Accommodation

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A Very Special Ride

It was just Janet and me to ride today and Daniel decided to let us go out on our own!!! He must have told me, “¡No caiga y no te mates!” about ten times to me before we went out. That means, don’t fall and don’t kill yourself! LOL!!! Janet didn’t get that warning since she had her own horse for twenty years!

We had a lovely time riding along the beach, just chatting and taking a break from our Monday Spanish lessons. 🙂 It was a pretty cool (by Maz standards) and overcast day. The horses were feeling lazy since Daniel wasn’t there and so we only got in two short canters.

When we got in, Daniel had us dismount, then changed his mind and asked us to take the horses to a place on the beach where he ties them up. So we got back on, happy our ride wasn’t quite over.

Then, Janet came back to my place to get her things. I needed to go to town, so I asked her to wait while I changed so I could take the (expensive) lancha over with her. On the way, we ran into Sue, who is waiting for internet installation, hence why she didn’t go out with  us. I got a tour of her newly renovated one-bedroom suite. It’s really lovely, with impeccable decor.

I was going to grab a bus right at the embarcadero, but Janet suggested she show me where her seamstress is since I’d asked about her. The lady spoke good English and I had her examine one of my headscarves to see if she could make me some if I provide her with a pattern (which I have) and fabric. Yes, and for only $70 each! I am going to raid Parisina next week and hopefully get enough fabric for ten scarves!

Then, Janet offered me a tour of her house! She lives in Playa Sur, a suburban neighbourhood. The house she and Grant are renting is huge and rather close to what I’m hoping to find in Mérida, with white walls and lots of dark wood, as well as an interesting floor plan. I was impressed.

(Their dog remembered me!)

It was almost 2:00 by this point and I really needed to get going since I was going all the way up to Rico’s for coffee and then on to Soriana to get holiday meal things. Conveniently enough, the bus I needed was coming up Miguel Alemán as I reached it and I successfully waved it down! That saved me quite a bit of walking because I expected to have to walk to the Mercado to grab it!

It was a long bus ride, but since I got on so early in the route, I had a window seat. I timed my getting off chime almost perfectly and got off just three or four businesses before Rico’s.

Thankfully, they had Veracruz this time! As she was ringing me up, the cashier complimented me on my piercing (which was lovely of her!) and asked me where I got it done. Not in Maz, sorry! 😀

Then, it was time to make a decision. Even though I hadn’t really eaten yet today, I didn’t really have much of an appetite so I thought of getting back on a bus to go to Soriana. But it was so cool and overcast that it seemed a waste not to get some exercise out of this weather, so off I went, promising myself an ice cream if I did so!

Well, I passed Ta’Loco and decided that I was peckish enough for a couple of tacos. I fell into the plate of cucumbers with salsas and found my missing appetite! The meal was exactly what I needed, not too heavy, healthy, and super cheap, only $37 with the tip!

I still had room for that ice cream, of course, so I went to Thrifty’s and decided to try their amaretto ice cream, which had cherries, nuts, some sort of cakey bits, and, of course, almond flavour. Dang!

By the time I made it to Soriana, I was pretty tuckered out and hoped that I’d find what I needed there, otherwise I would have had to double back to Mega. I went to the deli counter first and looked at the hams, finding one for a full $200 less than at Mega. We’ll see how it tastes! I also bought cloves and dark beer to cook it with, but struck out on molasses. The beer was funny. I wanted just a single bottle or can and ended up picking up this imported beer bottle from Germany with a label written in German only! I can very barely sort of fake my way through reading German and the absurdity of wishing there was a Spanish translation was not lost on me!

I then picked up a few more odds and ends that I needed and was beyond ready to call it a day. Of course, this meant that taxis were severely lacking. I must have waited fifteen minutes for one, and, yes, I crossed the Soriana parking lot to flag one down on Rafael Buelna!

Here’s some of the change I got at Soriana. At the top, a $10 coin, as I’m used to seeing them. Below, a brand new shiny $10 coin. I like how they mellow in their old age!

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For Ed, here is a map of my day:

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There was activity at the house as I pulled in with my taxi since Wandering Mike is coming to stay in the little suite for the week and my landlady’s mother was getting it ready. This means no loud parties over Navidad, yay! I can’t imagine wanting to stay in that suite super long term like the nut did last year, but it’s awesome for a week or so since you get a kitchen in addition to the bedroom and bathroom for much less than the price of a hotel room.

I took the opportunity to politely complain about my lack of hot water situation. I didn’t really notice that the water heater wasn’t working well when it was super hot out, but now that it’s chilly in the evenings, I do. My landlady is going to have a ‘suicide head’ (I think that’s what the Gringos here call them), an electrical on demand water heater, installed shortly. I hate to make a fuss and I understand that wanting hot running water is a Gringo thing, but a hot shower is the ultimate residential luxury to me. I could have dirt floors and no glass in the windows, but if I have unlimited hot water, I’m happy!

After hearing Sue and other renters complain about how slowly things get done at their places, I’m once again grateful to be here in my ugly bunker of a house. My landlady is great about getting stuff done. Even though I said that I don’t need this problem fixed this week, it very likely will be!

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An Odour, a Sound, a Colour, a Taste

After work today, I headed to the big Waldo and Ley on Ejército Mexicano to get some household things as well as groceries.

I stopped at the bank first and discovered that the exchange rate is just getting worse when I only managed to squeeze $4,600 out of the ATM, instead of the $4,800 I was taking out each time I went in November… For once, there was no wait for a teller so I could change my bills, and the one I got was very impressed that I had a Post-It note laying out how many of what denominations of bills I want.

Waldo’s had nearly everything I wanted and a few things I hadn’t realised I could get there. Love shopping there. It’s like Dollar Tree!

By this point, it was very late and I wanted food!  I was looking forward to pizza at Rin Rin, but they were out when I got there so back to the Chinese place I went. This time, I got a server who was very sympathetic to my not being a native Spanish speaker and she spoke slowly and did a lot of pointing and pantomiming, which was appreciated, if not entirely needed. They were out of hibiscus water, so I tried their ‘lime tea,’ which was bizarre… I also tried a new main, pork with veg and potatoes, and it was pretty good (liked the hint of lemongrass), but not as much as the mango chicken since some of the pork was gristly.

Look what I came across in the Ley parking lot:

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Those are Christmas trees, folk. And right there, in the sweltering heat of Mexico, I was transported back to a northern forest, the sharp scent of pine in my nose and the crunch of snow under my feet. It was unexpected and delightful. It did not make me ‘homesick’ one bit, but it did make me realise that much as I love my rolling Prairie hills, I do miss the black pine forests and granite cliffs of the Canadian Shield.

I did an epic grocery shop (dropping $1,200 at one time!), including taking advantage of a 3 for 2 sale on wine (which, spoiler alert, was a bit sweet but delicious!), so I was loaded down to go home and willing to accept any help I could get. I’d also been up since 4:00 a.m., so I was eager to get home. But it was an odd sort of day. I waited forever to cross to Maz on the lancha, long enough that I could have practically walked to the bank from the embarcadero between the time I bought my ticket and the time we actually took off. Well, on the way home, I learned that those tracks separating the parking lot from the ticket booth and dock are actually in use!

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There was a very, very, very long train chugging along very slowly, making that sound trains make (cue ‘Folsom Prison Blues’). The wait by the time I got there was 10 minutes, and someone said she’d been waiting for 10 minutes before I showed up and she hadn’t seen the beginning of it!

The package carrier guy took the opportunity to tease me about my very heavy and clinky bag, asking if I was hooked on Mexican tequila. I told him about the wine sale and that I’d also stocked up on beer. “Oh, you have all the essentials, then,” he replied in heavily accented English with a twinkle in his eye. I did, seeing as I’d also cleaned out Ley of its plain and roasted red  pepper hummus. 🙂

I did a bit of impulse shopping today, remedying some impulse shopping from several years ago, when the size and price of this really dull bath towel overrode my common sense about buying something so bland:

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It’s not too bad in my colourful Miranda, but here it is pretty much the same colour as the floors. 🙁

By the way, I rented the house through photos I’d seen and in them, it was painted with bright colours. But by the time I got here, it had been painted bright white because my landlady realised that “Canadians don’t like colour.” 🙁 I told her she could paint with colours for me if she painted over the summer, but in the offer chance that I wasn’t going to come, she went with white again. At least, I got the purple and yellow curtains in the kitchen!

But I digress. Ley was having a sale on towels and when I saw this, I just had to have it:

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It goes with the lime green walls in the bathroom (a colour I normally dislike, but, in this house, it’s like an oasis in the desert), as well as with the blues in the office. It’s just so bright and beautiful and now I’ll smile when I go into the bathroom instead of staring at more beige!

The only further purchases I want to make are a few area rugs. I’m glad to be spending a little money on the casita this year. Last year, the purchase of a terrible computer chair was really the only expense I could afford at first, and then it was too late for it to be worth buying anything.

I wouldn’t go so far as to say the house feels ‘homey,’ but this year it’s comfortable and a bit softer around the edges, and that’s a huge improvement! I still can’t believe my landlady listened to my suggestion and because of that, I had a comfy place to sit down tonight, put my feet up, and enjoy some vino!

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Getting My Bearings in Durango

By the time I was settled into my hotel room, it was about 3:00 p.m. on Thursday. I decided to go out and get my bearings. That was easy to do since Durango’s Centro is laid out in a perfect grid pattern and all streets are well marked. There are also frequent maps with a ‘you are here and points of interest are here, here, and here’ being noted, as well as directional signage on all the main street corners (Plaza de armas is that way, Walk of Fame is this way, turn here for the Francisco Villa museum, etc.).

Within minutes, I knew that Durango was much more tourist friendly and accessible than Maz is and that Maz’s failures in that regard are not a reflection of Mexico, but of the Maz city planners. My Mexican education continues!

Walking a few blocks up 20 de noviembre, I found the main basilica, which is in front of Plaza de armas. I’ll just get it out right here that the architecture in Durango is gorgeous. This is a very, very, very old city (founded in 1563!!!) and the architecture reflects that, with a lot of Baroque influence.

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A block from the Plaza de armas, I spotted the Museo de la ciudad 450 (city museum), something that I knew was on my ‘must see’ list:

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I found the Mercado Gómez Palacio a few blocks later,, a bewildering and disorganized warren of stalls! Rather fun and disorienting to poke through, but I have to say that it’ll make me better appreciate Maz’s mercado! I picked up a new apron (something that was on my list to buy in Maz, so why not make it a souvenir?!). Very inexpensive, only $85.

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More oggling of architecture happened:

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I love how colourful Mexico is. I want this pink washing machine in my house in Mérida when I get there!

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And another exquisite building!

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Tacos al pastor!

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The fabric store (Parisina) is housed in not-so-shabby digs!

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Check out the McDonald’s!

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Back at Plaza de armas, I was dumbfounded to discover that this rotunda holds a tourist information bureau! I got tons of info as well as several maps. Why doesn’t Maz have anything like this?!

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Corner of Constitución and 5 de febrero:

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Vancouver Donuts on 5 de febrero!

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This is a palace that holds several cafés as well as the Francisco (Pancho) Villa Museum:

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A cappuccino sounds good… But it’s late. Maybe another time.

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I passed the Museo de arqueología (archeology) on the way back to my hotel (again, it’s right in front of the Palacio parking where Moya was staying). I was tempted to go in, but decided to save it for the next day.

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Back on 20 de noviembre on the corner of Zaragoza looking towards my hotel:

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Church across the street from my hotel:

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I love Mexican alleyways!

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Another not too ugly building!

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On the street behind my hotel, I found a used book store and couldn’t resist going in. Oh, that universal smell of old paper! I browsed a bit and then asked if they had Mexican poetry books. The owner, who must have been 100 years old, pulled out a gorgeous and huge leather-bound tome. It was only $150, but way too massive, so I asked if he had something smaller and less expensive. Without hesitating, he pulled out a slim anthology of modern Mexican poetry, for just $75. Sold!

I took my treasure and headed back to have that cappuccino! I love how Mexicans put cinnamon in their coffee! I read for quite a bit as I savoured my treat. There’s sugar in the picture, but I didn’t put any in. I only like milk in my coffee.

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I then headed back to the hotel to research dinner options. One of the best rated options in all of Durango was Fonda de la Tía Chona, just a few blocks from my hotel (but of course!). It’s next to this building, which I found very charming in a Sleeping Beauty’s castle tucked away behind the thorns kind of way:

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Here’s the outside of the restaurant:

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The menu is a bit bewildering as it’s laid out like a newspaper, with dish listings peppered between interesting articles. I ordered a XX beer and didn’t have time to order my main before I was brought free appetizers! Spicy and very yummy pickles:

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And taquitos!

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The decor was very traditional. I really like the white walls and dark wood and would like to find something like that in Mérida.

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I ordered chicken mole for dinner and am sad to say I was disappointed at what I got for the price I paid. 🙁 The food was good (although I found the stringy chicken a little rubbery), but I’ve had mole that was at least as good as this for less money. The sauce was most chocolatey mole I’ve ever had, and that’s just a statement of fact, not a value judgment. Every mole is different!

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I was on vacation, so I ordered dessert and coffee (yes, I was to regret all that late day coffee when I hit the sack!). My espresso was perfect and I was ‘disappointed’ (and by that I wasn’t) that ‘cheesecake’ in Mexico is exactly like cheesecake back home, with a Graham cracker crust and filling made from Philadelphia cream cheese. Worth the calories, let me tell you! I really don’t do dessert that often anymore and was thrilled that I was happy with this:

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Dinner was expensive, but it wasn’t, $260 (just 20CAD for beer, a main, dessert, and coffee!).

Needless to say, I needed to walk off at least part of dinner! Since my hotel was on a main street, I did not hesitate to go exploring after dark!

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I wound up back at Plaza de armas, where I found a jewelry vendor who helped me remedy the fact that I managed to leave home without any earrings! These pressed flowers behind glass were bargained down to a mere $75 and were worn all weekend!

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I continued quite a ways down 20 de noviembre to a huge Soriana to pick up bananas and water. Those of you on Facebook might remember that I posted that I got lost in it. I’m not kidding! I had to get help to find the bananas and then required an escort to get to the cash registers! Both purchases wound up making sense over the weekend, although the bananas weren’t always a morning food! The hotel gave me bottles of water every day, but I’d run out by this morning (departure day) and was glad I had more.

When I got back to the hotel, I laid out one of my maps and set to work getting a rough idea of what I wanted to see and do in my two days in Durango, although absolutely nothing was set in stone.

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I also spent some time in that squashy armchair writing in a journal about my day, hence why my memories are so clear. 🙂

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The Hotel Posada San Agustín, Durango

The Hotel Posada San Agustín, where I stayed for three nights in Durango, is in the heart of Durango’s historic Centro, right on 20 de noviembre, a main thoroughfare through the district, and walking distance to just about everything, including the Plaza de armas, where a lot of tours start from. I have rarely had the privilege of staying in the heart of a tourist zone and really appreciated being able to go back to my room for a break without having to make a huge effort to get there, never mind being in such a beautiful and architecturally interesting building! The neighbourhood was super quiet at night, with my only complaint being that the church right next door rings its bells at 7:00 a.m.!

The hotel is located a block from Zaragoza (all Mexican cities apparently have the same names).

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You enter into the first of two gorgeous courtyards:

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I was greeted warmly and checked in promptly, with my request for a standard room being honoured. They have suites, and I debated upgrading to a ‘junior’ one for a mere $50 more, but decided to stick to my original plan. My most pressing question once I had my key (and remotes for the TV and AC) was what to do with my truck. I was told I’d have to drive around the block and park it in the Palacio lot across from the archeology museum, get a ticket, and then the hotel would stamp my ticket whenever I wanted to take my truck out. The clerk drew me a map to make sure I was understanding her correctly. The lot was super easy to find and quite convenient to the hotel, although I wish I’d dropped my luggage first!

Moya spent the whole weekend parked  here, safe and sound, with 24-hour security:

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Back at the hotel, I crossed the first courtyard and went through the second (That floor! Those arches!):

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My room was upstairs at the back (my request), so I had to climb these lovely stone steps:

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The room was definitely ‘cozy’, but absolutely perfect for my needs. My bed had quite possibly the only comfortable mattress in all of Mexico (Croft thinks I could be right because he’s never encountered one!):

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There was a desk/vanity area:

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I liked that there was a switch for a light in the closet that automatically turned it on and off:

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This was my favourite part of the room, the chair and ottoman! I had something similar in my T or C apartment and is what I wish I had here:

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(BTW, I had that EXACT same carpet in my mobile house in Quebec. I see it a lot in m/hotels in Canada and the U.S. and am beyond amused that it’s also used in Mexico!)

The bathroom was adequate, with good hot water and pressure in the shower! The window opens to the stairwell!

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This fancy working phone by the toilet made me laugh:

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And I loved the phone by the bed!

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What I didn’t like about the room would be easily fixable. Since there is only a tiny window to the outside (above the desk), they put in a glass block wall by the door to let in natural and hallway light. But the hallway light is on all night and the roll down shade doesn’t cover the entire window. I ended up having to use the duvet to fully block the light.

I also didn’t like that there was a family of about 50 people (only mildly exaggerating) staying in the suite next to my room and they were LOUD coming in at night. No concept of indoor and outdoor voices and footsteps, but that’s a Mexico thing. If they hadn’t woken me up every night, I would have slept very well since the room was dark and quiet until 7:00 a.m. and the bed was comfortable!

The hotel wifi was terrible (would work for a while, then quit, then work again), but I needed to use up my Banda Ancha, so that didn’t bother me too much. I would have been disappointed if I needed to work.

I really enjoyed my stay at this hotel. It has a very cozy and homey atmosphere. I liked going down to the front courtyard in the morning to drink their surprisingly decent coffee (and an orange juice) and sit in a comfy chair to read the newspaper. The location was beyond perfect. I rather planned my days in a figure 8-type pattern so I could pop in in the late afternoon and have a rest. Durango taxis are apparently super cheap, but I never needed one.

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Driving the Mazatlán-Durango Cuota

I left home around 9:30 on Thursday, with my ETA in Durango being about 2:30 with the one hour time change. The Road out of Isla took me 28 minutes, but that’s only because I was taking my time. It was in surprisingly good shape!

I stopped for fuel in Villa Union, where there was also, very conveniently, an Oxxo (coffee) and a Panamá (goodies for the road)! I started on Mex 40D (cuota) at about 10:30.

To my surprise, the brand new road was in terrible shape and huge sections were under construction. It was very slow and tedious going. I didn’t take a lot of pictures because there weren’t many places to stop, including on the Guinness Record-holding Baluarte Bridge, which wound up being very underwhelming from the point of view of driving over it. There are tons of spectacular photos of it on the web showing it off from better vantage points than I ever had!

The drive was very, very, very scenic:

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I had plenty of time to admire the scenery:

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I liked how this tunnel is open to the world:

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Sometimes, I felt like I was on top of the world:

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I did not like this super, super, super long tunnel with lots of glaring lights. I drove it almost blind:

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A miniature version of the Baluarte Bridge:

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Here, you can see the tunnel with windows in it:

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Coming to the Baluarte Bridge. Lots of signs saying no stopping, no parking!

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At the end of it, I crossed over into the state of Durango. Another state for my visited Mexican states map!

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Welcome to the state of Durango!

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Weather conditions were perfect, increasingly cool as well as overcast, so I wasn’t baking in my truck:

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Coming into the city of Durango, there was a long downhill stretch. You can see a red stripe in the picture above. It leads to a runaway lane:

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First glimpse of the city of Durango!

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Stopped at a rest area just before the final toll booth and was amused by the bathroom door signage:

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Made it to Durango!

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Considering what a disaster the road is, quality-wise, even all the feats of engineering in the form of tunnels and bridges did not make the $500 I spent in tolls seem reasonable for how tedious this road was to drive. I looked forward to possibly revising that opinion on the road back!

Unlike Mazatlán, Durango believes in street signage, so with the help of my GPS, I found my hotel without a single wrong turn. The parking beside it wasn’t attached to the hotel, though, so I took some street parking to go check in and find out where to stash my truck. When I came back, I had a warning on my windshield that I was in a pay parking zone (metres) and would get a ticket if I didn’t move ASAP. That’s when I knew for sure I was in a very different world from Mazatlán, but more on that later. First, let’s get settled in the hotel!