Mexico

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A Very Special Ride

It was just Janet and me to ride today and Daniel decided to let us go out on our own!!! He must have told me, “¡No caiga y no te mates!” about ten times to me before we went out. That means, don’t fall and don’t kill yourself! LOL!!! Janet didn’t get that warning since she had her own horse for twenty years!

We had a lovely time riding along the beach, just chatting and taking a break from our Monday Spanish lessons. 🙂 It was a pretty cool (by Maz standards) and overcast day. The horses were feeling lazy since Daniel wasn’t there and so we only got in two short canters.

When we got in, Daniel had us dismount, then changed his mind and asked us to take the horses to a place on the beach where he ties them up. So we got back on, happy our ride wasn’t quite over.

Then, Janet came back to my place to get her things. I needed to go to town, so I asked her to wait while I changed so I could take the (expensive) lancha over with her. On the way, we ran into Sue, who is waiting for internet installation, hence why she didn’t go out with  us. I got a tour of her newly renovated one-bedroom suite. It’s really lovely, with impeccable decor.

I was going to grab a bus right at the embarcadero, but Janet suggested she show me where her seamstress is since I’d asked about her. The lady spoke good English and I had her examine one of my headscarves to see if she could make me some if I provide her with a pattern (which I have) and fabric. Yes, and for only $70 each! I am going to raid Parisina next week and hopefully get enough fabric for ten scarves!

Then, Janet offered me a tour of her house! She lives in Playa Sur, a suburban neighbourhood. The house she and Grant are renting is huge and rather close to what I’m hoping to find in Mérida, with white walls and lots of dark wood, as well as an interesting floor plan. I was impressed.

(Their dog remembered me!)

It was almost 2:00 by this point and I really needed to get going since I was going all the way up to Rico’s for coffee and then on to Soriana to get holiday meal things. Conveniently enough, the bus I needed was coming up Miguel Alemán as I reached it and I successfully waved it down! That saved me quite a bit of walking because I expected to have to walk to the Mercado to grab it!

It was a long bus ride, but since I got on so early in the route, I had a window seat. I timed my getting off chime almost perfectly and got off just three or four businesses before Rico’s.

Thankfully, they had Veracruz this time! As she was ringing me up, the cashier complimented me on my piercing (which was lovely of her!) and asked me where I got it done. Not in Maz, sorry! 😀

Then, it was time to make a decision. Even though I hadn’t really eaten yet today, I didn’t really have much of an appetite so I thought of getting back on a bus to go to Soriana. But it was so cool and overcast that it seemed a waste not to get some exercise out of this weather, so off I went, promising myself an ice cream if I did so!

Well, I passed Ta’Loco and decided that I was peckish enough for a couple of tacos. I fell into the plate of cucumbers with salsas and found my missing appetite! The meal was exactly what I needed, not too heavy, healthy, and super cheap, only $37 with the tip!

I still had room for that ice cream, of course, so I went to Thrifty’s and decided to try their amaretto ice cream, which had cherries, nuts, some sort of cakey bits, and, of course, almond flavour. Dang!

By the time I made it to Soriana, I was pretty tuckered out and hoped that I’d find what I needed there, otherwise I would have had to double back to Mega. I went to the deli counter first and looked at the hams, finding one for a full $200 less than at Mega. We’ll see how it tastes! I also bought cloves and dark beer to cook it with, but struck out on molasses. The beer was funny. I wanted just a single bottle or can and ended up picking up this imported beer bottle from Germany with a label written in German only! I can very barely sort of fake my way through reading German and the absurdity of wishing there was a Spanish translation was not lost on me!

I then picked up a few more odds and ends that I needed and was beyond ready to call it a day. Of course, this meant that taxis were severely lacking. I must have waited fifteen minutes for one, and, yes, I crossed the Soriana parking lot to flag one down on Rafael Buelna!

Here’s some of the change I got at Soriana. At the top, a $10 coin, as I’m used to seeing them. Below, a brand new shiny $10 coin. I like how they mellow in their old age!

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For Ed, here is a map of my day:

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There was activity at the house as I pulled in with my taxi since Wandering Mike is coming to stay in the little suite for the week and my landlady’s mother was getting it ready. This means no loud parties over Navidad, yay! I can’t imagine wanting to stay in that suite super long term like the nut did last year, but it’s awesome for a week or so since you get a kitchen in addition to the bedroom and bathroom for much less than the price of a hotel room.

I took the opportunity to politely complain about my lack of hot water situation. I didn’t really notice that the water heater wasn’t working well when it was super hot out, but now that it’s chilly in the evenings, I do. My landlady is going to have a ‘suicide head’ (I think that’s what the Gringos here call them), an electrical on demand water heater, installed shortly. I hate to make a fuss and I understand that wanting hot running water is a Gringo thing, but a hot shower is the ultimate residential luxury to me. I could have dirt floors and no glass in the windows, but if I have unlimited hot water, I’m happy!

After hearing Sue and other renters complain about how slowly things get done at their places, I’m once again grateful to be here in my ugly bunker of a house. My landlady is great about getting stuff done. Even though I said that I don’t need this problem fixed this week, it very likely will be!

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Stares

Back in 2002, I moved to a small insular community in the Gatineau Hills. A few weeks after taking possession of the basement apartment I’d live in for a year, I went to the casse-croûte down the hill a couple of blocks from my place to grab some dinner. The place was jam packed and when I came in, all heads turned to the door, hostile eyes boring into me. I sat down and ordered a meal, hearing chatter about me from all corners of the restaurant. It was rude and unpleasant talk, full of assumptions. This was not the small town life I had hoped to find. Needless to say, the experience has stayed with me!

I was reminded of it tonight, only this time, the ending is a lot happier!

I ran into Patti the other day and she rebuked me for not having come for a meal at her place in a while. The only reason is that I favour takeout when I grab a meal on Isla (unless I’m doing a vacationy meal on the beach) and her meals are dine-in only. But I promised that I would stop in this weekend. Going for brunch didn’t pan out, so that meant dinner there tonight.

When I came in, I was surprised to find her dining room packed to the rafters! Now, it’s a small room, so we’re only talking about six or seven people. They all turned and stared at me like they had never seen a Canadian before. The looks weren’t hostile, nor were they curious. They were surprised.

Thankfully, Patti came out of the kitchen very quickly and told me to grab the last empty chair. I plonked myself in it and asked for enchiladas. The other diners took one last look at me and turned back to their meals and their chatter, which had nothing to do with me. I settled in to wait for my food and watch a very interesting documentary on National Geographic about Air France flight 447. Even with the lack of subtitles and the chatter around me, I was able to understand more than enough to follow the riveting narrative.

My meal came out quickly and was delicious, no surprise there! I took my time and even finished the entire cup of caldo since there was quite a bit of crema and the two mixed together are just plain delicious. Cost of the meal, including a tip for her daughter, was just $50 (4CAD or 3USD).

Sometimes folks talk to me when I go to Patti’s, but not tonight; they were wrapped up in their own discussions. That suited me just fine. I wasn’t in much of a chatty mood and was happy to just watch TV and eat my food.

Patti is starting to jazz up her restaurant a bit. She has really cleaned up her entrance and added lights to make the place more evident at night. The dining room is as it always has been, just a bare concrete room with plastic tables, but she added a ton of Christmas decorations in the last couple of weeks, making the place quite cozy. It’s not five-star dining, but it’s not meant to be. I know I can count on her to serve me an inexpensive and delicious home-cooked meal, and sometimes, that’s all I want. I feel like the guardian of one of Isla’s best-kept secrets and am not sure I want Patti’s regulars getting used to seeing Gringos! 🙂

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Many Steps

I was a woman on a mission today! I’ve wanted to get a Dutch oven (casserole dish with tight fitting lid that goes from the stovetop to the oven) for ages and ages and ages and decided that I would get one for this year’s Yule present to myself. I wasn’t too fussy on whether I got cast iron or enameled cast iron, but I wanted something decent. Soriana has little enameled Crockpot brand Dutch ovens for about $850, so that was my starting off point. They were just too small, but at least I knew that I could get a Dutch oven in this city.

So today’s plan was to hit a Walmart, a Ley, and Mega to see what they might stock in this area. I had also checked a kitchen supply store in Juárez the other day. Part of the urgency is that I plan to cook a ham for a potluck next week!

Since I also wanted to go to the bank and Waldo’s, it made sense to go to the ‘old’ Walmart on Carretera Internacional, which would give me a chance to try out the Ley in the El Mar Plaza (as opposed to the Ley across from the Waldo’s on Ejercito Mexicano, which becomes Carretera Internacional). If neither had what I wanted, I could then either hoof it or grab a bus to go to Mega. If I struck out at Mega, I could then double back to Soriana. Here’s a map of my day:

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I had a wee bit of work to do this morning, then I headed out. I stopped at our new Isla bakery and got a big cinnamony bun as a late breakfast. Very yummy and not absurdly sweet. It’s great that we have a bakery now!

The Baja Ferry was in port:

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I did what I needed at the bank, then crossed over to Waldo’s where a contender for the world’s crankiest woman was ahead of me in line.

After that, I had quite a hike ahead of me, but it was nice to be going into an area where I’ve never walked before, although I have driven. I found this sign shortly after Waldo’s:

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It’s pleading (successfully!) with youth to not graffiti the walls.

This was my second time in as many years going to a Walmart here and the last. They really don’t carry much! The kitchenwares section was abysmal. The only thing that made the effort of going there worthwhile was that I found a new ‘ballistic’ screen cover for my iPhone for only $99. The screen cover that came with my case was really badly scratched and it took a friend with a cover by the same manufacturer to convince me that I could pop out the scratched cover without otherwise damaging the case. I can’t believe it took me so long to do this. What a difference!

Walmart is Walmart no matter where you go and there are never sufficient cashiers. So I had a chance to get a picture of this while waiting in line:

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I buy those exact same pistachios at the Co-Op in Assiniboia for about 8CAD a bag. These are about 3CAD a bag.

Ley wound up being a bust and I was pretty tired by the time I’d circled the store. Walking to Mega was out of the question, so I hoped I wouldn’t have to wait too long for a bus. Well, I got to the bus stop just as the very bus I needed was pulling up! I took that as a good sign!

I was peckish by the time I got to Mega since I’d been out of the heat for a bit so I grabbed a slice of pizza. I officially declare that I love Rin Rin pizza!

My first survey of the kitchenwares department at Mega was disappointing, just the same very low quality enameled pots I saw at Ley and Walmart. But something told me to have a closer look and I struck gold on a bottom shelf — a Gibson-brand cast iron Dutch oven in the perfect size!

Here it is in use and already covered with fingerprints! 🙂

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The best part? It was a mere $500!!!!!!!!!

Next, I decided to scope out ham. Well, this is where my day got interesting. As it turns out, you can get a whole ham here to bake or boil, like we do in Canada and the US, but for some reason, they don’t call it jamón. That’s reserved for lunchmeat. The whole ham is called pierna ahumada (literally, smoked leg). I had a chance to sample some that was cooked and it is definitely ham like we get back home. Mega wanted a whopping $500 pesos for a small one! Their prices, especially for meat, are insane, so I didn’t buy one. But now I know what to look for when I go to Ley next week.

I did a bit more shopping (and was irked that they didn’t have hummus!), then I headed out to get a taxi. Up until very recently, I would have thought that I snagged a pulmonía, but I’ve now learned that the open air taxis here that have doors are not pulmonías!

The driver took a really bizarre route to get to the embarcadero, including taking Avenida del Mar (lovely; I got to look at the ocean!), but he went out of his way and made the trip a lot longer than it needed to be. I almost felt like giving him directions! And, yes, he charged me the normal price of $60, so it’s not like he was trying to squeeze more money out of me!

On this side, I made the mistake of thinking my bags weren’t too heavy, but by the time I was halfway home, I was seriously thinking of stashing one and coming back for it later. Luckily, I ran into reader Michael, who bundled the heavier bag onto his bike and dropped it off at my place for me. Thank you again!

I got in and put together a semblance of a beef stew, something I’ve never done. This is an in between picture, with the onions and beef nearly cooked, but the veggies just starting. I added green beans near the end.

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I didn’t have anything to make a rich brown gravy or any turnips for flavour, but the test taste was satisfactory! I love how the beef is sold here, in very thin strips, so you don’t get these huge chunks that roil around in your mouth. I found the hamburger was outrageously priced at Mega, but was very happy with how much I got for the $60 pesos I paid for this ‘sirloin’ (as per my translating app).

My favourite thing at Mega is the bread, it’s just better than that at the Soriana and Ley bakeries. I really do try to watch my bread consumption, but I always come home from Mega with a load of pumpernickel and a loaf of raisin bread! I also picked up some buns (bolillos) today to mop up the gravy from my stew!

It was a very, very, very, very full day. But I’m glad I did all that walking since I’ll be typing all weekend!

Also, any day here that ends with me wiped, but still eager to cook is a magical one!  I joked a lot about not planning to cook this winter but, surprise, eating out tons got old pretty fast! I’ll be glad to have stew to get me through the next couple of days, but I did promise Patti that I’d stop by for an enchilada brunch tomorrow or Sunday!

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A Rare Four Cruise Ship Day in Mazatlán

rhere were four cruise ships in harbour today, a very rare event! My friend Grant lives along the route between the docks and the Plazuela Machado and reports that it’s “raining Gringos” today! Too funny. There are apparently 10,000 extra people in town. Maz is a fairly large city, almost half a million people spread out over its metro area, but these 10,000 folks are concentrated in Centro and the Golden Zone. It’s probably rather crowded on the other side!

Since this was such a big deal, I made sure to take my camera on my walk this afternoon and so was able to note of a few things along the way.

One of my neighbours has a patch on his house that looks rather like a rat. Someone else seemed to think so and chalked in a tail!

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This was quite a shock the other day. We’re right at the end of my street and the grove there was clearcut to make room for a house site!

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I visited the upstairs flat in this house recently.

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You go up those terra cotta stairs to a really lovely landing and the little balcony is off the bedroom. Brand new construction, one bedroom, bathroom, and a small kitchen/dining/living room combo (I think the covered landing is meant to be the living room proper). Not to my taste and way more than I’d want to pay, but I have to say that I loved the view from up there. I’ve been seeing a number of properties lately since friends of mine are shopping for friends of theirs and I get to come along as the translator!

I saw one house that I would have considered for next year, if I was coming back next year and knew I could get internet there. It’s not a ‘Gringo’ house at all, very Mexican with a bit of an odd layout, bright blue tiled floors, orange walls, and no glass in the windows, with a porch overlooking the harbour. I saw another place where the living room and kitchen are open to the outdoors and only the bedrooms and bathrooms are properly closed off. Not sure how I feel about that for long-term living, but it’s been neat seeing the variety of houses available for rent.

Coming to the embarcadero, I saw the first two of the four ships.

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And the other two as I rounded the corner to head back towards Calle Principal.

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The Titanik was also in dock. 🙂

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Crown Princess.

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Norwegian Jewel.

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I love looking up at the mountain that is right smack in the middle of Isla. It looks like any mountain back home until…

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I see the cacti.

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This building has been under construction since last year! It’s been interesting to see how construction is done here. The buildings are made of brick walls, which are then rendered by hand with cement.

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I love this grove of vines near the rear of the El Velero restaurant. They are thick enough to seem like a building!

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Miguel’s has updated some of its signage.

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They have a pizza oven now, but the pizza business is not going well. Folks find the pizza too expensive.

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This is the house being built on the lot at the end of my street that was vacant last year. You can see the brick that’s behind the cement. It will be cut out for the windows. Friends of mine and I are wondering why such tiny windows when there is such a view from that vantage point…

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I love the tropical vibe at the back of my house, and if I wish there was just one window back there.

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And I still can’t believe this lush backyard with palm trees is part of the place I call home!

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Visiting Mazatlán’s Tianguis de la Juárez (Flea Market)

After hearing about the ‘Juárez flea market’ through readers Michael and Rochelle and seeing some pictures on Contessa’s blog, I was intrigued. I didn’t have much to go on, besides Michael giving me a very rough idea of the location. Googling Mercado Juárez didn’t give me much other than super old information. But cobbling together a bunch of clues, I finally found the right combination of words (tianguis and Juárez) to get a jackpot of information on the Spanish-language sites.

From these sites, I learned that this market is where the locals shop to get much better deals than at the Mercado Pino-Suárez in Centro and that the market is located in a colonia (neighbourhood) in Maz that is almost a self-contained city. Sunday mornings, folks sell all manner of used goods and this is the most exciting time to go.

Now, to get there…

A lot of the buses that go by the embarcadero have the name Juárez written on them. So this morning, I decided to flag one down and ask if they went to the tianguis de la Juárez. Yup! It was a rather short ride and I knew I was there when the bus slowed to a crawl as it went through the heart of this open-air market. No street closures in Mexico! I hopped off, picked up a giant guava agua fresca (just $10!), and spent quite a bit of time just walking up and down the streets, orientating myself.

This was ‘my’ Mexico, with air smelling of cilantro and grilled meat and laundry detergent, with a whiff of exhaust. Listen carefully and you could hear under the music bartering, cleavers chopping meat and coconuts, vehicles going over topes, and the swish of brooms. It was crowded and busy, but not in the least overwhelming, not the way it would have been at this time last year.

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Everything was for sale and I had fun poking through hardware and kitchen supply shops, as well as looking at clothing. So many sandals!

After exploring the roadside stands, I discovered the flea market part of the market, where there were a lot of clothes for sale!

This was my favourite part of the experience, reminding me a bit of going through the mercado in Durango. Just a warren of stalls with little rhyme or reason to the layout and lots of treasures to be found.

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And treasure I did find! I have been looking for something since last year and which I cannot believe has been so elusive, a lime press. And just like that, I found myself facing an assortment of them! I had a choice of metal or plastic for the same price, but with the metal being aluminum, I preferred to go with the plastic. The seller admitted that he preferred the plastic ones since they have little poky bits that do a better job of fully squeezing the lime. So sold! Oh, and just $25, not negotiable.

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I was trying to decide which taco stand to grab lunch from when I noticed the pizza quite a few people were eating. It looked rather like New York style, so I changed my lunch plans and grabbed a slice for something ridiculous like $24 (prices were definitely lower in this part of Maz than in Centro!) to assuage my curiosity. Well, it wound up being the best pizza I’ve had since Idaho Falls! The cheese and sauce were spot on, the dough not quite chewy enough. But dang! I’ll be spoiled for pizza if I got anywhere else in Maz, methinks!

Just as I was finishing up and found myself wishing for a nieve vendor, what did I spot?! She had most of the usual flavours and I went with prune. $15, same price as I pay in Centro, got me nearly three times as much, and in a cone! It was almost too much, but nieve is so light and refreshing that it goes down easily.

I’d managed to fill almost two hours and I was ready to go, so I decided to take a bus back, not having any heavy shopping to carry. I figured I could grab any bus that would go back to more familiar parts of Maz and make my way back to the embarcadero from wherever I landed. Since I had come from nearly Centro on one one-way street, it stood to reason that I had to catch a bus going in the opposite direction. And when the first bus was Cocos-Juárez, I figured, great, I’ll end up pretty near to the embarcadero.

Well, all was going well for quite a bit. I had no idea where I was and the route was terrible, going over 50 billion topes, but then we turned onto Gabriel Leyva, which becomes Emilio Barragán and I figured I was nearly home… Then we turned off of Gabriel Leyva and went very deep into a residential neighbourhood and even traversed some muddy streets I wouldn’t have taken in anything else than a four-wheel drive before the bus stopped and the driver told me I was at the end of the line. I had taken the bus going in the wrong direction. OOPS!

Now, before anyone has a heart attack, I was not ‘in the middle of nowhere.’ It was a busy neighbourhood, with kids playing outside and tons of buses and taxis going by. I’ve been stranded in bad parts of Chicago, New York, and Baltimore, so let me tell you to get any thoughts of my being ‘in trouble’ out of your heads. I knew exactly how to get to the embarcadero and had the option of waiting 20 minutes for the driver to finish his break and take me back out to Gabriel Leyva, flagging down a taxi, or walking.

It was a gorgeous day, I had spent yesterday cooped up because of a rain storm, and this was a vibrant neighbourhood with lots to see. I decided to start walking and if I got tired or didn’t feel safe, I’d flag down a pulmonía. I ended up walking the whole way, nearly 6KM total! What a happy OOPS!

I was hoping today would be an adventure and I’d say I succeeded at making it one!