Mazatlan

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Torrid Afternoon in Centro

I’ll be well on my way to the border this time in two weeks… I really have no idea where this winter went. 🙁

Having only an easy job to do this weekend, I planned my schedule so that I could go to Centro this afternoon for shopping and lunch and do a final run to Juárez tomorrow morning.

It is hot and muggy this week, but I’m not letting that stop me from living. The trick is to stay hydrated! So once I was done with work around noon, I dressed for town and headed out.

En route to the embarcadero I finally remembered to take a certain picture. Remember this house from last fall?

house under construction

Here it is today:

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What a difference paint makes!

First stop in Centro was the mercado since I wanted to buy some blouses. I went to my favourite dress shop, where the owner can be trusted to be honest about what styles and colours suit a customer best. What she first showed me was exactly what I wanted, but she pulled out other models so I could be sure. They are a bit too big for me, though, so she suggested that I find someone to put a few darts in the sides for me. Hopefully, the dressmaker I used earlier this winter will be available to do that for me this week. “My” price was $280 for one, $500 for two. I’ll probably pay about $100 to get them fitted correctly. Still a bargain for such high quality clothing! The pink one is the same shade as my pink dress, so I wasn’t going to get it, but the owner said that it’s my colour, something her assistant and several friends have echoed so I caved.

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For lunch, I had thought to do a shrimp burger at Tony’s, but I’m really fastfooded out. So I bought a small agua fresca for the walk to the Water’s Edge Bistro for a nice lunch in their courtyard. They still have their lunch menu with several choices for $120 each, including a beer, limonada, or a soft drink. I opted for a limonada to stay well hydrated and asked for it sour. It was made perfectly and was very refreshing. For my meal, I succumbed to the lure of pesto (basil!) and Parmesan cheese to have their penne pasta with roast chicken. It was a bit of a heavy meal for the weather, but the flavours were most welcome and I liked how the chicken was diced and then caramelised on all sides. The food is so good at the Water’s Edge and the portion sizes are just right. It’s a nice spot for lunch when I’m tired of Mexican flavours.

I then wandered towards the water and popped in at the art museum to see if it might be open. I’ve been meaning to go for ages but knew that it’s tiny and not worth a special trip out. Well, it was open and admission was free!

The art was… strange. The museum only has a few rooms and the art just got odder and odder the deeper in I went. Here are a few things that caught my eye. None of these are the truly strange ones!

This one is called “night filled with love”:

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Lovely landscape.

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There were a lot of variations on this theme of dying and moving on to the next plane of existence.

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There is something about this one that spoke to me for some reason, even if I wouldn’t want it on my wall!

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The museum has those dark ceiling beams I love:

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I liked these black and white pieces showing the harshness of poverty:

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The courtyard of the museum had an interesting tree:

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This is an exterior corridor off the courtyard:

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And here’s the entrance, directly across from Macaw’s:

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I eventually made it to the Malecón and caught this image of Mazatlán’s Icebox Hill with an iconic pulmonía in the foreground:

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Found this house for sale that made me rethink my Mérida plans (*winks*):

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I eventually found myself on Miguel Alemán, from which I turned left onto Carnaval to head back to the embarcadero. I popped into the gelato place I like, where they’ve up their price from $25 to $35, and got their delicious “Snickers” flavour (chocolate, peanuts, and caramel), then enjoyed it as I picked my way down several streets that were under construction to eventually end up on Constitución, which led me straight to the Emilio Barragán a few blocks from the embarcadero. I was done in by the time we got to this side and the final schlep home felt very long!

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Tangible Linguistic Progress

I’ve been watching the US series “The Bridge” for a while now and highly recommend it if you like well plotted episodic mysteries like “Fargo,” “Broadchurch,” and “Happy Valley.” It takes place on the US/Mexico border between El Paso and Juárez and delves deeply into the dark side of Mexico. Needless to say, there is a lot of Spanish in it. I am surprised by how much I am understanding without looking at the subtitles and how much vocabulary I’m picking up, a lot of it “naughty.” I really need to watch more Mexican programming and having rather a crush on Demián Bichir now, I just might have found a way in. I’ll have to check out his filmography and see if he’s done anything else I could be interested in. 🙂

I’ll get back to this point in a bit, but for now, let me digress. Work has been very slow for the last week or so. I was supposed to start a large transcription project when I got back from Mérida, but the funding for that has been delayed and so the company does not want me to start just in case in takes longer than expected for the money to come in. When this project lands, it’ll keep me busy for ages, but it’s left a huge hole in my schedule. Moreover, I had to burn a bridge with a new client I picked up in February. So I really don’t have much on my plate right now. Rather frustrating since I’m starting to dip into my savings. But I’m not at crisis point yet and I’m working leads.

All that to say, I was done with my day by noon and by 1:00, I decided I wanted to go out. I looked up the movie listings and learned that “My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2” was playing at 3:00 at Gran Plaza. I had just enough time to hoof it over there and grab a quick lunch before the movie.

I took the Camarón-Sábalo bus up Avenida del Mar to Insurgentes, which took me to a couple of blocks of Gran Plaza. I got in at 2:30 and decided to have Chinese for lunch. The lineup was long and when it got to my turn, the server looked mildly panicked, then very relieved when I fluently started with, “I want a number one to eat here.” I’ve been to this chain before a few times, so I knew the routine. No, I don’t want to upgrade to the cheese and shrimp rolls and, no, I don’t need a double sized jamaica (hibiscus) juice for $9 more. 🙂 Interesting that the Japanese places have very strange soy sauce (despite Kikkoman brand sauce being readily available), but the Chinese places have the proper thick soy sauce for their rice. Hmm.

When I was done eating, I had just five minutes before the movie started, but I wasn’t worried since there are always commercials and previews. The title of the movie in Spanish is “Mi Gran Boda Griega” and I had to rehearse that because it always runs together in my head as “Mi gran bodega” (my big storage unit)! A Wednesday matinée was only $29! Wow!

The theatre was almost empty and every other person there was an older expat. The commercials started and there was a really funny one for Cinépolis about this guy calling everyone in his black book looking for a date to share his points with. When the punchline came, that he could only find a big hairy dude, I burst out laughing. There was dead silence from the rest of the theatre. Well, that was embarrassing!

The movie finally started after a few previews. It was very formulaic and recycled a lot of jokes from the first one. I loved the first “My Big Fat Greek Wedding,” and the sequel was exactly what I wanted. I didn’t want the wheel to be reinvented, but rather to know how my beloved characters are doing. Of course, all the Greek had only Spanish subtitles, so I was once again the only person in the theatre chuckling to herself. I can’t wait to buy the movie so I can rewatch it. I’m glad I missed the 1:00 o’clock showing and that the one at 3:00 was the last one or I would have turned around and gone right back in to see it again!

Coming out of the theatre, I grabbed an ice cream for the walk to Avenida del Mar to catch the bus, with the intention of riding to Centro and doing some shopping at the Mercado. I waited at a proper bus stop with another person for more than 20 minutes for a bus that is supposed to run every 10 minutes… and it just flew past us. I was not impressed.

Not being in the mood to wait another 20 minutes, I crossed Avenida del Mar to walk along Insurgentes to Ejército Méxicano (2.5KM) to grab a bus to take me closer to the embarcadero. Imagine my surprise as I was walking along, just two blocks from Avenida del Mar, when I looked behind me to see a bus marked “Chula Vista” stopping a short distance away. I knew that one would take me right to the corner of Juan Carrasco and Gutíerrez Nájera, about a kilometre from the embarcadero! I had no idea that bus went out to Gran Plaza. This is a major revelation! But the bus was behind me and only a couple of people were getting on. I didn’t have a hope in hell of catching it, but I still went into a full out run and, sure enough, it pulled away from the curb just as I reached the door. But the door remained open and the speed was very slow, so I jumped on! Whew, I felt like an action hero! The driver took my $20, gave me my change and receipt, and told me to move as far back as I could, which wasn’t very far because the bus was packed.

Thankfully, someone got off not to much farther away and I was able to get a seat behind the driver. This was one of the older busses with no bell. I was quite proud of myself when we approached the corner where I wanted to get off and knew to call out, “Baja, por favor.” The literal translation is “down, please,” but it means, “I want to get off.” The driver pulled over exactly where I wanted off! It’s about a block before Juan Carrasco, where I can grab a street that runs at a diagonal and save myself a few steps.

I’d hoped to get a chicken for dinner, but the stand was closed, dang it. 🙁 And then, I passed the rough bar where men tend to say rather rude things as I pass. I normally ignore them, but thanks to “The Bridge,” I felt more confident in using certain rude words. So when a guy called out to me today, clearly not expecting this Gringa to understand him, I called him a “pinche cabrón” (Google that at your peril), told him he needs to respect women more, and asked him how he would feel about someone talking like that to his mother or sister? I must have made sense because he looked very ashamed of himself. Good!!!

I know I need to make more effort to listen to Spanish. I’m reading at a decent level now (got through the Harry Potter books!), so I’m really at the point where I need to find a TV show to suck me in. But still, this was a very good day language-wise!

 

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Not Sure Who Will Sleep Better Tonight…

A few days ago, a gentleman living in the RV park approached me to ask if I could dog sit for him today! Wow, I don’t know what made him think of me or that I’d be a suitable dog sitter, but I was interested in the job! I went over the next day to meet the dog, a sweet Labrador Retriever (I think) named Cody. I knew right away that we’d get along just fine today.

A bit disoriented by the time change, I headed over to the RV park around, oh, 9:00ish this morning, knowing that Cody had last been walked around 5:00. He was happy to see me. I clipped on his leash and took him to a nearly deserted beach, where I let him off the leash, having been assured that he is not prone to running off. He found a giant stick and we had fun playing with it, me throwing it into the surf for him and him bringing it back to me. He essentially told me that he’d had enough by eventually dropping at my feet. I clipped the leash back on for the walk through the more populated part of the beach, brought him home, and hosed him off.

We repeated the exercise around 12:30 and just past three, after I’d fed him. I can’t believe what a good boy he is, so obedient and vital. I can’t remember the last time I laughed so much, especially when we played tug of war and I ended up going for my first real swim here. In a full skirt, no less! I swear Cody was laughing his head off. He attracted the attention of a lot of kids and I felt comfortable letting them pet him and throw the stick too.

When we came back to the RV park the third time, neighbours who are friends of mine were out on their patio and invited me over for a beer. I had a Modelo Negro for the first time. It was veeery smooth and would give Guinness a run for its money! One thing led to another and I ended up going home with a much appreciated eggshell topper for my bed, brand new and in the bag, a leftover from a project that didn’t need it! Yes, I have a 1″ memory foam topper, but it really isn’t enough. Wow! I had refused payment for taking care of Cody today, so I guess this was the universe’s way of giving me recompense for my time…

I came in, put the new topper on the bed, and then tried it out. Next thing I knew, it was an hour later ! That’s what a time change, beer, sun, exercise, and a comfy bed do to me! 😀

While sitting with the beer, Cody’s dad called to check in and to advise my neighbour he wouldn’t be in till about 9:00. He asked for a final walk around sunset and that would be good for the day. I just got in from doing that.

What a fun day! I really want a dog and know having one would be good for my health, but I’m just not ready to give up my freedom to travel at this point. Borrowing other people’s dogs is a good compromise!

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Not the Best Day to Go to the Movies

If a movie has “Batman” in the title, you can bet I’ll be interested in seeing it. So I decided to head to town today to see “Batman vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice.” I decided to try the Cinemex at Insurgentes, next to the Soriana, as that was by far the easiest theatre to get to. But I had a sneaking suspicion they don’t have subtitled movies since the website wasn’t clear on that subject. There was a 1:20 showing there and a 2:30 showing at Cinepolis in Gran Plaza, so if I struck out at Insurgentes, I had plenty of time to get to Gran Plaza.

I left home around noon, didn’t have to wait for a lancha, and the bus stopped at a red light at the corner of Juan Carrasco was heading to Plaza Ley, so I was making record time until that point. But traffic on Juan Carrasco and then Ejército México was really heavy, so it was rather a long ride. I got off in front of the Pemex at the corner of Insurgentes and then hoofed it to the Cinemex, the equivalent of a block or two away. Sure enough, they only have dubbed movies. Oh, well, it was worth a try!

The walk to Gran Plaza wasn’t long, only about 2.5KM, but getting across Ejército Méxicano was scary! Insurgentes was busy, but there was a sidewalk the whole way, so the walk ended up being okay even if traffic was heavy. I got to Gran Plaza with a full hour to spare before the movie started there, so I went off in search of lunch.

After some wandering around, I found a food court. In my limited experience with Mexican food courts, they all offer Chinese, sushi, Mexican, and pizza, with some adding in a salad and sandwich place. And you know you’ve been in Mexico for a while when the Chinese and sushi are satisfying instead of being disappointing. The trick for Chinese is stick to rice since Mexico apparently hasn’t figured out Asian noodles and will serve you spaghetti instead. And the trick for sushi is to accept that the “soy sauce” will be sweet and citrusy, there will be cream cheese, and forget about ginger. Even though I had sushi a few days ago, that was the most appealing option and something I really haven’t had much this winter (this was only my third time since I got here!). I went through an extensive menu and settled on their ‘special California’ roll, with it being special because the outside had masago (fish eggs), a treat I haven’t had in ages. At $68, this roll was their best deal, too. I was amused when I was handed this lobster with my receipt. It vibrated to let me know my food was ready!

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I don’t do popcorn at movies, so I decided to have a Thrifty’s ice cream for dessert since there was a stand right there in the food court and I still had 30 minutes to kill.

At about 2:15, I headed to the cinema. I had a thought en route about the last time I went to the movies here. I had made a note in my post about the seat I had chosen then. So I referred back to the post and was reminded to ask for a seat in the H row. What would I do without my blog to remind me of stuff?! 🙂

And then, it was time for the movie, which was rather disappointing. I’d gone in “cold,” having only seen the trailer and no spoilers, which was a mistake. I should have seen “Man of Steel” first for context on the Superman side of the movie. I really enjoyed the Batman side, but the Superman stuff left me cold. I’m glad I saw the movie and would see future movies in this universe that feature Affleck’s Batman, but I would have been annoyed if I had paid a Canadian price for my ticket. But at the Mexican price of $43, it was worth taking a chance.

I came out and once again wasted too much time and energy trying to get out of Gran Plaza. They really need better signage to the one exit on Reforma. I headed up to Mega, noticing that traffic down Reforma (heading towards Centro) was at a standstill. I realised that getting home might be tricky…

Mega really isn’t my first choice of grocery shopping destination, but it was the most convenient. I picked up a few sundries, including veggies to make a stir fry when I got in. And I’m embarrassed to admit I had to get more hummus…

It was still light when I came out and there were no taxis… I waited and waited, then decided to cross the parking lot to Rafael Buelna and see about a bus instead. No buses either. There was tons of traffic and loads of people because of that motorcycle rally, so I suspected that public transportation wasn’t going to be very difficult to find in that part of town. Thankfully, I didn’t have an unmanageable amount of shopping, so walking was an option. But it was going to get dark fast. I stood at the corner of Rafael Buelna and Reforma for a bit trying to decide what route to take that would be more likely get me an appropriate bus or, ideally, a taxi fast. I think that last year I would have been concerned faced with such uncertainty as to how I’d get to the embarcadero, but I was fine tonight, just annoyed with myself for not having taken this into consideration when I planned my day.

As I was mulling that over, I saw a pulmonía heading my way! I couldn’t see if there was anyone inside, so I waved at it. The driver pulled over. Crisis solved! 🙂 I expected to be quoted $100 for the ride today (normally $60-$70) because of the traffic and he said $80! I made sure to say that I was only accepting that price because of the traffic. He said, “Of course! Normally it’s $60 but this will take a while!” I assured him that the price hike was fair and we headed off down Reforma. It was moving fluidly by this point, but traffic was heavy and I could have walked faster!

After a few minutes of not really getting anywhere, the driver asked me how well I know Maz. I replied, “Well enough to know that we should head towards Juárez and take Gabriel Leyva.” He gave me a thumbs up sign and replied, “Exactly what I thought! Hold on!” He took me on a dizzying route of side streets to reach the corner of Deportes where you turn right to go towards the water, but we went left. We chatted as we whizzed along and he asked me if I’d like to go out sometime… If I wasn’t three weeks to departure, I would have said yes. But I don’t see a point in entangling myself with someone when I’m leaving for good so soon. Shame. I suspect I won’t have a hard time meeting a special someone when I’m settled in Mérida and ready to start thinking about such things…

The lancha was leaving the dock when I arrived, but it came back for me. On board, I met an American fishing boat captain who is picking up a load this evening and had a few free hours. I gave him some Isla tips about taxis, beer, restaurants, and the lancha. He seemed very grateful to find an English speaker who could assure him that he wasn’t going to get murdered or kidnapped walking around Isla after dark. I told him that concern is very valid these days on the outskirts of Maz, but not on Isla!

It got properly dark about halfway home from the embarcadero. Isla does have some streetlights, but I take the back alleys to get home and many of them were in pitch darkness. I know my way around and I rather enjoy these quiet dark hours… as long as I don’t wake up a dog. Once one starts barking, they all do!

I got in and set to work making that stir fry even though it was super late. I threw rice in the rice cooker and then got the veggies washed and chopped in record time. They were done at just about the same time as the rice, so I threw in some of the chicken I picked up yesterday as well as some sauce and voilà! It was more work than I’d been in the mood for, but was worth it, especially when paired with a glass of crisp cold white wine!

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Sometimes, You Gotta Run All Over Town

Today’s errands were to go to the bank, get coffee, and come home with chicken. Unless I wanted to bring my chicken back from the northern end of town (no), I had quite the route ahead of me. Red is what I walked, blue is the first bus I took, and green is the second bus I took. The whole thing represents 20KM of travel.

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I started by going up to Rico’s in the Golden Zone for coffee. This will likely be my last trip for that… 🙁 It was very slow going and standing room only on a very crowded bus that lurched through nearly standstill traffic. Thankfully, a gentleman offered me his seat. As we inched our way north, I was glad that I’d decided to postpone a trip to the Mercado first since I’d gotten a late start and would never have had a chance to get to the bank before it closed at 4:00.

The Golden Zone was hopping as there is a motorcycle rally this weekend. But, surprisingly, Rico’s was almost empty. I was out of there in record time. I then crossed the street to get a bus back, but thought to do a little window shopping instead.  That was a dumb idea. The vendors were way too aggressive, even worse than in the Mercado, and prices were inflated. I gave up and went to a bus stop to grab the bus back down to get off a block past the Domino’s and casino to reach to the Scotiabank on Ejército Méxicano, but…

I waited and I waited and I waited. And then I waited some more. Traffic was insanely slow, which didn’t help. When I saw a little local bus marked Plaza Ley, that was good enough for me as it would get me to within about 2.5KM of Scotiabank. I wasn’t saving any time by far, but it would at least get me away from the traffic and give me what might be my last nickel tour of Maz.

The bus did its lurching route and after we passed the Ley del Mar I suspected, correctly, that we would be turning left on Insurgentes, my cue to get off. I did, debated getting on another bus to get me to the bank, checked the time, and decided to hoof it. That would mean a hike of about 4KM to the embarcadero, plus another KM or so on this side, a perfectly reasonable distance.

I reached the bank at 3:38, 22 minutes to closing. There were two people ahead of me in line for the ATM, so by the time I got into the booth, it was almost 3:45. I had 12,000MXN in my account and could withdraw up to 700CAD, so I requested 8,000MXN. The machine would not give them to me. I’ve heard that there is a withdrawal limit of 7,000MXN per transaction, but Scotiabank won’t let you take out odd numbers. So I had to take out $6,000 and then another $2,000. Thankfully, I’m not paying for each transaction!

It was just pas 3:50 when I was finally able to queue inside to see a teller. There were 37 people ahead of me in line. Yes, I counted. I had a sneaking suspicion that the doors would shut at 4:00 and whomever wasn’t being served would be kicked out. I decided I didn’t need small bills that badly when I heard a teller call for the lady with glasses on her head. I looked around and realised that she very likely meant me! I pointed to myself and she mimed for me to go to her window!

She greeted me with “How much would you like to change today?” Then, she asked me for my name, gave me hers, and said that from now on, I can cut ahead and go to her as soon as she’s free! Wow! I probably only have one more withdrawal to make here, but I’ll definitely take her up on that when it happens. I have no idea why I was able to get ahead in the queue and judging from the stares I got, I don’t think this is normal… But I was very happy! It would have really sucked to walk away without my smaller bills after the trip and a half I took to get to the bank by closing time!

Then, I headed to the embarcadero, stopping to get two roasted chickens for $120 along the way. They smelled like heaven and I was happy to tuck into them when I got in. I hadn’t thought I’d be that late and hadn’t had lunch, silly me. I have plenty of leftovers for the next couple of days, too, of course!