Mazatlan

by

I Did Something Really Stupid – and I Blame RVing For It

I’ve been having trouble with my fridge and especially freezer lately, thankfully after I got through all the meat and stuff in it (including all the ham from Christmas I wasn’t able to foist on other people). My landlady, her husband, and TWO handymen showed upwithin a couple of hours of my asking for help. The guys were going to look at it, she was going to translate if necessary (nope, yay!), and I wasn’t to worry, if there was a real issue, they’d pay for an emergency service call from a fridge repair professional OR a new used fridge right this very afternoon.

So to recap, my landlady responded very appropriately to a fridge emergency.

But I didn’t have a fridge emergency.

I did have a fridge with a magnetic seal that is weakening a little and which was not helped by my having something in the door that was keeping it from shutting properly. My landlord said that if the seal had been stronger, the thing in the door wouldn’t have been as much of an issue, but, ultimately, I’m an idiot who didn’t realise she wasn’t shutting her fridge door properly. Erm, he didn’t call me an idiot. That’s your blogger adding editorial flavour.

And I’m also an idiot who didn’t know that the fridge and freezer communicate. The fridge door not being properly sealed meant that all the cold air from the freezer was getting sucked out too.

I blame RVing because I’ve had a fridge with a door that latches shut for almost eight years now. This would never have happened with my Norcold!

We all had a good laugh and I said I was glad that I was stupid and that there was no massive repair bill in sight. Landlord said he is replacing the seal, though, because even with nothing in the door, it still needs an extra push to really seal tightly. So it was totally worth having him, two repair people, and a translator rush over to my house. Totally.

Post Edited To Add: This post is even funnier if you look at the title of the one before it!

by

Doors Closing and Opening

Something important happened a month ago that some of you on Facebook could have possibly deduced from the fact that I was taking a Wednesday afternoon off here, going to town midday on a Thursday, and getting up late — the amazing proofreading contract that I’ve had since last summer came to a very abrupt end.

It wasn’t the end of the world.

I would have loved to have done it for another six months, but I knew that every shift had been a precious gift. So I had a the money to cover a couple of months’ worth of expenses stashed away in my emergency fund (thanks to the low cost of living here in Mexico!). I’d still want to work hard at making up the lost income to touch those saving as little as possible, but the contract ending wasn’t the bottom dropping out event a similar situation had been the fall of 2014 when I first got to Mexico.

Well, to my surprise, in addition to a reference, they gave me a severance payment! What a gift! My being let go was a business decision that I could understand and this generosity made that decision all the more easy to swallow.

So instead of having to work myself to the bone in January to make sure I could cover February expenses and the lack of income from my Mérida holiday without touching my savings, I could take it easy somewhat easy…. but still remembering that I have a trip home and a flight to Europe to pay for in the next few months!

I’d been granted the gift of time I’d been looking for for so long — time to learn new skills (coding apps for iOS and doing WordPress development!) and to find new clients without the nagging voice at the back of my mind counting all the money I wasn’t making.

The very next day, I was taking the first steps to signing on with a new transcription client. And just a few days after that, after beginning a training program that revealed some ugly truths, I told the client that they were paying slave wages and I wasn’t interested in working for them after all!

That was scary… and liberating! The thing is, I haven’t been living paycheque-to-paycheque for the last year or so and I’ve gotten used to having a better than subsistence level of income. Transcription was the wrong field to get into because it tends to pay slave wages, but I’m now in a position to wait for the better clients to come along.

And sure enough, one did. Her rates aren’t amazing, but they’re fair, and it’s the kind of transcription work I want to be doing. If I had clung to the first opportunity that came along, I would never have bothered to keep looking and therefore found this one.

And then, something else came along, another proofreading contract that pays well and for which the client is hoping to build a long-term relationship!

I am absolutely slammed with work right now after several quiet weeks of getting myself sorted and it is fantastic! I have a good mix of tasks, I haven’t had to make any budgetary adjustments (Mexico being so inexpensive helps, of course!), and I’ll be able to enjoy my time off in Mérida. So far it looks like it’ll be ten days off. I had planned to do proofreading there for the old contract, so if I have to do a little proofreading for the new one, it won’t be a problem. 🙂

by

Anticipating Severe Sticker Shock

I’ve been hearing a lot about how grocery prices are going up in Canada now that the loonie is on a nose dive. I thought prices were bad before. My weekly grocery shop was usually 80CAD to 100CAD last summer, and I had to watch my pennies and sales to get it in under that price if I wanted any fresh veggies, meat, or dairy.

This afternoon, I headed to Centro to do my big shop for the month where I stock up on pantry staples, get the meat I’ll eat over the course of the next few weeks (freezing some), and buy produce for the week ahead. Basically a Moose Jaw-style supply run, only I’m buying just for a month instead of a couple of them. Those runs, if adjusted to a monthly basis, were about 400CAD a pop and I still had to shop weekly for some things. My average monthly grocery bill was 500CAD and the only way I could have gotten it lower was if I was living there year round and could really stock up a pantry when there were sales and also take up Charles on his offer of filling my freezer with deer meat. I should stress that don’t buy a junk food or a lot of convenience items and I didn’t even buy alcoholic beer all of last summer, with the non-alcoholic stuff being very inexpensive.

The little Ley in Centro has been totally revamped and carries more stuff, so I hoped that I could do my big shop there since I didn’t have time to go elsewhere. Did it ever! What a fantastic remodel! I found everything I wanted there except hummus, but I did find sesame seeds, so I’ll retry my hand at making my own tahini.

I had 1,000MXN, or about 82CAD, in cash on me but don’t really worry about my grocery budget here since even with eating out, I only average 300CAD a month on food. That’s right. I can eat whatever I want here and go out as much as I want to restaurants and I’m still spending 200CAD less than I do in Canada. So I just put what looked good in my cart and got enough food that I had to take 40MXN pulmonía ride back to the embarcadero. Total cost of my shop? 635MXN or 52.26CAD…

Here’s my shopping list. I’d love to know what a similar list would cost where you live! Prices are in pesos, then CAD. I will say that lots of these items are at sales prices because I don’t like buying things full price, but I do the same thing in Canada so I really am comparing apples to apples.

Avocados, 2, 6.27/0.52

Garlic, clove, 3.6/0.30

Sesame seeds, small packet, 8.90/0.73

Almond milk, carton, 42.9/3.53 (the only thing that is the same price as back home)

Brocoli, large, 4.30/0.35

Yams, two small, 10.61/0.87

Ground beef, pound, 44.05/3.64

Yellow onions, two large, 16.61/1.37

Green onions (échalottes), bunch, 4.75/0.39

Sliced deli ham, package, 58.80/4.84 (this is thick-cut ham)

Lettuce (Boston-type), large, 17.90/1.47

Butter, two sticks, 21.80/1.79

Sliced multigrain bread, loaf, 26/2.14

White potatoes, four medium, 8.05/0.66

Toilet paper, four jumbo rolls, 11.50/0.95

Barilla pasta, two packages, 35/2.88 (this is why I eat so much more pasta here than back home!)

Pineapple, half, 11.66/0.96 (!!!)

Pork roast, small, 50.14/4.13

Beef, two large thin steaks, 46.58/3.83

Tomato sauce, three small tetra packs, 11.7/0.96

Chihuahua cheese, 200 grams, 28.90/2.34 (compare to cheddar)

Oxaca cheese, 400 grams, 55.90/4.60 (compare to mozzarella)

Sliced cheese, 8 slices, 16.90/1.39 (compare to Kraft real cheddar slices or other higher end slices with real cheese in them)

Chinese-style soy sauce, small bottle, 15.50/1.26

Salsa verde, small tin, 8.90/0.73 (compare to green enchilada sauce)

Paper towels, 3 rolls, 20.90/1.72

Raisins, medium bulk container, 17.33/1.43

Yoghurt, 1KG, 18.90/1.56 (granted this is a sale price, but the full price is only about 0.50CAD more!!!)

This was my first time needing a pulmonía to get home from the Centro Ley and it cost me 40MXN, a fair price. I had just what I could carry home on this side. If I’d had just one more carton of almond milk, I would have needed a taxi here, too!

by

A Feast On the Beach

I met up with my Wednesday crowd again today, only this time at Pili’s/Rudy’s restaurant. It was a bit of a last minute thing and I didn’t know that the food and booze had all been ordered ahead of time and that whomever was there would split the bill evenly until huge platters of food showed up! What an inspired idea! Lunch ended up being $250 each, and that includes the beer and the tip!

Our event organiser had asked for a variety of foods to be made up so there would be something for everyone. We all got a plate with refried beans, salad, and rice, with access to a bottomless basket of tortillas. To share, we had:

-guacamole (topped with cheese!) and totopos

-garlic shrimp

-coconut shrimp

-BBQed chicken (cut in pieces)

-French fries

-a whole grilled red snapper topped with veggies (I’d never had cooked red snapper before!)

-flan (I declined since I don’t eat eggs)

What a spread! The fish in particular was gorgeous, with lots of caramelised bits. There was more than enough for everyone to gorge themselves.

Most of this crowd is French-Canadian, so it was really nice to break out the joual for a couple of hours. I have to laugh that one couple is from Moose Jaw and another couple was practically neighbours with some of my relatives and know one of my uncles!

The blanket guy did some brisk business with us. I might have come home with a small tablecloth, which will be used to cover my couch… 🙂

by

One of Those “Why Do I Bother to Cook in Mexico?” Meals

I’m out of propane (despite being proactive and getting the order in before I ran out) so I can’t really cook much. I was feeling a little off today after yesterday’s carb overload, so all I wanted for dinner was some solid protein. Therefore, I went to Miguel’s and had a sit down dinner there of an “orden de carne asada” (order of grilled meat, in this case beef). I asked for four tortillas to go with it so I could make tacos out of my meal!

Dinner consisted of a really generous portion of perfectly marinated and grilled thinly sliced beef (including a little gristle to eat around), a ladle of refried beans, salsa mexicana, cucumbers, tomatoes, raw sliced red onion, grilled jalapeños, and, knowing that I like grilled onions, Angela quartered one and threw it on the grill with my meat. So dinner was a little of all of that piled onto a tortilla, then drizzled with freshly squeezed lime juice, guacamole (the runny stuff), a spicy red sauce, and a few pieces of chiles curtidos (pickled jalapeños).

There was enough for me to make four generous tacos with tons of filling leftover. I could have probably made eight tacos if I had wanted to, so this is definitely a meal that could be shared or should have been split in two to take half home if I hadn’t been so ravenous from not having had much to eat today. 🙂 And, really, it wasn’t that heavy of a meal. Four tortillas are about equivalent to a slice of bread, one of the reasons I love them so much.

I usually get takeout from Miguel’s, but there are some meals that are better eaten there because you don’t get all the condiments with takeout and they’re what make the meal truly Mexican and so flavourful.

The cost? A mere 70MXN (5.76CAD or 4USD)! I know from buying that same cut of beef for myself now that it was worth about $40 and the other ingredients are really inexpensive staples. So while they do make a decent profit, I couldn’t have made that meal for myself at that price. Definitely a case of it totally being worth it to eat out.

It’s amazing how much better I feel now after feeling terrible all day. I know my body well and what it needs. It’s too bad I had to wait till 6PM to get this meal when I would have done well to have it earlier in the day, but better late than never!

Debbie, I hope your order of carne asada was as satisfying as mine was! 😉