Sinaloa

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Sometimes, Even the Dictionary Can’t Help

Today was the day to go pick up my new scarves and dress, so the plan was to do lunch, pick them up, then do a big shop for groceries.

For lunch, I went to Tony’s Burgers in the mercado to have one of their beef burgers. It wound up being quite good since it was made with real beef, but the patty was really thin and there was too much bun. I would rather pay more (it was $37) and have a better meat to bun ratio. Next time, I’ll ask if I can have two patties and I’m sure I’ll still come in at less than I would pay for a burger at Beach Burger. I even found Tony’s burger better than the super pricy ones at Mary’s in the Golden Zone, even if those have more meat. I still can’t believe it took me this long to discover Tony’s!

My things were ready for me when I arrived some time later at the seamstress. I hadn’t double checked my receipt when I went in last time and didn’t realise that her sister had put down seven scarves instead of eight. I paid for the eighth one and will have my friend Janet pick it up sometime next week and bring it to me on a Monday when she comes to Isla to ride.

Here’s my finished dress:

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I look forward to being able to wear this one in Maz.  I’ve been wearing it around Isla without the straps, but I’m too much of a lady to go to town dressed like that. It’s a really flattering style and I’m happy to now have two dresses in that cut and fabric.

Here’s the first batch of scarves:

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The colours are a bit off because of the weird lighting in the house. The far left one is actually a really deep brown, the middle one is steel-coloured, and the one on the right is a very dark purple. They’ll make nice neutrals.

Here are the more fun ones, with their colours being more reflective of reality:

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The one on the far left is blue and white, then there’s a dark pink with white splotches, then a lighter pink with white flowers, then a mint green with purple flowers. The eighth scarf also had a bit of a tropical vibe and is similar to the one on the right.

The seamstress wasn’t pleased with the fabric I bought since it’s not super great quality and warned me that I shouldn’t be surprised if I snag a scarf and the fabric starts to run. I expected this. Modatelas (literally fashion fabrics), a higher quality fabric store, just opened by the Mercado to compete with Parisina and I’ll go there and look for better fabric, preferably a stretchy cotton, since the seamstress is available to make me more!

I then hiked a couple of blocks to Alemán and waited a few minutes for the Sábalo bus. On it, I met a Colombian hotelier who made me promise to go check out Colombia someday, something a colleague of mine has also told me. They both said the same thing: Colombia is a cleaner, better organised, safer, and cheaper Mexico that is currently a really well-kept secret since most of the world hasn’t figured out yet that Colombia is no longer the terrifying place it was 20 years ago. One day. 🙂

I really didn’t feel like going all the way up to Soriana, so I decided to do my shop at the big Ley. The bus was extremely crowded and I was concerned that I wouldn’t be able to get off. So as soon as I saw the Domino’s in the distance, with the turnoff to go to the big Ley only a block or two past there, I beeped the button. Sure enough, it took so long for people to let me through that the bus driver got impatient and drove off, only stopping again when I made it to the rear exit door and beeped again. That was fine as it brought me about a block closer to Ley. I hopped off and walked the three or four blocks to the store.

Ley had everything on my list, including hummus, but I got a little frustrated that all their beef was labeled “beef flesh.” I have no idea what I bought, but I’m hoping it’s similar to the “sirloin” stuff Soriana sells that I like. I really stocked up on meat for once since they had some good prices.

There was a woman promoting a product’s two-for-one sale. I had her hand me one and realised that it was a competitor brand for Tajín, the fruit seasoning (salt+chile+lime) I’m not nuts about, but which is strangely addictive. I’ve been wanting to try this other brand, La fina, so I put two bottles in my cart (for a grand total of $14).

The veggie section surprised me when I found kale. It wasn’t labeled and there was no price, but it was very fresh and there was so little of it that I grabbed it all, about the equivalent of two bundles’ worth at a supermarket in Canada.

The cashier asked me what the kale was and, of course, I completely blanked out. I pulled it up in the dictionary on my phone and told him to look up “col rizado” (spelling it out) or “repollo rizado.” Neither one came up. The produce manager came over and asked me where I had found the kale because he had no memory of it coming in. He went to look and confirmed that there was no label for it.

Finally, he said, “How much would you pay for this in Canada?” I did some math and figured about $40 (3CAD). His eyes went wide and he said, “That’s crazy!” He scrolled through the produce prices list a bit more and said, “It looks like fancy parsley. How does $14 sound?” SOLD. Then I told him I bought it all and he wouldn’t have to go through this again, which is where the accumulated crowd just lost it and doubled over laughing at the absurdity of the situation.

I then grabbed a pulmonía for the embarcadero (had a nice conversation with the driver), struggled to get my bags to the lancha because the package carrier guy wasn’t around, and accepted help on this side to get them into a pulmonía. I had to share it with a family going to the beach and as soon as we turned off the paved road and started to weave through the alleys to get to my house, the patriarch of the family asked where the hell we were going because he knew the beach was “that” way. I interjected and said that he was dropping me off at my house, which surprised him. Where the heck did he think I was going laden down with toilet paper, laundry detergent, and tons of food?! 😀

It never ceases to amaze me how a mundane day of running errands is so special down here!

Now, to figure out what I’m doing for dinner with all that kale!

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Number Crunching Day

The ‘new year’ is just an arbitrary change of number that could really happen at any time. So I don’t really treat it as a special event. Last year was the first December 31st that I can remember since that of ’99 going into ’00 that I did anything. I’m sure it’s not the only one, but the night is such a non-event that I’ve have to go back over old journals to see if there are others.

I’m more of a follower when it comes to social engagements, attending parties and other events if I get an actual invitation, especially on a super busy night where going out on my own wouldn’t be much fun anyway. No invitations for last night came, so I stayed in. I’m not sure I would have accepted one anyway. I’d been up since about 4:30 a.m. and was not sad that I was able to conk out at 9:00, despite a loud party going on next door!

January 1st tends to be a bookkeeping day for me. It’s always quiet and I can start to close the previous year’s books, open the new year’s, and take stock of my goals for the year. For 2016, the goals are to find another steady client who pays well and to end the year in Mexico with a residency visa. I’d like to spend the summer in Europe, but I wouldn’t consider having to put that off as a failure. It’ll all depend on whether the current income levels continue or not.

2015 was an extraordinary year. It started and ended in Mazatlán and ended up being the year where I spent the bulk of my time outside of Canada! I was only home for about five months, spent just about a full six months in Mexico, and just about a full month in the U.S. It was the year that I started to figure out how I’m going to manage to see the world, by renting apartments in the locations I want to experience. It was also the year that I was able to look back on all the grief I’ve experienced and think, “It was so worth it!”

Happy 2016 to all my readers!

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Standards

Having toured a bunch of rental places in the last weeks, I’m getting a sense of the difference between ‘Gringo’ and Mexican standards when it comes to housing, if only here on Isla and in Maz (based on what friends have told me about house hunting on that side of the channel). One thing we Gringos expect is running hot water throughout the house. I’ve learned over the last year that hot water isn’t common in the average Isla/Maz residence and if a house has it, it’s just at the shower, with an on-demand heater installed right into the shower head (regadera electrica).

My house was built with an attempt to provide the Gringo standard of running hot water throughout the house, but the person who did the plumbing screwed up royally (my landlady’s judgement, not mine, although, knowing more than a thing or two about plumbing, I agree!). The house has an ancient propane water heater that is nearly as temperamental as my water heater at home. It’s a joke between my landlady and me that I have a water heater curse. But not only is the water heater unreliable, so is the water pressure in the hot water lines. Right now, I have zero water coming out of the hot side in the shower.

Because running water, never mind running hot water, has been something of a luxury most of my adult life, having spent so many winters in housing where keeping water running wasn’t an option, I’m very tolerant of my situation. The woman who was in the little suite last year wasn’t and so they installed a regadera electrica for her that runs off the cold water line, which has plenty of pressure.

Early last week, I brought up the subject of the no hot shower thing in my suite and my landlady said that she would have a regadera electrica installed for me ASAP because it was time to stop fighting the decrepit hot water heater and badly plumbed hot water line.

As an interim solution, I have the key to the little suite so I can have a warm shower there. Warm rather than hot since you can only set the shower head to the lower setting. This is something Wandering Mike discovered after blowing a breaker and which I completely forgot. So there I was in the shower last night when the lights went out and the water got freezing very quickly! You should have heard me laughing as I fumbled around in the dark to get myself presentable enough for the quick dash back to my suite!

Oh, and guess where the breaker is for the little suite? In my kitchen. That’s another thing I have to get used to here in Mexico. There are apparently no electrical building codes!

Maybe it’s because I’m used to living in places that don’t meet Gringo standards or because I am aware that clean running water and a flush toilet are something only a small percentage of the world has, but I just can’t get upset about the situation. My landlady is doing what she can and has given me a solution. And, of course, the longer I have to use the little suite for a shower, the longer I’m guaranteed not to have a tenant in it! Having Mike here was, of course, not an issue, but what if I end up with a horrible person like I did last year, even if only for a week or two?! Really, this is for the best!

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Off to The Beer Company, Mazatlán

Finishing at 2:00 continues to be worth the 5:30 a.m. wakeup time! I can go have an adventure, explore unfamiliar parts of Maz, get some exercise, and be home in three hours flat before dark!

Wandering Mike, Chris, and Juan went off gallivanting on Sunday, with their main destination being a place that Mike discovered in Guanajuato, a chain of stores called The Beer Company, which features beers from all over the world as well as tons of Mexican craft beers. Lovely souls that they are, they returned with a Mexican stout and some Veracruz coffee beans for me!

I couldn’t believe that I’d never heard of this place and when I discovered just how easy it is to get to (walking distance, even!) I decided to go check it out this week. The store is on Avenida del Mar, between Lola Beltrán and the turn for the bus depot, and only 6.4KM roundtrip from the embarcadero.

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It was a lovely hot and sunny day until I left at 2:00, when clouds rolled in and the wind picked up. It was very chilly crossing over to Maz on a choppy channel and the lancha’s engine cut off partway. What else was there to do but take in the scenery of a shrimp boat coming into port?

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We eventually got underway again and once I reached the other side, I decided to take Ejército Mexicano part of the way north so that I could do a withdrawal at Scotiabank. The bank was really busy today! There were two people ahead of me at the ATM and at least a dozen ahead of me in the queue inside. Needless to say, I was there a lot longer than I had planned on. I guess everyone was doing their end of the month stuff because it’s normally very quiet around that time.

Next stop was the Rin Rin pizza by the big Ley. It’s not as good as the one at Mega, but it’s a bit cheaper and you get a drink, all for just $25.

I then turned towards the water, turned right on Avenida del Mar, and very shortly thereafter, saw the bus turnoff sign:

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Which is when I figured out why I’ve passed The Beer Company so many times and never noticed it. There is just one sign and it is quite high up, to be seen from a distance. It wouldn’t be particularly visible from a bus seat.

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It’s a bar as well as a store, so you can sit out with a beer. I was tempted, but I wanted to get home before dark so I stuck to shopping.

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There are several fridges with dozens of different beers, including nearly two full of only Mexican beers. A very attentive clerk came to give me a hand. I first had him narrow the selection down to Mexican beers, then asked for something similar to Pacifico, ie. a crisp easy drinking lager. He handed me two, including one called Olas Altas that he says is the original recipe for Pacifico.

As a contrast, I wanted a stout and told him that my friends had bought me a very dark beer with a skull on the lid (not knowing how to say cap). He went, “AH!” and pulled out the correct beer. I asked for something similar and he recommended two.

I bought all four beers for a total of $281 (about 24CAD). The four-pack of beer just barely fit in my purse and was pretty heavy to drag home! Here’s my lineup with Sunday’s Imperial Stout on the far left.

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Here’s the “skull lid.” 🙂

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I’m drinking the Olas Altas now and it’s definitely hoppier/more bitter than Pacifico, but still very smooth. I’m optimistic about the others!

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Update on the Scotiabank Account and INTERAC e-Transfers

I’m really glad I made that trip up to Moose Jaw to open a Scotiabank account before coming to Mexico.

Last year, each bank withdrawal cost me an average of 30MXN (depending on the bank) and 5CAD. I averaged four withdrawals per month, so that came to about 30CAD a month just to withdraw my own money!

With my Scotiabank account, I have cut these costs down to just 3.95CAD a month as long as I don’t make more than 12 withdrawals per month.

When I want to make a withdrawal, I sign into my CIBC account online and follow the prompts to send an INTERAC e-Transfer to my email address. This is absolutely free. Not too long thereafter (never more than an hour), I get an email asking me to deposit the funds. There are several links in the email itself to the online banking page for a number of banks, including Scotiabank. I click on that link, sign into my Scotiabank account, answer my security question, and the funds are deposited to my account and immediately available. I can even do this on the fly, using my iPhone banking apps. It’s happened once that I had no intention of going near one of the Scotiabanks, then something came up to change my plans. I initiated the transfer through my phone and had access to the money by the time I got to the ATM.

Having this account and the ability to make up to 12 withdrawals a month means added security in a couple of different ways.

First, I only carry my Scotiabank card, which only has a few hundred dollars in it at any give time, rather than my CIBC card, which is linked to my main chequing account as well as my USD account, my line of credit, and my Visa. Getting mugged for my Scotiabank card would be an inconvenience, but not devastating the way it would be to lose my CIBC card.

The other security advantage is that since I can make several withdrawals a month, I can make smaller ones and have less cash on me. Last year, I would try to maximize every withdrawal and find myself walking around with more cash than I could afford to lose if someone grabbed my purse.

These benefits will continue when I travel through the U.S. in the spring, only at Bank of America, and when I go to Europe this summer if wherever I land has a bank that is affiliated with Scotiabank.

If you’re a Canadian bummed out by the exorbitant cost of withdrawing your own money while abroad, it’s really worth opening a basic account at Scotiabank.