Yucatan

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Once Upon a Time in Mexico

I collapsed on the couch with Bonita when I got off work around four. It was much too late for a nap and too far to bedtime to stay there. I decided I had enough on my Bodega Aurrera list to make it worth trying to get there and back on the bus. What a success that was! I had no wait time worth mentioning at either end and it was practically door-to-door service — much less effort than wrestling the truck out of the parking bay!

On the way home, I remembered that it’s Monday and that La 21 would be closed, so there went my supper plans. I had a nice German sausage at home to convert into a hot dog, but nothing even remotely bread-like to use for that purpose and not even any flour on hand to whip up a flat bread. I dropped the groceries off at home, told Bonita I’d be right back, and headed into the growing darkness to get what I needed for dinner.

My destination was not a store. This is Mexico, after all, where the best treasures are rarely found in stores. Sometimes, they roam in the dark streets of your neighbourhood, ringing a bell to warn you they are coming. And sometimes like tonight, they are found under a lamp post and surrounded by a bunch of men chatting.

The cart they were leaning against was promising. I sized up the group and called out to the man at the head of the cart, “You selling bread?”
“Sorry, ma’am. All out of French. Got some pan dulce and a croissant left, though.”
“The croissant would be perfect, thanks!”

He bagged up the croissant, I passed over 5 pesos, and then I walked the few blocks home in inky darkness. Not the supper I’d planned, but a sweet bready Mexican reinvention of the croissant plus some wurst plus some mustard wound up being the quick and easy supper I needed after a long day.

“French” (frances) is what passes for a baguette around here and seems to be at least as if not more popular than tortillas! You can get them fresh at almost any little convenience store, race out into the night to catch a cart when you hear its bell in the distance, or you can sometimes stumble onto a scene that feels like a euphemism for a drug deal — as it should, because that carby goodness is addictive! 🙂

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Sunday Surprises

Yesterday, an ad on the local garage sale site caught my eye. As an avid walker, I have strong opinions on footwear and one of the best types of sandals out there are made by Teva, which are not readily available in Mérida. A gal I’d bought from before had a brand new pair in my size for sale! I contacted her to ask where I could meet her to pick them up. She said she was downtown but would be at the Chuburná de Hidalgo market most of Sunday. So if I couldn’t meet her there, then I’d have to go downtown on Monday. I don’t know who was more surprised, me that she was going to be at the market I was planning to go today, or her that an expat lives close enough to that market to go there weekly!

We met up at 9:00 and I tried the sandals on to make sure they fit. Yup!

They’re definitely not a model that I’m keen on for daily wearing (much too casual), but I’ll be so glad to have them if I’m only running errands.

As the seller and I had met up a few times before, she kind of knew me and said that she also had a skirt for me to look that she was sure I’d love and that she wanted $150 for. She was so right that I’d love it! I am going to live in that skirt from now on — it’s so pretty! 🙂 And only $150! Similar styles of skirts go for $600-$700 in the shops! That was so nice of her!

Sunday at the Chuburná market gets better and better. When I went last week, I was sad that there were no taco stands open. Well, today they were back, but in a really nice food court area. Of course, I didn’t have my phone, so I’ll have to remember to snap a pic next week!

I got in and placed my Mother’s Day call. I’d barely hung up when the doorbell rang. Who could that be? Oh, the courier company that is not FedEx delivers on Sunday???!!! Last I checked tracking on that package, it was still in Texas and I didn’t expect it until the end of the week!

The item was something I’ve wanted since I moved in, a spray mop, which makes so much sense in Mexico due to the vast expanses of tile floors, but which is absurdly hard to find here unless you want to pay very big bucks to import from the U.S.

Amazon finally had a cheap one with reasonable shipping to Mexico so I decided it was worth taking a chance on. I’m pleased with the quality even though I know that the name brand my hosts at the beach had is better. This will make it so much easier to clean my showers and do a daily pass on the kitchen floors, although the mop and bucket will be best for the rest of the house.

Eep, it’s 1PM and I haven’t even started on my very full day of work. It’s going to be a late night again!

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The Wrong Bus Is the Right Bus

My day started with a surprise visit from an unnamed courier company that delivers Amazon’s packages. My last order was sent in two shipments and I was expecting one item this past Wednesday and one this coming Sunday. This courier company not being FedEx, the Wednesday order arrived Monday and the Sunday order Friday.

I worked a full day and then headed to Gran Plaza in late afternoon to hopefully buy (as in I hoped it would still be there) something I’d been saving up for (as in I took extra jobs at the end of already full days to pay for the item).

I went to the bus stop in front of the college and got on the bus there, for the Francisco de Montejo neighbourhood route. Two blocks in, I realised I’d taken the wrong bus — there are two “Fco. de Montejo” routes, one which goes by Gran Plaza and one that doesn’t. I quickly pulled up the Mérida bus routes site on my phone to get a sense of the route to see if I should cut my losses and get off or if I might get close enough to Gran Plaza to be worth staying on. Absolutely the latter!

To my delight, this bus dropped mye off right by the Chedraui in Xcumpich — I’ve lived here all this time and had no idea I had such a direct bus to that store! And the bus continues on to the Bodega Aurrera in Xcumpich and goes by the DHL office! I can’t believe I only figured this out tonight because I have looked those stores up to see what buses might go near them, but the site search is a bit rough. So this was a great discovery and I got dropped close-ish to Gran Plaza in a pedestrian-friendly area to cross a mess of traffic. What a great mistake!

My destination was Sears to pick up a purse. After being here a few months, I knew what I was looking for in a purse for my Mérida lifestyle. I’d been alternating between my leather tote for when I set off on long walking adventures and the striped purse I picked up last summer. The tote isn’t dressy enough for city life and doesn’t have a closure so I don’t like to go to centro with it. The purse can’t hold much despite its large size and is uncomfortable to carry on long walks. What I needed was a less rugged looking tote bag in a lightweight fabric and a zip top that would look polished enough for trips to government offices while being comfortable to carry on those long walks I enjoy.

I didn’t look hard for such a purse, but when I found it, I knew it was The One. And it wasn’t even that expensive as far as purses go, $900, but I didn’t need-need a new purse, so I decided to save up for it.

In the meantime, when I went to pay my water bill last month, I went to a discount store next door to see what they had for clothes (found a pretty blouse!). They also had purses, but nothing that came close to what I was looking for. As I headed to the checkout, a clerk told me there were more purses on another rack and when I saw this one, I gasped:

It was way too heavy to be my daily bag for long walks, but what a pretty thing to use on trips that I do with public transportation. Of course, the price tag was tears-worthy at $1,200. I put it down and the clerk came to point out an orange tag. “Final price, no returns,” he said. It was only $200!! I pretty much ran to the cash register!

So that’s the purse I’ve been using for a few weeks and it really is pretty, but much, much too heavy and cumbersome for long walks and I can’t really throw small bits of shopping into it the way I can my leather tote.

So $900 saved up, it was time to return to Sears and see if the bag was still there.

It was. And it was 20% off.

So I ended up with both bags for the full price of the tote!

I like that this tote has both the shoulder strap for wearing it cross-body and straps to carry it in my hands. The pink is a bit dark and more reddish than I like (the other purse is my favourite shade of pink), but I love the silver closures and all the pockets. I think I’m going to transfer all my “stuff” into it and use it for a trip to a sushi restaurant for dinner. 😉

(Oh, and the bus trip home was eventful as I learned that I’ve reached the age where teenagers will offer me their seat on the bus!)