Mexico

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A Quick Introduction to Chelem

My hosts are leaving tomorrow and I have a full day of dishwashing to look forward to to set up my kitchen. But I didn’t have dish soap or scrubby pads (everything has a greasy layer of grime from my long time away) so I decided to pop into Chelem this afternoon to get a few thing at “Willy’s,” what passes for a supermarket in this sleepy fishing village. I am about 2.5 to 3KM from “downtown” Chelem and can get there by the beach. So it is walking distance, depending on how much time I have, how hot it is out, and what I need to bring back.

First stop was to exchange an empty water jug for a full one. I’m not sure how I feel about getting drinking water there since the process doesn’t seem particularly sterile. My hosts buy bottled water for drinking at Costco (I think it’s a 1.5L size) and only use this water for doing a second rinse of veggies (yes, they do the initial clean of the veggies with tap water) and to use for making coffee and cooking stuff like pasta and potatoes. I’ll have to see what I feel comfortable doing.

This is a colectivo, or minibus, that goes to Progreso. I can grab one near my house to go into Chelem or Progreso and then take a bus to Mérida. Depending on what I plan to do that day, that will likely be my preferred way of getting around as it will be much cheaper than paying for fuel.

Here is the main plaza/square:

I walked around for a bit and this is a typical street:

I got what I needed at Willy’s (it’s a bit “better” in terms of selection as to what I could get at the City Deli on Isla) and then wandered a bit to see what was up and if anything smelled good for lunch.

I wandered into this covered area with some stalls on each side of the aisle, some open with food cooking.

Some ladies saw me looking at menus and were quick to tell me what they had available for lunch. I asked for two tacos and sat down.

I’d bought that bottle of Fresca at Willy’s and would regret having nearly downed all of it before my tacos arrived. See that green sauce over top? The lady brought me the tacos without the green sauce and asked me if I wanted chiles. Yes, of course. So she brought me back a little sauce. Great, I love the green better than the red! But I assumed it was the readily available commercial stuff, poured it onto each taco, and dug in. Well…

It wasn’t the commercial stuff. Oh, the PAIN. I don’t think I’ve ever hurt so good while eating Mexican food. LOL I felt myself flush and, of course, my nose started to run and my eyes to water. I doled out my Fresca, bravely finished, paid, had a five-minute conversation the ladies running the stand (one said that I really should consider Progreso over Mérida — more house for my pesos and sea breezes while still having access to all the services I want…), and then hoofed it to a store across the square to get a fruit juice! I then headed home and didn’t get lost or stuck in the sand!

I’m told Chelem will come to life as the hot weather comes and folks from Mérida escape to the beach. So it will be interesting to see if more things open. There really wasn’t much today.

Besides this lunch counter, I’ve also been to two expat-owned restaurants in the area. I’ll be going back to both and will do posts then. One does Indian (!) for takeaway that is at least as good as anything I’ve had in England (!) and the other has very good pizzas, calzones, and salads, all at super reasonable prices (expensive for most Mexicans, but a bargain by expat standards).

My hosts are leaving tomorrow and then I will get working on properly settling in. As I said, I have to wash all the kitchen stuff, but I also have laundry to catch up on so I can switch to my own blankets, pillows, sheets, towels, etc. Once that’s all done and I’m more properly settled, I’ll share some pictures! Now, I don’t plan to give a full tour of the property, but I’ll show you my space (living room/bedroom + bathroom), the kitchen, and the courtyard with the pool. 🙂

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Grateful For Work

I promise to have some interesting posts with photos for you in the next few days. Right now, I’m focused on my Friday paycheque with one of my clients who is currently in a busy phase and has as much work as I can handle.

My hosts are leaving on Saturday and I will spend the day getting the kitchen set up, then I will share pictures of the wonderful space I will get to enjoy for the summer. Yes, my hosts gave me permission to show you the house!

I’m trying to remember what I did yesterday besides type. Oh, yes! F gave me a run of the house systems. It’s really like a stationary RV, with complex power and water systems, including solar. I’m glad I have that RV experience under my belt, especially with solar, otherwise I would be very overwhelmed.

Today, the housekeepers came, so we went “into town,” by which I mean Progreso. I haven’t seen much of it yet, but I get a real Maz centro historico vibe, what with the cruise ships and the malecón. We went to Bodega Aurrerá, which is owned by Walmart. We had them in Maz, but for some reason, I never went. There, I picked up enough groceries to tide me over until I can go do a proper shop, just fixings for sandwiches and snacks, as well as yoghurt and fresh tortillas! I also bought an electric kettle that was on sale for much less than I’ve seen even a cheap kettle go for in Canada (about 12CAD).

I don’t know if it’s a regional thing or what, but I’ve heard more times from expats here since I arrived about how much more expensive things are than “back home” than I ever did in Maz, everything from tools to decorative objects, to furniture and mattresses. With used furniture being practically non-existent here, I understand why people come down with containers full of stuff. But I made the decision to start fresh here. As long as I don’t buy too many Gringo foods, the savings on groceries will make up for the expenses elsewhere!

The weather has been amazing, hot and humid, but with a good breeze. I’ve been comfortable outdoors and, of course, I have AC indoors (I keep the temperature at about 26C indoors so there isn’t a huge contrast with outside). With the solar system, I can pretty much run AC as much as I want as long as I monitor that my usage is less than or equal to solar input.

I’m still dead on my feet exhausted and glad that I have chauffeurs this week. I’ll give myself the weekend to recoup on my own and then Monday, I’ll head out and start doing some solo exploring!

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Off to INM (Immigration)

Please do not take this post as being generally valid and legally binding advice. This is just my own personal experience and knowledge. I will not answer specific questions about the Mexican immigration process or temporary vehicle import because I am not qualified to do so.

When you enter Mexico with a residente temporal visa sticker in your passport, you only get a 30-day entrance and they check the box for “canje,” meaning that you will trade your entry paper for a residency card. This 30-day window is the reason why I was in such a hurry to get here since the process can take some weeks. The sooner it is resolved, the sooner I can go to aduena (customs) and also extend my vehicle permit and keep my deposit.

My hosts offered to take me to the INM (immigration) office today in Progreso to show me where it is. They said I should plan on three trips and that this was just a fact-finding mission to see what documents and copies I need.

Being me, I did some research ahead of time and learned that if I filled out a form online, made copies of every document I could think I would need, and showed up with a number called a “pieza” that might save me one trip.

We arrived at the office in Progreso around 10AM. The office is very small and you don’t need an appointment. I’m told the one in Mérida is huge and a pain to get through. But you can only go to Progreso if you have a beach address. So I will keep my Progreso/Chelem address until next year, when I’ll be able to renew my visa for an additional three years and be done with paperwork for a while.

The gal at the front desk apparently speaks English, but I did the whole process in Spanish. This is a huge deal and so, like at the border, I’m very careful to reiterate what I hear and ask for clarification to make sure I’m doing everything right. Let’s see if I can remember everything…

First, she looked at my passport, entry paper, and the form I completed online. I’d made a mistake on that, but she said she was able to correct it. She asked for a copy of my passport page with the photo, a copy of the visa sticker in my passport, and a copy of the entry stamp in my passport (that was on the page right by the sticker, so I just photographed both pages on one sheet and that was okay). I also had copies of my birth certificate and of my entry form, but neither was needed, only the original entry form.

She then gave me a bunch more paperwork to fill out and said that I could do it right there and then we could do the next step.

The next paperwork asked for my personal details including my physical description, the type of work I do, my income, my address in Mexico, etc. It was pretty easy to fill out, but I was glad I had access to Google Translate to clarify a few terms.

Once everything was filled out, I got back into the very short line. The attendant checked that everything was good and then she gave me a receipt/voucher (comprobante) to take to a bank to pay the $3,750 fee (about 275CAD) for the card for the first year. She said there was a Santander bank three blocks away. I checked with my hosts, whom I realised by now hadn’t expected I’d be there that long and had things to do, that they could wait. They generously said yes.

So off I went. I didn’t have a long wait at the bank, but got a clerk who was unsure of what to do so it took a bit of time. He eventually gave me a receipt showing I had paid. Off I went back to INM, where there were now many more people. I was going to suggest to my hosts that they just leave me there and that I would figure out how to get back on a colectivo (minibus), but the attendant finished up with her current client and called to me to give her the receipt as that was all I had to do. Before leaving, I confirmed that my next step is to wait to get an email that says we’re ready for the next step, which I believe is showing up with photographs and having my fingerprints taken.

By the time we got out of the office, it was only 10:55! We really weren’t there that long. By the time I got home, I already had an email in my inbox with my user name and password for the INM website so I can check the status of my request.

In the next couple of days, I’ll go back to Progreso on my own and advise aduena that my application is in progress, again to hopefully preserve the deposit for my truck. That is the most complicated thing and what I’ve gotten the most conflicting info on.

I’d read lots of reports of the process to get the residency card and like with the TIP for the vehicle, it sounded very confusing. I suspected that the process would be made easier by picking the right immigration office, by doing my own research straight on the official Mexican websites, and by doing the whole thing in Spanish. I was right on all three counts. So far, it just feels like a lot of paperwork, but it’s not been particularly difficult, especially when compared to getting anything done in Quebec.

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Costco Membership!

F had to go to Costco today because he had a slow leak in a tire of the truck he and V are taking to Canada. I asked if I could join them so I could see where the Costco is and possibly get some almond milk. Sure! I happily changed into my favourite dress, a nice pair of sandals, and pretty earrings, feeling more like myself than I have for months!

The Costco is easy to get to and is right by the Gran Museo del Mundo Maya. There is a Liverpool right next to Costco that has a Scotiabank, so we stopped there first so I could take out enough pesos to cover my residente temporal card and expenditures for the next few weeks.

We then went straight to the Costco tire centre. Get this: fixing a slow leak on a tire was just $80! Pesos, folks, pesos! We then decided we were hungry and got pizza at the food counter. Very good pizza and only $46 for two big slices and a bottle of water!

V and F offered to let me get my own Costco card under their account for $250, but I decided that since a card was only $500 here (about 35CAD, 20CAD cheaper than in Canada!) I would get my own. Costco is the place to go to get “expat foodstuffs” so I suspect I will be happy to have a membership there. I will also likely start looking there for things like mattresses. Today, I bought a crate of six containers of no sugar almond milk in my second favourite brand for only $174, so $29 each, or 2CAD. If I pay less than 3.50CAD, I am happy, so this was a VERY good deal. The packaging is such that the unopened containers can stay at room temperature and I can just put one in the fridge as needed. They are good to the end of August, so there’s no worry about waste.

I saw lots of other great deals. Mexican cheese was super inexpensive, but even imported cheese like cheddar was significantly cheaper than in Canada (eg. 900g of sharp cheddar for only 7.50CAD when a sale price of 10CAD is a good deal in Assiniboia). The meat was also much nicer than what I’m used to seeing in Mexico. I think I will get a lot out of my membership!

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There Are Definitely Worse Places I Could Be

I didn’t get to sleep until about 12:30 last night (actually this morning). I slept hard until six when I was woken by the light from the skylights, which don’t have covers. I was rather impressed that I knew where my sleep mask was! I pulled it on and passed out for nearly another four hours.

So I got up around 9:45 and went to the kitchen, which smelled wonderfully of chorizo. F very kindly made me a wonderful coffee, and I put together a couple of chorizo “burritos” for breakfast. F then helped me get the truck fully unloaded (THANK YOU). The few things that don’t need to be in the air conditioning were put in a storage room, but the rest all came into my suite.

I started to sort through it all and put on my first of what will be several loads of laundry. Once my hosts leave next week, all the kitchen stuff will be unpacked, cleaned thoroughly, and then stored in the empty cabinets in the kitchen. For now, the boxes are neatly piled in my suite. I want to get myself a couple of bookcases so I can unpack my books. It’s nice to know I can buy stuff since it’ll move to my house with me in the fall.

After I’d regained a semblance of order amidst the chaos and located my bathing suit, I went for a swim! OMG. I forgot how wonderful it is to have a pool!!!!!!! I am going to spend A LOT of time in that pool this summer, obviously.

I then had a very late lunch and after that, I went to Chelem with F so he could give me an idea of what services are available. Unfortunately, there really isn’t anything within walking distance since I’m at least 3KM from downtown Chelem. Yes, I know I walked twice that far in Bulgaria to go to Yablanitsa, but I at least had the little store right in Maluk Izvor. Here, It’s about 3KM just to get fresh tortillas, so I’ll likely make my own. Living here definitely won’t be as convenient as was life on Isla since I have to haul out my own trash and there’s no home delivery of tortillas and veggies. I might be able to get water delivered, though.

Chelem is a lot bigger than I expected and by that, I mean there are more shops and restaurants. I will get what I need there and I can go into Progreso and Mérida for what I want. Yucatán is not an agricultural state and I remember from my visit here last year that the produce in supermarkets was pretty sad and expensive. V says that Costco has the best offerings so I’ll finally be getting a card for there. Since the house here has AC, I’m not going to have to worry about spoilage the way I did in Maz and will be able to buy in bulk.

V is thoroughly spoiling me and made a nice dinner tonight as well. After 10 days in the truck, it’s nice to have some fresh meat and veggies! I have told them that I’m not so broke right now that I can’t afford to eat out and they can certainly show me all the restaurants nearby. 😀 (OMG, I just heard a gecko!!!!!) Apparently, there is a very good Thai restaurant nearby and one guy cooks Indian food one day a week! And, of course, there are plenty of taquerias in Chelem.

Tomorrow, I have some work to do and will continue to recover from the excitement of the last several weeks. Monday, F and V are taking me to Progreso to start on my immigration stuff. I’ve got a roughly 3,500 peso payment left to make to get my residency card and then the financial bleed will finally stop, not a moment too soon! I actually wish I could wait until next week to make that payment, but I really should not waste any time getting the ball rolling on this process.

It hit me today as I started to unpack my things, especially my framed art, that I’m really here to stay. Yes, I’m moving again in six months, but I sure won’t be going far!

It was a very pleasant first day here. I know I won’t get really settled and into a routine until I’m on my own, but it’s nice to ease into things with my local guides.