Sunday ; Dugald, Manitoba, Canada to Playa Del Carmen, Quintana Roo, Mexico
Sunny, cold, Arctic winter conditions this morning in Dugald and Winnipeg, sunny, hot, (and humid) tropical paradise conditions this afternoon in Cancun and Playa Del Carmen. Well below freezing this morning, temperature in the mid-80’s F. this afternoon and evening.
We awoke at 5 AM <slow blink> for a 7 AM departure from Dugald Estates. Our neighbour Patti drove us to the Winnipeg airport, a forty-five minute drive. Thank you for the ride, Patti. We checked in (painlessly) at the WestJet counter immediately upon arrival at Winnipeg airport, then the slow, tedious process of clearing security. We found a place to sit near our boarding gate and while I began to do some online work on my laptop, Joanne went to Tim Hortons to get us some “breakfast”.
I thought I had arranged for our TV and Internet service to be “seasonally disconnected” at midnight last night, but … they both quit working yesterday at noon. I don’t know whether I did something incorrectly or … ? Nevertheless, I had some last minute online chores to do yesterday afternoon that had to wait until this morning at the airport. After an inordinately long period of time Joanne returned from Tim Hortons with a hot chocolate for her, a coffee for me, and a muffin for us to share. Two of the three components of our order were wrong ! And she wasn’t able to pay for our order with a Tim Hortons gift card that we had because the airport location of Tim Hortons doesn’t have the “correct scanner” to process gift cards. HUH ? Well done, Timmy’s ! <sarcasm>
We boarded our aircraft on time at 9 AM. We took off at 9:45 AM, about fifteen minutes late because the aircraft had to be de-iced. HMPH … first time in over thirty-five years I’ve been on an aircraft that had to be de-iced. Welcome to … and farewell from … Manitoba.
The 4 ½ hour flight to Mexico was crowded but uneventful. We landed at Cancun airport at 2:20 PM, were deplaned by 2:40 PM, through Mexican Migracion (Immigration) within a few minutes despite the lengthy lines, then … <fume> … waited inexplicably for an hour for our flight’s luggage to begin arriving at our assigned baggage carousel !
While on the flight I was surprised to hear the Asian family of four … mother, father, two young sons … seated beside us speaking what I took to be Ukrainian. I was wrong, it was Russian. The mother and father, both of Korean descent, were born in Uzbekistan, and their “mother tongue” is Russian. The two young boys speak Russian and English, preferring English, having been born in Canada.
We were out of Cancun airport and on the ADO bus to Playa Del Carmen at 4 PM. We arrived in Playa Del Carmen at 5 PM, hauled all our heavy, wheeled luggage from the bus station through the adjacent large (cobblestoned !) shopping mall, and caught a taxi to our apartment, arriving about 5:30 PM. We had been advised that it was cheaper to hire a taxi on the “other” side of the large shopping mall, because the taxis at the bus station were “more expensive”. Not so ! At the bus station, then at two taxi stands around the shopping mall, the quoted fare to our apartment’s neighbourhood was the same ; 300 pesos / CA$24.
My first impression of our apartment was … what a dump ! <shrug> Oh, well ! You win some, you lose some ! We have spent enough time in Mexico to recognize that it is indeed a third world nation, and their standard of living is quite different than that of us “rich gringo” Canadians.
After settling into our apartment we meandered around the neighbourhood stopping in a couple of nearby aborrotes (convenience stores) to buy bottled water, milk and Diet Coke for me, chocolate milk for Joanne, and some breakfast cereal for tomorrow morning’s breakfast. We brought that home, put it into the fridge, then resumed walking the neighbourhood looking for a place to buy supper.
DARN ! In a “residential” neighbourhood, all the small businesses, including restaurants, are closed on Sundays. After considerable wandering around we found a mother and young daughter with a tamale stand in their front yard. And plenty of “locals” buying tamales and tortiados. We bought a tamale puerco (pork) for Joanne, a tamale pollo (chicken) for me, and a tortiado pollo (pronounced “poyo”) to share. On the way back home with those, we stopped into another aborrote and bought two bananas for dessert.
The two tamales were more than enough for us. The tortiado went into the fridge for lunch tomorrow or … ? We finished supper around 9 PM and Joanne immediately lay down and fell asleep. WHEW … we don’t endure long travel days as well as we used to !
Monday ; Mostly sunny, hot, humid. Heavy rain briefly twice today.
We were awakened this morning by a truck driving slowly down our street, rooftop speaker blaring loudly (common in Mexico) … “Tamales ! Tamales ! Ricos (delicious) tamales !” <blink blink> Who the hell eats tamales at 7 AM ! ? !
Our priority for today was to get a Mexican SIM card and cell phone service, then buy groceries. Whenever we arrive at a new destination our first grocery bill is usually quite large, partially because we are starting from scratch, and partially because we are fascinated by “new to us” grocery items. Today was no exception. Our supermarket grocery bill was $1483.20 pesos / CA$118.66. And that doesn’t include the produce we bought at a neighbourhood “farmers’ market”.
We left our apartment around 11 AM, meandered west 3 ½ blocks to Avenida Trente (30th Avenue) the nearest “main” street in our neighbourhood. We ambled south on Trente (pronounced “trentay”, roll the “r”) from our street, Calle (pronounced “kiyay”) Noventa y Ocho (98th Street) down to Calle Sietente y Dos (72nd Street), then turned west again. On the way we stopped at a cell phone store and I bought a Movistar SIM card, had it loaded into our i-Phone, and activated, a slightly difficult process at the beginning because I was dealing with a woman who spoke no English. But once I communicated in fractured Spanish that I needed to purchase a SIM card, known here as a “chip”, have it loaded into our phone, then activated, it went quick and easy.
We walked west on 72nd until passing underneath the freeway at Avenida Cinquente (SinkWENtay) (50th Avenue), the main highway running south from Cancun all the way to Chetumal at the Belize border (our destination five weeks from now). Just beyond the freeway underpass was Home Depot and Bodega Aurrera, a “no frills” Costco type supermarket operated by Wal-Mart.
As we were standing in the check out line after shopping, we could hear the loud sounds of heavy rain hitting the store’s metal roof. We had already decided that we had too many groceries to walk all the way back home. We caught a taxi outside the store. The fare back home was $70 pesos / CA$5.60.
We had lunch. Sandwiches made with bolillos (boLEEyoes … a type of Mexican sandwich buns) that came out of the grocery store’s bakery ovens less than an hour earlier. Geez, Mexican bakery products are superb ! I had a siesta after lunch, apparently the only quiet part of the day. <rolling eyes> You should have heard all the dogs barking and sounds of children playing (HUH ?) at 11 PM last night !
At 4 PM we went out again, back to Avenida 30, and headed north this time. We were searching for Panaderia Los Tres Reyes (Three Kings Bakery) to see if they had any Pan de Muertos (Bread of the Dead) for the upcoming Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) on November 2. They had some, but were not open for business until 5 PM. <blink blink> HUH ? OK … we’ll come back back later.
We continued wandering north on 30th Ave, eventually finding a neighbourhood park with many fruit and vegetable vendor stands. We bought a jicama (HEEkama) (20 pesos / CA$1.60), somewhat like a cross between a soft, slightly sweet, crunchy turnip and a large radish, and a couple of bananas (10 pesos / CA$0.80).
As we finished buying frutas y verduras (fruits and vegetables) the skies opened up and it began to rain very heavily. We took shelter, along with quite a few local women, underneath the front door awning of an OXXO (pronounced OCHO, like the number 8) convenience store, for fifteen or twenty minutes until the downpour was almost over. None of the women spoke English, but I asked questions as best as I could in Spanish about taking the local busses and collectivos to downtown. They all run along 30th Avenue. WOW … siete (7) pesos / 56 cents for bus fare and diez (10) pesos / 80 cents for collectivo fare to downtown. Guess we won’t be walking to Bodega Aurrera and taking a taxi home anymore. We’ll go downtown to Wal-Mart and the huge Soriana supermarket.
I am finishing this at 7:30 PM, just as Joanne is beginning to make a garden salad to accompany the pollo asado (barbecued chicken) we bought today. OH … along with yesterday’s leftover tortiado pollo.
AHHH … time for some Coca-Cola Light with half a fresh lime squeezed in.
Tuesday ; HALLOWE’EN
Mostly hot and humid, an hour of light rain late in the afternoon.
This morning we went for a long walk on the nearby Caribbean Sea beach, from Playa Ochenta y Ocho (Beach 88) to Playa Punta Esmeralda (Emerald Point Beach). Our apartment is halfway between the two beaches, with access blocked by the large walled compound of Hotel Paradisus, a large resort. On each side of the hotel’s large walled property is a public beach access. Playa 88’s access is, of course, at Calle 88, and Playa Punta Esmeralda’s access is about two blocks north of Calle 112, so … a 26 block stretch between them. By the time we returned to our apartment it was time for lunch, followed by a long siesta.
We were ready to go out again around 5:30 PM just as it began to rain lightly. So we sat out on our balcony and watched the neighbourhood for an hour, finally leaving our apartment at 6:30 PM when the rain ended. It was already dark. Due to the hot, humid weather, the front door of the house across the street was open, and we could see the parents inside getting their two young daughters ready to go out “trick or treating” in their costumes. We walked a few blocks to Panaderia Los Tres Reyes to see about maybe buying some pan de muerto (bread of the dead), but a small one, not like the huge one available yesterday at Bodega Aurrera.
Holy Mackerel ! Traffic jam at the panaderia / bakery. Street filled with cars, many double parked, line up of people inside the bakery all the way out the front door to the sidewalk outside. HEY … must be good pan dulce (Mexican pastries, literally “sweet breads”) … I’m not walking away NOW !
The wait was more than worth it ! Procedures in a panaderia are … upon entry you pick up a large tray and a pair of tongs, walk around the perimeter of the bakery selecting from a multitude of tiered trays of pastries, then pay at the front. I was determined to be “disciplined”, but … <sigh> … I’ve been “addicted” to pan dulce for the last 19 years ! When we RV’ed (many times) through Mexico I was sorely tempted to have a bumper sticker custom made that read “I brake for panaderias” HA HA HA … but I digress ! We bought six pieces, including a small pan de muerto, for seisente (60) pesos / CA$4.80. As soon as we walked out of the panaderia, a gato negro / black cat walked across our path. HA HA HA HA HA … Happy Hallowe’en !
We walked over to Avenida Trente (30th Ave.) and wandered around for about an hour before returning home for supper. Yesterday we had wandered around Avenida Trente, and tonight realized that some businesses are open only during the day, and some only in the evening. Like the panaderia / bakery on Calle 102 is open only in the evenings.
Wednesday ; DIA DE LOS MUERTOS (day 1, to pay tribute to deceased children of one’s family)
Hot, humid, intermittent light rain in the morning.
This morning, between bouts of light rain, we ran out to do some simple errands nearby. We walked about a block to Aborrote Willy’s, a local convenience store, to buy some milk and Diet Coke. Or as it’s known here, Coca-Cola Light. Then we walked a couple more blocks to an aqua purificado / water refill machine to refill our 5 litre water jug.
On Sunday night after arrival we bought a 5 litre jug of water at OXXO. Yesterday we walked to this aqua purificado refill machine to refill it, and … lost a peso (8 cents) to machine malfunction. <shrug> Today we went to refill again. Thus time, the machine ate four pesos (32 cents), and dispensed nothing ! **** ! I pounded the “money return” button so hard I broke the machine. OOPS … my bad … ADIOS ! We scurried away to another refill machine a block away.
Now we needed more one and/or two peso coins to feed the machine. I walked into the adjacent aborrote and asked the teen aged male clerk for cambio por aqua purificado (change for the water refill machine) and handed him a ten peso coin. It took him a LOOOONG time to figure out what coinage to give for ten pesos <rolling my eyes>. Maybe you shouldn’t have dropped out of school, Chico !
After lunch and a siesta Joanne wanted to explore more of Avenida Trente. We wandered up and down 30th Ave. from 3 PM to 5:30 PM. We found another interesting panaderia and bought some sandwich buns, not bolillos, I think what we bought are teleras. At a large OXXO we bought some melba toast, to eat with the variety of quesos / cheeses we bought on Monday at Bodega Aurrera, or guacomole, which Joanne will make with the fabulous … and very inexpensive … avocados we bought at the produce stalls.
At a ferretería (hardware store) I bought a tapón de fregadero de cocina (kitchen sink stopper) to make washing dishes in our apartment easier. (Many thanks to Google Translate on our i-Phone !) When we leave here it will go in our suitcase with all the other miscellaneous “foreign travel aids”.
For future reference we paid attention to the multitude of barber shops and manicure / pedicure shops.
There were many curbside vendors selling marigolds today. Marigolds are the “official” flowers of Dia de los Muertos. Families create Dia de los Muertos ofertas, three tiered altars of “offerings” at their entry doorways to invite their dearly departed back for a visit today or tomorrow, depending on the deceased’s ages. These ofertas are adorned with marigolds, and skull candies, and pictures, to entice the spirits home. And family members dress and makeup like El Catrine (male) or La Catrina (female) to make the ghoulish spirits less self-conscious about their “dead” appearance.
Thursday ; DIA DE LOS MUERTOS (day 2, to pay tribute to deceased adults of one’s family)
Sunny, hot, humid. Light rain briefly in the evening.
This morning we went for a long exercise walk, exploring the neighbourhood. We walked east a couple of blocks to Avenida Cinco (SEENko) (5), then north from our street, Calle Noventa y Ocho (98) to Calle Ciento y Doce (seeYENto ee DOsay) (112), at the Playa Punta Esmeralda public beach access. As we passed by the entry driveway to the luxury resort Hotel Paradisus we decided to go in and look around. NOT ! We were stopped by the guard in the entrance shack. Despite our obvious status as fat wallet gringos, if we were not already guests of the hotel we could not enter.
At Calle 112 we turned away from the beach and walked west a block then meandered back home south along Avenida Diez (deeYEZZ) (10) and Avenida Quince (KEENsay) (15). Just before arriving back at home we stopped in at the local aborrote and bought a couple of camotes (caMOtays) (sweet potatoes) (24 pesos / $1.92) for tonight’s dinner recipe.
After lunch and siesta, we were ready to head downtown at 3:30 PM. I wanted to see what Dia de los Muertos activities we might find downtown. We walked over to Avenida Trente and caught a bus heading downtown. There were no double seats left on the bus. Joanne sat by a man, I sat a few rows behind her beside a young woman. A gringa. So … I asked her in Spanish if she spoke English ? She answered “yes, I speak English” with a French accent (from France, not French Canadian, there’s a noticeable difference). I switched to French, told her I was Canadian, and asked where she was from. “Paris” !
We had a very interesting conversation, using three languages, all the way to downtown. Joanne overhead me speaking French to her, and looked back over her shoulder very quizzically. Why is my English speaking husband speaking French to a young woman in Mexico ? ! ?
The French woman is in the third week of her four week vacation to Mexico. She spent her first two weeks visiting smaller towns in SE Mexico, and will now spend the second half of her vacation in bigger cities. I so admire that sense of adventure, and the courage it takes to “make it happen”, particularly as a young woman travelling by herself. I told her why we were going downtown and she told me that last night that she had found very interesting Dia de los Muertos displays and activities at the large municipal park behind “city hall”. She used her phone’s map function to show me exactly where to go.
Well … thank you very much, young lady / merci beaucoup, mademoiselle / muchas gracias, señorita !
We got off the bus and walked a few blocks to the pedestrian mall on Avenida Cinco, at the Quinta Alegria shopping mall. We wandered through the three storey shopping mall, and ...were unimpressed. We wandered up and down the pedestrian mall, in both directions, and … were unimpressed. Except, the mall is very walkable for someone using a walker. We have neighbours back home in Dugald Estates who may pay us a visit in a few weeks when they vacation nearby in Puerto Morelos. Jim uses a walker.
Eventually we reached the municipal park behind city hall. We had a wonderful time there, wandering around viewing all the displays of “ofertas” set up by delegations from other cities and towns in Mexico. And … there was some manner of “pan de muerto” competition / display with thousands of decorated “pan de muerto” buns, and a huge contingent of young adults wearing chef’s hats and jackets. Culinary students, maybe ? Were they going to feed those thousands of pan de muerto buns to the people in the park later ?
When we needed a rest we sat down around the large “arena” and watched singers and grupo folklorico / folkloric dance groups from all around Mexico perform Dia de los Muertos songs and dances. One lengthy Dia de los Muertos dance told the story of a young bride who dies at her wedding, with haunting, soulful music, and was … very touching.
At dusk it began to rain lightly, so we left the park and walked a couple of blocks over to Wal-Mart and bought a few needed items before returning home by bus, arriving home at 8 PM, tired and hungry.
It was a really great afternoon and evening outing ! It was very fortunate to run into the lady from France who directed us to the Dia de los Muertos event in the park.
Friday ; Hot, humid, mix of sunny and overcast, occasional, brief, light rain.
Today was an “easy” day, by design. We went for two long walks, for exercise and errands, and the rest of my day was taken up with two time consuming tasks at home. I downloaded all of yesterday’s Dia de los Muertos photos from the i-Phone to my laptop, and processed them. And I set up a VPN, a Virtual Private Network, which allows me to “trick” the internet into believing that I am somewhere other than where I actually am. Not that difficult to set up, but somewhat complicated to use, to “trick” Canadian TV networks into believing that I am in Canada, allowing me to stream CBC, CTV, and
Global shows. Same with the US networks, like CBS, by using my VPN to “be” in the US <wink>.
I have set up the VPN on both my laptop and our i-Phone. HELLLOOO Survivor, Amazing Race, Saturday Night Live, and … hopefully … CFL football. Haven’t figured out the football yet.
On Sunday I had purchased a MOVISTAR “chip” card, with two weeks of phone service included. After two weeks I will have to “top-up” or change the service plan. I want to change to MOVISTAR LIBRE service when my current service plan expires. MOVISTAR LIBRE will meet my needs better. When I tried to purchase a MOVISTAR LIBRE chip card online today, both my Canadian (foreign) credit cards were declined.
So … this morning we went for a walk to Avenida 30, then wandered up and down the street stopping in at cell phone service stores (there seems to be many) trying to purchase a MOVISTAR LIBRE chip card and introductory service, NOT ! Can only be purchased online. Another “catch-22” ! On the way back to our apartment we refilled our five litre water jug at an aqua purificado machine. But not the one I broke the other day, I don’t want to go there.
On our afternoon walk we walked over to Avenida 30, then over to the farmers’ market where we replenished fruits and vegetables. From one of the vendors I bought a plastic bag filled with of a variety of fruits, peeled, cut, etc., ready to eat. The lady asked if I wanted a lime to go with that ? YES ! Sliced ? No, gracias. Then she held up a bag filled with liquid, and asked if I wanted hot chile sauce poured over my fruit ? JESUS … NO !
On the way home we stopped at Panaderia Los Tres Reyes and replenished our sandwich buns, breakfast pan dulce (such as muffins), and dessert pan dulce (such as muffins filled with whipped cream). HA HA HA !
After supper we watched last Wednesday’s Survivor episode on the laptop using my new VPN. Worked well. Hope I can figure out how to get the CFL games.
Saturday ; Hot, humid, overcast, raining on and off all day, more on than off.
So … we had a pretty lazy day because of the rain. Mid-afternoon we went out for a walk and errands. We walked down Avenida 10 to Calle 86 and back to our street, Calle 98. On the way we checked the prices at three lavenderias, two of them within half a block of our apartment.
In this “middle class” (?) “blue collar” neighbourhood, washers and dryers are beyond the financial means of most. So … there are frequent lavenderias, businesses that do laundry ; wash, dry, fold, 15 or 16 pesos ($1.20 or $1.28) per kilo of clothing. Drop off your laundry in a bag, pick it up the next day. At the third lavenderia that I walked into, the one closest to our apartment, I had the following conversation (in Spanish) with the woman operating the place ;
ME ; Your price is 15 pesos per kilo ?
HER ; Yes ! Are you from Canada ?
ME ; Yes, I am Canadian. <slightly bewildered> How do you know ?
HER ; <proudly> I am from Cuba. I recognize your Canadian accent.
I was impressed. To most Mexicans, we are just gringos NorteAmericanos / Merkins, although I think most Merkins wouldn’t set foot on Mexican soil if their lives depended on it.
We stopped in at OXXO to buy milk, cheese, and luncheon meat. As our purchases were rung into the till, I balked at the price of $75 pesos / CA$6 for a 250 gram package of turkey ham slices. I refused the package of turkey ham. The clerk was pretty snotty about my refusal. She glared at me briefly, reversed the charge for the package, then angrily slid the package of luncheon meat across the counter at me and demanded that I go put it back in the deli cooler. PHHHT … DONE ! And … Adios ! Guess our money will be going to Aborrote Willy’s from now on.
We walked a few doors down to Aborrote Willy’s, and realized they have a pretty good deli meats and cheeses service counter. I asked for 100 grams of turkey ham luncheon meat, the lady sliced and packaged some … 180 grams <rolling my eyes> … it cost $14 pesos / $1.12 !
From 5:30 PM to 6 PM I tried to watch the CFL West semi-final game, using my newly installed VPN to access TSN via ESPN in Miami, Florida. But … the heavy rain at that time here kept interrupting the local internet service. So the failure seemed to be the local weather, not the VPN or the TSN or ESPN feeds. But … I’m an old man, what do I know ? I sure hope it works better next week, when the Blue Bombers meet the winners of today’s BC vs. Calgary game, and more importantly, the Grey Cup game in two weeks.
I tried again a couple of hours later, as we were having supper. I found that I could make a good connection through Phoenix, Arizona and Los Angeles, California so I guess the weather here in the east was the problem. I watched part of the final quarter of the game.
BC Lions vs. Winnipeg Blue Bombers in the CFL West final in a week.
Around 8:30 PM, as we were finishing supper, there began very loud, intermittent horn honking of a large truck somewhere down the street. What ? The Freedummy convoy has come to Mexico ? The truck would honk for ten seconds or so, then remain quiet for a minute or so, then resume … closer each time. Eventually I could hear it was right out in front of our apartment building, honking extremely loudly. HUH ? I walked out onto our balcony to see what it was about.
On our street, in front of our building, was a large garbage truck, just like the Winnipeg ones of my childhood. A tattooed, burly arm was resting on the driver’s open window. Two men, one on each side of the truck, were scampering to the residences collecting garbage cans and emptying them into the truck. Old women, known locally as “abuelas” (abooWAYlaz) / grandmothers were bringing garbage cans to the street to be emptied. Pre-school aged children were coming out of the yard gates behind their abuelas, and grinning and waving at the garbage men. Dogs of all sizes and shapes were running around hoping for something interesting to fall onto the street.
GEEEZ … a Saturday night garbage pickup fiesta !
I wonder why it’s grandma’s responsibility to bring the garbage cans to the curb ?
DSK
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