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 15th 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
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