it out!

So I pick up a bottle of sauce to look at the ingredients and they're in Japanese... The Spanish label only had the type of sauce and the nutritional content.

So I pick up a bottle of sauce to look at the ingredients and they’re in Japanese… The Spanish label only had the type of sauce and the nutritional content.

I thought I’d come out of there with bags and bags of stuff and spend a fortune, but I spent less than 500 pesos and my four bags weren’t even all that heavy. If I wasn’t absolutely beat, I would have taken the bus to Gutierrez Najera and walked to the panga from there, but I’d done my exercise for the day and really wanted a pulmonía.

Thankfully, there was one right outside. I couldn’t get him any lower than 70 pesos, so off I went. I’ve noticed that rides from the embarcadero tend to be cheaper than rides to it, probably because it’s harder to get rides there. I really enjoyed my trip!

I’ve lugged much heavier and cumbersome bags home, so I didn’t get a pulmonía on this side. A short distance from home, I came across a guy selling giant corn on the cobs from his truck for 1.5 pesos each and bought two.

I’m now unwinding with a glass of white wine (partial payment on some work I did recently) and I’ll have to do a small job tonight. Work is sluggish, but steady!

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Banking Misadventure Update (and an Early Morning Town Run)

Back in late December, I had the misfortune of requesting money from an ATM, the money being taken out of my account, but not actually receiving the cash.

I called (actually Skyped) my bank as soon as I found out and the representative was very sympathetic and said that she would start an investigation right away for me. However, I was warned that the Mexican bank had 30 business days to respond to the investigation and an additional 60 business days to actually give me back my money. Oy.

A month later (fewer than 30 business days), I Skyped again to see if the investigation was till in process. I had been told that I would either get a letter saying that the investigation had concluded against me or that I would see the money back in my account. Since I don’t have access to my mail, a quick call was the best option to know if this was resolved or not.

This representative told me that the investigation was still pending and that the Mexican bank had not replied. Moreover, this representative was a bit more familiar with Mexican banks and said that Bancomer is notoriously difficult to work with. I should hang in there. As soon as the initial 30 business days were passed, CIBC would be able to get nasty.

I decided to call CIBC once again at the start of February, but the days got away with me. And to be honest, I’d mourned the loss of that money, made up for its lost, and had moved on. I just wasn’t expecting to see it again.

So imagine my surprise this morning when I logged onto my online account and found not only the missing 2,000 pesos, but a sufficient additional amount to cover related fees and interest related to this whole fiasco! Thank you, CIBC!!!

That sure put a spring in my step! I was trying to drag myself out the door to run to town to withdraw cash at Santander and also get a few groceries, but I hadn’t had enough sleep and was facing a full day and was moving sloooooowly until I got the good news!

I left home around 7:00 and didn’t waste any time getting to the bank. Maz is super quiet that early in the day with almost nothing being open, so there were no distractions. I made a nice big withdrawal that could last me a month, then went around the corner to Panamá.

There, I picked up a ham, cheese, and jalapeño sandwich to eat right then, an almond croissant to enjoy with a cup of coffee when I got home, and a pineapple stuffed thing to eat later this afternoon.

Next stop was Ley for few groceries. I’m doing a big Soriana run possibly tomorrow afternoon, so it was more of an emergency top up of things that were on sale than a proper stock up, including getting a container of my favourite yoghurt for only 23 pesos!

Then off I went home, where I arrived at bang on 9:00. The day was already getting hot, a brutal shock after the wet and chilly weekend we had, so I was glad to get into my cool home.

Now, a bit of work, a fun excursion, and then lots of work. Might as well make hay while the sun is shining. Literally.

Life in my tropical paradise continues to be wonderful beyond measure.

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Living la vida sencilla

It’s that time of the month where I invoice clients and tweak the new month’s budget while looking ahead to the next few months. This is getting more and more critical as May is already looming and I need to make sure I’m well buffered for the drive home since I don’t know how much, or even if, I’ll be able to work on the way back. I did take a special extension on my health coverage to the end of May that I don’t want to waste, so I am thinking of getting a couple of weekly rentals at various places in the States.

But I digress. Despite its frighteningly slow start, January ended with a bang. I worked my tail off, but was also paid a bonus amount for the project. So not only did I end up exceeding my minimum earning goals for the month… I just met my ideal target. I just about never make that amount, but it’s something to shoot for. That ideal target would cover bills, allow me to live comfortably for a month, and also leave a generous amount for my buffer/emergency fund. So I am in good financial shape for the first time since I left home and February is off to a busy start! The tide is turning!

One thing that helps is just how simple my life here is in Mexico. Really, what do I have to spend money on? About 95% of my budget goes to food (groceries and dining out), 2% to beer (both at home and at bars), 1% to public transportation, and 1% to household and miscellaneous small outings. I feel like I have a fantastic quality of life and that I am well stimulated. Much as I miss home, I know that my budget is going to balloon there when I have a property to maintain again. 🙁

Doing this math made me feel a lot less troubled by how my dining out habit has increased in the last few weeks. I have to eat anyway, so why not enjoy the local culture that way? Yes, I could slash my budget by eating only at home with a very simple diet, but, seriously, how frugal does one person have to be before it’s enough?! 🙂

One comment I get from people is that I have to watch the dining out because it will mean weight gain. Well, I guess it depends on what you eat and I tend to make sensible choices. I’m very happy to say that I haven’t gained a pound since I got here, but I lost two inches around my waist, which means that I’m building muscle from all that walking and losing fat. So my simple Mexican life is working well for me!!