Sunday ; Day 1 of head cold
Sunny and very warm.
Our plans for today were to walk all the way to the Zocolo, the city’s Centro, or main square. But … I woke up with a head cold. I feel miserable, with a very sore throat, sore and weepy eyes, sore sinuses. Haven’t had a cold in at least four years ! It’s been coming on for the last two days, but I chalked it up to just allergies, like hay fever.
So … late in the morning we set off for a slow pace walk, in search of some cold symptom relief medication. Found some at the nearby OXXO. And … it works quite well. To give credit where it’s due … Mexico makes good drugs ! HA HA HA !
Joanne prepared soup for me for lunch. Thank you. I spent most of the afternoon napping. At 6 PM we went out again for another slow walk, not far. After supper, in the evening, we watched the Barbie movie.
Monday ; Day 2 of head cold
I woke about every two hours overnight, either due to full bladder … I drank a lot of tea yesterday … or nasal passages so clogged I couldn’t breathe. I’ve become a snot factory ! In the middle of the night, I woke up, body shivering, teeth chattering, freezing ! Which makes no sense, given the climate here. I’m hopeful that was the low point of this illness, and it will be uphill from there.
At noon we headed out for a light duty exercise walk, and to find throat lozenges for me. OXXO had none. Since I was feeling marginally better than yesterday I decided to trudge all the way to the farmacia inside the Chedraui supermarket. Once at Chedraui, while I searched for throat lozenges, Joanne went to get two litres of milk and a large Diet Coke (Coca-Cola Light, actually), to reduce the weight of groceries we would have to carry home on our next grocery shopping trip, likely tomorrow.
After finishing at Chedraui, Joanne suggested that since we were already there we should go to the Chocolate Mayordomo de Oaxaca store in the mall to get a couple of their wonderful chocolate milkshakes. Excellent idea, my dear. As we left with our two milkshakes I stopped in at the optical store and asked if they were able to source tri-focal lenses. As Carlos the other optician had said … no, they couldn’t. <shrug> Guess I won’t be getting a new pair of glasses in Mexico this year after all.
We began to slowly trudge back home when I realized … UH-OH ! I had overestimated my abilities today ! I was … “out of steam” ! The walk home was slow and … difficult.
Back at home I had a very light lunch of some leftover soup, then napped for the rest of the afternoon.
Tuesday ; Day 3 of head cold
Sunny, warm, perfect “June 18” type day, temperature 73° F / 23° C when we went out at noon today.
Yes, yes … my cold symptoms are slowly diminishing. Thank goodness. I have felt really miserable for the last few days.
At noon we walked over to the nearby Mercado La Noria to replenish fruits and vegetables. And Queso Oaxaqueño. And pan de yema buns. And … something new … candied dried fruit. WOW … <blink blink> … outstanding ! Papaya, kiwi, piña, mango, stuff I can’t even identify … !
Back at home we had lunch, then using ZOOM attended the Winnipeg Humane Society’s first staff, volunteer, and foster meeting of 2024. My first reaction after the meeting was over was … well, that was fine and dandy for staff, but not of much value to volunteers. I was wrong ! Joanne quickly pointed out to me that we were volunteers for about a dozen winter seasons at the Yuma Humane Society, and never received any information from the organization about anything ! As volunteers we were “in the dark” about everything, always. Excellent point, thank you my dear.
As the day worn on, my body wore out. We went for another walk to nowhere just before dark.
Wednesday ; Day 4 of cold
Sunny, very warm, temperature 79° F / 26° C when we went out at noon today.
My cold has evolved/migrated, from being a head cold to being a chest cold. I’m short of breath, and coughing now.
We left at noon heading for weekly grocery shopping at Chedraui, preceeded by lunch at one of the many food stands in the park beside Chedruai. Except … when we arrived at the park, there was only one food stand, not many. HMPH ! I guess the last time we were here it was a holiday, and there were many food stands and many people in the park. We walked to a nearby restaurant Joanne was interested in, and had an indoor, sit down lunch. We returned to Chedruai and spent a long time on our grocery shopping, mostly due to my slow motion / low gear sick person abilities today. We were back home about 4:30 PM. <sigh> I napped !
In the evening I puttered around with some 2023 income tax return preparatory work.
Thursday ; Day 5 of cold
Sunny and warm, 73° F / 23° C when we went out at noon. Being at an elevation above 5000 ft. ASL, Oaxaca’s winter nights are chilly, the evenings and early mornings are mild, but late mornings and afternoons are perfect weather.
My cold continues to slowly improve. Now more in chest than head. Mild coughing, mild shortness of breath, mild headache, runny nose, bit of fatigue, bit of foggy head, likely from too much drugs.
We headed out at noon toting our bag of dirty laundry and empty five gallon water jug. We dropped off the empty water jug at the aqua purificado place down the street. They returned it to us about 2:30 PM, disinfected and refilled. MXN$22 / CA$1.80 ! Darn good value ! We dropped off the bag of dirty laundry at Lavanderia Cancer. It will be ready for pickup at 6 PM mañana / tomorrow. <rolling my eyes> Right … good luck with that ! I’m assuming they meant 6 PM mañana Mexican time ! HA HA HA !
After lunch and a nap I worked on December bank statement reconciliations and getting our 2023 annual income tax “ducks lined up in a row”. At 6 PM we went for a slow walk around the neighbourhood. I’m searching for a local place to get a haircut in a week or so. Found one ! A few buildings over from the dentista I have chosen. Across the street from Mercado La Noria. Also found a lavanderia that’s closer to our apartment than the lavanderia we have been using.
Friday ; Day 6 of cold
Sunny and warm, 77° F / 25° C when we went out at noon. Cold symptoms continue to slowly diminish. BUT … my coughing last night at bedtime prevented both of us from falling asleep.
At noon we went to Mercado La Noria to replenish fruits and vegetables. Including candied dried fruits which Joanne really likes. A vendor today had fresh Oyster mushrooms. I bought some to use in tonight’s Linguine Carbonara recipe that I am making, and for use in risotto tomorrow.
After lunch I spent the afternoon intermittently napping, and drinking hot tea. I’m becoming tired of feeling sick. Again !
At 6 PM we went for a walk and retrieved our clean laundry from Lavanderia Cancer.
Saturday ; Day 7 of cold
Sunny and warm, 72° F / 22° C when we went out at noon. Cold symptoms improving. Maybe “evolving”, as well. Now have plugged, “gurgling” left ear.
After I made pancakes for breakfast we walked to the nearby OXXO late this morning to replenish throat lozenges, then crossed the large, busy street … four lanes in each direction, with a “median” in the middle … and went for a slow, long walk, exploring a neighbourhood new to us. WELL ! Once we were across the busy street we seemed to have stumbled into a neighbourhood that we surmise is “controlled” by a drug cartel. Hanging from the power lines were signs “warning” the local “delinquents” ;
“We catch … we lynch … we DON’T call the police !”
YIKES ! Mexican version of “neighbourhood watch” ? ! ?
AND … <cough cough> … let’s not forget the sign attached to the front door of a home ;
“This home is Catholic. We don’t accept Protestant propaganda …”
HMPH … tough neighbourhood ! ! ! Maybe we’ll just remain on our side of the tracks.
Before we went out for our early evening walk to nowhere Joanne made rice pudding using one of our “custom blend” chocolate “hockey pucks”.
The annual My French Film Festival started yesterday. Last night we watched a couple of short films. Tonight we watched a feature length film. All of the My French Film Festival offerings are available for streaming for free in Latin American countries. We first became aware of the existence of the annual My French Film Festival while attending the annual Palm Springs Film Festival a few years ago.
I baked a basa blanca fillet for supper. It wasn’t great ! But Joanne’s Oyster mushroom risotto certainly turned out well.
DSK
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