Sunday ; Sunny, hot, humid.
I was still feeling a bit “fragile” today, not sick, but certainly a bit weak, and … a teensy bit queasy when exposed to odours.
Most of our day seemed a bit “out of schedule”. Firstly we slept later than usual. Then we took longer with breakfast than usual. I made pancakes. Partially because we had half a small bottle of syrup we wanted to use before leaving on Tuesday. After breakfast I showered, and as Joanne was preparing to shower around noon our Belgian friend Helene dropped in for a visit.
When Helene left around 2 PM Joanne went to shower and I took our dirty laundry to the Cuban lady’s lavanderia on the corner, so we will leave here on Tuesday with clean laundry. Joanne had a late, light lunch, I did not feel like eating. In the afternoon I did some work on my laptop, we did our regular “morning exercises” (a few hours later than usual), then went to Willy’s to purchase a few grocery items.
At 6 PM we headed out for a walk to the beach. I was hoping that I could find the strength to walk to Playa 88, then walk along the beach from Playa 88 to Playa Punta Esmeralda at dusk, then walk home. We walked slowly, I rested occasionally, it was a beautiful beach walk at dusk. We were back home around 7:30 PM.
The only pasta available tonight was spaghetti. The only sauce available tonight was alfredo. Joanne had spaghetti alfredo with arracherra meat added. I had spaghetti alfredo with arracherra meat and camarones (cammaROnays) / shrimps added. While our meals were being prepared I went to their condiment bar and filled eight baggies with assorted “condiments”. Joanne watched our spaghetti alfredo being made. The “chef” / owner’s son poured a huge serving of cooked spaghetti into a skillet, placed the skillet on a gas burner, poured a lot of cream over it, lit it on fire (HUH ?) then poured a huge amount of grated parmesan cheese over it, and stirred like crazy while it heated over the gas burner. I’m not certain that’s the traditional way to make alfredo sauce, but … <shrug>.
Our pasta meals were too heavy to be carried home on their take out plates, so they served them to us on porcelain dinner plates and asked us to return their plates tomorrow. OK … thank you. A bit pricey at MXN$500 / CA$40. But … OHHHHH, so good ! ! !
We each were able to eat only half of our servings, so … same for dinner tomorrow night ! Since tonight’s meal order will serve us for two evenings, I suppose forty bucks isn’t unreasonable.
Monday ; Sunny, hot, humid.
Well ! This morning I was completely healthy, and … <sigh> … Joanne became ill again. Both of us are frustrated and worn out by this sickness yo-yo !
We got drugs … lot of drugs … into her as early in the day as possible, hoping to reverse the downward spiral leading to puking. Seems to have worked.
I went for an early walk by myself. I returned the porcelain dishes to the taqueria around the corner. Back at home we had a light lunch. After lunch Joanne made guacamole to use up our remaining avocado, onion, and tomatoes. I made tortilla chips to use up my remaining tortillas harina. We picked up our clean laundry and as we returned to our apartment Helene was returning from running some errands. She came into our apartment and visited for awhile. I served her some of our home made guacamole and tortilla chips. She particularly liked my wheat flour tortilla chips. Me too. Joanne too.
Around 5:30 PM we walked to Avenida 30 and headed south until we came to the place that makes empanadas. We decided the first time we saw it a few weeks ago that their vegetarian empanadas were suitable for us to bring for lunch on tomorrow’s long bus journey to Chetumal. We bought a mushroom and cheese empanada for me, and a spinach and cheese empanada for Joanne. On the way home we stopped at a panaderia to buy a muffin for breakfast, and some cookies for the bus ride.
Recently we witnessed a gruesome looking accident in our neighbourhood, when a man fell about ten feet off scaffolding, landing on his back on a pail of mortar cement. Tonight as we walked home he was up on a rickety ladder, wearing flip flop sandals, painting / whitewashing the stucco repairs he was doing when he fell off the scaffolding. Seems as if he’s okay !
We have only one Ciprofloxacin tablet left. I only brought ten. I have close to 200 more back home in Canada. DARN … who knew that we would be consuming Cipro like candies ? ! We stopped at a farmacia to buy a bottle of Cipro tablets, but … things have changed over the years. The pharmacist would not sell Ciprofloxacin without a doctor’s prescription. HMPH ! We can thank the good ole US of A for that ! After 9/11, they put pressure on the Government of Mexico to “regulate” the sale of Ciprofloxacin, based on their theory that since Cipro is the “antidote” to Anthrax, a type of “biological warfare” agent, only terrorists would want to buy Cipro without a prescription.
F*** ! ! ! How about elderly Canadians with severe cramping, diarrhea and puking from Mexican food (or water) poisoning ? ! ? ! ? I’ll bet there are a hell of a lot more sick, old Canadians here in Mexico than there are terrorists out to wreak havoc on America using biological warfare. <mumbling> Merkin morons !
We watched last week’s episode of Amazing Race while we ate our dinners, a tomato and cucumber salad to use up the last of our fresh vegetables, a hodgepodge of leftovers for me, and fresh egg salad tacos for Joanne. In the evening we packed and prepared for tomorrow morning’s departure, then did some dreaming / planning / research for next winter’s travel adventures.
I had thought our friendly calico cat would have given birth before our departure, but … not yet. Poor girl, she seems so uncomfortable in this heat and humidity with her belly full of kittens. During the day she just lies in the shade and looks miserable. After the sun sets she paces around, moaning.
Tuesday ; Playa del Carmen to Chetumal
Sunny, hot, humid in both Playa del Carmen in the morning and Chetumal in the evening.
We were up earlier than usual to be ready for departure at 11 AM. We were both healthy. Hallelujah ! We were both more than ready to leave Playa del Carmen and start a new chapter / adventure in Chetumal. Hopefully … a healthier one !
Our neighbour / new friend Helene dropped by to bid us adieu. We were out of our room and waiting for our taxi outside the apartment building’s front gate by 11 AM. A few weeks ago I had downloaded the Playa del Carmen taxi company app onto our i-Phone and had struggled through the complicated (to me) process of making a taxi reservation for this morning at 11 AM. At 11 AM I received a message that our taxi was on its way. HMPH ! At 11:08 AM I flagged down a passing taxi, the driver spoke English … vamos / let’s go !
I asked him to stop briefly at the HSBC Bank between Mega Soriana and Super Aki to allow me to withdraw some cash from the ATM. I was almost out of cash. The 6500 pesos I had brought from Canada were almost gone ! But as he approached downtown I saw a ScotiaBank and asked asked him to stop there. I thought perhaps that the service fees might be less since it is a Canadian bank. But … NO ! I withdrew cash and the taxi had us at the bus terminal at 11:25 AM, fifteen minutes before our scheduled bus departure.
I had purchased our tickets a couple of weeks ago. The bus left Playa del Carmen on time. The ADO bus had Wi-Fi, air conditioning, and comfortable seats. It was an “Express” making only a couple of stops, once at Tulum and again at Bacalar. We ate our empanadas lunch after leaving Tulum. The bus arrived in Chetumal on time at 5:10 PM. We were in a taxi by 5:30 PM and checking into our AirBnB apartment by 6 PM.
What a relief ! NOT a dump ! WOO-HOO ! Already decorated for Christmas !
Chetumal is in the furthest southeast corner of Mexico, on the Yucatan Peninsula. The southern edge of the city is the Mexican border with Belize, the eastern edge of the city is the Caribbean Sea.
Wednesday ; Overcast, hot, humid. A few minutes of light drizzle as we walked (and walked and walked and walked …) this morning to Wal-Mart.
As always upon arrival at a new location, our first day’s priority was grocery shopping. This morning we set off for Wal-Mart Insurgentes, about 2.5 km. from our apartment. We made many stops along the way, for a variety of reasons, some planned, some on impulse.
First stop was a cell phone accessories store I noticed. I purchased a new protective case for our i-Phone. The old one contains an auxiliary battery that has died. Because the new one does not have an auxiliary battery, it is much lighter and thinner, making the phone easier to handle. Next stop was the municipal market, where we wandered around checking out the fruits and vegetables vendors. We will return tomorrow to buy fresh fruits and vegetables. I stopped at a pharmacy to attempt to buy Ciprofloxacin. They would not sell any without a prescription, same as in Playa del Carmen. But … persistent as I am, when I saw a combination farmacia and medical clinic I went in and asked for Ciprofloxacin. BINGO … no problema ! Bought a box of fourteen tablets at a reasonable price (the cost of a pharmacy dispensing fee in Canada). It’s a relief for both of us to have replenished Cipro, reducing our anxiety about future gastro-intestinal distress issues.
When we finally reached Wal-Mart it was time for lunch. Joanne had pre-selected a “comida economica” restaurant behind Wal-Mart. Comida economica / “budget food” restaurants are small, usually Mom & Pop places with very limited offerings, changing daily, based on what Pop bought at the mercado and/or what Mom feels like cooking today. Their pricing is “prix fixe” and cheap ! Today’s restaurant was called “Doña Eva Cocina Economica” / “elderly Mrs. Eva’s Budget Kitchen”. It was an abuela y abuelo / grandmother and grandfather aged “Mom & Pop” running the place. We ordered a bowl of today’s stew to share. It was a huge bowl of chicken and vegetables and rice soup/stew, with about half a chicken in it ! It included a bebida / drink. I ordered a second bebida. Today’s special, including drink, and an additional drink, cost MXN$125 / CA$10.
We spent a long time at Wal-Mart, buying basics to last a month, and enough supper meal idea items to last a week or so. As usual for a first shopping trip, the bill was large, over MXN$1500 / CA$120. When we were done we walked outside with our two extremely overloaded shopping bags and got into the lone cab waiting for a customer. As is customary / necessary in Mexico, I asked the driver BEFORE he began the journey how much it would cost. <blink blink> Viente-cinco pesos ? ! ? Two bucks Canadian ? ! ? We walked two and a half kilometres … in drizzle … when we could have taken a taxi to come here from our apartment for TWO BUCKS ? ? ?
Oh, well ! <shrug> At least that ended up in us getting a new cell phone case AND Ciprofloxacin !
Thursday ; Sunny and very hot.
Our priority today was to walk to the Mercado Lazaro Cardenas and adjacent Mercado Nuevo (New) and stock up on about a week’s worth of fruits and vegetables. Here in Chetumal we don’t have as easy and convenient access to stores and markets as we did in Playa del Carmen. That is easily offset by how much nicer our apartment and neighbourhood are.
We walked to the market slowly because of the heat, then meandered all through and around the market area checking out fruit and vegetable stalls. We bought a lot of fruits and vegetables, then trudged slowly back home with two bags that seemed to get heavier and heavier as we walked. Once back home we had a late lunch then a long afternoon nap for both of us.
In the afternoon we planned meals for the next ten days or so, both meals at home and restaurants we want to try. At suppertime (8 PM for us, as always) we worked together to make a wonderful home cooked dinner. Well … Joanne did about 80% of the work to my 20%. In the evening we did research on next winter’s plans.
Friday ; Sunny and very hot.
Around noon we went out to buy some pan dulce at Panaderia Alicia, and refill our water jug at a nearby aqua purificado machine. The bakery hours are 7 AM to 9 PM, but … when we arrived they were closed ! HMPH ! We failed to take into account “siesta” time. Here in Mexico many businesses close sometime early in the afternoon for one to three hours to have lunch and a nap. Very civilized, but … somewhat inconvenient for customers. We refilled our water jug and returned home. As we entered our apartment’s front gate we met our new neighbours, a couple that arrived yesterday afternoon. They are from Germany, and are here for just a few days. They brought their two motorcycles over from Germany, and are travelling for two months, from Mexico to … <blink blink> … Chile, halfway down the coast of South America. That seems like a very long way to travel by motorcycle, but … so says the guy who travelled 40,000 km. per year for ten years in a large RV.
Our afternoon was slightly disrupted by having a “cable guy” in our apartment for a couple of hours, replacing the internet TV & Wi-Fi router equipment. Installing new wiring required that small holes needed to be drilled though the wall from outside to inside, a task made more difficult in Mexico because … walls are constructed of cement cinder blocks. I was surprised to see that when he was finished, there was also a new phone mounted on our bedroom wall underneath the router equipment. His final task was to obtain the approval of the apartment building’s resident manager. She came in and obviously told him that the wall phone in the bedroom was to be removed.
He puttered around for a few more minutes then left. The phone was gone. But … still on and in the wall were two large concrete nails he used to mount the phone. With the nicely parge coated and painted wall severely cracked around the nails. AND … HA HA HA … the phone cord was still hanging down from the router box mounted high on the wall. He couldn’t reach high enough to disconnect it from the router without going out to his truck again to retrieve his step ladder, so … a phone cord will hang down on our bedroom wall for eternity ! Ending between two big nails surrounded by cracks ! HA HA HA ! VIVE Mexico !
Shortly after 5 PM we went out for a planned walk to the malecon / waterfront walkway. Unfortunately … we had a misunderstanding. I thought we agreed that we were heading east to the malecon, to the Parque de la Virgen de la Bahia / Park of the Virgin of the Bay (rolling my eyes). Joanne thought we were heading south to the Malecon de Chetumal, the downtown waterfront park area. Since I was leading the way … we went to the Virgin Park. When we arrived, Joanne said … “WTF, where are we ?”
OOOPS … my bad ! HA HA HA !
Our walk was about 2 km. each way, some of it downhill / uphill. We were pretty tired by the time we returned home.
Joanne prepared supper while I successfully attempted to connect my laptop to the apartment’s TV, then after supper I used the VPN to “be” in Toronto, then streamed this week’s episode of Survivor to the apartment’s TV via the laptop. Not bad for an old man !
Guess I’m better at “technology” than “listening to where your wife wants to go” HA HA HA <SNORT> HA HA !
Saturday ; Sunny, very hot, very humid.
This morning we walked over to Panaderia Alicia before noon, to get there before their “siesta” closure. HMPH … they were closed. No hours posted. I inquired next door at the pollo asado (barbecued chicken) place what time the bakery is open. Answer ; 3 PM. OK … gracias. It was way too hot and humid to wander around exploring, so we returned home.
We had to delay our lunch briefly while our apartment’s cleaning lady did her job. After she left we had lunch … I made jamon de pavo y queso quesadillas / turkey ham and cheese quesadillas … then I napped while Joanne continued our seemingly endless quest for next winter’s ideal accommodations. At 4 PM we returned (again) to Panaderia Alicia and bought some pan dulce for breakfasts and desserts, and a baguette type small loaf of bread.
At 6 PM we set off for the long walk (over 2 km.) south to Malecon de Chetumal, this city’s main waterfront walking area. When we arrived we were thrilled to find it converted into “Christmas Village” filled with a lot of people, and entertainment stages, and food vendors and … a Teflon skating rink with Mexicans of all ages trying their hand at “ice skating”. HA HA HA ! There was a “photo op” Santa Claus in full Santa regalia sitting there in the blistering heat and humidity, trying to smile for the cameras, but looking more like he was undergoing some sort of medieval torture in that Santa suit. Poor guy !
We wandered around for a couple of hours, enjoying the atmosphere and entertainment. Joanne finally succumbed to the food vendors’ temptations and ordered a chica gringa de bistec de rez / small “white woman” style of taco with beef steak. A “gringa” style taco is served on a tortilla harina instead of the traditional tortilla de maiz. No, I don’t know why it’s called a gringa (white woman). Maybe because tortillas harina are white and tortillas maiz are yellowish ?
Well … once she had the gringa she was on a roll. After finishing off the gringa she left me sitting on a park bench while she went to another vendor and bought a large bag of freshly made potato chips. You know, like Old Dutch, but … made in front of your face while you wait. HA HA HA !
Well … now she was thirsty. Next stop was the machacado vendor. I’m not even sure how to describe the machacado. See picture below. A machacado is like … a milkshake, with edible candy straws, and marshmallows on top, with a frozen slab of flavoured crushed ice that as it melts slowly turns your milkshake into a slurpee. And to top it all off … small “fingers” of chocolate bars (like Kit Kat) are sticking up out of the top of the drink, along with the edible candy straws. One picks the flavour of the milkshake (of course Joanne chose chocolate) and her chocolate bar finger choice was Carlos V (Carlos cinco), her favourite brand of Mexican chocolate milk powder (like Nestle Quick).
After we returned home (after 9 PM) she said she didn’t want to be an old widow living in Dugald Place (assisted living residence soon to be built adjacent to our current seniors’ condo) bemoaning the fact that she once had an opportunity to have a machacado, and did not do so. HA HA HA ! That’s my girl ! Carpe diem !
We began to slowly wander back towards home, trying to flag down a taxi. There were many taxis, but even more passengers than available taxis. HEY … Saturday evening ! Eventually, after a few blocks of slow walking we got a taxi. The fare home was cuarenta (40) pesos / CA$3.20. Taxi fares are slightly higher during night hours than during daylight hours.
DSK
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