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 50th 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 !
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 !
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.
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