Sinaloa

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Discoveries

I am heading out on a much needed mini-break tomorrow, three nights in the neighbouring city of Durango! This is the trip I postponed last year. I think I will enjoy myself more this year, being more comfortable in Mexico, less concerned about the truck, and not facing snow. I’m losing a shift because of the American Thanksgiving, so I’m taking advantage of that to be able to go have a few days in Durango and still be home (most likely) for riding and my dentist appointment on Monday.

There is a possible big storm incoming, but I’m not too worried about that. The absolute worst case scenario is that the Durango-Maz road will be washed out by mudslides and I won’t be able to get home as planned on Sunday. Solution: alter my plans to include bring my computer (which I otherwise have no intention of looking at all weekend) so that if I do get stuck into the work week, I can just work from wherever I am. The second worst case scenario is that the Isla road could be washed out. Solution: park my truck on the Maz side and take the panga over, then go get my truck when the road is clear. I’m not getting my ‘DON’T GO’ prickly feeling at the back of my neck, so I’m leaving on schedule sometime late tomorrow morning!

I therefore needed to do a withdrawal before heading out. There is actually a Scotiabank right by my hotel in Durango, but I didn’t want to have to look for it upon arrival tomorrow, having only enough cash to cover fuel and tolls to get there, plus spending money, but not enough to pay for the hotel room. So after my shift today, I headed to town. I had just pulled into the Maz-side embarcadero when I suddenly felt unwell and realised that I hadn’t eaten anything since about 7:00! So I got out of the lancha and made a beeline for the pan dulce lady, picking up a tasty bun of some sort for $5, which did the trick.

Normally, I would just walk down Gutiérrez Nájera and turn right on Juan Carrasco, but today I decided to turn right much sooner and meander through a residential neighbourhood. I had a route to get to Ejercito Mexicano, but, of course, that didn’t work out because of no road signage, construction, and landmark closures. No biggie. I just wandered in the generally correct direction. The houses were a mix of what I would consider tenements and really nice structures, making it hard to get a feeling for just what sort of neighbourhood this was, economically speaking (much like Isla). The few people I passed on the street were friendly.

Just as I was bitterly regretting not popping into the last abarrotes I had seen to get a water, I spotted an oasis, a fruit juice stand! That was a pretty good clue that I was very near Juan Carrasco/Ejercito Mexicano. I ordered a small grapefruit juice with ice and was told to pay the ‘special’ price of just $10! Wow! I pay $15 to $18 for a juice in Centro and near the Malecón. Two blocks from there was Ejercito Mexicano, so now I have a juice place that is almost on my route to the bank, big Ley, and big Waldo. Getting misplaced paid off!

I ended up just a couple of blocks from the Scotiabank, so I darted across right away when the traffic cleared. For once, the machine worked perfectly for me. I then went inside to change my $500s for smaller bills, and I’d even written down how many $100s, $50s, and, especially $20s, I needed. The exchange rate is getting worse and worse. November 12th, 4,800 cost me 392.39CAD. November 23rd, they cost me 399.00CAD. Today, they cost me 399.80 CAD. My daily withdrawal limit is just 400CAD, so I cut it really close today!

After I was done at the bank, I debated going up to the big Ley to have lunch at the Chinese place and decided it was too hot to do that extra distance. I headed back towards Gutiérrez Nájera, only this time I walked on the Scotiabank side. It’s amazing the new things you discover when you walk on the other side of the street!

I passed a couple of interesting shops and then a tiny restaurant advertising sushi and Chinese food, a similar setup to the restaurant by the big Ley. I popped in and had a look at the food on display, which appeared very fresh. The exact same meal that I have at the other place was a couple of pesos cheaper and, overall, better! I didn’t like the main quite as much (the chicken was a little mushy versus crispy), but the hibiscus water, rice, and spring roll were tastier. So now, I have a better (and closer!) place to get  Chinese food when I get a craving for it! Never mind the sushi, though. These stores have Mexican-style sushi (very heavy on the cream cheese), which is not to my taste. I prefer to pay more and have it on Olas Altas or in the Golden Zone, where I can get more authentic fare and super inexpensive octopus nigiri.

I passed this hilarious sign in front of a bar on Gutiérrez Nájera:

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Roughly translated:

Husband Daycare
Does it get heavy around the house?
Does he bother you?
Do you need a break?
We have what you’re looking for!
Leave your husband here and pick him up later!
It’s free. Just pay for his drinks!
We have never lost anyone!

(That last bit especially cracked me up.)

So I’m off tomorrow. I don’t know how vocal I’ll be over the weekend since I’ll be avoiding the computer. I will check in on Facebook now and then.

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A Day Full of Treasures

I decided to split up the work due tomorrow so that I could take this afternoon and tomorrow morning off. I wanted to go to town to try a restaurant, the reviews for which I stumbled upon on Trip Advisor, and also go to the bank and the grocery store. Tomorrow is riding, of course. 🙂

I wound covering a lot of ground today! Here’s a bird’s eye view (click to embiggen).

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I started by walking from the embaracadero to Parisina in Centro (red line at the bottom). Parisina is a chain of fabric stores. I wanted something to cover the surfaces in the office because, surprise, a plastic table cloth was unsuitable to cover a desk in a hot humid climate! I forgot just how inexpensive fabric is in Mexico and realised as I browsed that I didn’t have to get something that would to have have another purpose later because I would be paying so little.

I wound up with some super cheap cotton in colours that sort of match the bedspreads on the twin beds in the office:

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I love the purple flowers and that’s quite probably my favourite shade of blue. It was only $40 (3.25CAD or 2.50USD) for two metres! Aesthetics were the only reason to cover the tables. This house is like a prison, with its neutral colours and the bars on the windows, so it’s proven very difficult to make it cozy and homey. This year, I’m adding colour where I can and that is making a huge difference to how happy I am in the house.

I then crossed the street (Benito Juárez) to catch the bus to the Golden Zone. The Sábalo-Cocos ‘local’ bus passed before the ‘tourist’ bus that goes up Avenida del Mar and that was my sign that it was finally time to figure out this bus route because it’s the one that goes by the big Waldo and passes Soriana (multiple ones, I was to learn), Home Depot, and Mega. The ‘local’ buses are super uncomfortable, with hard plastic seats that are so close to the ones in front that my knees are bruised from the ride, but the cost is only $7 versus the $10 for the tourist bus.

Go back up to the map to see the ride I got taken on (blue)! It was a long one, but very educational. What really impressed me is that I knew where I was at all times and was able to correctly guess when we were about to turn onto Rafael Buelna. Now, I know that I can catch this bus at the big Ley or Waldo, or even Soriana or Mega, and take it back down to Juan Carrasco/Gutiérrez Najera if I have only a bit of shopping and don’t mind walking from the intersection to the embarcadero. But the route is way too long to make it worth taking it back from Soriana or Mega with a ton of groceries.

Once we hit Camarón Sábalo, I knew to get off in the vicinity of Panamá so I could head to Playa Gaviotas.

I’ve seen the ads for this guy a few times. I doubt his name is truly Dr. Backman, but, then again, I once knew an electrician named Yvan Laprise (literally sounds like the French for “he sells the electrical outlet”), so who knows!

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The restaurant didn’t open till 1:00 and it was about 12:30, so I wandered around in super touristy Mazatlán, saying “No gracias” a lot to vendors.

Being so early, I decided to check out the “Seashell Museum” (Museo de Conchas), which is really a store full of tchotchkes, with some tiny exhibits upstairs. But you HAVE to go there because of the fountain! I think I stared at it for a full 10 minutes and I’m very annoyed I only had my crappy iPhone camera to capture it!

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That fountain is a Work of Art. I couldn’t find an inch of it that didn’t absolutely delight me. If I were ever to buy a home by the sea, I would commission an artist to build something like this with seashells for me, perhaps a bathroom counter.

Then, I wandered around in the general area looking for the restaurant, Zab Thai. The address and the claim that it is near the Seashell Museum helped me narrow things down a bit, but it was extremely hard to find. I asked a few people, but no one could be bothered to help if I wasn’t a customer. I finally had the bright idea of putting other businesses into Google so I could essentially triangulate the location I needed and found Zab Thai at the end of a very lonely looking alley:

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An alley that leads to a beach:

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An alley that holds another business named “Lucky Bastard”!

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I went into the restaurant, which had an English menu but a server who was quite happy to serve me in Spanish. They had just opened and I was the only one there. They apparently do more takeout than eat-in business. The reviews I’d read claimed that Zab Thai is the place to go for authentic Thai in Maz.

I just ordered the chicken Pad Thai, but asked for two stars of spiciness out of three (!) and, for the first time, requested no egg. Pad Thai is something that I crave all the time, but which I haven’t had much luck finding to my taste in quite a while. I can’t articulate what it is about Pad Thai that makes it to my taste or not, I just know what I like.

When the meal arrived, it was alarmingly red:

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(I can’t believe I’m still traumatized by that ketchupy Pad Thai I had on Jarvis Street in Toronto 15 years ago! :D)

I took a tentative bite and almost fell out of my seat. This Pad Thai was perfect. The flavours were just right and I think the red might have come from Sriracha, with the spice level being just right for me. When it was a bit too much, I nibbled on some of the cabbage. I do have to say the chicken was a bit bland, but that’s just being nitpicky. I can’t believe I found this meal in Mexico. I’m pretty sure this Pad Thai is the third best I’ve ever had, after the ones at Siam or Bangkok Palace in Ottawa, Ontario, and the one at the Starfire in Skagway, Alaska! Pad Thai with chicken or pork was just $95! I think with shrimp or a mix was $115. Either price is a bargain for such a great Pad Thai. I find it interesting that two of the best I’ve ever had have been in such tourist trappy-type destinations.

Then, it was time to go to the bank (red route at the top). On the way, I passed this place that has never been open before and so I’ve never noticed it:

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That’s a drive-thru beer pickup place, folks. And I thought ‘Muricans are ridiculous (and terrifying) for having drive-thru liquor stores…

I cut across the McDonald’s parking lot and came across this RV from France!

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I actually waited a few minutes, hoping to catch the drivers, but gave up.

The walk-in ATM at Scotiabank was down, but, thankfully, their drive-thru one worked. My landlady is going to be so happy to get her December rent early. I don’t think I paid December rent till the 15th or even 20th last year (which I had told her on the day I moved in and she was okay with).

Look at what Soriana had: LEMONS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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But check out the price compared to the little round limes:

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The Persian limes that look like green lemons were $14 a kilo, still a much better deal. That picture was worse than the one above. I have no idea how people take lovely pictures with their iPhones…

I decided to take a chance and buy some meat (went with hamburger) and saw this in the freezer. I don’t think I’ve ever seen rabbit sold at the grocery store before!

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One of the things on my list was chocolate almond milk for a recipe, but they didn’t have any on the shelf, which surprised me since the little Ley has it and Soriana had every iteration of the plain. A store clerk tapped me on the shoulder, had me turn around, pointed to a pallet in the centre of the aisle, and told me they were having a two-for-one sale on almond milk, one plain bundled with one chocolate!!! $44 for two containers was a steal! I started stocking almond milk last summer for cereal and am glad it’s so inexpensive, even here in Mexico, since I’ll be able to use it to make fruit smoothies!

From Soriana, I took a taxi (green) back to the embaradero. I decided to walk home on this side, sorely underestimating how heavy my shopping was (thanks to the beer I bought in town, which I’ve never done, because I knew the City Deli would be closed, and the almond milk). But there was a ton of traffic (possible funeral procession), so I actually wound up getting home faster than I would have in a taxi, even with all my rest stops!

It’s been a rich, full day!

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Jajaja

I decided to go to town for a walk and lunch today. I took the village lancha and, while waiting for it, witnessed a man making ‘horns’ behind his wife’s head as someone else took a picture of them. Witnesses to this burst out laughing and she called out, “What did he do?!” which just made us laugh harder.

There was a huge cruise ship in port today:

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On the Maz side, I walked down Emilio Barragán nearly all the way to the embarcadero for the beach lancha, turning at the entrance to the cruise ship docks to follow the blue line to Centro. It was rather funny to see all the pulmonías spilling out of the docks!

I got to the big intersection that for some reason doesn’t have a tope or any incentive to get the cross traffic to stop, no matter how much tourist traffic there is there. A few police officers were guiding people and one came up to me. We had this conversation in English:

Cop: What are you looking for?
Me: Nothing. I’m heading to Machado. I live here.
Cop (taking a moment to process that): You live here and don’t need help?
Me: Not at all.
Cop: Thank God!

I guess the tourists have been keeping the police busy!

At the Plazuela…

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…I headed straight to Beach Burger, where I was greeted with a hug and cheek kiss from the server, who wanted to know how long I’d been back in Maz and was I still living on Isla and was there at a lot of snow at my house in Canada? I hadn’t even sat down yet! I should make a note that I only went to Beach Burger perhaps four or five times last year, at the absolute most! Perhaps he remembers me because I speak Spanish with him?

I ordered a Tecate and their Wipe Out burger, asking for no fries. He winked and said, “Okay, lots of fries.” I said, “No, I don’t need them!” and he laughed and offered to bring me a salad instead. Great! And then I had to refuse the chips and salsa!

The salad was made with hearts of romaine, not iceberg (!!!), and had a really nice dressing. It might not look like much, but I would have that as a main with some croutons and cheese, it was that yummy. The burger was great, too, and it had tons of Montreal steak spice, which I love. The price has gone up to $90, but it’s still very good value.

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An email came in while I was eating and it was an urgent message from a member of my proofing team asking me to please look over a short document. Thankfully, it was something I could do properly from my phone, so I fired off a response. My colleague replied, “Thanks! Must be nice to be off work before 4:00!”

I answered, “I start at 8:00 your time.”

To which she replied, “Oh! That’s 6:00 a.m. for you!!! I’m not even up then! Wow. I’d be off before 4:00, too!”

I really love my schedule, by the way. It’s not painful at all!

I stopped for a gelato after my lunch and then slowly meandered my way back to the embarcadero since I didn’t have any shopping to do.

I love how something so mundane as taking a walk and having lunch is blog worthy in my Mexican life!

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Value

I had a very arduous proofreading shift today, pretty much eight non-stop hours of reading investment material. My eyes were burning by the time 2PM came around. I headed right to the beach for a beer, even knowing that I’d be paying $30 (with the tip) for a beer I had in the fridge and which was bought for half that.

But home doesn’t have:

-live music

-cute servers and lifeguards

-empanada vendors (met her last year; she sells pie crusts folded in half and filled with fruit compote, a lovely treat that goes well with beer!)

-those special rays of sunlight that bounce over the water

-waves and surf

-children laughing as they play in the sand and water

-the spectacle of dogs playing fetch

-and much more

I get a lot more value out of the $30 I spend on the beach for beer than I do the $15 I spend at the store for beer to drink at home.

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Off to the Dentist

Whew, I had a busy weekend! Not sure what happened there with work, but I believe it was my very occasional clients requesting my services on top of all my regulars sending me stuff that threw my schedule into chaos. I was really glad to be able to take today off, but, unfortunately, I had to cancel riding because I really needed to go see a dentist and the one I chose was only available this morning or else I would have had to wait till late next week. With the tooth hurting and knowing that I would likely have to have a consultation first, then come back for the filling at a later date, I didn’t want to wait that extra week.

After much research and many testimonials, I decided to go to Doctora Susana Pedrero de la Cruz in Centro. I was warned by many people to only use her for a cleaning and basic fillings because there have been major issues with more advanced work that she has done.

My appointment was at 10:30 and I left home around 9:40 to arrive at about 10:20. I had no trouble finding her office, which is basically behind the cathedral and one block over. She was very prompt and spoke excellent English. Her office is tiny, spotless, and her equipment is modern.

After looking at my tooth, she put forth the suggestion of a crown, but I nixed that and said I just want a filling. So she will do that for me next Friday. I’ve had this tooth fixed so many times that at this point that my expectations are very low for how long the fix will last, but it will at least bide me some time and the work is super cheap. The cost was $350 today for a cleaning and exam and it will be $500 next week for the filling. Pesos!

The cleaning was the best I have ever had done. She used baking soda to ‘sandblast’ (her words) my teeth and I came out of there with them noticeably a shade lighter than when I came in!

I made an appointment for next Friday for the filling and then headed out. It wasn’t even 11:00 yet. I went to Panamá’s for a snack, then went to wait for the bus to take me to the Golden Zone to get coffee beans at Rico’s. It’s so rare that I get on at the Mercado and rather a treat to get such a long ride! For the first time, I misjudged my disembarking request and actually missed Rico’s by a full block. I usually end up getting off a block early, so I really got my money’s worth out of my bus fare today!

I actually got service in Spanish at Rico’s today. They were out of Veracruz and it was suggested I might like Chiapas, another dark blend. I was confident I would, so I got a pound of whole beans. I can’t wait to use my new grinder on them!

From Rico’s, I headed back down to Rafael Buelna, checking out restaurant menus and finally deciding to just go to Taco Loco. I got across half of Camarón Sábalo, but was stuck on the median when the menu guy for Taco Loco saw me and waved his menu at me. I’ve never seen them try to wave down Gringos before, so I was surprised, and I think he was even more surprised when I nodded enthusiastically. He jumped onto the street and held off the traffic so I could get across! And they say chivalry is dead!

I had my usual, of course, the al pastor tacos. I was going to order four (a reasonable portion), but was brought chips, so I only got two, plus a limonada. The cook must have remembered me as not being afraid of a little heat because the tacos she sent me were spicy even before I added their salsas! Looks like I graduated to ‘real’ tacos. Dang they were hot (especially with my unknowingly adding super hot salsa to already super hot food), but soooo good.

After lunch, I continued on my walk and decided to get my groceries at Mega since I needed hummus. Surprise, they not only had hummus, but a bunch of other Lebanese things, including pita and labneh (strained yoghurt)! Wow! Guess who is having a Middle Eastern spread for dinner tonight?

I got a taxi to take me to the embarcadero (still no luck getting a pulmonía) and a truck on this side because I had way too much stuff to carry.

There was a small job waiting for me when I got in, so I did that, then I headed off to see Contessa, who arrived yesterday. She had some anti-itch stuff for me that, so far, is working great. I can’t believe how bad the bugs are this year and it’s been driving me to distraction!

It was a lovely day off and, so far, the week ahead doesn’t look too bad. We shall see how long the lull lasts. 🙂