March 24 to 30, 2024 ; Oaxaca, Mexico

 Sunday ; Sunny and hot, 91° F / 33° C at 4:30 PM.

This morning we walked to Mercado de La Noria to once again look for Oyster mushrooms needed as an ingredient in tonight’s meal plan. Again … no Oyster mushrooms today. Supper will be “plan B” again. One last attempt to buy Oyster mushrooms tomorrow.

Using Google Translate and WhatsApp I made appointments for a haircut for me and a haircut and pedicure for Joanne tomorrow. This afternoon I trimmed my beard myself. I didn’t really like the beard razor trim Conchita gave me a couple of months ago.

This afternoon I made totopos integral (whole wheat tortilla chips), an essential ingredient for tonight’s “plan B” supper. This winter in Mexico has resulted in me developing the skill to make excellent, home made, whole wheat tortilla chips. Essential for me, since I can’t digest “regular” (corn) tortilla chips.

Monday ; Sunny and hot, 91° F / 33° C at 3:30 PM.

This morning we walked to Mercado de La Noria looking … again … for Oyster mushrooms. Third time’s the charm ! We replenished other vegetables as well. Mi amigo perro Lucho was in fine form today, wandering around the market with us, wagging his tail, tapping our toes with his paw every time we stopped to look at something, to tell us he needed more attention and affection. HA HA HA … bueno perro, Lucho !

At 4 PM we walked to Estetica Osmos across the street from Mercado de La Noria to each get haircuts and a pedicure for Joanne. Joanne’s haircut was first. Partially because of language barriers, and partially because of the high heat, I think, Conchita seems to be giving everyone fairly short haircuts. Comfortable here now that’s it’s hot, maybe, but I’m not so sure about back home in Dugald next week. It’s still winter there ! ! ! Oh, well … I’ve often had too short haircuts while in Mexico. Hair grows back soon enough !

Cost of haircuts ; 100 pesos / $8.20 each. Cost of pedicure ; 200 pesos / $16.40.

After my haircut I left to return home, while Joanne stayed for a pedicure. As I came out of the esthetician’s Lucho was across the street, sniffing around in the mercado’s flower beds looking for a suitable place to relieve himself. He was surprised and very happy to see me as I crossed the street calling his name. Oh, Lucho, it’s only been four hours since we last visited. HA HA HA !

During and after having supper we watched last week’s episode of Survivor.

Tuesday ; Sunny and hot, 91° F / 33° C at 2:30 PM.

Around 12:30 we left to walk about a kilometre (about 2/3 of a mile) to a restaurant where Joanne wanted to have lunch ; Emperatriz Comedor. Turned out to be an excellent choice. Small restaurant, excellent service, menu del dia, cost 70 pesos / $5.74 per meal. Choice of three appetizers, five main courses, aqua fresca melon to drink.

Joanne chose a pasta salad to start, pozole pollo (spicy Mexican soup/stew with shredded chicken). I started with tomato pasta soup, followed by res en salsa verde con nopales (beef in green salsa/sauce made with tomatillos, along with Prickly Pear cactus paddles, sauteed I think). I was very pleased. I have long wanted to try nopales (noPALees), properly prepared ! When we tried to prepare, then cook them ourselves, a few times many (fifteen to twenty) years ago, they were … horrible ! We have always referred to nopales as being like green beans covered in snot. Properly prepared, they are tender on the outside, firm on the inside.

On our walk home we stopped at a panaderia and bought a chocolate cookie (for bedtime), a telera (to toast for breakfast), and two bolillos (to make sandwiches at lunch). Then we came across a frutas y verduras vendor truck at a busy street corner. We bought a small bag of (containing twenty-three) fresh, ripe, local strawberries. Cost ten pesos / eighty-two cents !

During and following supper we watched last Sunday’s episode of CBS 60 Minutes featuring interviews with (moron) Jim Jordan regarding “truth”, and Mexico’s president Andrés Manuel López Obrador aka AMLO.

Wednesday ; Sunny and very hot, 97° F / 36° C at 4 PM.

This morning we walked to Mercado de La Noria to replenish milk and eggs and vegetables. Mi amigo perro Lucho was once again in fine form. Maybe he likes spring / summer / hot weather ? In addition to visiting with us he was interested in visiting with some children that were in the mercado. He was wagging his tail, and doing “downward dog” stretches. Seemed pretty perky for an old guy.

Late this afternoon we went for a late afternoon long but slow walk around our neighbourhood. I did some income tax preparation work. I verified our flights home next week. I’m a bit paranoid, since our flights last year from Canada to Portugal and back were botched in both directions. I processed photos from the phone to the laptop. I did some review of training information for new volunteers / fosters with the Winnipeg Humane Society.

I watched another episode of Air Crash Investigations on TV. As a (former) private pilot (with no crash history !) I’ve always been fascinated by aircraft accident investigations. It was particularly interesting to me to review the accident investigation report of Cessna 172 C-GHBM’s accident upon take-off from the airport in Princeton, BC, after I had flown Hotel Bravo Mike for many years as a rental aircraft based in Penticton. Including flights from Penticton over Apex Mountain to Princeton and back to Penticton following the Similkameen River, passing right over our home in Riverside RV Park Resort near Keremeos, a flight Joanne particularly enjoyed.

Thursday ; Sunny and very warm, 82° F / 28° C at 3 PM, quite a bit cooler than the last few days.

This morning we walked to Lavanderia Cancer and dropped off our bag of dirty laundry. I was surprised … and balked … when the young man serving us told that it wouldn’t be ready until Tuesday evening. About thirteen hours before we’re leaving to return home to Canada. The owner … his mother, I think … intervened and revised our “ready” day and time to Monday evening. HMPH ! Guess we’re both going to be doing some hand washing of underwear this weekend !

From the lavanderia we walked … and walked and walked … about a mile to the Venezuelan restaurant Joanne wanted to have lunch at. There’s something about the structure of that sentence that probably has my grade three teacher rolling over in her grave. HA HA HA ! It was closed. <sigh> Using our i-Phone map function we found and walked to about another half dozen nearby restaurants. All closed ! ! !

Seems as if most restaurants are closed on the day before Good Friday, so that they can be open on Good Friday. And … <sputter> … apparently everyone other than us gringo tourists seems to know that ! We gave up “restaurant hunting” and headed to Chedraui for our final grocery shopping trip.

When we arrived at Chedraui, from a different direction than usual, we could see that food vendors were set up in the park across the street. And the only other time we saw food vendors set up in that park was on our first visit to Chedraui after arriving here in Oaxaca three months ago. And that first visit to Chedraui was also on a long weekend.

So … we had a wonderful “long weekend street food” lunch on our first visit to Chedraui three months ago, and … had a wonderful “long weekend street food” lunch today, on our final visit to Chedraui before leaving Oaxaca next Wednesday morning.

We did our final grocery shopping trip at Chedraui. Including indulging ourselves a bit at their panaderia. Quite a bit ! Before stocking up on pan dulce and tres leches cake I used the i-Phone to (facetiously) check today’s stock market status. YUP … still climbing ! (As it has been all winter !) Can afford all that baking. HA HA HA !

Good Friday ; Sunny and hot, 91° F / 33° C at 3:30 PM.

Joanne was ill today. Consequently our plans for the day were thwarted. We went for a walk around noon, but by the time we had walked around the neighbourhood for twenty minutes or so in the hot sun Joanne was feeling worse than when we began. We returned home and had a lazy rest of the day.

We had planned to go downtown to the Zocola late in the afternoon to view the Good Friday somber and silent Procesion del Silencio “parade” honouring the crucifixion and death of Jesus Christ that winds its way around downtown and the Zocolo, ending at the cathedral. It would have been an interesting perspective of local culture and religion.

Joanne becoming ill as we prepare to return home in just a few days is a terrifying “déjà vu” for me !

Saturday ; Sunny and hot, 93° F / 34 ° C at 5:30 PM.

Joanne continues to be ill. We are throwing everything in our drug arsenal at her ; Pepto-Bismal, Ciprofloxacin, Dicetel, Amoxicillin. We both desperately want for her to NOT be ill for the trip home … like she was last year coming home from Portugal ! At least she did not deteriorate further today, so maybe that’s a good sign, maybe we’re on the right track. And to ensure that she has every possible opportunity to recuperate, she did nothing today except rest. <sigh>

In five months in Mexico, Joanne has had four serious gastro-intestinal bacterial infections. I’ve had one serious, and one mild. <sigh> Mexican food handling protocol is extremely different than Canadian (and American). Mexico is still a third world country. Reliable electricity and refrigeration are certainties in Canada (and USA), they are NOT certainties in Mexico. Copious amounts of bacteria exist on foods here that our gastro-intestinal systems are not used to, and have little resistance to. Mexicans have exposure to these bacteriae from birth, and develop bacterial resistance that we gringos simply don’t have. <sigh>

And there are cultural differences that are a bit difficult to understand and accept. I remember (with horror) a few weeks ago in Chedraui. In the aisle of the meat department. A large display stand topped with a huge amount of crushed ice. And a lot of thin cuts of beef steak sitting on top of the ice. Meat “on sale” / special advertised price. Undersides of meat kept cool by crushed ice. Top sides of meat sitting exposed to very warm room temperature. A set of tongs, that haven’t been cleaned since before the store opened many hours ago, and has possibly been dropped on the floor numerous times, with which to pick up your chosen cuts of meat, and a stack of plastic trays on which to put your meat and take it to the meat counter to be wrapped and priced.

AND … <sputter> … a young boy, perhaps five or six years of age, poking his grubby little fingers into the cuts of meat, enjoying the squishy feeling of it. HA HA HA … oh, sure, little boy, that’s a lot of fun … until it results in a GI bacterial infection so severe that some poor old gringo almost dies sitting on the toilet !

I did some further work on planning next winter’s travels. I found a most intriguing accommodations opportunity / destination that inspires me to modify / enhance our plans made to date.

This morning I took our empty water jug to be refilled. To my surprise, Aqua Purificado La Noria was closed. <blink blink> It seems that only we gringo tourists lack awareness of what is closed, and when, during Semana Santa / Holy Week. Previously the operator of the water purification business showed me where the doorbell is to summon him if he is not at his storefront’s window. Good thing for me ! I rang the doorbell, and momentarily he showed up and opened the barricaded door. I asked if he was open today (DUH … obviously he wasn’t !) and held up my empty water jug. He sighed, looked at my empty water jug, thought for a moment, then told me to give him the jug and he would disinfect it, refill it, and deliver it back to me later, as usual. He obviously realized that if he didn’t do that we would have no drinkable water for the next two days. Muchas gracias, señor. He delivered the refilled water jug a couple of hours later.

Joanne sent me to Mercado de La Noria with a shopping list of items to buy ; frutas, verduras, queso Oaxaqueño, tortillas harina. I visited with Lucho, probably for the last time. Again … maybe dogs have intuition ? He seemed sullen and pouting at me today. Well … adios, mi amigo. You’ve helped me overcome my “pet deprivation”.

During and after supper we watched Amazing Race.

DSK

March 17 to 23, 2024 ; Oaxaca, Mexico

 Sunday ; Sunny and hot, 93° F / 34° C at 4 PM.

Went for a long walk this morning before lunch, before the day got really hot. At 6 PM we were too lazy to go for our late afternoon walk. TSK TSK ! I did some work on our income tax returns this afternoon, but other than that, we had a really lazy and unproductive day.

Monday ; Sunny and hot, 91° F / 33° at 2 PM.

On our morning walk we strolled by Obatex, the clothing designer (named Oba) business where Joanne ordered two custom designed, custom made, traditional Mexican design blouses. We stopped in to see if they might be ready, even though they are not scheduled to be ready until later this week. One was ready, Oba said the other one will be finished in a couple more days. That’s “Mexico speak” for maybe in a week or so. HA HA HA !

We interrupted her briefly while she was busy serving a woman with a young, beaming daughter standing beside her. The mother was picking out an elaborate material with which to have a quinceañera dress made for her daughter. A quinceañera (KEEN say an YERA) is a 15^th birthday / “coming out” party / welcome to womanhood, similar to a “Sweet 16” birthday party in gringo culture of days gone by.

This afternoon I made another couple of licuados / milkshakes with the flawed pudding that never congealed. This time I added peanut butter and fresh raisins to the coconut & pineapple pudding liquid, along with a lot of crushed ice and a bit of milk. EXCELLENT ! HMMMMM … maybe we should buy a nice blender like the one in this apartment. Lord knows, the MCC thrift store in Steinbach always has a bunch of them for sale for only a few bucks each.

For supper we walked to the nearby tiny restaurant Los Planchados. It’s a Mom & Pop restaurant. Sporadic opening hours. Two tables in the tiny courtyard of their home, seating seven. A pass through window from the courtyard to their kitchen allows customers to see them cooking. And … <shrug> … bickering. HA HA HA ! That don’t confront me none ! We do … and always have done … our fair share of that. Surprisingly to us, both husband and wife seemed capable of speaking as much fractured English as we can speak fractured Spanish. Nice couple. Responsibilities shared equally between them. Both were cooking. Both were serving. Decent food. Reasonable price. Joanne had burrito cochinita (a pork recipe), I had papas asados con suedero (a beef and potatoes recipe).

After supper we came home and watched last week’s episode of Survivor.

Tuesday ; Sunny and very warm, 84° F / 29° C when we returned home from the mercado at 3:45 PM.

We left our apartment shortly after noon heading for Mercado de la Merced, about 2 km. / 1¼ miles away. Before reaching the mercado we detoured to a restaurant a few blocks away that Joanne had selected for lunch. We found our way to the restaurant and … it was now a lavanderia. <sigh> Story of my Mexican life !

On the way back to the mercado we stopped and had lunch at Cafeteria Salamandra, a tiny hole in the wall restaurant we had been to before. Great food and milkshakes, reasonable prices, non-English speaking, dumb as a rock waitress … even in her own language … <shrug>.

After lunch, at the mercado, we wandered around buying fresh vegetables, some Salchichas Ejutla (local beef sausages), a large bag of freshly made potato chips (common in Mexico, unavailable in Canada), a bunch of confectionary items Joanne likes ; walnut & pecan brittle, some soft coconut candy type thingys, etc. On the way home we stopped at Quemen Panaderia y Pasteleria to replenish bolillos / sandwich buns.

We had to stop and rest on a bench in the shade in a park on the way home. Walking long distances on hot days certainly brings out the “decrepit” in us. <pointing at wifey> HA HA HA !

Wednesday ; Sunny and hot, 90° F / 32° C at 4 PM.

This morning we walked to Mercado de La Noria to replenish fruits, vegetables, cheese, milk, etc. When we arrived … <sigh> … the entire market was closed. For cleaning, apparently. No advance notification, of course. Viva Mexico !

When we went for our late afternoon walk we saw the Abeja Panaderia Integral delivery car a couple of blocks from our apartment. We used the opportunity to replenish sandwich buns for tomorrow and the day after. Well … and cookies. Well … and Joanne felt that since I felt entitled to cookies, she was entitled to a sprinkle coated chocolate iced donut. HA HA HA … hard to argue with that !

This afternoon I did some work on next winter’s travel plans.

Thursday ; Sunny and hot, 91° F / 33° C at 4:45 PM.

This morning we walked to Lavanderia Cancer and dropped off our bag of dirty laundry, then walked to Mercado de La Noria to replenish milk, tortillas, fruits, and queso Oaxaqueño. After making our purchases I wandered around the market looking for mi amigo perro Lucho. I couldn’t find him. I went to his owner’s food stall and asked where was he ? She walked me over to an abandoned stall where Lucho was lying against the concrete wall of the stall, trying … and failing, it seemed … to escape the high heat. Poor guy. Mexican culture and attitudes about mascotas / pets is extremely different than ours. I feel pity for poor guys like Lucho, an old, long haired dog who probably never has had and never will have a haircut, despite the heat of his homeland. And surprisingly, he doesn’t seem to be shedding any of his long (tangled and matted), thick coat of fur.

Oh, well … at least he’s not a “street dog”. Plenty of those in Mexico. Lucho is owned, has a home, is fed and well cared for by Mexican standards.

Late this afternoon we walked to Obatex to pick up Joanne’s two custom designed, custom made traditional Mexican style blouses. They are exquisite. Joanne is very pleased. In consultation with Oba, the designer / seamstress, Joanne selected the fabrics, the colours, the neckline styles, the sleeve styles, and most importantly, the embroidery styles / designs. Oba measured Joanne every which way, and the blouses fit like … well … like they were custom made ! <me looking forlornly in my wallet>

This evening I continued working on downloading and learning some new software / apps to both the laptop and the i-Phone to enable me to transfer “productivity” files back and forth between the two devices. I want to be able to transfer documents and spreadsheets back and forth as needed. I have just about accomplished / learned what I wanted. Maybe a bit more trial and error learning tomorrow.

Friday ; Sunny and very hot, 95° F / 35° C at 2:30 PM.

This morning Joanne slept late. Then wanted to cuddle. OK … cuddles. I left “cuddles” when the loud snoring in my ear became too much to bear. HA HA HA ! So I got up, made myself breakfast, ate it, then made breakfast for her. She finally got up, ate her breakfast, then went to shower.

I was doomscrolling on the laptop, waiting for her to finish her shower when I heard it. Her very loud, distinctive, cockroach shriek. I went into the bathroom to find her cowering in one corner of the shower stall, and a huge cockroach cowering behind the toilet. HA HA HA ! A Mexican standoff, so to speak. It’s bad enough when I have to stomp on a cockroach while wearing slippers, but I really didn’t want to have to do that on the wet shower floor. So … I stomped on the cockroach with a toilet plunger.

DAMN ! MISSED ! It ran out from behind the toilet and back into the shower. Now the shrieking REALLY began ! ! ! HA HA HA ! PLUNGE ! Got It ! EEEUUUWWW … what a mess ! Oh, well … at least the shrieking stopped. HA HA HA !

After the cockroach drama I took our empty water jug to Aqua Purificado La Noria to be disinfected, refilled, and delivered back to our apartment. We had lunch, I napped briefly, the refilled water jug was delivered, and we walked to Chedraui for our weekly grocery replenishment. WHEW … hot ! By the time we got to the Chedruai mall Joanne was ready for a milkshake at Chocolate Mayordomo before going into Chedruai. Yeah … no argument from me !

We did our grocery shopping, walked home, put away the groceries, and went out again, this time to pick up our laundry at Lavanderia Cancer. We prepared supper together, then during and after dinner we watched the final episodes of the final season of The Marvellous Mrs. Maisel, a Nextflix series that we watched during our time here in Oaxaca, from the premiere episode of season one, to the finale episode of season five. Great series !

Saturday ; Sunny and very warm, 88° F / 31° C at 3:30 PM.

This morning we went to Mercado de La Noria to replenish some items. Joanne specifically wanted Oyster mushrooms as an ingredient for tonight’s supper. The vendor who sometimes has them did not have any today. We’ll return tomorrow looking for some again, and change tonight’s meal plan.

As we entered the mercado mi amigo perro Lucho was lying in the doorway, hoping for a breeze I surmised. We stopped and I gave him some attention and affection. To my surprise, he stood up and wandered all around the mercado with us, tail wagging, asking for more attention and affection each time we stopped to shop. How sweet … and unusual for him. At one point he even bonked my foot with his paw asking for more affection. Bueno perro, Lucho !

When we were finished shopping he followed us out of the mercado and stood on the street corner watching us walk home. HMMMM … I wonder if he can somehow sense that our friendship is very soon coming to an end ? I don’t understand but definitely believe in the intuitive abilities of dogs.

We went for a walk before supper, then while Joanne prepared supper I VPN’ed into Miami, connected to CBS4 in Miami, set up to stream Wednesday’s episode of Amazing Race, HDMI connected the laptop to the apartment’s large screen TV, and we watched Amazing Race during and following supper. I discovered that I get a better result VPN’ing into Miami than I do VPN’ing into Toronto.

I’m proud of myself. I think my technology skills are fairly good for an old man.

DSK

March 10 to 16, 2024

 

Sunday ; Sunny and very warm, 82° F / 28° C at 4 PM.

Watched CTV’s W5 this afternoon (thanks to VPN). Episode on Romana Didulo and her cult’s “occupation” of a little tiny town in Saskatchewan. People of her ilk are truly a danger to society. And … Canada’s RCMP seem to be becoming more and more useless every day ! (I’m not a fan of law enforcement anywhere ! Collectively as agencies and individually as officers !)

On our late afternoon walk we were approached by an old gringa who had just arrived here from Michigan. She correctly surmised (based on our skin colour) that we could speak English. She asked about the safety of the neighbourhood, location of grocery stores, produce markets, restaurants, etc. I’m always admiring of single women of any age who have the courage to travel alone.

Monday ; Sunny and very warm.

This morning we took our empty five gallon water jug to be disinfected, refilled, and delivered back to us a few hours later, then walked to Mercado de La Noria to replenish milk, vegetables, and queso fresca. We took another long walk around the neighbourhood at dusk. After supper we watched last week’s episode of Survivor. Throughout the day I did some online research and browsing.

As Joanne was washing dishes after supper she let out a loud shriek ! I rushed to the kitchen just in time to see a huge cockroach scurry under the fridge. I asked her why she didn’t just stomp on it instead of hollering for my help ? Her response ? “Yeah … I’m not stomping on anything like that while wearing slippers ! That’s your job !” HA HA HA ! OKAY !

Looks like our gender roles are still pretty well defined, n’est-ce pas ? HA HA HA HA HA !

P.S. ; When I finished typing that a few minutes ago (a few minutes before midnight), my day was done. I closed my laptop lid, got my bedtime medications, and walked to the kitchen to get a cup of tea to wash down the pills. <BLINK BLINK> … STOMP

There ya go, sweetheart … problem solved ! <cleaning the bottom of my slipper> <and the kitchen floor>

Tuesday ; Sunny and hot, 90° F / 32° C when we returned home at 4:45 PM.

At noon we headed “downtown”, by bus, for an afternoon of browsing and exploring. Mercado Viente de Noviembre, Mercado Benito Juarez, Zocolo, La Casa de las Artesenias de Oaxaca … and many places in between. Bought some souvenirs, bought some gifts, had an excellent lunch on “Meat Row” at Mercado 20 de Noviembre, found a new, large panaderia and bought a LOT of pan dulce. Took a bus home.

Had a good day !

Wednesday ; Sunny and hot, 88° F / 31° C at 4 PM.

This morning we walked to Mercado de la Noria to replenish vegetables and tortillas. Before I saw Lucho, he saw Joanne. He actually pranced over to her, tail wagging, head high. HMPH … he never “prances” for me ! Seems to be a bit of a “Mama’s boy”. HA HA HA ! Not surprising, I guess. He belongs to a middle aged señora, and her elderly, abuela aged mother, each of whom runs market stalls across an aisle from each other.

This afternoon I spent forty-five minutes in online chat with a SKYPE agent trying … and succeeding … in getting a refund for the annual recurrent charge that they made to my credit card three days ago, for the next year’s worth of service … a month after I cancelled the service ! ! ! I vehemently HATE automatic recurrent charges ! ! !

We had another long walk before supper. We watched last Saturday’s episode of SNL while we ate dinner.

Thursday ; Sunny and hot, 90° F / 32° C at 5 PM when we returned home from our mall adventures.

We left home this morning just before noon. We took our bag of dirty laundry to Lavanderia Cancer, then from near there caught a bus that took us a long way down Avenida Universidad, past the large university campus, to the three shopping malls just beyond the south end of the university. The three large shopping malls are lined up all in a row, covering a fairly large piece of real estate. Picture the Mexican version of the Crossroads shopping area in Winnipeg on Regent Ave. from Lagimodiere Blvd. to Kildonan Place.

First mall we went to was Plaza TecnoModa. Three storeys. Huge, really interesting, somewhat upscale food court covering most of the second storey. Joanne’s online research led her to select three interesting food places to consider. She purchased lunch at her first choice, I selected my lunch from her third choice. Both of us were very satisfied with our choices.

We wandered around all the areas of the mall. Many of the outlets were phone, computer, and electronics stores catering to the university crowd. Everything in this mall seemed geared to the university crowd. Including the … <sputter> … large Teflon skating rink in the basement. HA HA HA … with bleachers for people to watch their friends trying to skate. And … believe me … mostly failing ! HA HA HA … yes, yes … Mexicans lack ice skating skills !

From Plaza TecnoModa we walked to the next mall, Plaza Del Valle. This was a large mall mostly dedicated to upscale, youth oriented, clothing stores. We wandered all around this mall, then headed to the last mall, Plaza Oaxaca. We had been here before, but had not wandered around the mall much, mostly we had been here to shop for groceries at Soriana, the huge supermarket anchor.

This time we wandered all around the mall, finding nothing much to interest me, Joanne found interesting clothing stores to browse. When we FINALLY … <sigh> … were finished browsing at clothing stores we went to Soriana and did our weekly grocery shopping. The bus trip back home seemed simple and easy, since we had done it once before.

Even though we took a bus in both directions, we walked 6 km. / 3 ¾ miles today.

Friday ; Sunny and hot, 91° F / 33° C at 4:30 PM.

Well ! HMPH ! Today we experienced the ultimate exhibition of “Mexico time” ! ! !

Two months ago I made appointments for two dental cleanings for today at 1 PM. I made those appointments with la doctora herself, face to face, in her office, assisted by her ten (?) year old daughter who spoke less Dick and Jane English than I speak Dick & Jane Spanish. Today I had in my wallet, wrapped around a thousand pesos, the cost of the two dental cleanings, the small post-it note la doctora gave me at that time, with “Marzo 15, 1 PM, limpieza dental” written on it by her.

We arrived at her dental office at 12:50. It was closed and locked. At 12:55 Joanne suggested I phone her. I did. It was a difficult and frustrating phone call. Before she even said “Bueno” (bwayno) upon answering, her baby was wailing into the phone. She must have been holding her loudly crying baby when she answered the phone. I identified myself (Esta gringo Daniel aqui), advised her in Dick & Jane Spanish that we were waiting outside her office for our 1 PM dental cleaning appointments.

Her response was in rapid fire Spanish … of course. The only part of her lengthy response that I could comprehend was that she thought our appointments were for May 15, not March 15. PHHHHHTTT ! The rest of her response was lost on me. I repeatedly explained “no comprende”. Eventually she hung up. I had no idea whether she told me to wait … or what ? Was she going to be there soon ? ? ?

We waited twenty minutes, then returned home to have lunch. As we arrived back at our apartment, I received a text message from her. One word. In English. “PLEASE”

WTF ? ! ? Did she mean “sorry” ? ? ? <shrug>

Oh, well. By the time we return home in 2 ½ weeks Joanne will be eligible to register for Canada’s new dental care program. I’ll be eligible in two months. I guess we’ll be getting our next dental cleanings at home in Canada, (mostly ?) paid for by the taxpayers.

At 6 PM we walked to Lavanderia Cancer to pick up our laundered clothing. Late in the evening we watched Wednesday’s season premiere episode of Amazing Race.

Saturday ; Sunny and hot, 91° F / 33° C at 4:30 PM.

Late this morning I walked to Aqua Purificado La Noria with our empty five gallon water jug to have it disinfected, refilled, and delivered to us later in the day, while Joanne walked to Mercado de La Noria to replenish fruits, vegetables, and queso Oaxaqueño. After dropping off the water jug I met her at the mercado. I didn’t see mi amigo perro Lucho today. Maybe Saturday is his day off ? HA HA HA !

We delayed our late afternoon walk, waiting for our water jug to be returned. The refilled water jug is usually returned to us within a couple of hours, but on Saturdays it takes longer. I suppose Saturday is a busy day for them. The refilled water jug was returned to us at 6 PM, and then we went for our late walk.

We needed some sandwich buns, so we walked about six blocks to Panaderia y Pastelaria Quemen and bought a couple of bolillos. Oh, my … how fortuitous … <snicker> … they sell rebanadas grandes de pastel tres leches con chocolate / large slices of chocolate “three milks” cake. HMMMM … I bet that’ll make an excellent bedtime snack. HA HA HA !

A few days ago I bought a package of pudding mix at Soriana. Yesterday afternoon Joanne prepared the pudding mix following instructions. Something went wrong. It wouldn’t solidify, just stayed a bowl full of liquid. We were going to discard it, then I thought … maybe I could make licuados / milkshakes with it ? Our apartment has an excellent blender. I emptied an entire tray of ice cubes into the blender, pulverized the ice cubes into slush, added some pudding liquid, ran the blender a bit more, et voilà … excellent milkshakes !

Today I received more 2023 tax information slips so tonight I continued working on our income tax returns.

So … at midnight I shut the lid to my laptop, turned off the desk lamp, and was taking my empty tea cup to the kitchen sink … AH, SHIT … STOMP !

DSK

March 3 to 9, 2024 ; Oaxaca, Mexico

 Sunday ; Sunny and very warm.

After lunch we headed to the Zocalo for an afternoon of exploring. We walked a few blocks from our apartment, caught a bus, and got off the bus a few blocks from the Zocalo. We wandered around the Zocalo, enjoying the sights and sounds. Sundays the Zocalo is a very busy place. While sitting and resting briefly I was captivated by one of the products of a vendor walking by hawking her wares. On impulse I bought an item that I will give to Joanne as my 50^th anniversary gift to her (in seven months).

We went inside one of the main tourist attractions of Oaxaca, the Catedral Metropolitana de Oaxaca Nuestra Señora de la Asunción, built in 1535, almost 500 years ago ! ! ! We wandered around inside the church, marvelling at its astounding (perhaps decadent might be a good word) interior. We had peeked in during our visit to the Zocalo a couple of months ago, but a mass was underway at that time, so we didn’t have an opportunity to wander around or see much.

After visiting the cathedral we walked around outside in the smaller park in front of the church, the Alameda de León. We rested in that park for awhile, then wandered through the large vendors’ village, enjoying seeing the amazing examples of traditional Mexican clothing and crafts.

We wanted to see the Museo Textil do Oaxaca (Textile Museum of Oaxaca) a few blocks away so walked over. I was getting dehydrated by then so we stopped at an aborrote and I bought myself a Coca-Cola Light. We were not aware that the textile museum was next door to the much larger Centro Cultural San Pablo, so we spent quite a bit of time exploring the many art installations and galleries of the cultural centre before going into the textile museum.

The current featured show / display inside the textile museum was an exhibition of Japanese kimono textiles, some contemporary but mostly old / historic. It was a lot more interesting than I had thought it would be. And it evoked some memories for me of my trip to Japan in the summer of 1971 when I was sixteen years old.

When we came out of the textile museum a few minutes before its 6 PM closing time we noticed a “tapioca” business (named Spyci & Sweet) across the street. We weren’t quite sure what that meant, so we went in. OH … sort of a bubble tea shop. I ordered a bubble tea fusion version of a Mexican chocolate milkshake which we shared as we slowly walked back home. It was great ! Well … except for when I choked on the tiny shrapnel piece of a Carlos V [quince (KEENsay / fifth] chocolate finger that I sucked up through the straw ! HA HA HA ! We arrived back home around 6:45 PM.

While Joanne prepared supper I renewed my subscription to Express VPN, now that the new season of Survivor has begun. By the time supper was ready, I had VPN’ed into Toronto, cued up Survivor on the (Canadian) Global TV network, configured my laptop to the apartment’s large wall mounted TV, and we watched Survivor while having supper. Pretty good for an old guy ! Well done, Daniel !

The Carleton University Computer Science PhD student / remote healthcare technology development researcher that I had an interview with a couple of days ago would be proud of me !

Monday ; Sunny and very warm, 84° F / 29° C at 5:45 PM.

This morning we took our empty water jug to be refilled, then walked to Mercado de La Noria and replenished fruits, vegetables, eggs, and Queso Oaxaqueño. And I visited with mi amigo perro Lucho.

In the afternoon I downloaded and processed all the photos I took yesterday. Around 6:30 PM we went for our late walk. We walked to a nearby clothing designer business that we have visited before. We knew it would be closed by the time we walked by today. Joanne wanted to verify the opening hours and days, planning to return soon to buy herself something.

We used some leftover puff pastry that we had purchased fresh, but then froze some, to make a chicken pot pie. It turned out quite well. While it baked I VPN’ed into Toronto, streamed SNL on Global, hooked up the laptop to the big TV, and we watched SNL while eating dinner.

Tuesday ; Sunny and very warm

This morning we went for a long walk to a couple of panaderias Joanne had found online. HMPH … both were closed. One was closed today, and the other seemed to be closed forever. Oh, well … it was a good exercise walk on a nice day.

At 4 PM we walked to the local clothing designer business that Joanne has been eyeing since our arrival. To make a long story shorter … we ordered two custom designed, hand made blouses, adorned with traditional Mexican embroidery stitching. <blink blink > WOW ! This lady’s work is … spectacular ! They will be ready in about 15 days.

Joanne selected the materials, the designs, the embroidery, the sleeve styles, etc. She revealed to me upon our arrival back at our apartment that she has been interested in this designer’s blouses because they are similar in design to the blouses that Pati Jinich wears that I admire.

Wednesday ; Sunny and hot, 90° F / 32° C when we returned home at 3:30 PM.

While researching restaurants online Joanne found one that she wanted to visit today. It was a long way from our apartment, in an area of the city we had not been to before. The restaurant reviews suggested that this hipster chef was on a fast track to culinary stardom, and readers should eat there before he became famous and too expensive. <shrug>

This city’s bus system routes and timetables are incomprehensible. We did the best job we could to determine how to get to the restaurant and back by bus, then just … took a leap of faith, and hoped for the best.

Around noon we took our bag of dirty laundry to the lavanderia then walked to the bus stop where we thought we were supposed to catch our bus. Each bus that came by we asked the driver if that bus was going to Barrio Reforma (the Reform neighbourhood) where the restaurant was located. The answers were … NO !

A woman waiting for a bus heard our questions to the bus drivers and offered assistance. Gracias, Señora. She spoke only Spanish, but we understood what she was telling us. She identified which bus we should catch, then pointed it out to us as it arrived. The problem is that most of the busses do not have their route numbers posted, and those that do, do not correspond to the “official” route numbers displayed online. Most of the busses only have six to eight prominent locations on that route written on their windshields. Which rarely if ever tells us anything ! And sometimes an “unofficial” route number that locals all know, but us turistas are still left in the dark !

We found our way to the restaurant more or less successfully. The meal was … okay, but far below our expectations given the reviews. We could have had a much better meal at many restaurants without having to travel an hour by bus across a large city ! The food was okay. The waiter was a young man that … wasn’t the sharpest knife in the drawer. When I asked him … in Spanish … if he spoke English, he looked like a deer in the headlights, said “NO”, and ran back into the kitchen. A minute later an older man came out. I thought the waiter had gone back to the kitchen to get an English speaker. No, no … he sent the chef out. The chef who spoke not a word of English, like the waiter.

SO … DUH … why send the poor chef out ? ! ? HA HA HA !

The restaurant had a large world map on their wall featuring small pictures of the foreigners who had eaten at the restaurant stuck on their home locations on the map. HMPH ! Not a single picture on Canada. Well … until today ! Or … until the waiter prints our picture from his phone. At least the waiter was able to take our pictures with his phone. Too bad he wasn’t able to (manually) prepare our bill without making arithmetic errors. HA HA HA !

After having our somewhat mediocre lunch we walked around the neighbourhood for awhile. It was a busier (and much more littered), more commercial area of the city than where our apartment is. It was too hot to walk around for too long, so … we caught a bus home. No help this time. And fortunately we got on the right bus. More serendipity than knowledge !

Thursday ; Sunny and hot, 91° F / 33° C at 3:15 PM.

Over the last few days, including this morning, I have been working out the details of our travels next winter. <singing> “CH-CH-CH-CH-CHANGES !” (with thanks to David Bowie)

This afternoon we walked to Chedraui and did our weekly supermarket shopping.

Friday ; Sunny and very hot, 95° F / 35° C at 5 PM.

This morning we walked to the nearby OXXO store and I recharged our Movistar cell phone plan. It expired three days ago. I learned by serendipity that Movistar grants a three day grace period beyond expiry date, then just before cancelling your cell phone service they make “an offer you can’t refuse”. HA HA HA … good marketing ! From Oxxo we walked to Mercado de La Noria to buy some vegetables. And to visit mi amigo perro Lucho.

HA HA HA … the more I visit with Lucho the more curious he becomes about us. Today he followed us out of the mercado, which I assumed was because he had to relieve himself. He’s done that before. But today … after following us out, and urinating, he then followed us halfway home before turning around and heading back to the mercado. I think he wonders where do we live ?

At 6 PM we headed out to pick up our laundry at Cancer Lavenderia. But first, we detoured to Chocolates (shockoLAtays) Filo, a nearby chocolate making business … and school. They offer chocolate making classes, mostly to gringo tourists, I think. When we arrived we realized it wasn’t really what we thought, it was more of a restaurant crawl / pub crawl over priced tour business than a chocolate making school.

While walking from there to the lavanderia we saw the Pan Integral delivery truck so on impulse I bought a couple of carrot buns to use in making an eggs Benedict concoction for supper tonight.

MMMMM … supper turned out really well !

Saturday ; Sunny and hot, 90° F / 32° C at 3 PM.

I made excellent pancakes this morning. Just like Aunt Lena taught me … about 55 years ago.

Around noon we suddenly could hear the sounds of … HUH … a marching band / mariachi band nearby ? I stepped outside our apartment, walked to the front door of our building’s courtyard, and opened the door. There was traffic gridlock on our one way street. I looked to the right and half a block away, on Calle de Carbonera there were … HUH ? … vaqueros (cowboys) on horseback. HUH ? ? ?

I walked to the corner. As far as I could see in both directions on Calle de Carbonera there were … cowboys on horseback, and … (non) marching bands and mariachia bands, all on parade floats. <blink blink> A parade ? ! ?

I stood on the corner for awhile watching the parade go by. Vaqueros waved at me. Gridlocked traffic honked angrily at the vaqueros. Not everybody was appreciating the parade. HA HA HA ! Maybe it was a protest more than a parade ? ? ?

The vaqueros were all dressed in their cowboy finest dress wear. The horses were all groomed and decorated in their finest. As a lovely white horse approached, it bucked its head back and forth a few times, looking upset, glared at me with side-eye, and as it passed by me, it kicked its hind leg out at me. AND … a horseshoe flew at me ! ! !

HA HA HA HA HA … poor thing was in distress because it was losing a shoe. As I picked it up … as a souvenir I initially thought … a following cowboy laughed and said something to me that I didn’t understand. Probably a good thing ! HA HA HA !

I walked home, eager to show my “souvenir” to Joanne. As I stood inside our apartment and told her all about the parade, and the horse throwing a shoe, I realized … <sniff sniff> … gee, this horseshoe smells like … horse shit ! HA HA HA ! ! ! I stepped outside our apartment, took a picture of my “souvenir”, and tossed it in the garbage can. Then went inside to wash my hands very thoroughly before lunch. HA HA HA !

Around 5 PM Joanne wanted to walk to a nearby chocolate store, Texier Chocolateria & Café, to see what they offer. It was a lovely small establishment, with a variety of packaged chocolate products to go, and freshly prepared products to have in their café setting. One employee, totally disinterested, providing atrocious service. And … as a retired retailer who has had to deal with many forms of both customer and employee fraud, without going into detail … <whispering> … she’s ripping off her employer ! Joanne had a malteado Oaxaqueño (traditional Oaxacan chocolate milkshake), I had a malteado frambuesa (raspberry chocolate milkshake). Mine was excellent, twice as much chocolate flavour as Joanne’s. After we each had a few sips, I mixed the two milkshakes so that Joanne’s would have as much chocolate flavour as mine.

We continued wandering around, exploring local areas that we had not been to before. We found a panaderia y pasteleria (bakery & cakery) that Joanne was interested in. We bought some bolillos (boLEEyos) / sandwich buns and a domo de burbuja (that was a new one for me … “bubble dome”) / tub of assorted small cookies.

DSK