It was a very late night and a ridiculously early morning. By 12:30, I was falling asleep at my desk. Instead of taking a nap, I went for a walk to get some sun. I made it back to “downtown” Chuburńa de Hidalgo, which was bustling at that hour. There was brisk business being done at the market even with the construction going on and I was lured in by a rack of sandals.

I have the bad habit of being barefoot all day if it’s safe to do so, regardless of the type of material I’m walking on. Here it’s just tile and more tile and cement — my feet are sore. I’ve been wanting to pick up a very specific type of sandal in a foamy material. The name brand types are pricey, the cheap ones are really inexpensive, and then there are mid-range models. That’s what I wanted and I haven’t had much luck the few times I’ve been out and about.

The shopkeeper had quite a variety of styles and sandals and he had me try on a bunch until we figured out my Mexican size (somewhere between a 40 and a 42). I came to the rather amusing realisation that my “tiny” feet for my stature by US and Canadian standards are actually quite large here. Nothing was fitting right until he pulled out a foamy material sandal that was like sinking my foot into a cloud. Absolutely perfect. Bliss even. I wasn’t crazy about the mint green and they were a bit dirty, but they were going to be garden sandals anyway. And then, he said, “Oh, I have another pair in pink…” My house sandals! 🙂

The price was $65 per pair and when I asked him the price for two, he looked at me like I was an idiot and said $130. I gave him a squinty look and said, “But I’m buying two…”  He hemmed and hawed and finally knocked off $10. 🙂

Here they are. I can’t believe I found exactly what I wanted so close to home!

I’ve been wearing the pink ones all afternoon and they are making such a difference. I’m reminded of just how sore I was working at the store in Campbell River until I stopped caring about the dress code and put on my hiking boots.

After buying the sandals, I went to pick up half chicken for lunch. I’m still struggling with the fridge (more below) and preferring to shop daily. At $75, a half chicken is good value as it gives me two meals. The owner started to bag up my meal and asked if I’d bought my sandals in centro. I replied, “No, at the market here. It’s important to shop in your neighbourhood.” She gave me a huge grin at that and added extra bags of rice and coleslaw to my bag!

I came in and enjoyed my lunch. I’m getting used to the Yucatecan-style rice and coleslaw and find that the two mixed together is really quite nice. The coleslaw is made with the juice of sour orange, a staple here. Once I identified that still relatively new-to-me flavour, I found the coleslaw more palatable on its own, but it is really sour!

The fridge is cycling between being a good temperature and being way too cold and freezing everything. A very nice guy on a fridge forum had me troubleshoot a few things and he’s pretty much convinced at this point that I just need to get a thermometre and be more patient as I play with the settings as it can take a full 24 hours for a slight change on a dial to take effect. So far, I haven’t lost anything, but I obviously want to be 100% confident that the fridge is fine before I really fill it. It is such a nice model with a lot of neat features that I don’t want to give up on it. I do think I wouldn’t have trouble making my money back on it as it would make a really good beer fridge, but I can’t afford to replace it right now until I sell it and I don’t want to sell it because I have so much in the freezer. Anyway, in the meantime, I make it a point to shake my almond milk several times a day to make sure it’s still liquid in the morning!