(Post 225 of 263)

After 33 long months, I’m back out into the world seeing new sights! I even managed to take some time off for a proper vacation. Being pretty burnt (and financially tapped) out from another year of renos, then adding in that the pandemic is still raging outside of Yucatan, I decided I didn’t want to go to far or commit to too much. A quick jaunt two and half hours to the city of Campeche fit the bill.

Saturday, my house and cat sitter arrived so that I could leave without too much worry. Sunday, I took the 10:30 bus out of town.

Yes, I took for only three full days away about as much as I brought to Europe for 9 months.

Some time with Alma before I left. Notice the paw pressed into my thigh.

I found snacks for the trip and conquered the bathroom turnstile contraption, so the trip was off to a good start.

Goodbye, Merida!

I’d already done this route last year as far as Pomuch, so I was eager to get into new territory!

Debating confusing everyone and going to China instead!

Ominous storm clouds rolled in as we approached Campeche.

We arrived in Campeche at about 1PM. It took a moment, but I finally got a cab to take me to my hotel in the centro historico.

I’m not going to get into a lot detail about the history of Campeche — there’s plenty of resources out there — but the city was founded by the Spaniards in 1540 and the amount of original colonial Spaniard walls and fortifications remaining in the city have made it a UNESCO World Heritage Site. What is now the historic centre was fortified against pirates, with Spaniards living inside the walls and the natives outside in what are today the barrios of Guadalupe (whose church is 500 years old), San Francisco, and San Roman.

First glimpse of the fortifications, similar to those of Quebec City.

I checked into my hotel. I got a really good deal through booking.com, all those bookings from Europe still counting for something. The room is small and not much to look at, but it is clean and quiet, the bed is comfy by Mexican standards, and the shower water pressure is positively luxurious. At only $4,000 for four nights in a prime location, it’s a veritable bargain.

My room does not have windows to the street (intentional — I sleep better in interior rooms), so I did not realize that it had started to rain while I was unpacking. The streets were flooded and it was a nightmare to get around as the high narrow sidewalks were crowded and there were no bridges across the flooded streets.

I eventually made it into a drier area and started to wander. I just wanted food at this point, but couldn’t help but marvel that Campeche looks a lot like my first home in Mexico, Mazatlan. I immediately felt comfortable here.

I eventually made it to the main square where I spotted a tour agency. I figured I’d get food and then come back to ask about tours to local ruins. Well, luck would have it that a gal from the agency intercepted me as I crossed the park. We ended up gabbing for what must have been a full hour and I booked a tour for Tuesday all day. She also told me where to go for lunch, so my next stop was Santos Taquitos y otros milagritos (holy tacos and other little miracles, LOL!). OMG, this place was well named.

I started by ordering a horachata that was perfectly seasoned and not too sweet.

The highlight of the menu is 3 tacos for $130, each presenting an iconic dish of the area, all served on handmade tortillas. I ordered (top down):

1) Camarones al pastor — al pastor-style shrimp cooked just like the pork version with achiote

2) Camarones al coco — coconut shrimp with strawberry sauce (!)

3) Cochinita pibil, Campeche style, a pork dish I frequently eat in Merida. I was told that it would be different here, but I didn’t see a difference, other than not being excessively greasy.

They were so good I had to order another round! I switched to this dark beer that had chocolate in it! I’ve had several beers with espresso but never chocolate. I was amused that this brewery is about 10 minutes from my house in Merida!

Round two were, from left to right:

1) Shrimp ceviche (shrimp ‘cooked’ in lime juice)
2) Fried fish
3) Pan de cazon, which is a Yucatan staple that originated in Campeche. Cazon is dogfish, a type of shark. This was the only taco I wasn’t crazy about as it was a bit too fishy for my tastes. But at least I could say I finally tried this iconic dish!

All the flavour of Campeche in one taco, indeed!

I then wandered down to the malecon and an interesting park across from it, but was worried about the rain so I meandered my way back to my hotel.

The tour operator sent me information on evening shows, so I went back out after a nap to see if I could get a ticket for one of the shows. I discovered the hotel is around the corner from a wonderful pedestrian street full of restaurants and bars.

Despite it drizzling the show went on as scheduled. It was a light and sound extravaganza about the history of Campeche. Absolutely stunning. We started off having to climb up to the top of the fortification (up a steep drive and then down narrow steps) and were surprised by pirates along the way. Then, we went into one of the gated areas to watch what was essentially a pantomime. The story of Campeche played out over a loudspeaker with excellent sound quality — I could understand everything but for a few words I’d never heard before. The production values were stunning, including firing guns and scaring all the guests!

Heading back to a hotel, I popped into a quiet bar playing my kind of music (‘80s and ‘90s rock). The beer selection was disappointing, but a Victoria still hit the spot.

I ambled to the end of the pedestrian street and caught some Christmas sights at a market.

It was a very good first day in Campeche and I looked forward to getting properly orientated Monday morning.

(Post 224 of 263)

I’m still struggling with the inlay I had done in September. 🙁 After the the correction to the inlay, I felt better for a bit but then developed terrible sensitivity to temperature changes, especially cold, against the two back teeth on that side. The tooth didn’t hurt per se, I could chew on that side, but the sensitivity was enough to make my eyes water and affect my food choices.

What was confounding the issue is that I’d had a major modification made to my retainer at the same time as the correction, so who knew if my problem was with the inlay itself or with the fact that the retainer modification to move my jaw was making all my teeth ache (and giving me terrible headaches)?

I had a retainer-related appointment on Tuesday and debated whether to complain about the sensitivity. I really do not want a root canal! I thought, maybe I can tough this out one more month till my next appointment, to eliminate the retainer as the culprit, but then I remembered where I live now. So I told my dentist. He had x-rays done of the entire side of that mouth (enough x-rays that I got charged a “whopping” 150 pesos for them!) and everything looked good. He said, “There’s one last thing we’re going to try before I suggest a root canal.” He sent me home with this:

He explained that unlike other brands of tooth sensitivity toothpaste that just numb the teeth, this one actually creates a barrier that builds up and sticks over time. I brush twice a day and it’s been working a treat, no pain at all now!

And more happy news: I think the end of my orthodontic treatment is finally in sight!!! My jaw placement was much improved and I got the official okay to only wear my retainer at night and when home alone — I do not need to wear it when out and about in the world, even if I’m out all day! 🥳

(Post 223 of 263)

The highlights:

-Alma knows she’s home and I’m happy she’s here.

-I am enjoying being back in the kitchen.

-The kitchen scammer learned that he messed with the wrong woman.

(Post 222 of 263)

I must tell you about my wild tale of life in the modern world.

Today, I had to pick up my new phone today at Galerías and also an order for sausages and ham from The Sausage Lady at Slow Food market, just north of Gran Plaza.

The two places are about a 15-minute walk apart.

I thought I could go pick up my phone, stop at Costco for my meds (only that because this being Buen Fin weekend it would be a madhouse), and then get my food.

Well, I woke up at 5AM with a singular thought: What time does Galerías open? 11AM! And Slow Food closes at 12PM! There was no way in hell I could get my phone and then to Slow Food in a one-hour window. Going to the Apple store for who knows how long (nearly three hours, it turned out) holding a big bag of heavy frozen stuff was not an option. I really did not want to go to Slow Food, go home, and go back out to Galerías.

Then I remembered my cleaning fairy was going to be here today.

So I went to Slow Food at 10AM, got my order (and a few other things), and then called my shopping an Uber (Flash service)! In a few minutes a guy showed up on a motorcycle, took my package, and headed to my house. I was able to track his trip in the Uber app. When he arrived, the doorbell rang on my phone, so I was able to see him give the bag to my cleaning fairy! She had instructions to put the bag straight into my deep freezer, so knowing my shopping was safe, I was able to head to Galerías, by way of Costco’s pharmacy, without any concern.

(Post 221 of 263)

A month ago, I had a dental inlay put in. It was extremely painful for a couple of weeks and I went through a lot of paracetamol and ibuprofen, but, eventually, I was able to go days without pain. But then I’d bite down on something like bread or hit it with cold water, and boom, I’d get a rush of pain all the way up the nerve through my cheek and into my brain. It was some of the most awful pain I’ve ever known.

I had an orthodontic appointment today, so I decided I’d get the inlay looked at at the same time. The me fresh off the boat from Canada would have kept suffering, terrified of being faced with a root canal or being dismissed as a whiner. The me of over five years here trusts her dentist. She took an x-ray to see if there was any sign of debris left in the repair and only noticed that the nerve was visibly inflamed. She had me do some bite tests and concluded that the inlay was a bit too long, so when I’d bite down, it took all the force of a bite rather than the force being distributed to all my other teeth. She rubbed some lidocaine over the area and then got out the drill. It was all I could do to stay calm — that was not enough numbing for how much that tooth hurt! I was worried for nothing. A couple of seconds of grinding, a few more bite tests, a few more seconds of grinding, and… instant relief. I could not believe it!

She gave me a prescription for anti-inflammatories and told me to come back on Friday to see how I’m doing. I have to go back for orthodontic reasons as well, so it’ll be another two-fer.

I went downstairs to the YZA pharmacy to get my meds. I needed 9 pills and they were out of the box with 10 and had only the box with 20. I did not want to do multiple stops so I said I’d just buy the big box. The pharmacist said that with all the branches they have in Mérida, surely there was another one or two on my route that he could call to ask if they had the smaller one in stock, which would save me $300? I do have one very close to me, so he called them and they had one box in stock! Thank you, Mr. Pharmacist! I was able to pay right there, so when I finally made it across town to the other store, I just had to present my receipt and collect my order.

At lunch, an hour after I got in, I took a chance and tried biting a soft piece of potato on the inlay side. Absolutely no problem! I’m not ready to try broccoli, but just that small thing felt like such a win. The tooth with the inlay is also already more tolerant to cold liquids.

I was braced for worst-case scenarios — having to redo the inlay or have a root canal or even having the tooth pulled, so that the solution was apparently so simple was surprising and most welcome!

Another thing is that I get a lot of medical malpractice work as a scopist and recently I had a pain doctor talking about objective and subjective pain. I’d always been told that my dental pain is subjective, ie. that there was no evidence of it and it could just be in my head. That today the pain actually showed up on an x-ray as an inflamed nerve made my suffering objective pain, and let me tell you, the validation alone helped!

There was no cost to my visit today for anything except the meds. 🙂