Sinaloa

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A Beer Slushie

My weekend work was going well today and I decided to quit at about noonish so I could go have lunch in town. I thought of going to a well rated restaurant near the Plazuela Machado that my riding friends love, Delirium, but that didn’t work out. I was guided to a table, given a menu, and promptly forgotten about even after I tried to wave down the server to put in my drink order. The menu was extensive and complicated, so I took my time with it and sat there for nearly 30 minutes while everyone else got service before concluding that they weren’t interested in my business. Once again, I refuse to beg to give a business my money, so I walked out. Good luck getting me in the door again.

I headed to the Malecón and decided to have lunch at La fonda de Chalio, a place I went to with Dale a few times last year. They were quick bringing me my beer, salsa mexicana, totopos, and menu, but I waited so long to be able to put in an order for a meal (yes, I signaled that I was ready and, no, they weren’t busy either) that I came very close to considering the chips and salsa my (very inexpensive) lunch.

My beer was a Pacifico Light, which has a low alcohol content, so when I poured it into a very cold mug, this happened:

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Yep, it froze! I’ve never seen that happen before! I have had my non-alcoholic beer back home freeze in my too cold fridge, but a beer with actual alcohol in it freezing in a mug on a hot day?! Wow!

When I was finally able to put in an order for food, I went with the chicken tacos, requesting them soft rather than fried. Chicken tacos are interesting in that they are a Mexican version of Tex-Mex food because they usually come with a fried shell, lettuce, cheese, and sour cream, as well as refried beans, other veggies, and various salsas. I always request soft shells because I don’t need the extra calories and, in the case of La fonda de Chalio, I got chips so I really didn’t need any more fried stuff! They came with a very thin tomato sauce that tasted like tomato juice with kick and really brightened up the heavy meat and bean filling, and I also added heaps of their salsa mexicana.

By the way, if you haven’t been following me on Facebook, you haven’t learned my latest revelation. The stuff I and countless other people call pico de gallo is actually salsa mexicana and pico de gallo is a fruit salad! My veggie guy told me this and it was confirmed at a couple of restaurants. Restaurants here know what the Gringos want but if you listen to them talk amongst themselves, sure enough, the tomato/onion/pepper/cilantro sauce is salsa mexicana. Wow!

I love sitting at the restaurants on Olas Altas and people watching. Today, there were two older Gringo gentlemen apparently trying to hit every bar along the stretch to determine a favourite spot (must try this myself!). There was one Gringo couple walking by with the wife holding onto her purse for dear life with one hand, her husband with the other, and being adamant that they weren’t going to eat anywhere along that stretch (rather hilarious, because this part of Maz is Gringoland South). There was a Mexican group that must have known the owners because they kept getting things that I’m pretty sure weren’t on the menu (like gorditas). There was a rude man who decided to stand by my table to make a call that involved a lot of yelling and curse words (I’m starting to recognise Mexican bad language!). And, of course, there were lots of vendors, including two who tried to get me to buy a really ginormous cake.

Lunch done, I meandered my way back to the embarcadero by way of my favourite nieve vendor (where I once again got an extra scoop of prune!, as well as mandarin and lemon) for a palate cleansing treat. My outing cost me all of 13.67CAD, including public transportation. Not bad, huh?!

I stopped at the City Deli for beer when I got back to this side. I like getting four cans of Pacifico at a time since they cost an even $50 and four cans isn’t heavy to carry.

Hard to believe we’re already halfway through January and that my winter here is truly half over!

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On Mexico Time

My headphones crapped out on me last week so finding time to search for a replacement was high on my list. I made do with my Sony earbuds, which I use to listen to music on my mobile devices, but my ears ached after a day of transcription with them and I could still feel them in my ears after they were out. But where to find a decent selection of headphones in Mazatlán? Back home, I’d head to Amazon…

I pondered this problem, searched for headphones (auriculares and audífonos) in Maz (thinking there might be an electronics store like Best Buy), and, based on my search results, decided to start with Office Depot.

Getting there today was a bit of a drag. Holy smokes. I didn’t head out until about 1PM because I wanted to make good inroads on my day’s transcription, which was difficult. I figured that I’d be at Office Depot within an hour. Well…

I waited and I waited and I waited for a bus to take me there at the corner of Juan Carrasco and Gutíerrez-Najera, to no avail. This was something like my fourth (and LAST) time doing this. I know that the buses I want pass there, but they are obviously very irregular and I’ve never caught one at this corner. So I schlepped down to Paseo Claussen to grab the tourist bus that goes up the Malecón. As I did so, a bus that could have taken me right by Mega (nearer to Office Depot than the tourist bus) whipped by so fast that I didn’t have time to flag it down. Augh!

The tourist bus took forever to come. By the time I got settled in one of the last seats, I’d already been gone more than an hour. Traffic down Avenida del Mar was, of course, terrible and so the ride was slow. I hate to sound so negative, but I have no idea how anyone can rely on the bus service here to get anywhere since there are no schedules and the routes change so frequently…

I got off just past the Rafael Buelna roundabout so I wouldn’t have to cross the busy road on foot, then I headed right for the bank. The exchange rate is just getting worse and I couldn’t even take out $4,600, settling for $4,200. I went into the bank to get my $500s broken up and this time asked for $200 worth of change. I had written it as “$200 of $1, $2, $5, and $10, doesn’t matter how many of each,” and that seemed very clear because the teller just started counting out change.

Unlike in Canada and the U.S., Mexico doesn’t seem to have “rolls” of coins, like 10CAD worth of quarters, for example. Instead, she made a pile of $100 worth of $5 and $10 coins then held up a large baggie marked “$100” and asked if that was okay. Inside were $1 and $0.50 coins, which was perfect. If you’re paying attention, you’ll notice that I didn’t get any $2 coins and instead got $0.50 coins, but that was absolutely fine and fulfilled my objective of having small change. I’ve been getting by just fine with my stack of $20s, but having exact change gets me out of restaurants faster.

I was shaking by the time I got out of the bank, having failed to get some lunch first since all the restaurants along the stretch I’d walked were closed. I decided to try the Sole Mar café next to Scotiabank since I’d heard they make great coffee and a midafternoon espresso sounded wonderful. I ordered it “con panna,” which I vaguely remember meant it’d have whipped cream, which was correct.

 

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It was rather decadent (and broke my rule of not having sugar in my coffee), but really lovely. 🙂 For lunch, I took a chance and ordered the enchiladas mole, knowing full well they’d likely be some fast foody microwaved disappointment. I was half right in that they were fast foody, but, dang, they were tasty! The chicken was well seasoned and the sauce had a bit of kick. I didn’t mind the $75 I paid for them at all even if I knew I didn’t get much value for my meal (no veg with it, for example). I think the espresso was $30 or $35, very good value. There are a few Sole Mars in Maz, including one near the cathedral, so now I finally know where to get a coffee in town!

Then, I hit Office Depot, where they had a good selection of headphones in several brands and quite a price range. I knew I’d find what I needed there. I pulled out my phone and started researching the various brands, narrowing down my choices thanks to Amazon reviews. I don’t buy super expensive noise canceling headphones no matter how much my clients tout them. I’ve tried them and they are over rated. I buy midrange headphones, never spending over 50CAD, and get a new pair every couple of years. My budget for today was hopefully no more than $600. One pair by Sony was only $349 (29CAD), well rated on Amazon (including by two transcriptionists who swore by them!), and a better price than if I’d bought directly from Amazon. Sold!

I like shopping at Office Depot because I tend to be left alone until I express a need for help. After about a half hour of going through the headphones and looking up reviews, I was ready for help because the pair I wanted were locked to the shelf. I just had to look up and around and, boom, there was a clerk ready to assist me. He unlocked them and took them to an available cashier who checked me out smoothly. I then had to show the security guard my receipt and I was out of there.

Since I was right by Soriana, it made sense to get a few groceries and paper goods. I had a laugh with the bagger at checkout when I told him to be sure to put my cold stuff in my insulated bag because the last time I bought butter there without having the bag, I had a mess when I got home!  Thankfully, there were taxis waiting outside, so I was able to get back to the embarcadero quickly. I didn’t need a taxi on this side.

I can’t believe it’s already 6PM. I still have another hour or so of transcription to do and I’m just about ready for dinner. My errand took way long than it should have and was a good example of an afternoon where I would have been much better off springing for the pulmonía in both directions.

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Finding the Shortcut

Lazy Saturday here in Maz.

I had the first massage of my life yesterday and between that and a giant glass of wine, I got to bed early and slept almost ten straight hours! The massage was fantastic, with the guy obviously knowing what he was doing because he applied just enough pressure to loosen the muscles without causing me pain. I was warned that I’d be sore today but other than feeling it a little in the neck, I just feel better today. I’ve had a bad kink in my back for ages and he got rid of it. Needless to say, I’ve booked him again! I like that he comes to your house with everything he needs, including a fresh set of sheets for each of his clients that day. My riding pals recommended him and now I know why.

It was very cold by tropical standards this morning, only +10C, so I wasn’t in any hurry to get up and only did so when the call of coffee was too loud to ignore. My house was like an igloo, so I bundled up before getting the water on. I love these cooler mornings because they are super quiet. I didn’t even hear the water guys, but I know they passed since there was a new bottle waiting for me at the curb. I don’t bother waiting for them like I did last year, instead putting my $10 on the bottle and setting both on the curb before going to bed. The other day, I only had a $20 bill so I taped it to the bottle and when I went to get my new one the next morning, there were two $5 coins sitting by it. I love that the honour system works here.

After coffee, I got dressed (including a cardigan even though it was already starting to warm up!) and went to the bakery to get a breakfast treat. I got in and promptly made another coffee to go with the pastries! Chris, Juan, and Mike got me some Veracruz coffee beans when they were here and I started on those since I was running low on my Rico beans (I would have done a run for those today had I not had this extra half pound the guys got me!). I normally buy the dark roast Veracruz and these were a lighter roast, but they still had tons of flavour and made a really good cup of coffee!

I spent some time doing bookkeeping and other online tasks, then decided to go for a walk in Maz since I haven’t been across in a week. There was absolutely no purpose to the trip other than to get exercise, so I decided that I would try to find the shortcut from Gutiérrez Nájera to Ejército Mexicano and then continue on to the aquarium to check out something in that area.

The shortcut isn’t spectacular, but it would save me ten minutes roundtrip when I go to Scotiabank and there are days when I need those ten minutes. Plus, the shortcut is through a quiet residential area rather than super busy avenues. I’ve tried to find it before, but none of the streets are marked, so I missed my turnoff. I still got to Ejército Mexicano, but through a more meandering route. The first turnoff, that from Gutiérrez Nájera was easy (it’s right across from the Red Cross (Cruz roja) building), but the first left wasn’t. On Google Maps, it really looked like turn left just before the street I’m on takes a sharp right.

So when I got to that corner, I looked around for landmarks before reaching for my phone when a lady asked me what I was looking for. I replied that it was a street called Josefa (it actually has a much longer name, but that was the first part of it). She told me it was a little further ahead. I continued another block or so and came to another fairy large cross street, so I figured I was there. Nope, the lady was behind me and said one more! There wound up being a little mercado on the corner, so I’ve got a good landmark. That brought me exactly where I expected to be, on Ejército Mexicano at the Instituto Mexicano de Gastronomía (Mexico culinary institute), so I’ve got a good landmark for the trip back.

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I crossed Ejército Mexico and continued on Ángela Peralta, which terminates at Avenida Rotarismo. I crossed that road and was then on Calle Rio Baluarte, which would take me all the way to the aquarium while paralleling Avenida del Mar. I’ve done this route many, many, many times in taxis!

So here’s a map of what would end up being my 10KM walk:

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I went around the block at the aquarium to check out the Bosque de la ciudad (city forest), known as the lung of Mazatlán. It butts up against a lagoon and there are major development plans for the area. It boasts kilometres of walking trails but, really, right now there isn’t much there.

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Many things are forbidden, including walking your pets:

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It’s a good thing I read the papers here or I would have wondered what these guys were doing with that Christmas tree!

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As it turns out, this is where Maz residents drop off their trees after the holidays. They are turned into mulch!

The lagoon is rather pretty:

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Lots of trees, sand, and children’s play structures.

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I read an article in the paper the other day about how there is a jaguar living in the Bosque de la ciudad. I didn’t see it and am glad of it since the article made mention of how its living conditions are ‘not ideal’, although it is treated with dignity and provided with care and adequate food.

After a bit of poking around, I headed out to Avenida del Mar in search of lunch. It was my third time looking for food before 1PM in that part of town and my third time having a very hard time of it. I turned towards the Golden Zone and walked for a bit before giving up and deciding to walk back towards Centro until it got to 1:15 (it was 12:50 when I turned around) and then get on a bus for a part of town where I knew I could get a meal at that hour.

I had no sooner passed Avenida de los deportes (on which is located the aquarium), when I found an open restaurant… which just happened to serve sushi! I think the walking gods were looking out for me. 😀 I can’t remember the last time I had sushi!

They were doing a brisk takeout business, so I knew I was in a good spot. I ordered iced tea, which had an unusual and delicious flavour (and came American-style with free refills), and sat to peruse the very huge and intimidating menu.

I started with an order of two octopus nigiri. They were only $35, so I knew I wasn’t going to get much octopus on them. They wound up being a giant ball of rice with cream cheese (what is it with Mexicans and putting cream cheese on everything?!) and very thin slices of super tender and fresh octopus. Perfectly adequate for the price, but, like all sushi restaurants in Maz that I’ve been to, I could have done with some real soy sauce to dip them in. I don’t know why sushi restaurants don’t have real soy sauce when it’s such a common and easily obtainable ingredient.

As my main, I decided to forgo any attempt at finding an authentic Japanese item and went with the ‘Miami roll.’ The eel sauce (not made from eels, but meant to be served on an eel roll!) that came drizzled over top was a disappointing flavourless syrup, but the rest of the roll was fantastic. The centre was cream cheese (LOL), avocado, cucumber, and real crab (not that fake crab-stick crap), and the outside had mango slices and both dark and light sesame seeds. Again, I could have done with a little real soy sauce to cut the sweetness (or at least some pickled ginger), but it was still very yummy!

Total for lunch with a tip was a very reasonable $150. I’d go to this place again, but with a bottle of soy sauce stuck in my purse! Get this, though, I didn’t make a note of the name and I can’t find it online! Thankfully, I know it’s just a little ‘south’ of Avenida de los deportes, so I’ll be able to locate it again.

I then headed home, going back to Rio de Baluarte and retracing my steps from there to firmly cement the shortcut (pitiful as it is) in my mind.

My favourite part of living on Isla is the lancha ride. I always enjoy it. Sometimes, I find the bit from the embarcadero in Maz to wherever I’m going is a bit of a drag and wish it had better bus options, but I never mind the boat part of the commute.

So that was my Saturday. Hope you had a good one as well!

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Off to Mérida!

My trip to Mérida is booked! It was hard to get a nearly perfect flight, so I’m going later than planned, leaving February 19th and coming back February 28th.

I wanted to fly around my work schedule, so that meant I could only fly on a Friday, Saturday, or Sunday (giving me Monday as a buffer to settle in or in case there is a flight delay). I’m leaving on a Friday and coming back on a Sunday, so nine nights total. The other thing was that I didn’t want to have to overnight in DF (Mexico City) or get back to Mazatlán after dark. Finally, I really preferred not to fly out before 8AM. Price ended up being my last consideration, but I did okay. I think it will come out to between 500CAD and 550CAD with the exchange rate.

I used Sky Scanner for the first time and it was worth it because it found flights on discount sites that weren’t available directly through the airline. I didn’t save any money, but I got a better choice of dates and times. My flight is with InterJet, but I booked through Travelocity.

So I leave Maz at 3:05 p.m. local time, have a 1.5 hour layover in DF, and get to Mérida at 9:10 p.m. local time. I’ll take a taxi to my destination. My hosts (more below) are prepared that I might not get in till 11:00 p.m.

For the trip home, I leave Mérida at 8:25 a.m., have a 3.5 hour layover in DF, and get home at 2:35 local time.

After speaking with a few friends who have tons of experience flying out of Maz from Isla, I’m planning to leave my truck here, take the lancha to Maz, and grab a cab there to get me to the airport or investigate the possibility of a bus.

I will get eight full days in Mérida, of which I will work for three. Mérida is on the same time zone as work, so that means I’ll be working 8:00 to 4:00 and so those days will be pretty much a write-off, but I should at least be able to enjoy a few evening hours out.

Now, for housing. I really wanted to rent an apartment in a neighbourhood I might want to move to to get a feel for what life could be like for me in Mérida. I’d spent some time on TripAdvisor learning about the various neighbourhoods in Mérida and made a list of the neighbourhoods to investigate. One of the neighbourhoods at the top of my list had nearly the perfect place. All-in, it’s 32CAD per night. The only thing I’m not happy about, based on the pictures, is that it’s a boring white house like my casa here in Maz. I had hoped to find something more architecturally interesting. But it’s fine for a week. I’ll be choosier when I’m looking for a long-term residence!

A couple of people asked me why I’m not driving or taking the bus. Here’s why:

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Mérida is 2,500KM away. It would be like my driving 63% of the way back to Haven for just a week!

Just for kicks, I checked out the bus option. It’s 26 hours and 2,000MX each way. So 52 hours of travel time for 4,000MXN total. For 2,500MXN (200CAD) more, I can get there and back in about 18 hours total travel time. Air travel is a wonderful option! 😀

There is tons to do around and outside Mérida, but I won’t be focused on cramming in too much tourism since I plan to move there full-time! Really, the purpose of this trip is to try out life in the city and focus on practical matters so I can hit the ground running when it comes time to searching for an apartment to rent long-term.

Next project, wrapping my brain around my summer in Europe…

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Lunch in Town

I had a bit of a homey morning, doing laundry and catching up on some chores and bookkeeping. Around 1:00, I decided it was too nice of a day to spend on the computer so I put on my new dress and a new scarf and headed off for lunch on the Malecón.

On the way, I stopped in at the Mercado with the hope of finding a very lightweight dressing gown, something I’ve been wanting for quite some time. I struck out at the thrift shops back home and I didn’t like the selection in stores. I just wanted a pretty cover-up to wear over my skimpy jammies so I can have my coffee outside or run out to get the water without having to get dressed first.

I went up two aisles in the Mercado when I spotted something on a dummy. I had it taken off for me to examine more closely and was surprised that it was absolutely perfect:

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It’s almost like a kimono, so it has a very ample cut. The length is perfect, not so long as to get tangled in it, but long enough to be modest. It will make a good beach/swimming pool cover up as well. I was quoted $250, countered with $200, and was told that the best price was $230, which seemed fair to me so I happily forked over the money.

I then headed to the Malecón to have lunch at El Shrimp Bucket, a chain of shrimp restaurants. I was wary about eating there, but read several reviews that left me intrigued. I knew it would be a pricy meal, but haven’t had a really nice meal out in ages. I ordered a Pacifico, which came with a frosty mug, and hemmed and hawed over the menu. Everything looked good! I ended up having the “camarones a la suiza” (Swiss-style shrimp) because it had tomatillo (green tomato) sauce, which I love.

Shrimp-wise, the meal was worth its hefty $212 price tag. The portion of plump charbroiled shrimp was generous and perfectly cooked. But the dish could have stood a few minutes under a broiler to properly melt and even char the Chihuahua cheese. The roasted vegetables (zucchini, carrot, and eggplant (!)) were sparse, but very tasty. I was surprised that the rice was of the plain old white variety since rice tends to be so flavourful in Mexico. But it wound up being the perfect base for consuming a very tasty red sauce. There was also a sweet salsa that I’m pretty sure had real maple syrup in it (!). It was great for dipping the veggies in and even complemented the green sauce. Oh, and I had a bun, which I used to mop up every last drop of that yummy green sauce. All the salsas were just spicy enough for my tastes. The only one I didn’t try was what appeared to be a tartar sauce, since that’s made with mayo.

The meal was good enough that I’d go back to El Shrimp Bucket to try their much more reasonably priced shrimp, bacon, and avocado tacos! Their beer is the same price as everywhere else on the Malecón, so the frosty mug alone makes a return trip inevitable!

There’s a raspado (shaved ice) shop almost right next door, so I popped in for a dessert that would be much lighter than an ice cream and more refreshing on a super hot day. They had a gazillion flavours and I opted for piña colada. I want to go back and try some others!

I got in to discover that the plumbing faery came by in my absence! I have hot water AND pressure in my shower!

Am I glad I did my housekeeping before heading out, though! 😀