Easter Sunday ; Sunny and hot, 95° F / 35° C at 3:30 PM.
Joanne continues to feel ill, but slowly improved throughout the day. She declined to participate in our morning exercises routine, or noon time exercise walk, but felt well enough to join me on a slow walk around the neighbourhood at 6:30 PM.
I went for a walk by myself before lunch. As I walked by Mercado de La Noria, expecting it to be closed due to Easter … it was filled with people and noise. A real “happenin’ place”. The small food court was filled to overflowing with loud, boisterous family groups, enjoying Easter brunch, I surmise. Dressed to the nines in their “go to church on Easter” finest. Although … here in Mexico … there is a very fine line between “go to church on Easter” finest clothing, and … <cough cough> … “porn film shoot” finest clothing. HA HA HA ! The local women must watch too much telenovelas.
On impulse I decided to buy a few items to provide lunch provisions for our remaining few days. I bought five eggs (sold individually for three pesos / twenty-five cents each), a couple bolillos / sandwich buns, and an aquacate (agwaKAtay) / avocado (ten pesos / 82¢). Mi amigo perro Lucho was not at work today. <sigh>
On our late walk, at the end of our block, at 6:30 PM, was … a horseshoe arrangement of perhaps fifty chairs, blocking the entire street, covered by a sun tent, the kind that flea market or farmers’ market vendors might use. <blink blink> HUH ? The building at the corner has shown no life during our three month stay here. BUT … tonight, the doors and windows were open as we walked by beside the sun tent and chairs. One large room looked like it was a commercial kitchen. The other large room was filled with large Easter floral arrangements, and lit religious candles. <blink blink> HUH ?
Large family Easter dinner ? Impromptu Easter twilight church service, with flowers, candles, and appies ? Holy Roller revival meeting ? ? ? Beware of the Kool-Aid !
There truly seems to be no municipal regulations / restrictions of any sort here. Want to block the street with a sun tent and fifty chairs ? No problem ! Anything goes !
During and after supper we watched yesterday’s episode of Saturday Night Live.
HMPH ! Just had an earthquake (at 10:35 PM) ! ! ! Well … THAT was kind of interesting !
Monday ; Sunny and hot, 91° F / 33° C at 5 PM.
Joanne is almost healthy. Should be good to go on Wednesday. I had a somewhat frustrating, but productive day, taking care of “return home” chores and more.
Perhaps the most important achievement of the day was … <insert drum roll here> … I secured a reservation for two months next winter at Xanadu Estate in Cobble Hill, a small seaside village on Vancouver Island, halfway between Victoria and Nanaimo (see www.xanaduestate.ca).
I verified that our automobile insurance will be reinstated upon our return home. I verified that some work that needs to be done in our Dugald Estates suite a week after our return will be done. I left a message and am expecting a return call from the Winnipeg Humane Society volunteer/foster team. I left a message and am expecting a return call from an apartment hotel in downtown Victoria regarding a reservation for next winter season. I paid some difficult to pay bills online. Long story … online banking drama ! Required two phone calls to Montreal for assistance by technical support agents. I filled out and submitted our ArriveCan forms. I worked out check-out details with our landlord here. And finally … at 6 PM we walked to Lavanderia Cancer to pick up our laundry which has been there since noon last Thursday. <sigh> Not ready ! Not surprised ! ! ! <sigh> Guess we know where our morning walk tomorrow will take us ! ! !
During and following supper we watched last week’s episode of Survivor.
Tuesday ; Sunny and hot, again 95° F / 35° C at 5 PM, on our final day in Mexico.
GOOD NEWS ; Joanne’s gastro-intestinal distress is over !
BAD NEWS ; She now has a cold … again ! <sigh >
We just can’t seem to catch a health break this winter in Mexico !
Around noon we walked to Lavanderia Cancer to pick up our washed laundry. WOO-HOO … finally ! Clean underwear ! By the time we had walked half way to the lavanderia Joanne was complaining about the heat. I suggested that she return home and I would continue on to the lavanderia. She declined my suggestion. <sigh> We picked up the laundry and walked home. I left her at home to sort and pack our clean laundry … except for some clean underwear … and I walked to OXXO to buy cold medication and lozenges to ease her discomfort today and especially on tomorrow’s long (about 18 hours) journey home. Oh, joy … ANOTHER long trip home with a sicko … just like last year ! <sarcasm>
After lunch Joanne slowly prepared and packed for departure early tomorrow morning. I tried to achieve as much as I could online and on the phone prior to leaving. Once we’re home the “at home” priorities will prevail. My main achievement of the day was securing a “long term winter stay” reservation for a suite at our chosen apartment hotel in downtown Victoria, BC for next December and January. WOO-HOO ! I now have the accommodations for the entire winter on Vancouver Island arranged. Well done, Daniel !
I confirmed the reactivation of our home TV and internet service tomorrow. I secured a meeting in a week at the Winnipeg Humane Society to complete our new volunteer / foster paperwork, and … <insert drum roll here> … be assigned our first foster animal, probably a senior cat. I arranged for another replacement water flosser to be sent to our home in Canada. Remember ? The first one lasted about two months. The second one lasted about a week and a half ! Maybe third time’s the charm ? Probably not !
I tried repeatedly to “check-in” for our flights tomorrow, but the Delta online check-in system would not allow that. Perhaps it’s not possible to check in online for flights that start in one country, fly from point A to point B within that country, then fly to a second country, then to a third country ? Oh, joy … just what I needed / wanted … airline drama ! Memories of WestJet ! ! ! <more sarcasm>
Joanne was responsible for managing our food, so that we would have little to no food left when we leave here tomorrow morning. She did an excellent job. I was responsible for managing our cash, so that we would have little to no Mexican money left when we leave Mexico tomorrow. I also did an excellent job. After paying our restaurant bill tonight, I have 300 pesos ($24.59) left for the taxi ride to the airport early tomorrow morning, and 500 pesos ($40.98) left for lunch in the Mexico City airport tomorrow.
At 7 PM we went out for our “farewell to Mexico” dinner at Oscuro Brebaje, the local upscale restaurant where I ordered a custom made birthday cake for Joanne, and where we went once for Sunday brunch. Tonight’s dinner was excellent. And Joanne wanted to share a piece of their pineapple pie, but … after dinner we were too full. We ordered the pie anyway, and asked for it “para llevar” (yayVAR) / to go. We might have it as a bedtime snack tonight, or more likely as breakfast at the Oaxaca airport tomorrow morning.
Wednesday ; Oaxaca to Mexico City, Mexico to Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA, to Dugald, Manitoba, Canada
Sunny and hot in Oaxaca and Mexico City. Not so much in Minneapolis and Winnipeg / Dugald !
Awoke at 5 AM. Left apartment at 6:50 AM, pre-arranged taxi waiting. Arrived Oaxaca airport at 7:15 AM. Waited in long line to check in at AeroMexico counter … at 8 AM. HMPH … forgot that our Delta Airlines tickets did not include luggage charge. Had to pay 1000 pesos / US$60 / CA$82 for 2 pieces of luggage. Through security at 8:15 AM. Boarding at 8:45 AM. Wheels up on time at 9 AM.
Landed on time in Mexico City at 10 AM. HMPH … fifteen minutes of taxiing and waiting for available jetway. Not off aircraft until 10:30 AM. Walked and walked and walked about halfway to next gate, then found place near sandwich restaurant … City Baguette, Mexican version of Subway … to sit and rest. Both of us falling asleep ! Slept poorly last night … again. Insomnia for me, coughing for her !
Around noon, I bought a small container of milk for me and a small container of chocolate milk for Joanne at a clone of the 7-11 convenience store chain, then a sandwich at a chaotic Mexican clone of the Subway sandwich chain, and we had lunch. We found our way to our departure gate, then each of us went to the restroom and changed from shorts to long pants. I went to a money exchange booth and converted my remaining pesos to … < rolling my eyes> … forty dollars Canadian and two dollars American, with five pesos left over. <sigh> Looks like I now have a five peso coin as a souvenir. HA HA HA !
At 1:30 PM we boarded our Delta flight to Minneapolis. We were wheels up fifteen minutes late, at 2:15 PM. We landed in Minneapolis thirty minutes early at 7 PM. However … <fume> … because we were thirty minutes early, we sat at the jetway for twenty minutes waiting … <fume> … for a “jetway agent” to show up and position the jetway so that the aircraft door could be opened.
AND … <sputter> … just to remind me of the magnitude of my contempt for the United States’ Customs & Border Patrol agency … <sputter sputter> … and their incessant “make work for ourselves” … Canadians landing at Minneapolis simply to make a connecting flight are required to “clear customs”, then retrieve their luggage, simply to walk it over a few feet to have it checked in again and sent to the connecting flight ! ! ! Ostensibly … <sputter> … just in case the CBP agent decides that the luggage should be “examined”. Examined ? ? ? ! ! ! ? ? ? Neither we Canadian connecting passengers, nor our luggage is really “entering” your shithole of a nation, you assholes ! ! !
<taking a deep breath> And we’re not finished yet ! ! ! After retrieving our luggage, and re-checking it in again a few feet later, we had to go through security again. Despite never having left the “secure” boarding gate area of the airport. Including … <sputter> … taking off our shoes, and … <more sputtering> … I had to go through a full body scanner because I “have metal in my body”. My sternum has been sawed in half for cardiac bypass surgery, then the two halves were “re-connected” using a series of titanium clips and wires.
That whole Customs & Border Patrol bullshit took forty-five minutes ! ! ! It took us another forty-five minutes to walk all the way through Minneapolis Airport’s Terminal 2, through a long series of covered walkways to and all the way through Terminal 1 to our connecting flight’s departure gate. WHEW ! Minneapolis Airport is another HUGE facility, like many of the airports we’ve been through in the last two winters ; Pearson in Toronto, Lisbon in Portugal, Mexico City. However, Minneapolis Airport is clean, well organized, relatively quiet, and … civilized !
While walking we were checking out where to have supper. After finding our departure Gate 20 C we backtracked to the area around Gate 12 and went to Chick-fil-A for supper. We had never been to a Chik-fil-A before. It was pretty good. Joanne was a bit reluctant to eat there because of her vague recollection of news about its “association” with MAGAts. While eating supper she Googled it to refresh her memory.
AH, yes ! The MAGAts / American “conservatives” / RWNJ’s / “deplorables” (that term is so apt !) boycott Chick-fil-A because it is so … woke ! HA HA HA HA HA ! My kind of place ! ! !
We finished supper and were back at our gate at 9:30 PM to board our 10 PM flight. Without explanation from Delta Airlines we did not board until 10:15 PM and were wheels up half an hour late at 10:30 PM. Our first time on an Embraer aircraft. Very comfortable.
We landed in Winnipeg fifteen minutes late at 11:45 PM. We were through customs (thank you ArriveCan) and had retrieved our luggage by midnight. We found an ATM, withdrew cash to pay a taxi, unloaded from our luggage and put on sweaters and jackets, and were into a taxi by 12:15 AM. BRRRRR … winter ! ! !
We were home at Dugald Estates at 1 AM. <breathing deep sigh of contentment>
Thursday ; Sunny and … well … cold ! It’s still winter !
First thing this morning … AHHHH ! ! ! ! ! Instant, unlimited, high pressure hot water ! What a luxury ! What a privilege ! AND … <snicker> … no cockroaches in the bathroom ! HA HA HA !
Saturday ; Joanne’s cold has worsened since we arrived home. But … it hardly matters. We’re home, we’re comfortable, she’s resting a lot. I’ve already made two trips to PharmaSave in Oakbank (nearby town) to purchase lots of drugs por mi amor.
DSK
