Restaurants

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Little Moments of Joy

April is turning into a distressingly slow month for work. I’m doing what comes in and working leads. Thank goodness I have really good reserves, although I’m not looking forward having to tap into them very soon! Anyway, these things ebb and flow. I’m learning not to freak out over the quiet moments since they never last.

Today, I did a small job then spent a few hours refreshing my professional site and also creating a Facebook page for my transcription and proofreading services. Around 3:30, I shut down and headed to the beach for a walk.

Well, I had no sooner reached the RV park that there was a dog running up to me and dropping his ball at my feet! I doggy sat him, Cody, a few weeks back and I must have made an impression. Cody’s dad confirmed that I could take him out so off Cody and I went to the water’s edge so I could throw the ball into the ocean and Cody would swim out to get it. He’s a really good dog and listens well, a real joy to play with, and I couldn’t help but laugh with joy at just how happy Cody was to play. After some time, he let me know he’d had enough by grabbing his ball and heading back to the RV park. There, I hosed him off and then accepted a beer from his dad before sitting to chat for a bit. What a way to spend an hour!

I came in and did some chores before going out for dinner. I have had “yardmates” for a few weeks now living in the little suite next to mine, M&S. They’re a young American couple and absolutely lovely. Sharing the yard and laundry with them has not been a hardship like it was sharing with the crazy woman last year. They’d asked me to go to dinner tonight, so we headed to Che’s around 6:30. There, we had a fantastic, and funny, meal since our saucey shrimp came with the heads on them and we had a lot of work to (and mess to clean up) to get to our food! They’re trying to figure out their lives and partook of some of my “being there, did the questioning, here was my solution” experience.

The beach was very dark as we walked home. It’s really peaceful at that time of night, especially with the sound of the surf. I’ve never had any concerns walking when I can barely see a few inches in front of me.

We came in our respective doors and, unbeknownst to me, M was putting together a surprise for me as I was putting out my water bottle. She showed up at my door with a huge slice of “guava pie,” which is basically a cheesecake (complete with Graham cracker crust) with chopped guava over top and caramel. I was rather craving something sweet after all that garlic so it’s hitting the spot! Not bad neighbours, huh?

Days like today are numbered and I’m savouring them!

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A Backwards Day

Normally, I work in the morning and go play in the afternoons. But a tianguis Juárez day is backwards since you want to beat the crowds and get there before all the goods are picked over. So I had a lazy morning, going so far as to take my coffee back to bed, before getting ready to go out. I tried on one of my new blouses with a slim pair of black capris and the difference to the fit compared to my flowy black skirt was amazing! So I decided to wear that outfit even if the fabric weights were a little heavy for a day that was already hot and sticky at 7:30 a.m.

Needless to say, the brief lancha ride to town was woooooonderful. I’m almost jealous of the captains who get to spend their day going back and forth. 🙂

Since this was a “special” day, I treated myself to a doughnut from the vendor at the embarcadero. Don’t miss her if you see her. Her doughnuts are always fresh and never taste of rancid oil, with just enough cinnamony sugar to make them a fluffy treat.

I walked to Júarez last time, it’s only about 3KM, but since I knew I’d walk for a couple of hours there, I didn’t want to be completely wilted at the start. $7.50 for a bus that goes right by the embarcadero just makes sense in these weather conditions. I got on the first bus marked Juárez and the driver stared at me for a second before asking me in English where I was going. I replied in Spanish, “To Juárez, like it says on your windscreen…” All he could say to that was, “Oh.” Strange…

I have a routine now when I go to Juárez. I get off on the edge of the tianguis (flea market) part and go up and down each aisle, oggling clothes and other wares, until I find an agua fresca vendor, and then walk some more in the area. This time, I found a rare vendor who has a smaller size (poor value), but this meant I could get another flavour later and also not have to spend all my time holding a huge cup. My first one of the day was guava (but of course). I then continued exploring the aisles, even though I wasn’t really in a spending mode. It was just fun to see what was on display. I did keep an eye out for the flip-flops I normally buy at the City Deli, but which they don’t currently have in my size.

After about an hour, I headed to the interior market, where I knew I could find a clean bathroom, and then I was ready for tacos! I have my preferred vendor for those and, thankfully, they weren’t too busy, although I was unable to get a seat. I ordered two tacos with everything, confirmed that spicy was fine (whatever they call spicy isn’t), and then did my best to elbow my way to the condiment counter, but failed. A cook took pity on me and asked what I wanted. I said guacamole and salsa mexicana. He put enough of the former on, but not enough of the latter. When I asked for more, he said, “¡Picante!” and I just had to laugh before telling him to go ahead. Two very full and delicious tacos there are just $30! They’re the best deals on tacos I’ve found thus far in Maz. I then went across the street to get a litre of lime agua fresca.

Once I’ve had my tacos and done a circuit of the shops, I’m pretty much done in. I bought fruit from various vendors and then spotted a garbage bag man. I don’t know if this is unique to Maz or if it’s something seen in all of Mexico, but there are guys who collect for a children’s charity (they have official ID to this effect) and for a $10 donation give you two or three large and super thick garbage bags, the best quality I have ever seen. I put out my trash in little bags from the store, but they can add up when trash collection doesn’t happen (it’s not reliable) and I like to consolidate the little bags into a bigger bag for easier handling. Plus, I have yardmates now who have their own trash, so we share a larger bag. Anytime I see a garbage bag man, I “give a donation” so I can have a few of these big high quality bags on reserve. I’ve even flagged one down while sitting in a pulmonía at a red light!

Then, it was time to see if I could get home on the bus without going a million miles out of my way. I flagged down a bus that I thought went by the embarcadero and asked if the driver if that was the case. He said he would go “close” to it. Always the adventurer, I hopped on and started reading the Noreste newspaper I’d picked up at some point. As we approached the corner of Gutíerrez-Najera and Gabriel Leyva, about two blocks from the embarcadero, I had a feeling the driver would turn onto Gutíerrez-Najera, so I signaled to get off. Good thing I wasn’t relying on him to tell me when were close to the embarcadero because I was right! So first successful bus trip home from Juárez!

My yardmates were home from a week away to Guadalajara when I got in around 11:00. I wish I’d made it to Guadalajara at some point, but it was not meant to be.

Now, I need to get to work…

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Torrid Afternoon in Centro

I’ll be well on my way to the border this time in two weeks… I really have no idea where this winter went. 🙁

Having only an easy job to do this weekend, I planned my schedule so that I could go to Centro this afternoon for shopping and lunch and do a final run to Juárez tomorrow morning.

It is hot and muggy this week, but I’m not letting that stop me from living. The trick is to stay hydrated! So once I was done with work around noon, I dressed for town and headed out.

En route to the embarcadero I finally remembered to take a certain picture. Remember this house from last fall?

house under construction

Here it is today:

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What a difference paint makes!

First stop in Centro was the mercado since I wanted to buy some blouses. I went to my favourite dress shop, where the owner can be trusted to be honest about what styles and colours suit a customer best. What she first showed me was exactly what I wanted, but she pulled out other models so I could be sure. They are a bit too big for me, though, so she suggested that I find someone to put a few darts in the sides for me. Hopefully, the dressmaker I used earlier this winter will be available to do that for me this week. “My” price was $280 for one, $500 for two. I’ll probably pay about $100 to get them fitted correctly. Still a bargain for such high quality clothing! The pink one is the same shade as my pink dress, so I wasn’t going to get it, but the owner said that it’s my colour, something her assistant and several friends have echoed so I caved.

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For lunch, I had thought to do a shrimp burger at Tony’s, but I’m really fastfooded out. So I bought a small agua fresca for the walk to the Water’s Edge Bistro for a nice lunch in their courtyard. They still have their lunch menu with several choices for $120 each, including a beer, limonada, or a soft drink. I opted for a limonada to stay well hydrated and asked for it sour. It was made perfectly and was very refreshing. For my meal, I succumbed to the lure of pesto (basil!) and Parmesan cheese to have their penne pasta with roast chicken. It was a bit of a heavy meal for the weather, but the flavours were most welcome and I liked how the chicken was diced and then caramelised on all sides. The food is so good at the Water’s Edge and the portion sizes are just right. It’s a nice spot for lunch when I’m tired of Mexican flavours.

I then wandered towards the water and popped in at the art museum to see if it might be open. I’ve been meaning to go for ages but knew that it’s tiny and not worth a special trip out. Well, it was open and admission was free!

The art was… strange. The museum only has a few rooms and the art just got odder and odder the deeper in I went. Here are a few things that caught my eye. None of these are the truly strange ones!

This one is called “night filled with love”:

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Lovely landscape.

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There were a lot of variations on this theme of dying and moving on to the next plane of existence.

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There is something about this one that spoke to me for some reason, even if I wouldn’t want it on my wall!

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The museum has those dark ceiling beams I love:

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I liked these black and white pieces showing the harshness of poverty:

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The courtyard of the museum had an interesting tree:

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This is an exterior corridor off the courtyard:

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And here’s the entrance, directly across from Macaw’s:

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I eventually made it to the Malecón and caught this image of Mazatlán’s Icebox Hill with an iconic pulmonía in the foreground:

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Found this house for sale that made me rethink my Mérida plans (*winks*):

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I eventually found myself on Miguel Alemán, from which I turned left onto Carnaval to head back to the embarcadero. I popped into the gelato place I like, where they’ve up their price from $25 to $35, and got their delicious “Snickers” flavour (chocolate, peanuts, and caramel), then enjoyed it as I picked my way down several streets that were under construction to eventually end up on Constitución, which led me straight to the Emilio Barragán a few blocks from the embarcadero. I was done in by the time we got to this side and the final schlep home felt very long!

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Tangible Linguistic Progress

I’ve been watching the US series “The Bridge” for a while now and highly recommend it if you like well plotted episodic mysteries like “Fargo,” “Broadchurch,” and “Happy Valley.” It takes place on the US/Mexico border between El Paso and Juárez and delves deeply into the dark side of Mexico. Needless to say, there is a lot of Spanish in it. I am surprised by how much I am understanding without looking at the subtitles and how much vocabulary I’m picking up, a lot of it “naughty.” I really need to watch more Mexican programming and having rather a crush on Demián Bichir now, I just might have found a way in. I’ll have to check out his filmography and see if he’s done anything else I could be interested in. 🙂

I’ll get back to this point in a bit, but for now, let me digress. Work has been very slow for the last week or so. I was supposed to start a large transcription project when I got back from Mérida, but the funding for that has been delayed and so the company does not want me to start just in case in takes longer than expected for the money to come in. When this project lands, it’ll keep me busy for ages, but it’s left a huge hole in my schedule. Moreover, I had to burn a bridge with a new client I picked up in February. So I really don’t have much on my plate right now. Rather frustrating since I’m starting to dip into my savings. But I’m not at crisis point yet and I’m working leads.

All that to say, I was done with my day by noon and by 1:00, I decided I wanted to go out. I looked up the movie listings and learned that “My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2” was playing at 3:00 at Gran Plaza. I had just enough time to hoof it over there and grab a quick lunch before the movie.

I took the Camarón-Sábalo bus up Avenida del Mar to Insurgentes, which took me to a couple of blocks of Gran Plaza. I got in at 2:30 and decided to have Chinese for lunch. The lineup was long and when it got to my turn, the server looked mildly panicked, then very relieved when I fluently started with, “I want a number one to eat here.” I’ve been to this chain before a few times, so I knew the routine. No, I don’t want to upgrade to the cheese and shrimp rolls and, no, I don’t need a double sized jamaica (hibiscus) juice for $9 more. 🙂 Interesting that the Japanese places have very strange soy sauce (despite Kikkoman brand sauce being readily available), but the Chinese places have the proper thick soy sauce for their rice. Hmm.

When I was done eating, I had just five minutes before the movie started, but I wasn’t worried since there are always commercials and previews. The title of the movie in Spanish is “Mi Gran Boda Griega” and I had to rehearse that because it always runs together in my head as “Mi gran bodega” (my big storage unit)! A Wednesday matinée was only $29! Wow!

The theatre was almost empty and every other person there was an older expat. The commercials started and there was a really funny one for Cinépolis about this guy calling everyone in his black book looking for a date to share his points with. When the punchline came, that he could only find a big hairy dude, I burst out laughing. There was dead silence from the rest of the theatre. Well, that was embarrassing!

The movie finally started after a few previews. It was very formulaic and recycled a lot of jokes from the first one. I loved the first “My Big Fat Greek Wedding,” and the sequel was exactly what I wanted. I didn’t want the wheel to be reinvented, but rather to know how my beloved characters are doing. Of course, all the Greek had only Spanish subtitles, so I was once again the only person in the theatre chuckling to herself. I can’t wait to buy the movie so I can rewatch it. I’m glad I missed the 1:00 o’clock showing and that the one at 3:00 was the last one or I would have turned around and gone right back in to see it again!

Coming out of the theatre, I grabbed an ice cream for the walk to Avenida del Mar to catch the bus, with the intention of riding to Centro and doing some shopping at the Mercado. I waited at a proper bus stop with another person for more than 20 minutes for a bus that is supposed to run every 10 minutes… and it just flew past us. I was not impressed.

Not being in the mood to wait another 20 minutes, I crossed Avenida del Mar to walk along Insurgentes to Ejército Méxicano (2.5KM) to grab a bus to take me closer to the embarcadero. Imagine my surprise as I was walking along, just two blocks from Avenida del Mar, when I looked behind me to see a bus marked “Chula Vista” stopping a short distance away. I knew that one would take me right to the corner of Juan Carrasco and Gutíerrez Nájera, about a kilometre from the embarcadero! I had no idea that bus went out to Gran Plaza. This is a major revelation! But the bus was behind me and only a couple of people were getting on. I didn’t have a hope in hell of catching it, but I still went into a full out run and, sure enough, it pulled away from the curb just as I reached the door. But the door remained open and the speed was very slow, so I jumped on! Whew, I felt like an action hero! The driver took my $20, gave me my change and receipt, and told me to move as far back as I could, which wasn’t very far because the bus was packed.

Thankfully, someone got off not to much farther away and I was able to get a seat behind the driver. This was one of the older busses with no bell. I was quite proud of myself when we approached the corner where I wanted to get off and knew to call out, “Baja, por favor.” The literal translation is “down, please,” but it means, “I want to get off.” The driver pulled over exactly where I wanted off! It’s about a block before Juan Carrasco, where I can grab a street that runs at a diagonal and save myself a few steps.

I’d hoped to get a chicken for dinner, but the stand was closed, dang it. 🙁 And then, I passed the rough bar where men tend to say rather rude things as I pass. I normally ignore them, but thanks to “The Bridge,” I felt more confident in using certain rude words. So when a guy called out to me today, clearly not expecting this Gringa to understand him, I called him a “pinche cabrón” (Google that at your peril), told him he needs to respect women more, and asked him how he would feel about someone talking like that to his mother or sister? I must have made sense because he looked very ashamed of himself. Good!!!

I know I need to make more effort to listen to Spanish. I’m reading at a decent level now (got through the Harry Potter books!), so I’m really at the point where I need to find a TV show to suck me in. But still, this was a very good day language-wise!

 

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Not the Best Day to Go to the Movies

If a movie has “Batman” in the title, you can bet I’ll be interested in seeing it. So I decided to head to town today to see “Batman vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice.” I decided to try the Cinemex at Insurgentes, next to the Soriana, as that was by far the easiest theatre to get to. But I had a sneaking suspicion they don’t have subtitled movies since the website wasn’t clear on that subject. There was a 1:20 showing there and a 2:30 showing at Cinepolis in Gran Plaza, so if I struck out at Insurgentes, I had plenty of time to get to Gran Plaza.

I left home around noon, didn’t have to wait for a lancha, and the bus stopped at a red light at the corner of Juan Carrasco was heading to Plaza Ley, so I was making record time until that point. But traffic on Juan Carrasco and then Ejército México was really heavy, so it was rather a long ride. I got off in front of the Pemex at the corner of Insurgentes and then hoofed it to the Cinemex, the equivalent of a block or two away. Sure enough, they only have dubbed movies. Oh, well, it was worth a try!

The walk to Gran Plaza wasn’t long, only about 2.5KM, but getting across Ejército Méxicano was scary! Insurgentes was busy, but there was a sidewalk the whole way, so the walk ended up being okay even if traffic was heavy. I got to Gran Plaza with a full hour to spare before the movie started there, so I went off in search of lunch.

After some wandering around, I found a food court. In my limited experience with Mexican food courts, they all offer Chinese, sushi, Mexican, and pizza, with some adding in a salad and sandwich place. And you know you’ve been in Mexico for a while when the Chinese and sushi are satisfying instead of being disappointing. The trick for Chinese is stick to rice since Mexico apparently hasn’t figured out Asian noodles and will serve you spaghetti instead. And the trick for sushi is to accept that the “soy sauce” will be sweet and citrusy, there will be cream cheese, and forget about ginger. Even though I had sushi a few days ago, that was the most appealing option and something I really haven’t had much this winter (this was only my third time since I got here!). I went through an extensive menu and settled on their ‘special California’ roll, with it being special because the outside had masago (fish eggs), a treat I haven’t had in ages. At $68, this roll was their best deal, too. I was amused when I was handed this lobster with my receipt. It vibrated to let me know my food was ready!

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I don’t do popcorn at movies, so I decided to have a Thrifty’s ice cream for dessert since there was a stand right there in the food court and I still had 30 minutes to kill.

At about 2:15, I headed to the cinema. I had a thought en route about the last time I went to the movies here. I had made a note in my post about the seat I had chosen then. So I referred back to the post and was reminded to ask for a seat in the H row. What would I do without my blog to remind me of stuff?! 🙂

And then, it was time for the movie, which was rather disappointing. I’d gone in “cold,” having only seen the trailer and no spoilers, which was a mistake. I should have seen “Man of Steel” first for context on the Superman side of the movie. I really enjoyed the Batman side, but the Superman stuff left me cold. I’m glad I saw the movie and would see future movies in this universe that feature Affleck’s Batman, but I would have been annoyed if I had paid a Canadian price for my ticket. But at the Mexican price of $43, it was worth taking a chance.

I came out and once again wasted too much time and energy trying to get out of Gran Plaza. They really need better signage to the one exit on Reforma. I headed up to Mega, noticing that traffic down Reforma (heading towards Centro) was at a standstill. I realised that getting home might be tricky…

Mega really isn’t my first choice of grocery shopping destination, but it was the most convenient. I picked up a few sundries, including veggies to make a stir fry when I got in. And I’m embarrassed to admit I had to get more hummus…

It was still light when I came out and there were no taxis… I waited and waited, then decided to cross the parking lot to Rafael Buelna and see about a bus instead. No buses either. There was tons of traffic and loads of people because of that motorcycle rally, so I suspected that public transportation wasn’t going to be very difficult to find in that part of town. Thankfully, I didn’t have an unmanageable amount of shopping, so walking was an option. But it was going to get dark fast. I stood at the corner of Rafael Buelna and Reforma for a bit trying to decide what route to take that would be more likely get me an appropriate bus or, ideally, a taxi fast. I think that last year I would have been concerned faced with such uncertainty as to how I’d get to the embarcadero, but I was fine tonight, just annoyed with myself for not having taken this into consideration when I planned my day.

As I was mulling that over, I saw a pulmonía heading my way! I couldn’t see if there was anyone inside, so I waved at it. The driver pulled over. Crisis solved! 🙂 I expected to be quoted $100 for the ride today (normally $60-$70) because of the traffic and he said $80! I made sure to say that I was only accepting that price because of the traffic. He said, “Of course! Normally it’s $60 but this will take a while!” I assured him that the price hike was fair and we headed off down Reforma. It was moving fluidly by this point, but traffic was heavy and I could have walked faster!

After a few minutes of not really getting anywhere, the driver asked me how well I know Maz. I replied, “Well enough to know that we should head towards Juárez and take Gabriel Leyva.” He gave me a thumbs up sign and replied, “Exactly what I thought! Hold on!” He took me on a dizzying route of side streets to reach the corner of Deportes where you turn right to go towards the water, but we went left. We chatted as we whizzed along and he asked me if I’d like to go out sometime… If I wasn’t three weeks to departure, I would have said yes. But I don’t see a point in entangling myself with someone when I’m leaving for good so soon. Shame. I suspect I won’t have a hard time meeting a special someone when I’m settled in Mérida and ready to start thinking about such things…

The lancha was leaving the dock when I arrived, but it came back for me. On board, I met an American fishing boat captain who is picking up a load this evening and had a few free hours. I gave him some Isla tips about taxis, beer, restaurants, and the lancha. He seemed very grateful to find an English speaker who could assure him that he wasn’t going to get murdered or kidnapped walking around Isla after dark. I told him that concern is very valid these days on the outskirts of Maz, but not on Isla!

It got properly dark about halfway home from the embarcadero. Isla does have some streetlights, but I take the back alleys to get home and many of them were in pitch darkness. I know my way around and I rather enjoy these quiet dark hours… as long as I don’t wake up a dog. Once one starts barking, they all do!

I got in and set to work making that stir fry even though it was super late. I threw rice in the rice cooker and then got the veggies washed and chopped in record time. They were done at just about the same time as the rice, so I threw in some of the chicken I picked up yesterday as well as some sauce and voilà! It was more work than I’d been in the mood for, but was worth it, especially when paired with a glass of crisp cold white wine!