Mazatlan

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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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Back in the Saddle

My friend Janet organized a beach trail ride for today with two other friends and myself. This was her first time inviting me and we are going to try to make it a weekly event for the four of us since we get along well and the cost is only 100 pesos for an hour!

There are lots of horses on Isla, but some are better cared for than others. The ones right on my street are sickly and dirty with protruding ribs. I would not have felt comfortable riding such a horse.

Lending a sharp contrast, the horses we rode today appeared nearly as well tended as any horse I’ve ridden back home. They were obviously well fed and groomed and had decent saddles.

Janet is a very experienced rider, having owned a horse for years. Next up with experience was myself, and then one lady who has been riding casually on Isla the last few years and another lady who has only ridden two or three times.

Our handler paired us with a mount suited to our experience and off we went to the beach. I regret not bringing my camera because what a memory that would have been, the tide low, the sky bright blue, and the palms and ocean framing us. Wow. How did I get to be so lucky?!

We mostly walked and trotted, but we did get in a good canter in both directions. It was absolutely exhilarating!

My horse, Diamante (Diamond) and I fit well together. I had no trouble posting at trot and was well seated for an exceedingly smooth canter. My only complaint was the stirrups digging into my ankles since I had to wear my Keens, not having had the foresight to bring my cowboy boots to Mexico.

Our guide was hilarious, joking about how lucky he was to be riding with four gorgeous women. Between our guide’s limited English and my Spanish, we were able to banter back and forth, learn about each other and Isla, joke, and have a great time.

I still have no complaints about my Mexican life, the recreational opportunities available to me, or the cost of living. 😀

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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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¿Mande?

I learned very proper European Spanish when I was studying it as a teenager. As an adult, I took private courses from a Chilean lady and she went to great lengths to keep me on track and not introduce Chile-isms into my vocabulary.

Well, the European Spanish has pretty much been out the door since I got to Mexico. I had to tone down my accent quickly because I was having a hard time being understood here. What I was taught is pronounced ther-bay-tha is pronounced ser-vay-za here. I’ve also had to learn new words for common things; durazno rather than melocotón for peach, jugo rather than zumo for juice. It’s rather like a Brit learning to say pry-vacy rather than pri-vacy, truck and eraser rather than lorry and rubber.

One of the first Mexican Spanish-isms that I encountered when I got here was ¿Mande?

I took this to mean “What?”, as in a rude “I didn’t hear you, repeat yourself” because I could recognize that it comes from the verb “to give an order.” I heard ¿Mande? quite a bit when I got to Isla until a kind neighbour informed me that the problem wasn’t my use of language, but my accent and I started to work on toning it down.

But as the months here in Mexico pushed on and I kept hearing ¿Mande?, not just directed at me, I figured that there is no way all Mexicans were rude. Tonight, after an encounter this morning, I finally researched the phrase.

Lo and behold, ¿Mande? is the absolute most polite way in Mexico to let someone know you didn’t understand them! It can mean “What did you ask?” or “Please repeat yourself” or “What can I get you?”, among many other nuances.

The opposite of ¿Mande? on the politeness scale is ¿Qué?, which is literally “What?”

What happened this morning was an encounter at the grocery store. They have a new gal attending to the deli counter and she is really putting me off from shopping there. First of all, she has no sense of hygiene, using her bare hands to handle the cheese and meats. EW. Even though the City Deli has the best price I’ve found for Chihuahua cheese, I no longer buy it there because of that.

But more on point to this post, whenever I order from her she asks me ¿Mande? at least three times before fetching my order. I thought she might be hard of hearing except that her tone really is harsh and bordering on rude and she has no trouble hearing the other customers the first time they speak.

Since no one else I encounter in my interactions is saying ¿Mande? to me regularly anymore, I really didn’t think the issue is the quality of my language. So I began to suspect that she was just not happy to be serving a Gringa and was being purposely rude.

This was pretty much confirmed to me this morning when I carefully enunciated ‘Veinte pesos de tocino’ and she replied ¿Mande? A man came out of the back of the store and addressed her sharply, saying that he had heard me clearly the first time on this visit and on all preceding visits!

Holy smokes, my assumption was correct, that she was being purposely rude to me! And by using a polite form of “What?” she was actually being doubly rude.

For more information on this Mexican phrase, check out Mande in Spanish is not Monday.

And finally, back to ther-bay-thas for a moment, European Spanish pronounces the soft C and Z as the English sound T-H.

One of my absolutely earliest memories is of being in grade one, still very much learning English, and flinging a pencil across the room because I could not pronounce the TH sound and would never be able to pronounce my last name!

So thank you, English, for paving the way to my apparently gorgeous, but almost impossible to understand in Mexico, Spanish accent!

 

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Lunch at Lety’s

I’m afraid that this winter is turning out to be all about the FOOD. 😀

I’m in a funny little eye of a hurricane right now, not much in the queue, but it’s most certainly going to explode, so I took a long lunch on the beach today.

I went to Lety’s for the first time and ordered one of the most expensive things on the menu, their shrimp brochette (kebab). I’m sorry I didn’t bring my camera because, OMG. 🙂

I read a bit while waiting for my meal and chatted with the blanket guy, who was shocked to see me reading a Spanish magazine. He tried to sell blankets to ladies at the table next to me, but refused to sell them blankets like mine for less than 300 pesos! I’m trying to figure that one out since I’ve been told that my 250 pesos wasn’t a great price and he turned down two sales at that price! So maybe I did get a good deal. He told me that if I want another one, he’ll honour his 250 peso price. I’m more than tempted!

Back to lunch, my only complaint food-wise since I’ve been in Mexico is that I’m pretty much eating the same flavours in various combinations. This was the first time since the mole that I felt that my taste buds were getting something truly different.

There were two brochettes made up of shrimp, onion, green peppers, squash, and onions, all grilled to perfection and brushed with a BBQ-type sauce that was sweet with a bit of kick. As sides, there was a good rice probably cooked in chicken broth with carrots in it and also a huge green salad with radishes.

In addition to this, I got a basket of tortilla chips so I could indulge in the four salsas that came with the meal.

One was your typical pico de gallo, with tomato, cilantro, jalapeño, and onion.

Next, there was a pineapple salsa with something really spicy in it. Thanks to the sweetness, I was able to eat quite a bit of it. It was my favourite of the four.

After that was another tomato-based one that was more smokey than spicy. If it had come as the only salsa, I would have gobbled it up, but it wound up being my least favourite.

Finally, there was a syrupy tamarind salsa that reminded me of thick prune juice. I would have found it a better match for plain yoghurt than chips, but will confess to stealing a final spoonful to quench the fire from the pineapple salsa when I was done. 🙂

With a beer and tip, lunch came to 175 pesos, and it was worth every centavo!