Even though I didn’t need to be up early today, I was wide awake at 6:00. I am absolutely exhausted, but it’s not the sleep deprived kind at all as I’ve been getting plenty of sleep. So I didn’t try to get another oouple of hours and instead read for about an hour.
I put on a load of laundry while the water heated for coffee, then I breakfasted on my leftover tacos. They were surprisingly good cold! I had planned to reheat them in a pan with cheese, but they didn’t need any work at all, besides the addition of a little avocado. 🙂
Laundry takes a while since the machine is slow to fill, so I did a little clothes mending before I left. I didn’t think to bring sewing supplies from home, but I found a very adequate little kit at Waldo’s for just 12 pesos that had everything I needed, even the right colour threads!
A surprisingly decent little travel sewing kit for just 12 pesos.
After finally putting the laundry on the line, I headed to town. I have a birthday coming up so my first stop was the dress shop to put in an order for a dress. 🙂 It was going to take a while since the seamstress wasn’t in yet, but I wasn’t in a hurry as I had some errands to run in the area. I paid and said I’d be back in about an hour.
I head to Panamá’s, where there was a lineup out the door and up the block for its mediocre food! I grabbed an almond croissant to go (no wait for this), went back to the Mercado to get a grapefruit juice, and found a bench in the square opposite the cathedral to have my snack. This was the first time a juice vendor asked me to confirm my order. It surprised me that it took this long since orange and grapefruit have the same last syllable.
Next, I went to the fabric/craft store as I have a craft project I want to do. I was looking for felt and completely struck out. I used Google to translate, describe what felt is, spoke to a clerk who is fluent in English, showed a picture, and still we could not figure it out. I found something else that will make do.
I then asked for ‘cinta de contact’, remembering that Velcro didn’t work last time, and the guy looked at me funny and said, “You mean Velcro?” I said yes, but that the last clerk I asked had no idea what Velcro is. He shook his head and said he knew exactly who I meant. Interesting.
He left me in the capable hands of the notions counter and I asked for black Velcro. They only had white left and I could have a whole metre or a rather wrinkled remnant a few inches long that was exactly as much as I needed for my project! Finally, I wanted ribbon and they had rolls and rolls and rolls of the stuff, but I quickly spotted exactly what I wanted and got a metre of that.
Total cost of my purchases at the craft store: 2.5 pesos. I love this country.
Then, I went to Waldo’s to pick up a few things and then I went back in search of the earring lady. There are tons other vendors in the Mercado selling 10-peso pairs of earrings, but they look really cheap and/or gaudy. She has the nicest ones and I found her again! I picked out a pair that she says is made of green quartz.
I finished my errands by getting some avocados, wandered around the Mercado a bit to continue getting my bearings in it, and figured out where I needed to catch the bus to the Golden Zone, my next stop. As it turns out, it’s on Benito Juarez, in front of Waldo’s and just outside the dress shop.
My dress was ready and the seamstress had remembered that I needed to have the straps shortened on the last dress, so she put shorter ones on this one. I tried the dress on the minute I got home and the straps on it are perfect!
My new dress. I don’t like the fabric as much as it is a thin jersey-type material that is likely going to catch and create runs, but the pattern was the prettiest they had.
I know I already have a purple dress, but there really wasn’t much I liked today in terms of patterns and fabric weight. I wound up making a compromise with a lighter weight fabric that I wasn’t sure would drape well (thankfully, it does!). I almost went with the orangey red dress in the same fabric as my pink dress, but the clerk said to me (in English), “I really don’t think that’s the best colour for you,” so that was that. I really like the pattern (flowers) and colour of this dress and the fabric feels very light and climate-appropriate.
My business in the area done, I wanted to head to the Golden Zone. It was frankly time to get over my annoying derision for the area and get to know it a bit better.
It was incredible to stand on the curb outside the Mercado with all the crowds and traffic, not be even remotely overwhelmed, and recognize the bus I needed as it pulled up. I have just about mastered the basics of this wonderful city!
I decided to ride the bus a good long way, just to see what was what and then either walk or bus it back to the Golden Zone to get coffee and lunch. I settled in and off we went. Traffic was light and there was almost no one on the bus. We passed the Golden Zone, hit the marina, and continued on to Nuevo Mazatlán and Cerritos. The only other passenger besides me got off near the Crown Plaza Hotel and I decided I was done, too, and got off as well.
Crowne Plaza Hotel
I started to head back the way I came, stopping at an Oxxo for a bottle of water. I used to carry a full 1L bottle of water with me at all times until I realised just how much weight that is. Yes, buying a small bottle of water at a convenience store is about 4x the price of the water I buy at home, but I walk a lot and my bag gets heavy! Plus, buying water throughout the day means I always get cold water. Even if I start with half a bottle of ice, I have warm water within a few hours.
I walked all the way from the Crowne Plaza Hotel to the Marina.
Another great translation — bottom of the sign, “Only registers.”
I appreciated the choice of sidewalk, choosing smooth, as it’s better for my bum leg. 🙂
I’m not sure what this plant is. It has very thick waxy leaves.
Looks like a new residential complex.
It’s rather in the middle of nowhere.
Mexicans use their roofs and I love how many houses use spiral staircases to access them.
This is a big mall with expensive stores like Liverpool. There’s a Walmart across the way that I have shopped at.
A marina.
I love the colour of the water down here.
See, I told you yesterday that there is always a toilet nearby in Mexico. 😀
Can you imagine mooring here?
This almost makes me wish I was a boater. 🙂
I was just praising the quality of the sidewalks and walkability of the area when the sidewalk just ended. Thankfully, there was more on the other side of the road!
At the Marina, I found a proper bus shelter with shade and waited for some time for a bus. A taxi pulled up and offered me a ride, which I declined politely, as I had declined all the other offers I’d been giving along my long walk. “Why not?” the driver asked me in English. I replied in Spanish, “Bus to the Mercado, 10 pesos, taxi 120 pesos!” He laughed and said in perfect English, “Yeah. Can’t argue with that! Have a great day!”
There were folks across the street waiting for a bus going in the opposite direction (no shelter) and they came running across the street to me, asking if I’d ever taken the bus before. Yes… As it turns out, the buses kept going past them. I told them to stick out their arm to as a signal to the driver. As I said this, my bus showed up, so I was able to demonstrate.
This turned out to be one of the smaller ‘local’ buses (as opposed to the ‘tourist buses’). There really wasn’t much difference in the comfort level, but this bus was only 7 pesos instead of 10! BTW, the bus drivers have change!
It really wasn’t very far to get to Rico’s from the Marina, but I was glad for the lift. I got up just after the El Cid Resort and the driver asked me where I wanted him to stop exactly. I said Rico’s and he dropped me off kitty corner from the café.
To my surprise, Rico’s upped their coffee prices significantly since the last batch I got, from 124 pesos to 147 for a pound of Veracruz! Still a great deal, though! I was happy to use their bathroom while I waited for my order, but was surprised that it was not very clean.
It was coming onto 1:00 when I left and I was ready for lunch. I wanted sushi, something I haven’t had since November 29th, but I knew better than to have my heart set on it. There are tons of sushi restaurants in Maz, but they never seem to be open when I need them to be!
I walked down the street towards Rafael Buelna, looking at my food options and doing a bit of window shopping.
See these little squares in the pavement?
Super cute tiles! This one’s a cat.
A fish. There were birds and loads of other designs.
A want a basin like this for the bathroom sink in my cabin!
I was nearly at Rafael Buelna when I found an open sushi place, Yoko’s! Heading south, it’s just after Panamá’s and before the Burger King on your left. The entrance is set back from the road, so it’s not evident that the place is open. I’m glad I investigated!
To my immense surprise, I was not only served in Spanish, but the menu was bilingual Japanese-Spanish with no English! I had no idea what half the Spanish words were and my Japanese was much needed and appreciated. 🙂
I ordered pretty much my usual, octopus nigiri and spicy tuna.
A lunch to behold! Non-spicy spicy tuna and octopus nigiri.
The octopus came with a sweet and salty sauce that I was worried would mask the delicate flavour of the flesh, but there was only a small dab of it and it wound up being very good!
The tuna was not spicy in the least, but was very fresh and generously portioned. This was a 10 out of 10 sushi meal! The bill was a bit shocking, 210 pesos with the tip, a very average price for this quality of sushi meal if converted to both USD and CAD, but quite high for Mexico! Totally worth it, though!
Looking out the window, I saw the Post and Ship mail service location. This is a great service for Gringos here long-term. You get a US shipping address in Texas and every so often, your items are brought to Mexico to be picked up at this location, with all customs processes and fees done for you. I couldn’t justify the cost of the service for just six months, but I bet the ex-pats love it!
Lots of gringos who live here long-term have a PO box here that uses a Texas address.
See what I saw? Burger King with HOME DELIVERY.
After lunch, I decided to go to Panamá’s for cake and coffee, something a few people have told me I need to do just once, even if I don’t eat a lot of sweets anymore. I ordered the ‘coffee and slice’ special, asking for a ‘cafe Americano’ to get real black drip coffee to which you can add milk and sugar (as per my friend’s tip). I was brought a huge multi-tiered tray on wheels from which I could pick any dessert I wanted. There was tons of choice, but I really wanted chocolate and found a slice that looked like devil’s food cake with caramel, which is exactly what it was.
The cake was really good, but I wish I’d had someone to split it with as I could have easily been satisfied with just half of the huge slab. The coffee was excellent! So now I know that I can use Panamá’s for coffee, too! I don’t know if they do take out coffee, but I always a mug with me when I’m traveling, so there’s that option.
I was quite tired by this point, so it was time to wrap up my day with a visit to the Mega supermarket that I have heard so much about. It wasn’t far from Panamá’s; one or two blocks to Rafael Buelna and then perhaps one or two blocks down.
It had a lot, but, really, I think it’s over rated. I didn’t see much there that you can’t find at Soriana and the bigger Leys and the prices were generally a little higher for everything. They did have more imported foods, though, I’ll give them that, and more English signage and staff, which explains why Gringos like them so much and think that groceries are super expensive in Mexico! But I did get a few good deals and they had hummus! Reader Sandy left a comment yesterday about Mega having hummus, so I knew I wasn’t going to leave without some!
The Maxi in Gatineau had a ramp like this for the people and carts.
This is the exact brand of olive oil I buy in Assiniboia. I buy a bottle half that size and it costs me about $6. I was told olive oil is expensive in MX. BS, once again.
A jar of Dijon like that is about $4 in Canada, again a better deal in MX.
And this is where I burst out laughing in Mega.
And then I saw more colours and I couldn’t stop giggling.
COLOURED rice!
All it is is sushi rice and colouring. Yes, I was tempted, no I did not come home with it.
500mL of Canadian maple syrup=OUCH pesos
This is the kind of jam my mother likes. I think it comes from France. The price seems similar to what I paid in Quebec.
Huuuuuuuuumus.
That should last me a bit.
At Mega, the expensive sweet relish is with the ‘gourmet’ imported stuff. The sweet relish of the people is with the olives and tuna. Ours not to question why..
Olives is a word that trips me up in Spanish — aceituna. Aceite is oil and tuna is atún so aceituna makes me think of sardines. 🙂
I know I just had lunch, but yum!
Now, this was a find! It’s no sugar added granola made with ancient (high protein) grains. It will be great with yoghurt for breakfast!
I’m glad I went to Mega because now I know that I haven’t really been missing out on anything by going primarily to Ley and occasionally to Soriana. There were a few things that might make it worth popping into Mega occasionally, but going there won’t be a habit.
I’d promised myself a pulmonÃa for the ride home and was quoted 70 pesos. I talked him down to 65… but still paid the 70. 🙂 A panga was pulling out as I arrived, but came back to the dock for me!
The walk home from the panga was just about all the extra work I needed to do today as my bags were getting heavy. I’m cooked and beat, but what a great day off! Now, to decide if I want wine or beer!
