North America

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First Solo Run to Progreso

I really needed groceries today and if I was going out, I figured I might as well go to Progreso and check out the Soriana there as well as Waldo’s for a few household things I’m missing. It’s a pretty quick and easy drive into Progreso from here, but I have to say I couldn’t believe how much busier Chelem was today than it was on Friday at the same time! I almost changed my plans since there was so much activity, but, again, I really needed groceries beyond what I could get at Willy’s!

I dropped the truck at Soriana and walked the kilometre up the road to Calle 27 to the Waldo’s. This lighthouse (?) was the most interesting thing I passed.

Right at the corner of Calle was a man selling coconut ice cream, so I treated myself to a big one ($20) and then just wandered down Calle 27 past the Waldo’s while I enjoyed it. There is a cinema right by the Waldo’s that I’ll need to check out.

Waldo’s had no surprises. Most of the things I wanted that they had were of too poor quality for a permanent purchase, but I was happy to pick up soap, shampoo, and four colourful plastic tumblers for just $30 when I’d budgeted $20 for two.

I then headed back to Soriana and was not impressed by it at all. It’s very small and pitiful. I’ll have to check out the “Aki” store next time. The Aki I went to in Mérida last February was definitely better than the average Soriana. My love affair with Soriana appears to be coming to an end. When the stores are good, they’re great, but they’re often so mediocre.

At any rate, I got some groceries and then decided to go back to Bodega Aurrerá, which is literally across the street. There, I was able to pick up two pretty plates and bowls, a good big metal colander, and a good cheese grater, plus a cutting board and a water pump.

The lighting in here isn’t good, but you’ll just have to trust me that the coral and blue dishes look smashing together and much more vibrant in real life. 🙂 I can cut directly on the counter (as well as set down hot pots), but I figured a cutting board would help keep me containerised for easier sanitation purposes. I love its pretty pink colour. It’s so easy to find colourful things in Mexico, and often in many hues and shades, so you can get nice dark roses and corals instead of just baby and hot pink!

I came in, put everything away, played with the dog, and had a swim. Time to get back to work. I am going to finish late tonight because of my excursion!

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My Third Mexican Home

Before I get to shots of the house, here are some photos I took last night when we went to an expat-owned Tex-Mex restaurant in Chelem, Lizard Joe’s. I had a very good burger with ho-hum fries; nothing worth photographing.

View from the rear of the restaurant:

Sunset as we came out:

Love the colour of this house!

So my hosts left this morning and it was time to get some more boxes out of my suite and into the kitchen! I was left with tons of empty cabinet space, so I knew I could unpack fully. I washed so many dishes today! Everything was gross from nearly a year of disuse.

Once everything was put away, I was able to take some photographs.

So here’s the compound as viewed from inside the gate. Huge pebble yard with the house at the back.

To my right is a laundry area. Need to teach the dog to not pull stuff off the line and shred it! No important casualties so far, but I have to be vigilant!

Here is the courtyard with the pool. It is very much part of the interior space since you can’t go between most of the rooms from indoors.

You can see the patio door to my unit here and opposite is a bathroom. In the far left corner is the other guest suite and across from that is a bodega (storage room) with laundry.

Looking back to the yard. I am in charge of taking care of the pool. It sounds easy enough even if there is quite a bit to do. It’ll be worth it! I really enjoyed my swim this afternoon after all that hard work!

If you go into that second set of patio doors in the picture above, you walk into the kitchen. All set up as my own! 🙂

The door at the back leads into another bodega. To the immediate left of the kitchen (open plan, L shape), is the main house’s living room, the master bathroom, and the master bedroom. I will not be using those spaces and don’t feel they should be shared.

I labeled all the doors I’m using so I know where my stuff is. 🙂

I was left lots of space in the bodega/pantry at the back of the kitchen. My neighbour Caroline sent me off with several tight fitting mason jars for storage. She’s been hankering at me for years to take them, but I didn’t have enough space. I knew they would be perfect for this climate and fit as many into the truck as I could. I wish I had more. I was grateful to have a dishwasher here to wash them all, but was told that it is preferred that I not use the dishwasher since dirty dishes sitting in it will attract pests.

Now, we’ll go next door to my suite. It’s still a huge mess and I felt like taking pictures of the empty one next door and flipping them, but anyway. 🙂 So I have a full set of bedroom furniture and a nice couch with a coffee table in the front of the suite. That’s my table to the left with my tablecloth that just happens to match the colour palette. The plan is to use that as my desk soon as I get a decent computer chair. In the meantime, I’m set up in the kitchen, which is not going to work because it’s way too loud next to the fridge. If I luck out and find a cheap desk as well, the table will come down and I’ll set up the desk.

The biggest fault with this room is the three huge skylights right by the bed that I could only cover up by going onto the roof. I’ve tried three times before in my life to sleep with a sleep mask and failed, but I really have no choice here.

But I keep pulling the mask off in the middle of the night, so I have a backup that I can easily reach!

I love the couch. So comfy. Particularly like the chaise longue part for stretching out. Yes, that’s my tablecloth from Maz covering the table. I love the combo of blue and orange so why not?!

Now, into the bathroom. OMG Yes, this is where I have to shower for the next six months. Do try to be sympathetic. 😉 And, yes, those are real plants!

I was left with a huge pile of super luxurious towels, but I prefer to use my own things. So now that my towels are clean and dry, I’ll wash those of my hosts and put them away. Using my own things makes me feel more at home and I’m also not worried about ruining someone else’s belongings.

So that’s where I’m living this summer! The house is very much like an RV with its complex power and water systems. I would be overwhelmed if I did not have the knowledge gained from RVing!

My hosts are very keen to keep the outside separate from the inside so as to not have all the problems that come with keeping a home in this climate, like dust coming in from open windows and mould growing. So the doors and few windows are shut tight at all times and the AC has to run 24/7 (but pretty high — I think 27C will be the sweet spot). To avoid massive power bills, they have 16 solar panels on the roof and I believe each is about 250W. The system has been running for about two months now and they are managing so far to make just a bit more power than they are consuming. There is no battery system. Anything that doesn’t get used returns to CFE (power company) and earns them a credit for cloudy days when they don’t generate as much. I’ve been asked to keep track daily of my usage and adjust accordingly.

There is city water, but it apparently runs dry frequently. So then, I have to switch over to a well. The city water is on a water softener system and clean enough to use for washing produce, but it tastes terrible (and salty) so we use bottled water for cleaning teeth and drinking. Personally, whenever I end up buying a home in Mexico, I will put in a whole house filtration system and do away with bottled water altogether. But with the two water sources here and good potable water being so cheap and easy to access in Mexico (0.75CAD for 5 gallons, versus about 3CAD in Canada), I can understand why there is no filter in place here.

My priority at this point is a proper office setup. I can’t work from the couch here because even with the AC running, a laptop on the lap is way too hot, plus I’m frankly DONE with typing on the laptop keyboard and miss my external professional keyboard. I’ll go to Office Max and Office Depot in Mérida on Monday and see what I can find for a chair. Maybe I’ll luck out like I did with my last one (which I’m bitterly regretting not bringing) and find a demonstration model for cheap…

Other than that, I just want to get back into a “normal” routine so I can remind myself that I’m not on vacation despite being in paradise. I’ll have time to explore when the coffers are fuller.

At any rate, I hope this post assuages your curiosity. 🙂

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A Quick Introduction to Chelem

My hosts are leaving tomorrow and I have a full day of dishwashing to look forward to to set up my kitchen. But I didn’t have dish soap or scrubby pads (everything has a greasy layer of grime from my long time away) so I decided to pop into Chelem this afternoon to get a few thing at “Willy’s,” what passes for a supermarket in this sleepy fishing village. I am about 2.5 to 3KM from “downtown” Chelem and can get there by the beach. So it is walking distance, depending on how much time I have, how hot it is out, and what I need to bring back.

First stop was to exchange an empty water jug for a full one. I’m not sure how I feel about getting drinking water there since the process doesn’t seem particularly sterile. My hosts buy bottled water for drinking at Costco (I think it’s a 1.5L size) and only use this water for doing a second rinse of veggies (yes, they do the initial clean of the veggies with tap water) and to use for making coffee and cooking stuff like pasta and potatoes. I’ll have to see what I feel comfortable doing.

This is a colectivo, or minibus, that goes to Progreso. I can grab one near my house to go into Chelem or Progreso and then take a bus to Mérida. Depending on what I plan to do that day, that will likely be my preferred way of getting around as it will be much cheaper than paying for fuel.

Here is the main plaza/square:

I walked around for a bit and this is a typical street:

I got what I needed at Willy’s (it’s a bit “better” in terms of selection as to what I could get at the City Deli on Isla) and then wandered a bit to see what was up and if anything smelled good for lunch.

I wandered into this covered area with some stalls on each side of the aisle, some open with food cooking.

Some ladies saw me looking at menus and were quick to tell me what they had available for lunch. I asked for two tacos and sat down.

I’d bought that bottle of Fresca at Willy’s and would regret having nearly downed all of it before my tacos arrived. See that green sauce over top? The lady brought me the tacos without the green sauce and asked me if I wanted chiles. Yes, of course. So she brought me back a little sauce. Great, I love the green better than the red! But I assumed it was the readily available commercial stuff, poured it onto each taco, and dug in. Well…

It wasn’t the commercial stuff. Oh, the PAIN. I don’t think I’ve ever hurt so good while eating Mexican food. LOL I felt myself flush and, of course, my nose started to run and my eyes to water. I doled out my Fresca, bravely finished, paid, had a five-minute conversation the ladies running the stand (one said that I really should consider Progreso over Mérida — more house for my pesos and sea breezes while still having access to all the services I want…), and then hoofed it to a store across the square to get a fruit juice! I then headed home and didn’t get lost or stuck in the sand!

I’m told Chelem will come to life as the hot weather comes and folks from Mérida escape to the beach. So it will be interesting to see if more things open. There really wasn’t much today.

Besides this lunch counter, I’ve also been to two expat-owned restaurants in the area. I’ll be going back to both and will do posts then. One does Indian (!) for takeaway that is at least as good as anything I’ve had in England (!) and the other has very good pizzas, calzones, and salads, all at super reasonable prices (expensive for most Mexicans, but a bargain by expat standards).

My hosts are leaving tomorrow and then I will get working on properly settling in. As I said, I have to wash all the kitchen stuff, but I also have laundry to catch up on so I can switch to my own blankets, pillows, sheets, towels, etc. Once that’s all done and I’m more properly settled, I’ll share some pictures! Now, I don’t plan to give a full tour of the property, but I’ll show you my space (living room/bedroom + bathroom), the kitchen, and the courtyard with the pool. 🙂

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Grateful For Work

I promise to have some interesting posts with photos for you in the next few days. Right now, I’m focused on my Friday paycheque with one of my clients who is currently in a busy phase and has as much work as I can handle.

My hosts are leaving on Saturday and I will spend the day getting the kitchen set up, then I will share pictures of the wonderful space I will get to enjoy for the summer. Yes, my hosts gave me permission to show you the house!

I’m trying to remember what I did yesterday besides type. Oh, yes! F gave me a run of the house systems. It’s really like a stationary RV, with complex power and water systems, including solar. I’m glad I have that RV experience under my belt, especially with solar, otherwise I would be very overwhelmed.

Today, the housekeepers came, so we went “into town,” by which I mean Progreso. I haven’t seen much of it yet, but I get a real Maz centro historico vibe, what with the cruise ships and the malecón. We went to Bodega Aurrerá, which is owned by Walmart. We had them in Maz, but for some reason, I never went. There, I picked up enough groceries to tide me over until I can go do a proper shop, just fixings for sandwiches and snacks, as well as yoghurt and fresh tortillas! I also bought an electric kettle that was on sale for much less than I’ve seen even a cheap kettle go for in Canada (about 12CAD).

I don’t know if it’s a regional thing or what, but I’ve heard more times from expats here since I arrived about how much more expensive things are than “back home” than I ever did in Maz, everything from tools to decorative objects, to furniture and mattresses. With used furniture being practically non-existent here, I understand why people come down with containers full of stuff. But I made the decision to start fresh here. As long as I don’t buy too many Gringo foods, the savings on groceries will make up for the expenses elsewhere!

The weather has been amazing, hot and humid, but with a good breeze. I’ve been comfortable outdoors and, of course, I have AC indoors (I keep the temperature at about 26C indoors so there isn’t a huge contrast with outside). With the solar system, I can pretty much run AC as much as I want as long as I monitor that my usage is less than or equal to solar input.

I’m still dead on my feet exhausted and glad that I have chauffeurs this week. I’ll give myself the weekend to recoup on my own and then Monday, I’ll head out and start doing some solo exploring!

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Off to INM (Immigration)

Please do not take this post as being generally valid and legally binding advice. This is just my own personal experience and knowledge. I will not answer specific questions about the Mexican immigration process or temporary vehicle import because I am not qualified to do so.

When you enter Mexico with a residente temporal visa sticker in your passport, you only get a 30-day entrance and they check the box for “canje,” meaning that you will trade your entry paper for a residency card. This 30-day window is the reason why I was in such a hurry to get here since the process can take some weeks. The sooner it is resolved, the sooner I can go to aduena (customs) and also extend my vehicle permit and keep my deposit.

My hosts offered to take me to the INM (immigration) office today in Progreso to show me where it is. They said I should plan on three trips and that this was just a fact-finding mission to see what documents and copies I need.

Being me, I did some research ahead of time and learned that if I filled out a form online, made copies of every document I could think I would need, and showed up with a number called a “pieza” that might save me one trip.

We arrived at the office in Progreso around 10AM. The office is very small and you don’t need an appointment. I’m told the one in Mérida is huge and a pain to get through. But you can only go to Progreso if you have a beach address. So I will keep my Progreso/Chelem address until next year, when I’ll be able to renew my visa for an additional three years and be done with paperwork for a while.

The gal at the front desk apparently speaks English, but I did the whole process in Spanish. This is a huge deal and so, like at the border, I’m very careful to reiterate what I hear and ask for clarification to make sure I’m doing everything right. Let’s see if I can remember everything…

First, she looked at my passport, entry paper, and the form I completed online. I’d made a mistake on that, but she said she was able to correct it. She asked for a copy of my passport page with the photo, a copy of the visa sticker in my passport, and a copy of the entry stamp in my passport (that was on the page right by the sticker, so I just photographed both pages on one sheet and that was okay). I also had copies of my birth certificate and of my entry form, but neither was needed, only the original entry form.

She then gave me a bunch more paperwork to fill out and said that I could do it right there and then we could do the next step.

The next paperwork asked for my personal details including my physical description, the type of work I do, my income, my address in Mexico, etc. It was pretty easy to fill out, but I was glad I had access to Google Translate to clarify a few terms.

Once everything was filled out, I got back into the very short line. The attendant checked that everything was good and then she gave me a receipt/voucher (comprobante) to take to a bank to pay the $3,750 fee (about 275CAD) for the card for the first year. She said there was a Santander bank three blocks away. I checked with my hosts, whom I realised by now hadn’t expected I’d be there that long and had things to do, that they could wait. They generously said yes.

So off I went. I didn’t have a long wait at the bank, but got a clerk who was unsure of what to do so it took a bit of time. He eventually gave me a receipt showing I had paid. Off I went back to INM, where there were now many more people. I was going to suggest to my hosts that they just leave me there and that I would figure out how to get back on a colectivo (minibus), but the attendant finished up with her current client and called to me to give her the receipt as that was all I had to do. Before leaving, I confirmed that my next step is to wait to get an email that says we’re ready for the next step, which I believe is showing up with photographs and having my fingerprints taken.

By the time we got out of the office, it was only 10:55! We really weren’t there that long. By the time I got home, I already had an email in my inbox with my user name and password for the INM website so I can check the status of my request.

In the next couple of days, I’ll go back to Progreso on my own and advise aduena that my application is in progress, again to hopefully preserve the deposit for my truck. That is the most complicated thing and what I’ve gotten the most conflicting info on.

I’d read lots of reports of the process to get the residency card and like with the TIP for the vehicle, it sounded very confusing. I suspected that the process would be made easier by picking the right immigration office, by doing my own research straight on the official Mexican websites, and by doing the whole thing in Spanish. I was right on all three counts. So far, it just feels like a lot of paperwork, but it’s not been particularly difficult, especially when compared to getting anything done in Quebec.