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

February 25 to March 2, 2024 ; Oaxaca, Mexico

 Sunday ; Sunny and hot, 90° F / 32° C at 5 PM.

I have been sick for six weeks ! However … after five days of daily double dosages of Ciprofloxacin … the end seems near ! It better be ! I’m almost out of Cipro. Again !

Note to self … and readers of blog ; bring plenty of Cipro when visiting Mexico !

This morning we went for a longer than usual walk around the neighbourhood. Because … we were enjoying the lovely weather, and … <whispering> … we sort of got a bit lost. HA HA HA !

Monday ; Sunny and very warm, 88° F / 31° C at 5 PM.

Today was a good news / bad news day.

Good news ; I am finally feeling healthier !

Bad news ; Joanne most certainly is not ! ! ! She has a severe gastro-intestinal ailment of some sort … again ! Deja vu ! ! ! “Stomach flu / food poisoning / Montezuma’s Revenge” ! ! ! Whatever you want to call it … a bacterial infection of the stomach and intestines. Good thing I haven’t yet consumed the last few remaining Ciprofloxacin tablets. We threw everything we could at this problem today ; Cipro, Imodium, Pepto-Bismal, Dicetel !

We drink aqua purificado. We disinfect all fruits and vegetables before consumption. After washing dishes we soak them in a disinfectant solution. We don’t purchase products from market vendors with questionable sanitary / hygiene conditions. By Canadian standards … that’s most of them ! But obviously, occasionally something slips through that our Canadian immune systems have not been exposed to for our entire lives, as is the case with locals, and … BOOM !

<sigh> This time, we think it was a bakery item purchased a few days ago. A stuffed puff pastry filled with a mixture of some kind of ground ham, cheese, and jalapeños. She had it for lunch yesterday. I can’t digest pork so I didn’t have one.

This morning I took our bag of dirty laundry to Lavanderia Cancer, then walked over to Juquilita Chocolate y Mole to pick up our two small bags of custom blended mole powders. The female half of the ownership told me a rapid fire Spanish tale of woe with a dismayed look on her face. I didn’t understand a word of it. But … it was obvious that our “custom blended” moles were not … and would not any time soon … be ready !

HA HA HA ! Another regular occurrence in Mexico. In Mom & Pop operations, it’s not uncommon for Pop to promise something that Mom … or anyone else … simply can’t deliver !

At 6 PM when the Panaderia Integral panadero delivery truck came by I ran out and bought a bunch of their products. Maybe chocolate muffins, honey buns, and carrot buns can sustain Joanne for a day or two. And at the very least, I can sustain myself with sugar cookies ! HA HA HA !

She fell asleep at 5:30 PM. I woke her at 8:30 when I had supper ready.

Tuesday ; Sunny and hot.

Joanne is still sick, but improving. Headed in the right direction, at least.

So … we had another lazy day while she recuperates. A short walk before lunch. A walk to the lavanderia to pick up our laundry just before dusk.

Maybe we’ll both be healthy enough tomorrow to go to Mercado Merced.

Wednesday ; Sunny and hot, 91° F / 33° C at 4 PM.

Well … we weren’t ! Both healthy enough to go to Mercado Merced. I was, Joanne was not. Maybe tomorrow.

Late this morning we walked the short distance to Mercado de La Noria, about three blocks away. We replenished milk, eggs, fruits, and vegetables. I visited with mi amigo perro Lucho. When we returned home Joanne was “out of steam”. Good decision not to go to Mercado Merced, more than two km. away.

As we were walking to the mercado we came across something quite unusual. Halfway between our apartment and the mercado there was a car parked on the street … with Ontario license plates. First Canadian license plates we’ve seen in our four months in three cities in Mexico.

Another “good news / bad news” day !

Good news ; after 46 days of cold / flu / covid (?) / respiratory viral infection / respiratory bacterial infection / bronchitis / pneumonia … I declare myself … <spreading arms wide> … (almost) HEALTHY !

<whispering> Maybe. Probably. I hope.

Bad news ; After one week, my replacement water flosser has died ! The first one lasted about six weeks ! What a worthless piece of made in China junk ! ! ! And it’s not worth spending another two hours on the phone with Amazon’s customer service agents in India because the best I could hope for would be a refund in the form of a credit on Amazon.com which is worthless to me. I already know from the last encounter that they can’t / won’t place the refund into my Amazon.ca account.

I have an idea ! Stay tuned ! I’ll post about it in about two months.

Thursday ; Sunny and very warm, 84° F / 29° C at 3:30 PM.

This morning we both felt very close to “normal healthy”, so … off to Mercado Merced we went. As we left our apartment we met new neighbours that moved into the suite above us a couple of weeks ago. They are an elderly couple from Chicago, she’s originally from Britain, they’re in their mid-80’s. They spend a couple of months in Oaxaca each winter. We chatted with them as we all walked in the same direction for a few blocks.

At Mercado Merced we bought the last two moles in powder form that we were looking for. We bought some meats. We bought a lot of fruits and vegetables. Joanne bought a lovely blouse. And some pecan / walnut brittle that she likes. <shrug> We had lunch at a really small restaurant near the mercado that she had researched online. While having lunch we chatted with the only other patron in this five table / ten chair restaurant, a young gringa from Germany. She had just arrived in Oaxaca and was having a leisurely lunch while she waited for her hotel room across the street to be ready for her.

We arrived back home about 3 PM, hot, tired, thirsty. At 4 PM I had a one hour ZOOM interview with a PhD student at Ottawa’s Carleton University who is doing research on remote healthcare technology development, particularly as it applies to seniors. It was an interesting interview. That opportunity came my way because I am a volunteer with the National Research Council of Canada’s Ageing In Place / Experts By Experience program.

Joanne prepared an exquisite dinner of chicken leg quarters with fresh raisins and fresh papaya in mole coloradito served over rice. The addition of the fruits to the mole coloradito actually makes it become mole manchamantales. It’s complicated!

Friday ; Sunny and very warm, 88° F / 31° C at 4:45 PM when we returned from shopping at Chedraui.

After an early lunch we walked to Chedraui for our weekly grocery shopping. While Joanne went into the supermarket to start shopping I walked around the outside mall surrounding the Chedraui store to the papeleria (stationery store) to buy a pack of pencil leads, then I went inside the Chedraui store and withdrew cash from one of the many ATM’s at the front of the store. There are half a dozen or more banks’ ATM’s inside the front entrance of the grocery store.

After we finished our grocery shopping we walked home in the blazing sun and heat. Joanne wanted to take a taxi home. I didn’t. We haven’t been outside as much as I would like due to illness. I’m sun deprived. And … spring has arrived here. But … she may have been right. Walking home with four shopping bags full of groceries was tiring and dehydrating.

Saturday ; Sunny and very warm, 82° F / 28° C when we returned home at 5:40 PM.

It was a lovely day and we enjoyed the warmth and sunshine on our late morning walk. At 5 PM we went out for our late afternoon walk and an ice cream treat. There is an ice cream shop near our apartment and Joanne has been wanting to stop there for a treat for quite awhile. I haven’t been feeling well enough to want an ice cream treat recently, but today was the day.

It’s a home based Mom & Pop business open only sporadically. Their prices are a bit on the high side, but … we appreciate how much effort and expense must go into a home based business selling a home made product. Yes, yes … they sell home made ice creams. Joanne had a large glass bowl of leche quemada / “burnt milk” flavour ice cream. I had a large bowl of half leche quemada and half limon / lime. Exquisite !

Their business occupies the living room of their house, with a take out counter and two tables seating a total of six. I have always been very impressed with the Mexican culture propensity to create one’s own paycheque, a trait that I believe is sorely lacking in Canadian culture.

DSK