Sunday ; Cloudy and mild. A comfortable day for a lot of walking.
This morning we set off a bit before 11 AM heading for Oaxaca’s main “town square”, known in most cities as “Centro” (also the word for “downtown”), known here as “Zócolo”, although it’s “official” name is Plaza de la Constitución”. It’s about 1.5 mi. / 2.5 km. from our apartment. I was a bit concerned about whether I would have the necessary stamina for the amount of walking we would be doing today.
As we expected, since Sundays are “family day” in Mexico, the Zócolo was quite busy and crowded with locals and tourists. At one point when we sat on a bench to rest, the elderly couple (from France) sitting beside us asked in fractured Spanish where we were from. When I answered in Spanish “we are Canadian” he smiled and switched to speaking French, easier for both them and us.
We wandered around and through the large square/park that occupies one square city block, and then some, since it includes a large cathedral adjacent, and the governor’s palace across the street, and is surrounded by pedestrian walkways/shopping areas all around the perimeter. There was a school band performing in the park this afternoon, and a stage being set up for some other music performance to take place later.
The church, built in 1535 ...<blink blink>... was “Catedral Metropolitana de Oaxaca Nuestra Señora de la Asunción”. Quite a mouthful ! We walked around it, and quietly through it, as a Sunday mass service was taking place. The architectural imagination of these centuries old churches ... all over the world ... astound me ! And ... <whispering> ... where did the money come from to build these kinds of churches ? ! ?
Joanne wanted to check out two local restaurants she was interested in, and choose one for lunch. We walked a couple of blocks west to check out the first one, then returned to the Zócolo and a couple of blocks east to the second one. <sigh> The second one no longer exists ! We trudged back to the first one. By then my stamina was wearing down. I was ready for a lunch break.
We had lunch at Restaurante Del Chef, a buffet style restaurant with a pretty courtyard. Nice ambience, reasonable price, mediocre food, terrible service. You wouldn’t think service matters much at a buffet restaurant, but ... it does when servers are responsible for bringing and refilling beverages. We watched an adjacent table where the diner arrived, ate his entire meal, and left without being served a beverage. Near the end of the meal, when I was getting pissed off at not having my small glass of lemonade refilled (so that I could take my very necessary after meal colitis medication), I stood up, walked into the kitchen, picked up a pitcher of lemonade, filled my glass, and walked out of the kitchen. Ironically, almost immediately afterwards, our server came by our table to place a small tray labelled “gracias por su propina” (thanks for your tip) on our table. HA HA HA HA HA ... yeah, I don’t think so, sweetheart !
After lunch we meandered around shopping areas heading in the general direction of Mercado Benito Juarez and Mercado 20 de Noviembre. Joanne wanted to return to Mercado 20 de Noviembre to buy herself a birthday gift. She knew exactly what she wanted, and where it was. And she bought it. AND ... I was unsuccessful in “negotiating” a lower price with the vendor. I suppose she knows when she needs to engage in some pricing “give and take” ... and when she doesn’t ! HA HA HA !
We walked slowly back to our apartment, arriving home shortly after 3 PM. We had walked over 3.6 mi. / 6 km. WHEW ! I napped for almost 2 hours !
After a buffet lunch we wanted a lighter supper than usual. We decided to have Joanne’s freshly made guacamole with my freshly made totopos (tortilla chips) made with tortilla harina integral / whole wheat tortillas.
This morning we headed out to nearby Mercado La Noria to replenish milk, fruits, vegetables, buns, and … Queso Oaxaqueña, the sweet and salty string cheese Oaxaca is famous for. And we buy it from a family operated small cremeria (creamery) at the mercado. The panaderia was sold out of telera and bolillo buns. The little aborrote where we sometimes buy milk was closed today, so … we thought we would have to be without milk until tomorrow when we go to Chedraui, the large supermarket. But … while I was waiting for our very fresh Queso Oaxaqueña to be “unravelled” from a large ball, and rewound into a small 400 gram ball for us, another customer walked up and ordered two litres of milk. An employee handed her … a large “baggie” of milk. Wait … what ? You sell fresh milk ? In a tied baggie ? OK … I’ll take a litre. When we got home I untied the loop tied on the top of the baggie, and (sloppily) emptied the milk into a one litre measuring cup in our cupboard. The jug was full and … there was still quite a bit of milk in the baggie. I took a half litre measuring cup and poured the rest of the milk in the baggie into the smaller measuring cup. The “one litre” baggie of milk, sold cheaper than a one litre carton of milk in the aborrotes (convenience stores) or supermarket, was actually … <blink blink> … 1.4 litres of milk. And that wasn’t counting the milk I spilled on the counter top and into the cutlery drawer. HA HA HA !
This fresh milk tastes better then the UHT (ultra high heat treated … how milk is sold in Mexico … no need to refrigerate until opened) milk in cartons. Guess I know where we’ll be buying our milk from now on !
When we went for our evening walk at 6 PM, the panadero truck from the panaderia integral / whole wheat bakery was on our street. I bought two cream filled pastries and a baguette.
This afternoon I continued puttering with income tax returns. In the evening we continued watching My French Film Festival offerings. While having dinner we watched about half a dozen “short” films.
Tuesday ; Sunny and hot. Just the way I like it ! 82°F / 28°C when we went out to Chedraui this afternoon.
We had an early lunch then walked to Chedraui to do our weekly grocery shopping. After grocery shopping we stopped at Chocolate Mayordomo in the Chedraui mall and bought a big tin of their chocolate milk drink powder. SOMEONE is now a happy girl ! HA HA HA !
SHEESH ! Three large, heavy bags of groceries to walk home with !
During and following supper we watched a feature length film from My French Film Festival entitled The Green Perfume. Weird but good !
Wednesday ; Sunny and hot, 84°F / 29°C when we arrived back home about 4:30 PM.
We headed out at 11:30 AM this morning for an afternoon of exploring, which of course includes eating and shopping. Joanne had selected two opticians that she thought I should visit to see if tri-focals were available, and had loaded their locations onto our i-Phone’s GPS map. We meandered toward the two opticians, stopping in farmacias and health food stores on the way, looking for probiotics for me. I’m almost out of the probiotics I brought from Canada. I collected information on the products and prices, and will analyze and make a decision later. And both opticians confirmed what I had already been told by other opticians was the case ; tri-focal lenses are not available here in Oaxaca.
Eventually we made it to our primary destination, the Mercado Viente de Noviembre. Today was the day we were going to have lunch on “Meat Row”. WOO-HOO ! It was quite the experience ! Pick a meat vendor to supply and cook your meat, choose your meat. The vendor finds you a place to sit at the many picnic tables, then returns to their stall and cooks your meat and brings it to you, then you pay. In the meantime, go to the “condiments” vendors, select a vendor, select your condiments (guacomole, pico de gallo, salad, etc.) and bebidas (drinks), they will bring it to your table, then you pay. Since there were only maiz (corn) tortillas available, we chose not to have tortillas accompany our meal. Might have been a bit of a mistake. The condiments vendor supplied plastic forks, but knives were not available. We ate large slices of barbecued thin beef, and barbecued beef chorizo sausages, along with our chosen condiments, mostly with our fingers. It was messy ! But very tasty !
We browsed and wandered though Mercado 20 de Noviembre, then crossed the street to Mercado Benito Juarez where Joanne wanted to buy some specialty beef sausages at one of the butcher shops. We bought two types of beef sausages ; Salchichas (salCHEEchaz) Ejutla (ayHOOTla) and Salchichas Oaxaqueña (whahaKAYNya). We had the former a couple of weeks ago, the latter is new to us.
Before leaving the two mercados Joanne browsed the chocolate and mole vendors. I discouraged her from buying anything from the higher priced mercado vendors when we have a small “Mom & Pop” chocolate and mole manufacturing/processing business near our apartment with great selection and prices. Plus, I think we should wait until after our siete (7) moles tasting dinner on her birthday in a few days before buying any more moles, to know which moles we like best. On the way home from the mercados we stopped at Panaderia Integral (Whole Wheat Bakery) and bought a loaf of bread and two carrot buns for tonight’s soup supper.
We arrived back home at 4:30 PM, very tired. More than three miles / five kilometres of walking ! We napped ! During and following supper we watched another feature length My French Film Festival film, this one entitled Spare Keys. The story line wandered around, we weren’t sure where it was going, until it all came together in an excellent ending.
Thursday ; Sunny and hot, 84° F / 29° C at 3 PM when I returned from getting a haircut.
This morning we walked to Mercado La Noria to buy milk and eggs. Joanne was going to go into the market while I went across the street to get a haircut. The esthetician was closed, despite signage indicating otherwise. We returned home with our milk and eggs, then I left again with our bag of dirty laundry and empty water jug. I dropped off the empty water jug at the aqua purificado shop, then continued on to the lavanderia and dropped off the dirty laundry.
I returned home, then walked again to the esthetician’s to get my haircut. Still closed ! <fume> I walked home … again … and phoned the esthetician’s number. It was a very difficult conversation between someone who speaks NO English, and me who speaks Spanish poorly, BUT … we managed to agree on a 2:30 PM appointment for a haircut and beard trim.
As I arrived at the esthetician’s at 2:30, for the third time today, she was wrestling her elderly wheelchair bound mother into the shop. She is her invalid mother’s caregiver, and must bring her mother with her to work to provide care for her. It appeared to me to be considerably more difficult than having to care for a baby. I surmised that is the reason for the sporadic opening hours.
The esthetician Conchita gave me an excellent haircut and beard trim. In twenty minutes ! For MXN$100 / CA$8.10 for the haircut and MXN$50 / CA$4.05 for the beard trim. And I have never had a beard trim like that ! After trimming my beard with clippers, she lathered my cheeks and neckline, then unwrapped a fresh razor blade, and holding it squeezed between her thumb and forefinger, razor shaved my cheeks, above my moustache, under my chin along my neckline, and along the back of my neck. <blink blink> WOW ! That was different !
By the time I returned home at 3 PM our disinfected and refilled five gallon water jug had been delivered. And carried into our apartment. And installed in the tilting water jug cradle underneath the kitchen counter. As it always is. For 22 pesos / a dollar seventy-eight ! For water and delivery ! SHEESH !
Well ! Guess what I have just noticed, as I prepare for bed ? I have a sort of perverted “farmer’s tan” under my chin and top of my neck, where the razor shaved beard trim has left a patch of untanned skin that appears to have been bleached white, while the rest of my neck is deeply tanned. HMPH !
Tonight’s My French Film Festival movie watched was Stampede, a Canadian production about a Quebecois loser trucker who “kidnaps” his eleven year old daughter and takes her on a road trip from Quebec to Alberta.
Friday ; Sunny and hot.
Joanne was ill today. That shaped our day. She slept for much of the day. I was caregiver for much of the day. She began to feel better late in the afternoon.
At 6 PM we went for a walk, to get some fresh air and sunshine and exercise and pick up our laundry. And as we were leaving our apartment, the Pan Integral bakery van had just arrived on our street. We really like this whole wheat bakery’s products. We bought a small loaf of bread, two carrot buns, a cinnamon bun for breakfast, and a nougat and blackberry jam stuffed pastry for bedtime.
I made an egg drop soup concoction/creation for supper. Tonight’s My French Film Festival movie watched was Super Drunk, a touching tale of two 17 year olds, a boy and a girl, who are best friends, and have been since they were young children. He’s going away to college in Paris, she’s staying on the family prune farm, probably stuck there for life.
Saturday ; Sunny and hot, 86° F / 30° C when we returned home from Chedraui at 3:15 PM.
I needed more cough syrup and throat lozenges so we decided to walk to Chedraui after lunch to buy that and a few other items, including some sweat pants for me to wear as pyjamas. Oaxaca is chilly at night, and our apartment is a bit cool at night.
At 6 PM we walked over to Oscura Brebaje (Dark Brew), the local restaurant that has its own baker, where a week ago I had ordered a small birthday cake for Joanne’s 70th birthday tomorrow. I hope it tastes as good as it looks.
During and following dinner we watched a series of My French Film Festival short films. Most of them were crap !
DSK
No comments:
Post a Comment