I didn’t sleep well again last night, sighs. I’m really hoping that if I can get my room completely dark I’ll at least not getting woken up right at six by daylight creeping in….

First order of business was work, then I put together a shopping list of odd bits I needed. It became evident that hitting up a Walmart might not be a bad idea. I decided to wear my grey and white striped dress that I probably haven’t worn since Mazatlán and which is fabulous in this climate, made from some sort of microfiber that breathes and looks quite “luxe.” I’ve been wearing slummy clothes most of the summer so it’s nice to break out the pretty things. When I was at the house in Chelem, I didn’t want to wear anything Puppy might ruin and as the summer wound down, I was doing grubby work in town so it didn’t make sense to dress up.

Around eleven, I hopped on a bus toward Centro to go to the Walmart at Paseo de Montejo (their “Centro” location).

I wanted to get off no further south than the Convention Centre, but kept passing signs saying buses can’t stop on that stretch of 62. When we passed Avenida Colon, I finally got up and asked the driver to please let me off as soon as he could. It ended up being about a block or two further south, which was fine. I doubled back to the Colon and then shot over to Walmart. Crossing Paseo de Montejo at that corner is something I remember from last year and it’s just as much sport this year!

Walmart had a lot that was on my list, but not everything. I wasn’t desperate for anything so if I didn’t like what they had of something, I held off.

One thing I did find that I am inordinately pleased with is a rack for my shower so I don’t have to store everything on the floor. I found some wire racks to hang from the shower head that were just about useless — only enough room for one bottle. This one had room for at least two bottles and the picture showed a loofah and razor hanging from the bottom section, two things I needed storage for as well (as evidenced by this picture!). There’s also room for my pumice. Best part? This rack was the cheapest option at only $75, $50 less than the wire racks!

Another thing I was looking for was another cutting board so I can have one for meat and one for veg. I got all of these for only about $70 and the label even showed examples of how the colours can be associated to a specific food. They are also non-skid and will work great on my tile counters.

I found a stopper for my kitchen sink and am pleased that it fit. I guess those things are universal. Now, I can wash dishes in the sink and use the basin for rinsing, or vice-versa.

I also picked up blackout curtains in a brand I have in Miranda, but, spoiler, they are NOT blackout curtains. 🙁 I’m so disappointed and will return them.

The grocery section was quite nice and I picked up a few things there as well. I was amused that one block of Philadelphia cream cheese was $29, but I could get two and a very nice container for $50… I also picked up this loaf of bread, curious as to whether the spots were olive, chocolate, or raisins:

I paid for my purchases with my debit card and asked if I could make a withdrawal. I didn’t even know if such a thing is possible in Mexico the way it is in Canada, but what the heck. The man asked how much I wanted to withdraw and I said $500. So far, so good as the max was $2,000. He then held up the card and said, “This is a Mexican debit card. Right? Not a foreign credit card?” I confirmed that it was a Mexican debit card. “Okay! No problem!” So far, there are only perks to having a Mexican bank account!

I came out with my mound of shopping and decided to treat myself to an Oreo McFlurry at the McDonald’s desserts-only counter. They only had one size (ginormous) and they put fudge in it. So good, but definitely lunch!

After that, I decided to try Uber again, adding “cash” as an additional payment option when I was once again unable to get a car. That did the trick! After a few minutes, I got a call from the driver. Turns out I didn’t place my map pin exactly right and he thought I was somewhere down Pérez-Ponce, oops! I was able to tell him I was at the corner of Pérez-Ponce and Paseo de Montejo in front of the stairs to Walmart and that was clear.

The driver helped me put my shopping in the trunk and off we went. I’d done some research and knew to sit up front since Uber is not quite legal here and drivers don’t want to make it obvious that they are with Uber. He tried to speak to me in English, but I stuck to Spanish and he was happy to not only converse in Spanish, but also corrected me the whole way home. That sounds terrible, but it was so helpful!!! The trip cost me $40. Taxi service here is notable for being terrible and expensive. I got an estimate from a cab for the same trip and it was almost double!

One thing of note in our conversation that I’ve been meaning to mention is that Mexicans aren’t shy about asking how much rent I pay. To be honest, I’m always embarrassed to answer because my rent is really high for a single person here.

I got in just as I received a text message from TelCel that I needed to top up. I used their new app, which I linked to my Mexican PayPal account (linked to my Mexican bank account!), and was able to top up in just a few steps. It was so much more convenient than going to Oxxo and I got 500MB of free data for trying out the app!

The electrician texted shortly thereafter to say he was incoming. He got in and did the work quickly, but my UPS is still unhappy. I had him reverse the polarity, just in case, but that didn’t help. He didn’t have a working multimetre, outlet testers aren’t a thing here, and I was stupid and left all that stuff back in Canada so we had to leave it at that. I’m going to pick up a multimetre and see if I can get an outlet tester online. We both suspect that it’s a low or high voltage issue. At any rate, my Macbook Air charges fine in the outlet so I’m still way ahead of where I was when I didn’t have a three-prong outlet by my desk. He insisted on charging me $100 less ($600 total including materials) because the job wasn’t a success and wouldn’t take no for an answer. I think he knows I’ll likely have more work for him in the future.

So all that to say, really didn’t do a great job of checking out the wiring in the house before renting. Visually, it looked fine and well finished, but there are issues right to the junction box at the street. Anyway, everything but the UPS seems to work fine and folks who lived in the house previously had no issues. I’m just going to make it a point not to buy myself any super expensive electronics!

It was about five when he left and I was famished. I remembered seeing a taco joint a short ways down Calle 60 and decided to walk there on the off chance that it might be odd and open for business at about 5:30PM.

It was… And while they weren’t fully up and running (they had to cook a portion of al pastor meat on the grill for me), there were Mexicans eating there at that hour. I asked for two al pastor tacos and while I really wanted Nestea, asked for more “Mexican” jamaica (hibiscus) tea, which I’m not fond of. They were out of jamaica so I got my Nestea. 🙂

They were so good! I should have just gone ahead and order a few more. Next time, I will get an “orden” to go or even delivery, which is enough fixings for about five tacos. I asked for my tacos “con todo” after the server came to ask me once if I wanted onion and then came back to ask about cilantro.

I was surprised that there was a creamy sauce option to put on them. It was a bit like tzatziki, which, now that I think about it, makes sense for these tacos modelled on gyros/donair/shawarma. There was also lime, green and red sauces, and guacamole.

I doubt I’m going to find a closer taco joint with better hours so I really want to break the ice on getting delivery since their food is so good and cheap (al pastor tacos are only $11 each!!!). They don’t do Whatsapp and their store is VERY noisy so I’m worried I might have troubling giving them my address. To be determined…

It’s been another long day and I am exhausted and a bit footsore. I have some easy work to do tomorrow, then my priority will be getting my desk set up. I’m now back to thinking about painting, having noticed that the movers did more damage than I realised (they tied it down with rope, which rubbed off some of the finish). But that can wait as long as I deal with the structural issues.

Oh, my landlady just called as I was about to hit publish to see how things are and I complained about the water heater. Her husband is coming in the morning. Here’s to hoping I can take a hot shower tomorrow. It’s chilly here at night! I actually regretted going out without a shawl or something to get my tacos!

I had a good first evening at home and managed to not get caught up in any major projects. I did determine that I don’t have a single grounded outlet in the house, meaning no place to plug in the UPS that I use to protect my electronic equipment! Croft gave me some good advice about that. With Mexican electricity standards being so different from Canadian ones, the wiring here looks like nothing that I’m used to and so there was no way I was going to try to fix this myself. An expat on a forum said that the guy who changed my tap did a similar job for her so I decided to contact him in the morning.

My first shower here was good! The pressure was sufficient and with the water coming directly from the tinaco on the roof, it wasn’t icy cold. We are getting into the colder evening season and I am going to want hot water at some point, but for last night, I was very happy.

I went to bed around 10:30 after adding cardboard to one of my bedroom windows since a light from the mechanic’s shop was shining right into the room. My bed was comfy and I fell asleep right away, but I woke up several times during the night and was really irked to be woken at 6AM by both weak sunlight and a fucking rooster. Pardon my French, but I’m going to find him and make soup out of him!

The light is going to be an easy fix — black out material simply attached to the existing valance with clothespins. Not sure what to do about the rooster. I hate those things with a passion — they ruined so many nights of sleep in Maz and I can’t believe I’m dealing with one here!!!

Another disappointing thing is that the controller on my new bedroom fan makes a very loud buzzing sound. Google tells me that’s normal for cheap fan controllers and not necessarily a wiring issue. So the new fan is basically worthless to me, unless I can get used to that buzzing sound and turn it into white noise… 🙁

So all that said, I was up at my “normal” time this morning. Made coffee and had a croissant with jam at the breakfast bar. My bistro set stool is too high for the counter, but will serve me until I find an adjustable one. Oh, and I’d put a carton of almond milk in the fridge last night and it and everything else I put in was cold, but not frozen while everything in the freezer was frozen solid. I’m relieved and so pleased with my purchase! I am going to try to find myself a fridge thermometer to make sure everything really is hunky dory, though.

Next order of business was to check on the cactus I planted last night that I forgot to tell you about — V sent me off with an already rooted pitaya cutting. Hopefully, I’ll get fruit in the next two years!

Then, it was time to get to work. When I woke up in the middle of the night, I remembered that my plastic table is the right height for my computer chair. So this morning, I set up a temporary office in the kitchen! Really less than ideal, but it made no sense to take everything off the table to move it to the office, which is quite full.

Late morning, I popped the screen out of this window and in a feat of parkour made my way onto the roof to the gas tank by jumping from a crouched position on this ledge to a lower ledge and then to the roof. I was rather impressed with myself!

As I suspected, the valve was off. I turned it on, then hauled myself up onto the ledge, from which I was able to jump back onto the window ledge. Great exercise, but I’m not making a habit of it! Back down I went to the water heater. I had no trouble getting it lit once I got propane (imagine that!), but it’s not staying lit. It’s so rusty that I’m wondering if it needs to be changed… So that was rather frustrating, but at least now the problem is at ground level.

I also made contact with the maintenance guy and after a few voice calls, messages, and photos, we were close to being on the same page. He promised to come by in the next few days to wire me a three-prong, grounded, outlet.

An expat on my forum offered his services to do that and my first question to him was if he’s allowed to work here legally. Not surprisingly, the answer is no. One of my biggest pet peeves are expats who hire other expats “under the table” (the term he used) to do a service that a Mexican can do, even if, like him, they charge NOB prices and aren’t really in competition with Mexicans. These are usually the same people who bitch about immigrants stealing jobs back home. Even if this was my house and I had money to spend on it, I would make an effort to find a Mexican who understands NOB electrical norms before I’d hire an expat who is able to work here legally.

I worked at my first job of the day and then decided to go run some errands. I wanted Autozone for car wax because my sink is being too high maintenance (was told that a basic carnauba car wax would do the trick), HSBC for an ATM, and Parisina for fabric. As it turned out, Parisina is right by the HSBC. And look what’s across from it:

I was definitely deserving of a sushi lunch! 🙂

I put on a pretty dress and hat and then ambled across to Prolongación Paseo de Montejo, going first to Autozone. I was immediately asked if I needed help and I requested simple car wax with carnauba. They had a tub for $79, the best deal by far that I’d seen anywhere.

Parisina was after the bank. I wanted to price blackout material and also shelf liner. I had all my measurements for the shelves and what I wanted would have come close to $600! But then, I found some cloth-backed vinyl table cloths that would more than do the trick. Enough to do all my shelves was only $150! The patterns and colours were garish, even for my taste, but this was acceptable:

I’ll cut it down to size. I especially want it to the protect the surface of the big cabinet where I want to store my pots to keep it from being scratched, but also to put it on my bookcases to make sure the wood doesn’t get wet.

Blackout curtain material is meant to be a liner, so it comes only in beige and white. The width of the fabric was awkward for my size of windows so I’m going to instead price premade blinds similar to the ones I have in Miranda that I saw at Costco.

I also saw at Parisina something that convinced me not to paint my desk. Need to speak to my mother about that as she is an expert for working with this material…

I then went across the street to the sushi joint. I’ve made my peace with the fact that Mexicans have no idea what sushi is supposed to be like and to embrace the weirdness of Mexican-style sushi, cream cheese and citrusy soy sauce included. They had a roll with octopus, the first time I’ve seen such a thing, so I obviously went with that! Even with the cream cheese, it was delicious, the octopus so sweet and tender. Lunch was a proper treat and, best of all, prices were very reasonable and they deliver to my house — they’re the folks who left a flyer in my mailbox! Next time, I’m trying their salmon and mango roll!

While I was eating, the electrician messaged me to ask if he could come by between 7 and 8PM tonight! Yes, of course!

Next stop was Superama, a bit of an upscale grocery store, to do a bit of my “gringo” shopping. I knew I wasn’t going to cook tonight because I still had work to do, but it would be nice not to have to get anything tomorrow to make a curry. So I bought chicken, basmati rice (very $$$ compared to Mexican rice, but a must!), and some veggies, among a few other things, including very expensive NOB style butter that I’d been on the lookout for (Lurpak brand). At the till, I was asked if I wanted a complementary magazine about beer. Um, yes, please! 🙂

I thought of taking an Uber home (cheaper and more reliable than taxis here), but it was my first time and I could not request a car for some reason. I knew I could be halfway home by the time a cab got to me, so I rearranged my shopping and headed home. I don’t think I could have made it a block further. 🙂

When I got in, a mere three hours after I left (city living rocks!), I put the shopping away and then headed out to Oxxo in Moya to pick up two 20L jugs of water. I know I can get water delivery here, but it’s going to take time to set up and I wasn’t going to keep buying 1.5L bottles at $10 each!

The cashier and I exchanged pleasantries and then I said what I wanted and that I didn’t have empty bottles. A five-second pregnant pause followed. She said, “I have to charge you for the bottles.” I replied, “Of course.” Another pause. “It’s $46 for the bottles and then another $54 for the water because refills are $27 each.” Again, I told her that was fine. “So that will be $100 in total.” I reassured her yet again that that was okay and she finally rang me up! Then, her colleague kindly carried the jugs to the truck. As I hauled them in the house, my muscles asked me to please not carry anything heavy for the next few days. 🙂

I then had to get typing as I was really down to the wire. I got up at one point to turn on the porch and street lights and decided that I was done flicking light switches aimlessly. So I took five minutes to go through the house and label all my light switches!

As it turned out, the porch and street light are at the bottom left!

I had 30 minutes of work left to do when the electrician showed up at about 8:00. He quickly confirmed my diagnosis that the house has zero grounding whatsoever! He said that Mexico lax standards be damned, I should suggest to the landlady that she rewire the whole house. Yeah… But since I’m renting and don’t need things done perfectly and only need one properly grounded outlet, he’s going to ground just the one by my desk. That means a return trip tomorrow since he didn’t have the materials he needed to do that.

He’d brought his girlfriend, an American gal from Eugene, OR. She and I got gabbing as he worked. We had a laugh when we realised the other speaks English (she correctly surmised by my accent that I’m a French speaker and figured I didn’t speak English!). We got to talking about the street food scene in Eugene (a city I really liked!) and some places that I remember enjoying that are still open.

I paid in advance for some materials and they left, promising to get in touch tomorrow about when he can come back. Then, I got back to work and finished with two minutes to spare before my deadline! I threw together a very quick dinner of wontons with spicy chile sauce, followed by some chocolate ice cream, promising myself that tomorrow, I will chop some veggies. 🙂

It has been an insanely full day! I’m hoping that now that I have an idea of the normal noises around here, I might be better able to ignore them. I’m also resigned to going back to my sleep mask until I get the curtain thing resolved.

Tomorrow, I’m going going to get to work on the dishes even if it means heating water on my hot plate, which will take forever, and line shelves so that I can properly set up the kitchen. I want to have a curry dinner (well, probably a Mexican-timed lunch) on my new china. 🙂