The Daily Grind...

If you Google 'daily grind', you'll get multiple sites for coffee shops and cafes. I chose to title this post as a tongue-in-cheek reference to the flexible and spontaneous routine of a retired person living the dream in the Yucatán. But, now that I think about it, we do begin our day with a cup or two of French press or, if we can't wait for the water to boil,  pop a capsule into the Nespresso machine and froth a bit of San Marcos semi for a latte. This actually takes place after we have walked and fed the dogs and cat. They come first. Always.

Next is a quick check of email and phone messages. I'm not sure why I check for phone messages because, to my knowledge, no one has left a voice message on our Amigo plan. That's a pay-as-you-go phone and data plan through Telcel. If there is anyone out there locally that has my cell number, would you please call and leave a message? Just be sure to call after midnight so that I will not automatically answer the phone. We'll consider this a test of my Amigo plan.

Once I've caught up on Facebook, checked my Blog roll for new posts, satisfied myself with news of the world,  and probably put on a load of wash, it's time for lunch. My God, where did the morning go? Are we going to snack, make some lunch, or run out to one of our favorite lunch spots? Whatever we decide, once we've eaten, it's time for a little more web surfing, reading, or a siesta. Every few days we will make a trip to the market, the grocery store or to Home Depot for a new dimmer switch to replace the one that has fried due to the fluctuating electrical grid that is Mexico. Once that is completed it is just about time for the late afternoon dog walk. My God, where did the afternoon go?

In between all this strenuous work we have managed to add soil to our little garden plots, plant a few new tropical specimens, keep our somewhat large pool sparkling clean, and make arrangements to ship our motor home back to the dealer in Florida from whom we purchased and who eagerly agreed to buy it back for a sum substantially less than what we paid. This last task involved a consultation with our favorite Yucatecan attorney, two visits to Hacienda (which turned out to be totally unnecessary), coordination with the shipping company and a United States custom broker, and multiple forms which had to be completed, scanned, and emailed. Oh, and money.

The upside to our visit to the Port of Progreso was that we had a mini-tour of this quaint gulf-side city as well as the vintage cottage, just steps from the beach, that is owned by our attorney. We also got to drive out to the very tip of the 8-kilometer bridge where we waited for almost two hours for the final inspection of the van before we said our farewell and gave thanks for our safe passage through Mexico.

It is a relief to have sent the motor home back to the US where, hopefully, someone else will make good use of it. After traveling through Mexico we decided that weekend excursions in a 20 foot van would simply not be that enjoyable. Also, motor homes are like large boats which require constant maintenance and, at least in the Centro, there is no covered parking that will accommodate this size vehicle. We accomplished our goal of moving to Mérida with our animals while avoiding the cramped confines of a car or the torture of shipping them by air cargo. After all, we were only kidding ourselves because we are both truly homebodies. An occasional travel adventure can be fun, but then it is always good to get back home where we can just putz around. Besides, even something as mundane as grocery shopping can be an adventure in Mérida.

Mexico comes to Virginia

We recently heard about an International Food Market that has opened in Norfolk. We were told that it has "everything", so we took a drive to check it out. It is an Asian-owned market, or at least it appears to be, but we were amazed at the variety of items from Mexico or Latin American countries.  For an hour or so, it seemed as if we were in our local market in the Centro. The only thing I could not find was our favorite brand of boxed milk, LaLa.
                 
                                                             (all photos from my iPhone)

There were 2 very long aisles with Latino products, mostly from Mexico
-everything you could imagine- canned goods, spices, condiments, sweets,
ground yellow corn meal of different textures, tortillas of all sizes, frozen or not,
all sorts of fruit drinks,  and yes, the REAL Coca-Cola in glass bottles made with sugar and not
high-fructose corn syrup.

The produce was as good or better than some of
our more upscale grocers and less
expensive.

 mayonesa with lime, anyone?

artichokes, tomatillas,  large green prickly things, cactus, and tons of
jalopeñas and habaneros, and limes 6 for a $.

 El Yucateco chipotle hot sauce, made in
Mérida, Yucatán
(one of a dozen or so brands)

large, beautiful, yellow, orange, red and
green peppers from Mexico- and packages of
dried leaves of all sorts, including
aguacate leaves?

Buying unrefrigerated eggs

We bought our very first eggs from the small supermarket on calle 60.  We've read quite a few comments on various blogs about the fact that, in the Yucatán, eggs are not refrigerated prior to selling. We eyed the shelf displaying eggs in the typical container, without a top, sealed with a clear wrap. I noticed a few people picking up the carton of a dozen eggs and reading a label attached to the package. I assumed they were checking the expiration date. On further inspection I realized that the date (fecho) on the carton was the date the eggs were packaged and presumably hopefully laid. I say this because the dates on various cartons were anywhere from one to three days prior to the current date. I picked a carton with the previous day's date (the freshest), we finished shopping and headed home.

How could millions of people in Mexico eat these unrefrigerated eggs day after day without some horrendous gastrointestinal disturbance? From what I've read about this issue, once you refrigerate them, keep them that way. If out at room temperature for more than a couple of hours, the eggs will sweat and this allows bacteria to enter the egg through the shell.  Look for a date no more than three days from the current date and you should be fine.

By the way, the eggs had a deep golden yolk, tasted fresh, and were delicious.

Top viewed posts

It's not surprising that My first post... is the most frequently viewed. People who stumble onto the blog are checking me out. The second most frequently viewed post is Guayaberas and jipi hats.  Not sure why. The third and most puzzling post is Tropic Thunder. The post is about touring the home when we were first in Mérida, including a video with the realtor. Tropic Thunder is no longer on the market so I'm thinking maybe I should place a SOLD notice on the post. Another post that garners large numbers of views is La Tlapaleria - Los Dos Camellos where I talk about shopping at the neighborhood hardware store. The fact that the title of this post is in Spanish could be one of the reasons. Who knows?

Dos camellos
(not to be found in Mérida)

Another statistic that I have found interesting is the audience. Just who is taking a peek? Besides the top three -  US, Mexico, and Canada - Russia comes in a distant 4th place with a couple hundred views, followed by Iran in 5th place with about the same number. Today I had two pageviews from Latvia. Latvia? I don't track URL's, so I can't tell specifically where the hits are originating.

Here's hoping that we will obtain lots of useful information when we attend the Fourth Annual Latin American Bloggers Conference in Mérida on November 5th.