A week in my Mérida life part 2

Monday ended with swimming and hanging out. I don’t remember what the temperature was, just that it was a lovely afternoon.

Having been on the pantry diet for awhile (eating what’s in the pantry) we decided to go to Walmart after seeing the chiropractor. Walmart is not my grocery store of choice, Megabalcones is my favorite. However, Walmart is close to Alerfin. Since there really was very little food in the house, we had salad for breakfast. I like salad for breakfast, especially when it’s my multiple choice salad. Greens plus fresh fruit plus seeds or nut plus dried fruit and some sort of cheese. The dressing is usually oil and vinegar. We had romaine,apple,pepitas, dried cranberries and some shredded Italian cheese mix. Having bought some avocado oil at Costco I mixed it with  rice wine vinegar for the dressing. Yum.

Leaving home around ten, we walked to the bus stop at C 56 x 59 y 57 looking for the 52 bus. I think it may have been a block further north. However, we first stopped at the Sterens on Calle 59 for Husband to practice his Spanish  plus buy a battery for our digital scale and a replacement bulb for his magnifying lamp.While Sterens carries the lamp, it doesn’t carry the replacement bulb. The clerk was nice enough to photo copy the information regarding the special bulb for us, recommending Fernandez as a source. Husband had eleven pesos on his Sterens monedero so the we only paid two pesos for the battery. In the USA my wallet was full of credit cards, here it's full of monederos, cash rewards cards. I have one for Mexicana Comercial, Chedraui, Sterens, Sears, Farmacias Ahorros and Chapur.

During the bus ride, we decided to check out the Chedraui Montejo just north of Walmart for our groceries. We had heard great stuff about Chedraui Norte and wondered if this location also carried some imported goodies. Feeling good after being adjusted, on the spur of the moment we decided to grab a bus north to Gran Plaza  see a movie, then dash across the street to shop at Chedraui Norte.

Gentlemen advert your eyes please. I also wanted to look for a bra that actually fit, Sears being the best bet.. Since giving up grains and losing some weight, I no longer wear the same size bra. Wearing a 36DD instead of a 38D made finding a bra a challenge, but now that band was too loose! Using an online bra size calculator because I didn’t like my manual calculation,my fears were confirmed. I need a 34DDD (or E), a doomed quest if I ever saw one. My only remedy besides ordering one online is making my own. So I will be attempting to make a bra. I really need to lose those twenty pounds so hopefully I will slim down to a 34 D or C. Hope against hope I thought I'd see what I could find in the mall. Okay, back to our general audience content.

Where was I? We wandered the mall, drinking agua frescas de chaya y piña,stopping at El Fogoncito for some alambres de pastor and having coffee at Segafredos. Actually, I wandered around fruitlessly looking for a bra shop called VickyForm that I had heard was located in the mall, while Husband rested and drank his coffee in a leisurely manner. Why does Gran Plaza only have one directory in the entire mall?

Battleship was the movie we saw. We didn’t have high hopes but figured it was just US$3.25 each to see a first run film. Husband described it as an updated Topgun with aliens. It was a fun movie, no great drama but a fun flick.

Taking our lives into our hands, we dashed across the many lanes of traffic from Gran Plaza to Chedraui Norte. Eagerly checking out the imported food section, we didn’t find anything we needed. They do have a nice selection of Thai curries, but I had already bought some at Pacsdeli. They have lots of nice pastas but we don’t eat pasta anymore. The imported oil section did yield chia seed oil, I have no idea what one would do with it, but I contemplated buying it anyway until I saw it was almost MN$170 for a slender bottle.

There must have been a run on garlic because they were completely out, one of those mysterious shortages that occasionally happen here. Redeeming themselves by having a plentiful supply of  camote amarillo (sweet  potato) and a few nice eggplants, vegetables which Chedraui Itzaes often doesn’t stock, it still isn’t worth the trip for us. We walked out to the carretera Progreso hoping to flag down a taxi. However, when a bus pulled up almost immediately, we shrugged and hopped aboard.After reaching final stop around the corner from the Peon Contreras, we quickly flagged a taxi, not even arguing when the driver asked for forty pesos for a twenty peso trip. Being cheap by nature, I justified it as we paid MN$52 whereas a taxi for the whole voyage would have run seventy. Reaching home just in time to feed Mr. Dog his 6 pm dinner, we hopped in the pool.

Wednesday, was a more quiet ordinary sort of day.Making a batch of dog food, taking naps and swimming occupied our time. La Muchacha came and cleaned the house. I finished sorting my clothes and did laundry. It rained and cooled the heat of the day away.

Normally on Thursdays, we stay home in the morning because it’s our appointment/services day. We  were still surprised by a knock on our door at 8:30am. "That’s a bit early for the pool guys, isn't it?" I asked Husband as he went to the door. I was correct, it was our masseuse knocking. We were both scheduled for massages (he has one every 15 days and I have one once a month)  but usually she doesn't come until 9:30 or 10 depending upon traffic and taxis. Explaining that she knew that she was early but her ride wasn't available later, she offered to wait. We opted for an earlier massage. Amazingly, the pool guys showed up early too. Servicio a domicillio is one of my favorite things about Mexico. My manicurist comes to my house, our masseuse comes to the house, the doctor makes house calls, the pharmacy and supermarket will deliver, even the vet makes house calls!

Now I am sitting on the terraza typing this blog post. It’s scheduled to post tomorrow. CFE is working on the transformer kitty corner from our house,so who know how long the power will be out? ¿What do I do all day?  The same stuff you do but with a Mexican flavor.