Restaurants

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The Road to Paradise is Hell (or Guamúchil to Isla de la Piedra, Redux)

I had a nice evening in Guamúchil. I delayed dinner as long as I could, but by 6ish, it was time. I went down to the restaurant and ordered a Pacifico and the enchiladas mole. Like last year, the food was really delicious! They talked me into have their prune cake for dessert, too. 🙂 My food came out quickly and I made a comment to this effect. The waiter (same guy as last year!) winked and said I had the kitchen all to myself for at least another hour. That rather broke the ice and we chatted for a bit since he wasn’t busy. His children live in Seattle and he asked if I’ve ever been there because he’d been there once during the winter and the weather was horrible. I laughed and told him that Seattle has no idea what winter is really like!

After dinner, I headed back to my room to read. I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to get any rest because there was a party going on with very loud music (tons of bass, too, which makes me physically ill) and fireworks. Thankfully, by 9:00 there was just loud music with no bass and it made rather white noise that allowed me to fall asleep. I vaguely remember waking up around 11:00, but then it was 5:30, a surprisingly good night! It helped that I’d brought in my mattress topper, so I wasn’t sleep on a rock-like bed!

I Googled when sunrise was going to be to see if I was going to laze around or head out and the answer was 6:20, so I could definitely pack and start loading the truck. It was light enough out by 6:00 for me to go. I stopped at the Oxxo for coffee and, like last year, it was the worst Oxxo coffee I’ve had, as well as the cheapest (I sense a correlation). Never again am I going to that one!

Next stop was Scotiabank because I was a little tight in my cash on hand if I had any surprises like rent going up or whatever and didn’t want to chance having to rush to a bank tomorrow. The GPS took me to the bank without fuss… and which turned out to be a HSBC! Bummed that I’d have to detour to the one on Rafael Buelna in Maz, I headed back to the main road. Judging by the amount of shouts I got from a handful of pedestrians, I must have done so the wrong way down a one-way street without signage to that effect. Really, driving in Mexico is no different than driving in Quebec! Anyway, this led me to make a few extra turns and, oh, look at that, there’s a Scotiabank!

It took a bit of work to make my withdrawal because their ATMs are really fussy. You have to put your card in and take it out really fast, then put it in again, where it will lock. I was hoping to be able to take out $5,000, which was tight based on my daily limit, depending on the exchange rate. I got the very terrifying, “Your card is not compatible with our ATMs” message that I knew, thanks to knowledge gained last year, meant, “You can’t take out that much.” So I tried again for $4,000 and that worked just fine.

(Pesos, folks, pesos!)

I then headed out of Guamúchil and pointed the truck towards Culiacán on the libre. I made it to the next to last city on my itinerary in record time. I passed a Panamá bakery, so I pulled into a very tight parking lot to get some munchies. They had the almond croissants and ham and cheese sandwiches I like, so I started with those, then asked if they had anything with apples. The gal went to the kitchen and came back with a tray of apple tarts “with lots of cinnamon.” Perfect! For the first time, they offered to heat up my sandwich, but I said no thank you because I’d be eating it later.

So of course, I stopped at the next Oxxo for a much better coffee to go with my breakfast. 🙂

Having accidentally driven the cuota much of the way from Mazatlán to Culiacán last year, doing so this year wasn’t even a consideration. Yes, it’s faster, but that’s all there is to be said for it. The libre is much more scenic and there are more services. To me, it’s worth the extra time. If I was in an RV, though, I’d find the cuota worth the money to save all that stopping and going and slowing down as we go through the towns!

I thought about stopping in El Quelite, but I had no idea what sort of shape The Road would be in and didn’t want to spend a few hours doing touristy stuff and then discover that The Road would be in worse shape than last year and take hours and end up on Isla rushed and burnt out. Maybe on the way home?

It feels like I made it to Maz in record time this year, even with my stops. There was a very tiny detour around an overpass, otherwise it was very straightforward to get through town. I nixed my plans to stop at Soriana since I wasn’t hungry and decided to head straight to Isla. I made a final pit stop because you do not want to face The Road with anything sloshing around in your bladder!

There was a huge accident right at the turn off for the airport and traffic redirection appeared to be a nightmare. I told the police officer right at my exit that I was headed to my home on Isla de la Piedra and he looked very relieved that I wasn’t a tourist he’d have to reroute!

The first part of The Road was better than last year, but that’s not saying much, in that it was just as rutty, but there were fewer lakes. When I got to the end of that bit, I came upon my water guy from last year, parked while talking to someone. He recognised me and shouted, “Hola amiga! Bienvenidos!” Funny how he was the last Isla person I saw when I left in the spring!

Then, there was the very nice paved section. Then a little bit of graded gravel. Then a long section with huge rocks that haven’t been graded. My truck could barely go over some of those rock piles. It was really bad. An RV would find The Road impassable.

Since I drove The Road several times last year and know what my truck can do, I wasn’t as nervous and drove it pretty quickly, making it to Isla in exactly 30 minutes.

I checked out the house and it was obviously not ready. I went to my landlady’s place and she was so relieved to see me, saying she knew I had said I would not be calling again, but she had still expected a final check in (serves her right for being so hard to reach last year! *g*). She said she needed a couple of hours, but the house was mostly done. I told her I was in absolutely no rush and was going to visit my friends L&N who live on Goat Island. As long as I had a bed tonight, it was all good. She said absolutely! I had thought to arrive around 2:00 and it was around 12:30, so I was early and hadn’t expected the house to be ready anyway!

L&N were thankfully home, so I spent a couple of hours and had as many beers. 🙂 I gave them their purchases and they were very happy, especially to see as much cat litter as I brought them. They only arrived yesterday and, like me, are glad to have landed. They had the flights from hell from Winnipeg!

They had stuff to do, so I headed back to the house to park my truck around 3:00. The yard looked a lot neater, so I suspected I could go back to my landlady’s to get my keys. Yup! She confirmed that I have lots of gas (propane/butane) and that she’ll get my internet turned on ASAP. TelMex is apparently closed tomorrow, so it will happen Tuesday and I should be online by Wednesday…

In the meantime, I’ve discovered I have usable internet with my Wilson Sleek cradle in the truck. That means the phone has to be in the truck and then I’m limited by the computer’s distance from the phone. Ergo, I’ll be working from outside this week! That suits me just fine, it’s HOT.

Now, the house… It’s obvious that she was rushed to get it ready for me tonight in that I’m missing little things like a roll of toilet paper and towels, the washer isn’t hooked up, and the water heater wasn’t on. Absolutely no biggies.  Oh, and the fridge smelled like someone died in it, but ten minutes after putting a bowl filled with a couple of spoons of coffee in it, it was fine!

Other than that, everything was good! The house is freshly painted, there are new curtains in the kitchen (which aren’t as nice quality as what was there last year, but have a much lovelier pattern and offer more privacy), there’s a better (and nicer) bedspread in the bedroom, and…. she got me the armchair I asked for for the living room. I am SHOCKED. It’s not what I would have picked out for myself, but she did really well with my request. It has the arm rests and back support I want and a decent cushion for my butt. I wish I had a foot rest, but I can put my feet up on the couch and will pin a towel or something to the seat so I don’t get it dirty. I know I am going to spend a lot of time reading in this chair this winter!

I emptied the truck right away and set to work getting nearly everything put away! I want to wash all my kitchen stuff as everything is gritty but I promptly sorted through what was here and put away what I won’t use, then figured out where my stuff will end up. I don’t have the extra counter unit this year, so I’m glad I brought a table on which to lay out things. I may go pick up a set of plastic drawers because I really have no place to put things like dish towels or utensils. But I can at least make coffee tomorrow morning!

Tomorrow’s project will be to start setting up my office, but there’s no rush for that since I won’t be working from it for a few days. My landlady asked if I mind if she leaves both twin beds in the house and I told her it’s fine even though it will mean a more cramped office. I am going to take the liberty of doing some furniture rearranging and move one out of the way.

In between bouts of putting stuff away, I headed ‘downtown’ to see if the grocery store was open, which it wasn’t. No biggie. It should be open early tomorrow and I’ll need fresh tortillas anyway! I wasn’t planning to cook tonight, that’s for sure! I didn’t need anything badly enough to stop in at an abarrotes (convenience store), of which there were a handful open.

I headed out to Miguel’s restaurant around 6:30 and boy were they busy! Always a good sign! He and Angela greeted me warmly and took a couple of minutes for a super quick catch up. I had the shrimp burritos (surprise…) and they were as good as I remembered them! Angela asked if they were okay and I said, “With a belly full of good food, I’ll sleep well tonight!” She laughed and said that made her happy.

Like last year, I’ve come just after lots of rain, so there are huge puddles of water all around Isla. Unless I want to take a huge detour, there are two huge lakes between my house and the restaurant. I went around one to get there and around the other to get home. In the dark. With barely any lighting. I didn’t slip in the mud or fall in the water or trip on anything the way I did when I arrived last year until I got my Isla footing! It’s like I’ve never left! 🙂

It’s really good to be back! I wonder if tomorrow will be a ‘I just want to hang out at home in my PJs’ or a ‘Maz, here I come!’ day. We shall see. 😀

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What a Difference a Year Makes (Or Nogales to San Carlos, Redux)

I am very amused (but touched!) by the comments I got last night and this morning attempting to destress me about the border crossing today. If, on a scale of one to ten, one is driving from Haven to Assiniboia and ten is that bad feeling deep in the pit of my stomach that I should not hit the road, I was at a solid three last night and this morning. As a point of comparison, I’m at a two most travel mornings, unless I’m going to hit big city traffic (Montreal usually warrants an eight) or my budget is too tight to truly absorb something unexpected. I’d say I was at a seven last year. So I really wasn’t stressed out about today. 🙂

I tried to delay bedtime so I wouldn’t be up insanely early today, but I was out by 8:30 and awake around 4:40. *sighs* But I was in no rush, so I dozed until about 5:45 (how luxurious!). I’d done most of my packing last night, so I had just a few things to do this morning. I brought a load down to the truck, then went to the restaurant for breakfast. It was enchilada casserole with refried beans again, which suited me just fine. I also had fruit salad and just one cup of coffee since my bladder hates me! 😀

I’d filled out the comment card and it said to please drop it off at the front desk rather than leave it in the room, so I did that after leaving $5 for housekeeping as well as a very tidy room. Having done housekeeping myself, I know the feeling of dread as you enter a room that someone has been living in for several days without having had any service and the joy of getting a decent tip anyway.

By the time I got fuel, topped off the truck oil, did one last pit stop, and hit the road, it was about 7:05, ten minutes earlier than last year. There was no one at the American post, so I just drove through. Then, I got the green light at the first checkpoint! So far, so good! The first toll hadn’t changed, still $52 (all prices in pesos from this point forward!).

Kilometre 21 was a bit busier than last year and a real cautionary tale of doing some research when going to a foreign country and to never, ever, ever take anything for granted no matter how long you’ve been there! The woman ahead of me had a resident visa (or something like that) that she was supposed to have turned in when she left Mexico, but didn’t. They didn’t want to let her back in. It was ugly. As for the couple behind me, they are permanent residents and tried to bring in a US-plated vehicle, which is illegal. That was ugly, too. And then the people behind them were very impatient and complaining about the ‘bitchy’ immigration officer just doing her job. *sighs*

I got to the head of the queue in less than ten minutes and filled in my FMM. The officer gave it a once over, compared it to my passport, asked me how long I was staying in Mexico, and sent me off to Banjercito to pay, reminding me (still in Spanish) to come back and have the form stamped. I remembered to stop to have a copy of the form made, then got in line for payment. Remembering what Contessa told me last year, I paid for my vehicle import at the same time, rather than returning to immigration to have the form stamped, then going back to Banjercito for the vehicle stuff. Saved me a heap of time!

I did the whole TIP thing in Spanish without any problems. I think the only hiccup was that I wasn’t allowed to pay for the TIP itself (not the deposit) in pesos, only USD or with my Visa. Weird because I was allowed to pay my FMM fee in pesos. Anyway, nothing to be concerned about! The process felt very quick and easy and not at all convoluted like it did last year, since Contessa saved me those extra steps (thanks!).

Once the TIP was sorted out, I went back to immigration to have my FMM stamped. The officer now had other people helping her. She looked at me and said that she’d be a moment and made a slashing motion across her throat to show they were swamped. I told her I wasn’t in any hurry and the grateful smile she gave me made my day! Another gal ended up taking my FMM and dang was her Spanish fast. All I caught as she handed me back my receipt was ‘pide.’ Since that means ask/request/demand, I’m fairly certain she was telling me to hang onto it in case I’m asked for it…

I went back to the truck to put my holograma on my windshield and grab the wet wipes I had forgotten to put in my purse. There was a window washer trying to get some business (and some folks being absurdly rude to him — what is wrong with everyone?!). I called him over and had him give my windows a good cleaning while I went to the bathroom. This year, there was an attendant and paper, so I had to leave a tip.

So I was back on the road by, oh, 8:30ish, I believe, a little earlier than last year. I think I was there a total of forty minutes, tops.

I hit the road and within a couple of kilometres, I encountered my first of four narco (I’m assuming) checkpoints of the day. I was asked where I was coming from and going, the guy peeked through my topper window, and then I was on my way. Not more than two minutes later, I encountered the second checkpoint…

This one was very much like getting the red light last year. The first person I spoke to asked the same questions as I’d answered at the previous checkpoint, then I was told to pull over to an inspection area so they could check the back of my truck.

After a few minutes of wait, an officer came to ask me the same questions again, as well as how long am I planning to be in Maz, where am I stopping tonight and the name of the hotel, what I’m carrying, and more. He went over my FMM receipt, examined my holograma (first time I’ve had it checked), and requested my passport, as well as opening up the back and poking through my things.

This was absolutely fine as I have nothing to hide, but the interview was quite in depth and the man did not speak English. How the heck do non-Spanish speaking people get through situations like that?! My comprehension is definitely better than it was last year, especially since I’ve figured out that I don’t have to understand every word to understand what is being said to me. I still consider it miraculous when I’m asked a question, I give an answer, and it is what they want to hear!

After this, I was finally able to get some miles under me. It was a little chilly and drizzly, so that meant that I was in the mood for another coffee. I pulled into an Oxxo sometime before Magdalena and learned that you get charged for their smallest size of coffee if you have your own cup!

Sometime later, my coffee had been processed, so I pulled into a Pemex to use the bathroom. It had paper and soap, wow! I am thinking of starting a Bathrooms of Mexico website for the ladies. 😀 I left a tip here since I wasn’t a customer.

If you remember last year, I didn’t stop once between KM 21 and San Carlos, so we’re at two stops already for today. 🙂 The next stop I wanted to make was in Hermosillo to get my phone set up. Research told me to stay on the route through town to reach a Centro de Atencion a Clientes (full service store) next to the BMW dealership, but just a block or two after the turn off for the sort of bypass, I passed a different Centro de Atencion a Clientes! I did a U-turn, circled the block until I found parking, and headed inside.

This was so much easier than last year. For one thing, I knew what I needed and had an idea of the questions I was going to be asked. I registered at the entrance, saying that I needed a new Amigo SIM card for my phone and was sent immediately to a customer service associate. She processed me efficiently and her supervisor came by to tell me that there has been a huge change in the last year and I can call the US and Canada at the same rate as local calls. WOW! I do want to say that the standard Amigo rate sucks, so I’m still going to be favouring Skype! She got my order started, then sent me to the payment window.

There, I finally understood why I couldn’t do the internet refill in addition to the SIM card purchase at the same time — you need your phone number to do that and you don’t get a phone number till you have a SIM card. I paid my $149 and then went back to the first lady so she could activate my service. It took a few tries (ie. reboots) for my stupid phone to accept the SIM and I had to reiterate that, yes, I’ve used this phone with a TelCel SIM before. I’ll be so glad to upgrade my phone when I get home! But she finally got it working. Then, I went back to the payment window to buy 3GB of bandwidth good for one month ($400). That done, I sat down on a bench in the store to send the ALTO30 message to activate the discounted rate for data service and make sure I had service by checking in on Facebook. 🙂 Done, and easy peasy to boot!

It was only about an hour more to San Carlos, so I didn’t make any more stops, except for two more narco checkpoints, where I was just waved through. I pulled into Totonaka around 1:45. They didn’t have a cheap ($400) room available for me, so I had to take the $500 room that is identical, except that is has a TV…

I was ready for lunch by this point, so I headed across the street to Charly’s Rock for octopus tacos and beer. Two musicians asked me if I wanted to buy a song and I said yes! They serenaded me with a beautiful love song for several minutes and asked for $50. Very lovely!

My meal was excellent, of course, as was the view. It was supposed to be rainy in San Carlos this afternoon, but my luck continues and it was super hot and sunny. I just love this stop so much. It really is like stepping through the wardrobe into Narnia, or being dropped into colourized Oz!

After lunch, I walked to the Ley to get something to munch on tonight and for breakfast tomorrow, settling on a bag of bagels with some cream cheese since they didn’t have any savoury single bakery items. I had looked for a bakery while driving through Hermosillo, but didn’t see one. Anyway, bread and cheese are so cheap here that even if I don’t get through it all, there won’t be that much waste, financially speaking.

Finally, I got an ice cream for the walk back. 🙂

It’s so good to be back in Mexico! I can’t believe what a difference a year (and six months in this country) makes. I was comfortable on the drive down today, just as at ease as I am when traveling through the US and Canada, and feeling perfectly safe to stop when I needed to, as well as recognizing where to stop to do what I needed. Also, being comfortable with the currency really helps!

It’s now 4:30 and I’m rather beat. I think I need to accept that I’m on this super early morning schedule, completely wiped by late afternoon, and that this is fine as long as I get stuff done earlier in the day!

The only thing I need to do tomorrow is get to Guamúchil, so I don’t anticipate an early start, no matter what time I wake up. Then again, there is a pool at the other end… 🙂

 

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Respite’s End

Even though I’ve put in a lot of hours over the last three days, it has felt a bit like a vacation, what with a nice hotel room and eating most of my meals out. Back to the real world very soon, I’m afraid. *tongue firmly in cheek*

I was surprisingly tired today, considering how great I felt yesterday. At least, I’ve managed to get up without my alarm every day! It was another good breakfast, enchilada casserole with refried beans. I love Mexican ‘breakfast food’! 😀

After work, I went to the Pizza Hut next door for linner. They didn’t have the special we can get in Canada, a personal pan pizza with two toppings and a side salad, so I got the medium pizza, figuring that the leftovers would freeze overnight and could be munched on during my drive tomorrow. I’ve never spent that much at a Pizza Hut in my life, though, $20 with the tip! But, then again, I’ve never had leftovers. I was pleased to realise at the end of my meal that I knew how to say, “I’d like a takeaway box, please” in Spanish. Really, what a difference from last year!

I came back to my room to drop off the leftovers, then set off to find Finitos, a frozen treat place that I suspected sold nieve de garrafa, the frozen treat I loved so much in Maz last winter. I found them and asked in Spanish if I could try the prune flavour (another thing I couldn’t have done last fall!) before buying a medium sized cup of it for $2. I’m sure they would have mixed flavours, but when a gal’s got a craving, you don’t dilute its satisfaction! 🙂 The treat wasn’t nearly as good as what I get in Maz, but it definitely hit the spot. I liked that there were a few whole prunes in it and that I could suck the fruit off the pits. Yum!

I had a walk while eating my Finitos. This part of Nogales feels so much like Mexico and I got a reminder to watch where I step because the sidewalks are so uneven!

When I came in, I did some Google research to find a TelCel store tomorrow before San Carlos. Looks like the one in Hermosillo right on MX-15 and after the BMW dealership is my best bet in terms of not having to make a detour and actually finding the darn thing.

I spent some time on the TelCel site to see if anything has changed since last year and it seems like it’s all the same. I did fine with this part of my Mexican adventure last year and the only thing that’s improved this year is that I have more verb tenses and will be able to assure them that I did this last year and their SIM card will work on my phone. Oh, and I know to send a text message to activate my data service! One thing I will have to remember to do is ask if they can give me a Mazatlán number since I got a lot of complaints about my long distance phone number last year!

I’d be lying if I said I was completely calm about the border crossing tomorrow, but there is nothing like the pit of snakes I had in my stomach last year! It’s more of a ‘this is so thrilling!’ kind of feeling. I’m looking forward to being at my home on Isla and settling into my Mexican life, but I think that I will enjoy the drive down a lot more this year instead of treating it like a grueling marathon.

Twelve hours till I plan to be up, thirteen till the absolute latest I plan to be pulling out of a gas station, and, oh, twenty-one or so at the absolute most before I should be rolling into San Carlos!

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Well Rested in Nogales

The last two days have really helped me to recoup from my brutal dash across the entire length of the US in 3.5 days! I’ve been going to bed early and getting up without an alarm, which is what makes all the difference in how productive my day is going to be.

I still set an alarm though, just in case, and Siri is very reassuring about it:

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This morning’s complimentary breakfast included quesadillas and salsa, which is much more my speed than are pancakes, plus fresh fruit salad. Very yum! I can’t believe the quality of the breakfast we get!

I hadn’t planned to do any other work besides proofing this week, but ended up accepting two of the three requests from other clients.  That’s how things roll when you’re a business owner. Sometimes, the client’s needs precede your own.

Early afternoon, I headed out for linner after getting a recommendation from the front desk to go to El Canton, literally around the corner and in front of the Mexican consulate. It’s a Chinese restaurant that isn’t really showing up in the search results yet (it’s not even showing up on Google Maps or through a Siri search). The clerk said that it’s the most expensive Chinese food in Nogales, but it’d be obvious why when I got there…

I stepped outside and was promptly hit on the head by something that was, thankfully, not a coconut, but… a date! I’ve never seen a date palm before!

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El Canton is a rather swanky looking restaurant, but, thankfully, Americans don’t dress up. Meals were quite expensive, averaging about $14 each. But there was a small buffet for $10, more expensive than the other buffets in the city, but the first bite of my super fresh and delicious food explained why. I had chow mein, three different kinds of broccoli, and several kinds of meats. Everything was tasty and nothing was overly salty or sweet. What a gem, and tucked away out of sight!

BTW, I had a reader comment on how Chinese food and ‘Mexican’ don’t seem to go together, but there are tons of Chinese restaurants in the parts of Mexico I’ve been to, so I think it’s a popular cuisine with Mexicans. In fact, in the Duolingo app I’ve been using, nearly all the food-related exercises are some variation on “I ate Chinese food”!

I then went for a long walk to the border and back. As I mused on Facebook, it’s funny how walking to Mexico the first two times I did it felt so special and now there was nothing to it.

I stopped en route at a Goodwill store that was rather interesting. Everything is thrown onto huge tables, unsorted, and you have to dig through it for treasures, then pay by the pound. I had a bit of a poke around, but didn’t find anything.

There was a McDonald’s at the point of no return, so I paused to get a McFlurry (Oreo, please), and check my emails since I was waiting for something from a client. I had a decent view of Nogales, Sonora, from my seat.

Mexico is behind a fence:

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Coming back home, I saw this billboard advertisement for a casino resort (it says, “Amigos con beneficios”). As they say in Spanish, jajaja! I wonder if this phrase really has the same connotation in Spanish, or if it’s a joke for bi(multi)lingual folks!

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The weather was lovely today, not too hot, and perfect for a walk. I’m glad that I’m finally discovering a little bit of Nogales beyond the frantic pace of Mariposa Road.

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Off Kilter

It’s been a weird day, time-wise.

I’m technically in the Pacific time zone now, but have to work according to an Eastern schedule, so that means I had to be at work for 5:00 a.m, which has thoroughly thrown off my eating schedule.

It was easy to get to bed early last night since I was so exhausted and I was awake around 4:15 without an alarm clock. There was work waiting for me, so I made a coffee and got cracking. By the time 6:00 rolled around and the restaurant opened, I was beyond ready for breakfast!

I took my computer and phone down with me to the restaurant so that I could respond if any work came in. Breakfast was an excellent buffet with lots of options, no excuse to leave hungry. The coffee was good, too. I look forward to seeing what they have tomorrow as they said that the options change daily. Based on today, I know it will be worth waiting to leave on Friday morning to do so on a full belly.

Despite a good breakfast, I was ready for lunch by 10:00! I had a bit of a picnic, but was displeased that the fridge runs super cold and all my food was frozen! Carrots lose their structural integrity when frozen and thawed, so they end up rather chewy!

I clock out at 4PM EST and another colleague stays on till 5PM EST, but I like to keep a weather eye on my emails if the daily article hasn’t been mailed out by 5PM in case something crops up with it. That was the case today, so I sent a quick email about that and then went off to find food.

My choices within walking distance were Pizza Hut, Denny’s, and Mexican fare, not too inspiring. I’d been to Denny’s twice a very long time ago in Savannah and in San Diego and thought the food was crap, so I didn’t go again until a couple of years ago in Red Deer when it wasn’t my decision. The food I had then had nothing in common with the Denny’s I remembered, ie. it was really good. So I decided to take a chance on that today.

I wound up paying $7.25 for my meal with the tip and I would have paid twice that and thought I got a bargain… I could not believe how good the food was, its freshness, or the quality of the ingredients. Yes, at a Denny’s chain diner! Mind blown.

I had their new $6 ‘Baja quesadilla burger’, which is a real beef patty topped with a bit of cheese, pico de gallo, and avocado, then sandwiched in a flour tortilla. It comes with a side of forgettable and over salty Mexican-style corn chips and meh salsa, so ignore that part of the meal. I actually don’t care much for the taste of beef (but I appreciated that I was eating real meat, no fillers), so I added a liberal amount of Cholula sauce to give it the flavour it needed. As for the pico de gallo, this was the real thing, no skimping on the jalapeños. Between that and the Cholula sauce, my eyes were watering, but I wasn’t in major pain, not like I would have been at time last year eating a moderately spicy meal. Plus, there was tons of avocado to soothe my wounded taste buds! Since I didn’t eat the chips, the meal came in at a very reasonable nutritional count (I appreciated that Denny’s has the nutritional info for everything printed right on the menu).

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After linner, I decided to walk down to the Walmart since my phone said it was 2.5KM away, meaning just far enough to get in a leg stretch, but not so far as to feel like a slog. The temperature was cool compared to yesterday, so the walk was very pleasant. They didn’t have any warm weather stuff either, but I poked through the clearance items for treasures and found a top I liked.

Like the server at the Denny’s, the Walmart cashier also only spoke Spanish to me, so I now know I still remember my numbers. 🙂 Nogales is really a good prep stop before entering Mexico!

It was a lot hotter out when I left Walmart and it was uphill most of the way back to the hotel, so I definitely got in some exercise today.

When I arrived back at the hotel, I popped in at the front desk to get my breakfast coupon for tomorrow. The clerk asked me to confirm that the room is okay (YES!).

Now, it’s time for a beer slushy. Dang, that fridge really does run cold!