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(Post 214 of 263)

Kitchen update. I name names in this video but I’m not putting them in writing yet.

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The doorbell rang on Friday and it was a surveyor from INEGI, the Mexican “National Institute of Statistics and Geography.” My household was one of only 150,000 in all of Mexico selected to do a survey on household expenses to help determine services and social programs that would be needed in those select geographic areas. I understand the importance of such things so I agreed to participate.

It has been quite the process! The initial visit took over an hour and then the gentleman returned Saturday and Sunday for nearly two hours each time and will be here again today through Thursday, but just for a few minutes for those visits. I had to answer questions about categories of expenses over the last six months, last three months, last month, and last week. I also have to track all my daily food and transportation costs. It’s unfortunately a weird time of my life to be collecting such data, but he said he’ll take whatever info I have to give.

I finished the “big” survey yesterday, so today he is just coming to get my food spending for the last 24 hours. I actually got some groceries yesterday (and thank goodness it was a small shop because he put down every single item and its weight!) so I expect my only expenditure for today will be my post-Pilates coffee.

Even though this has been a huge time sink, I really did feel it is imperative to participate. I know that Stats Canada cannot be trusted because I’ve been denied participation in the census, telling me that no numbers that come out of their studies can be trusted to truly reflect the gamut of realities in Canada. So I’m hoping that the numbers here are more trustworthy. The questions definitely did seem to cover the full gamut of Mexican households, from those with dirt floors where people sleep in the food preparation area where they cook with firewood to the modern houses like mine that have all the amenities of the modern world.

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September 20th, the government announced that after much talk, ground has finally broken on what will be Mérida’s answer to Bosque de Chapultepec, Central Park, Parc Lafontaine, Stanley Park, a large park called El gran parque de la plancha that will provide a much needed oasis in a poorly planned deforested heat island of a city.

Also this week, there was confirmation that Mérida’s three electric tram lines are officially a go and will be breaking ground in about a month.

One of these tram lines will stop almost right at my door and take me directly to the new park. In total, the tram lines will cover about 85% of the “long distance” travel I do in this city.

My top two complaints about life in Mérida are the inaccessibility of green spaces and the poor public transportation. Both issues are getting sorted. Life here is about to improve greatly and I’m excited for the future!

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Saturday night, I was having some yogurt and granola when I realised that I had a giant hole in one of my molars — the filling had fallen out and I’d presumably swallowed it!

This filling’s history could fill a long novel. I don’t know how it got started, but it probably got as bad as it was because of how I was treated by Canadian dentists, and also, of course, by the fact that dental care is such a luxury in Canada that a common mortal can’t afford it. By the time I had to get it fixed circa 2005 or 2006, it was already huge, and I was treated to a lovely one hour of getting drilled with no anesthetic because Canadian dentists a) would not believe I was not numb/thought I was just a wimp and b) are on the clock and wouldn’t stop to wait for extra anesthetic to work anyway.

By 2013, I had a big hole again, so while I was staying in Port Lavaca, Texas, I took the opportunity to drive to Nuevo Progreso, Tamaulipas, and have it repaired again. My thoughts on what dental care is changed immediately. I’d never been cared for so well.

Unfortunately, the repair didn’t last long and I had to have it done again in Mazatlán in 2015. At that time, I was told the next step is a crown.

I messaged my dentist yesterday morning, Monday, and asked for an appointment that afternoon if at all possible. They could fit me in at 4PM. After removing all of the previous filling, the dentist, one I didn’t know, said that she was pretty sure that we were beyond a standard filling. She asked a specialist (reconstructionist, I believe, is the term she used) to come and evaluate. They also took an X-ray right there and then with a portable machine.

The news was surprisingly good. While I have a huge amount of the tooth missing, the root and nerve structure is fine. I was proposed something I’d never heard of before, an “incrustation,” which I’ve since learned is an “inlay” in English. What they do is essentially create a prosthesis for the tooth to fill in the missing part — imagine someone 3D printing a chunk missing out of a turtle’s shell. This is considered a better outcome than going with a crown because the healthy part of the tooth is not covered. The lifespan of an inlay is also much longer than of a filling.

It’s a two-part process. I have to go back next week to get a mould and prep done, then they will have the inlay manufactured, then I have another appointment to install it.

The cost for my emergency visit yesterday was $400 (about 20USD) and the cost for the inlay will be $2,650 (about 150USD). I’m so glad I’m here!