Sunday ; Sunny and hot, thin overcast.
Joanne was ill again today. How frustrating … for both of us. She seems to be ill half the time since our arrival three weeks ago. Don’t know whether it’s simply intolerance of heat and humidity, or is there something else causing her to be ill ?
I made pancakes for breakfast. I went for a late morning exercise walk by myself. From our balcony I watched skydivers slowly floating down to land nearby, looked like they were probably landing on Playa 88.
Joanne became increasingly more ill as the day progressed. While I was out for a short walk just before the Grey Cup game began she vomited. There was more to come later ! <sigh> Memories of the end of our Portugal trip last winter ! By the end of the day she was one very sick lady !
Trying to watch and/or listen to the game was excruciating. I was live streaming the game on the laptop, live streaming it on the i-Phone, and listening to it on CJOB on the laptop, all simultaneously. <huge sigh > It was four hours of seeing about 5 % of the game, hearing about 50 % of the game, and gritting my teeth about 45% of the time. What a pathetic and frustrating internet experience.
Ironically, and sadly, I got to watch the entire last minute of the game uninterrupted … giving me the privilege (agony ?) of watching the Montreal Alouettes score the winning touchdown with eleven seconds left in the game. <sigh> Congratulations to them.
Monday ; Sunny and hot.
Priority for today … indeed, the only task for today … was to get Joanne feeling healthy. That included trying to figure out what is making her sick, then treat and/or eliminate that. We came up with two viable theories ;
hew new medication is making her sick
she is getting gastro-intestinal bacterial infection from dishes washed in Mexico tap water.
Certainly high heat and humidity make her feel unwell, but there is much more to her recent illness than just that. So ;
she will stop taking her new medication
I went to Willy’s and bought bleach. We will soak all washed dishes in a mild bleach solution for ten minutes. And we will wash all fruits and vegetables in mild bleach solution until I can find the Mexican product intended for “washing / disinfecting” fruits and vegetables. We have travelled in Mexico enough to know that sometimes and in some places these kinds of precautions are necessary.
I spent much of today caring for a “sicko”. Damn near a full time job ! Hopefully my efforts will result in her feeling better … soon, we hope ! She improved steadily, albeit extremely slowly, throughout the day. Still a long way to go, it seems.
At 6 PM I went out by myself to run errands. To the farmacia for Pepto-Bismal, the farmer’s market for zucchini and pineapple for a supper recipe … nobody had piña today, had to substitute mango, which turned out just fine in the recipe … to the panaderia to replenish pan dulce, sold out of bolillos an hour after their opening time, and lastly, refilled our five litre water jug at the aqua purificado machine.
With
minimal assistance from me Joanne cooked supper, but by the time it
was ready she had no desire to eat. Reluctantly she ate a small
amount of the chicken and pineapple
mango over rice dish, declaring my substitution a success.
I retrieved / cancelled the Interac e-transfer deposit I sent a few days ago to the landlord of our newly chosen Oaxaca apartment. His Mexican bank could not or would not accept a Canadian bank Interac e-transfer. With considerable difficulty / complexity I set up a Western Union account then sent him our deposit via Western Union. Took a software / app download … twice … followed by three attempts to pay … third time’s the charm … using two different Canadian bank debit / credit cards Wish me luck !
Tuesday ; Sunny and hot.
WOW ! I have just finished reading, aloud / shared with Joanne (at 6:15 PM), the new Manitoba government’s Speech From The Throne. I am impressed … and inspired ! I had the privilege of growing up with two of my political heroes, Edward Shreyer as the Premier of Manitoba and Pierre Elliot Trudeau as the Prime Minister of Canada. And I am looking forward with enthusiasm and optimism to growing old(er) with two more of my political heroes, Pierre’s son Justin Trudeau as the Prime Minister of Canada, and Wab Kinew as the new Premier of Manitoba.
Not to count my chickens before they’re hatched, but Joanne’s health continues to improve, albeit agonizingly slowly. She’s still recuperating, but heading in the right direction, at least. Caring for her continues to be challenging and taxing.
She agreed to come out for a brief slow walk at noon, to vacate our apartment for its weekly cleaning service. I dropped off our bag of dirty laundry at the Cuban lady’s lavanderia on the corner then we walked a block downhill to Avenida Cinco, the (almost) pedestrian walkway running alongside the Hotel Paradisus resort’s ten foot tall concrete perimeter wall. We sat on a bench in the shade for awhile and then went into Roco’s Cafeteria where we each had a licuado / milkshake. Joanne of course had chocolate, I had apple and oatmeal. Roco’s makes excellent (and unusual) milkshakes. It’s now 6:35 PM. Oh, goody ! Joanne hasn’t puked hers all out. Yet ! HA HA HA !
We returned home, stopping at Willy’s to replenish milk, Diet Coke, and Electrolife, an electrolyte restorative drink, like Gatorade I suppose. A block of uphill walking, and two flights of steep stairs left Joanne feeling absolutely exhausted. I made lunch, Joanne ate a little, then lay down and dozed / rested for the afternoon.
She’s tired of being sick. I’m tired of taking care of her.
Joanne prepared a garden salad, including disinfecting the vegetables in a very mild bleach solution. I cooked supper. She washed dishes. I disinfected them by soaking them in the kitchen sink filled with a mild bleach solution.
After supper we watched last week’s episode of Amazing Race.
Wednesday ; Mix of sun and clouds, brief but heavy rain in the afternoon, hot and humid.
Joanne has transitioned from “sick” to “weak and recuperating”. Still heading in the right direction, thankfully.
Last night at bedtime I reached into the bag of pan dulce in the fridge and pulled out a luscious looking piece of pan dulce to have as a bedtime snack. A cylindrical shaped piece of puff pastry coated with caramelized sugar. MMMMM ! I took a bite … YIKES ! It was filled with a mixture of … wait for it … chorizo sausage meat, ham, cheese, tomato, halapeños … ! ! ! PTUI !
Well … now you know what Joanne had for lunch today ! HA HA HA !
Late this morning I went out to get a haircut. I walked to Avenida 30, then south on Avenida 30 until I found an open barber shop. “Cuanto cuesta ?” “Setente pesos.” OK … 70 pesos / CA$5.60. Best haircut I’ve ever had in Mexico. And I’ve had quite a few. Including some really terrible ones. On the way back home I stopped in at a panaderia, bought dos bolillos (2 subway style buns) , dos teleras (2 kaiser style buns) , una galleta de azúcar por mi (a sugar cookie for me), y una magdalena de chocolate por mi esposa enferma (and a chocolate cupcake for my sick wife). OH … y un paquete de velas para pastel de cumpleaños (a package of birthday cake candles).
I remember … many years ago … in Teacapán, Mexico, asking for “un paquete de velas para pastel de cumpleaños” and not being understood, despite repeating my request several times. Finally … and this was a valuable lesson learned … the store clerk said “OH … belas !” That’s when I learned that in Spanish “V” is pronounced like “B”.
That would be like a foreigner in Canada asking a store clerk for “a package of birthday cake sandals, please” because they misunderstood the pronunciation of our letter “C”. HA HA HA !
After lunch and a siesta I went out to pick up our laundry at the lavanderia. Joanne decided to come along to get some fresh air and exercise, despite how difficult she has been finding it to trudge back up the two steep flights of winding concrete stairs to our apartment. Yes, yes … she’s feeling better.
Note to self ; future accommodations must be on main floor. Unfortunately, that is not the case in Chetumal, our next destination.
While Joanne was preparing supper I was playing around on the laptop. I discovered that by using my new VPN to “be” <wink> in Miami, Florida I could tap into Miami’s PBS station and we could watch some PBS shows that we like. SO … after supper we watched an episode of Pati’s Mexican Kitchen featuring meat specialties of the Yucatan. HEY ! We had some of that Longaniza sausage (turkey version) for supper tonight.
Another street vendor just drove by (10:30 PM), on a loudspeaker equipped bicycle …
EMPANADAS COCOOOOO (coconut)
EMPANADAS PIÑAAAAA (pineapple)
EMPANADAS CAMOTEEEEE (camotaaaaayyyyy … sweet potato)
What ? None filled with chorizo (spicy pork sausage meat) and habañeros ? HA HA HA !
Thursday ; Sunny and hot.
Joanne declared herself 90% healthy this morning, and 95% healthy this evening, so … almost there !
At noon she was feeling well enough to join me on a slow walk to Anenida Trente to run some errands. On our way down the stairs of our apartment we met our new next door neighbour who had arrived earlier this morning, a young woman from Belgium. She speaks English, French, Spanish, and … also Flemish (Dutch language of Belgium) we assume. We chatted with her for about an hour before proceeding on our errands.
On Avenida 30 we went to Farmacia Similares to buy some medications. Got two of the three we were looking for. We refilled our five litre water jug at the aqua purificado machine on the way home.
At home we had lunch, and a siesta for me. Joanne did research on our possible travel plans for next winter.
At 6:30 PM she prepared a garden salad, then we left to walk over to a nearby take out taco stand style restaurant we wanted to try. They don’t open until 7 PM. Their name is Taqueria La Benidicion de Dios. <raising eyebrows> God’s Blessing Taco Stand ? OK ! Lots of taxi drivers stopping by every evening for dinner. We take that as a good sign.
HOLY JESUS ! Every restaurant meal we have seems better than the last ! Joanne ordered dos tacos arrachera (seasoned, barbecued, diced, flank steak) and I ordered a burrito xanisa (not certain of the correct spelling, but pronounced “chaneesa”). Because … while the tacos are served on tortillas maiz (corn) the burrito is wrapped in a tortilla harina (wheat flour). Xanisa is an all beef version of chorizo sausage (I can’t digest either corn or pork !). Their condiment bar defies description. Bowl after bowl of “condiments”. A roll of small “baggies”. Fill a baggie with each of the condiments you choose … a grated cole slaw mix, guacomole, grilled onions, marinated onions, cucumber slices, baked beans in sauce / gravy, lime wedges, pickled habañeros (pass !), pico de gallo, etc. I don’t know what the individual prices were, but our order of two tacos and a burrito (and eight baggies of free condiments) cost MXN$130 / CA$10.40 !
We took our food home, ate our salad, then began to eat our tacos and burrito. It wasn’t very long before we heard loud cat meowing from two stories below us, and listened to it get louder and closer as it came up the stairs until finally one of the tabbies entered our apartment’s open door. “HEY … is there some left for me ?” HA HA HA … NO !
Friday ; Playa del Carmen to Isla Cozumel and return
Sunny, very hot, very humid in Playa del Carmen, sunny, hot, cooling ocean breeze, much less humidity on Cozumel Island.
Joanne was healthy enough this morning to be ready for a day trip to Cozumel. Before leaving at noon, I went out to refill our water jug, and we had an early light lunch at home.
We walked to Avenida Trente and caught a bus to downtown. We rode the bus to “the end of the line” at Avenida Trente y Calle Dos (2). From there we began walking to Playa del Carmen’s main park / beach / dock. On the way we stopped at a large Farmacia and I bought a substitution for a medication I have been looking for.
Near the dock we began to be “hustled” by ferry ticket sellers (resellers / “scalpers” ?). Couldn’t make heads nor tails of their prices. As discussion with any given “ticket seller” took place the price kept creeping insidiously upwards. **** that ! We’ll walk the last few blocks to the ferry dock and buy our tickets right at the Ultramar (ferry company) office. Yeah … easier said than done. The Ultramar office is surrounded by what appears to be employees, wearing Ultramar shirts, but … their prices are different whether paying by cash or credit card, and their prices change from one “employee” to another, even though they may be standing just a few feet apart, at the Ultramar terminal entrance. Finally, I bought two tickets with indicated prices of MXN$290 (CA$23.20) each. I paid MXN$317.22 (CA$25.38) each. Our tickets were time stamped 12:58 PM. We were on the 1 PM ferry ! ! ! Had to hustle down a long ferry dock and through a huge “boarding terminal” to get to the ferry.
Later in the evening, at home, I scrutinized the tickets carefully. I found the two “fine print” taxes on the tickets, bringing the “official” price of the ferry tickets to MXN$317.22. So … I guess the “seller” I finally bought the tickets from really was an Ultramar employee … I hope ?
We were among the last to board the ferry. And we didn’t know which way to head to find seating. People were rushing past us as we stumbled along like the gringo tourists that we are. After a few minutes of us stumbling along, a female Ultramar agent gently took Joanne by the arm and began leading her. <shrug> OK … I guess. I followed behind. She brought Joanne to a closed off area and ushered her in, smiled, and left. I followed Joanne into … OMG ! We were dumped into the area for pregnant women, mobility impaired / disabled, and the very elderly !!!
SHIT ! We’re in the preggo / cripple / geezer section. SHIT ! Oh, well … at least it was air conditioned. HA HA HA ! Joanne felt badly that she appears to be so old, decrepit, and confused that the Ultramar agent took her to the “abuela” (grandmother) seating section. Yeah … I told Joanne that I hoped the agent thought I was Joanne’s son, following along. HA HA HA !
The high speed ferry ride to Cozumel Island took 45 minutes. AHHHHH … 45 minutes of air conditioning !
We spent the afternoon wandering around through the downtown / tourist area of Cozumel, AND … exploring off the beaten path, to the mercado municipal, and up and down both commercial and residential streets. Cozumel is nicer than Playa del Carmen. Cleaner, quieter, more modern, less crowded … everywhere. Tourist areas and “regular life” areas both.
At 5 PM we were running out of steam and stopped to have a very early supper at one of the three Cozumel restaurants that Joanne was interested in based on her online research. We had already seen all three, and Joanne decided that her choice was … Burritos Gorditos. Translates as “Chubby Burritos”. HEY … my kind of place ! HA HA HA ! A small, hole in the wall, Mom & Pop restaurant with excellent reviews.
Sure enough, there were Mom, and Pop, and three tables seating four. We were the only customers at that time. Joanne had a carnitas (type of seasoned pork) burrito, I had an aracherra (see yesterday) bowl containing the meat, arroz y frijoles (rice and refried beans), pico de gallo, and avocado slices. Excellent !
We left the restaurant around 5:45 PM … they were already preparing to close at 6 PM … and began to walk back to the ferry terminal. We were tired and did not want to repeat the rushed process that we had experienced on the journey here from Playa del Carmen, so we expected to saunter back to the ferry terminal as the Ultramar ferry was leaving at 6 PM, and make arrangements to catch the WinJet ferry at 7 PM. There are two ferry companies, and they alternate hourly departures.
However … when we arrived at the ferry terminal a few minutes before 6 PM, there were no crowds and no line-ups. The female agent in the Ultramar ticketing booth promptly issued two tickets at the “regular” price, but upgraded them to “first class” without an explanation. <shrug> She must have thought … “poor old gringos, I’ll just put them in first class”. Must be that “abuela y abuelo” appearance thing at work again. HA HA HA <SNORT> HA HA.
WOW … there were hundreds of people lined up to board the huge ferry. BUT … only a dozen or so ahead of us in the “first class” line. The first class line boarded first, and we were led to the first class seating area at the front of the ferry. Just like a first class section in an aircraft. Except better seating ! Like leather Lazy Boy recliners ! And air conditioning, like in the geezer section. WOW ! So this is how the other half live ! ? HA HA HA !
As we disembarked on the Playa del Carmen long ferry dock we could see the huge stage of the Riviera Maya Jazz Festival and large crowd on Playa del Carmen, the beach that gives the city its name. It looked like the Winnipeg Folk Festival had been transplanted from Birds Hill Park. This morning our Belgian neighbour Helena invited us to join her at the annual jazz festival on the beach. We declined because we were going to Cozumel (and because Joanne hates jazz).
We walked slowly back to our bus stop and caught a bus home. SHEESH ! I have never been on a bus that was that crowded, hot, and stinky ! Partially because I was sitting next to a grubby and very tired looking blue collar worker that looked (and smelled) as if he had just spent twelve hours in the brutal sunshine digging ditches or something.
On the walk from our bus stop at Avenida 30 and Calle 100 we walked to Panaderia Los Tres Reyes and replenished bolillos and pan dulce on the way home. We arrived back home shortly after 8 PM, hot and tired.
I’m grateful that Joanne was healthy today.
This morning I was awakened around 7 AM by meowing outside our door. I got out of bed and opened the door and in walked the little female Bengal tabby I call Socks. She simply wanted to have some morning attention and affection. She jumped onto our bed to check out Joanne, who woke up to a cat in her face. She (Joanne) wasn’t very impressed with either the cat or me. HA HA HA !
Around noon we walked over to Willy’s to replenish a few grocery items, then immediately returned home. It was too hot to go for an exercise walk. Plus we were a bit tired out from yesterday’s long, hot day trip to Cozumel.
<blink > Our Belgian neighbour Helena just walked by our open apartment door (late in the afternoon). She appears to be a bit “worn out” from her outing yesterday to the Riviera Maya Jazz Festival. AHHH … to be young again !
As the sun set and the afternoon began to cool we went out at 6 PM to buy fruits and vegetables at the farmers’ market, and refill our water jug on the way home. When we returned home our neighbour was on the balcony eating her supper. She was so … <ahem> … “worn out” from attending the jazz festival that she had ordered McDonald’s … and had it delivered. HA HA HA !
After supper we watched this week's episode of Survivor.
DSK
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