Thursday was another day of setting up our time here. Since everything takes longer to do here every little thing takes forever.
We joined a gym, we didn’t actually work out, but joining was a big acomplishment.
We also found a laundramat and washed clothes. The Airbnb we are in is great, except no washer/dryer. There are a lot of places where you drop off your dirty clothes and they return them clean. But for at least this first time we wanted to do it ourselves.
While I sat with the clothes, Jeff got our stuff out of our storage locker. So we are back to only 2 storage lockers, Panama and Seattle.
On Wednesday I had my treatment. I’ve done it enough times in Merida to know the drill and fully embrace it. 10:00am selfie on my way in.
At 10:15 I finished signing all the forms including my thumbprint.
By 10:30 I was in my room and checking out the cookies.
I alway know the black container in the fridge has a sad looking ham sandwich.
I ate the fruit abd left the sandwich and jello.
I always resist putting on a hospital gown. So not needed for this treatment. But I put it in got in the hospital bed and ordered breakfast.
Eggs and more fruit. I skipped the apple juice and additional jello.
11:00 they took my vitals and started the treatment. It’s an IV which only takes 30 minutes.
11:30 was my doctor’s appt which was a check up and mini Spanish lesson. She speaks perfect English but likes to practice with me.
12:00 is the hostage time. This is the worst part for me. I’m all done, have already paid and have to wait, in the room until they agree that I’m all paid up and release me. This usually takes two hours. I settled with my book but it only took 30 minutes.
We had a great day on Tuesday don’t nothing. We’ll Jeff worked. But we didn’t do errands or anything stressful. This is the view from our balcony. Even though it’s really hot the mornings and evenings are still nice for sitting outside.
On Monday we went grocery shopping. Because we are going to stay put for awhile we were able to stick up on groceries. For the last few months we were moving around so much we never had much in the fridge or cupboards. This wasn’t even everything. We had another cart with us as well.
One thing we didn’t buy was Skwinkles. I think it’s red licorice with spicy seasoning on it. Or as the package says salsagheti
Our flight on Sunday was at 8:15am so we got to the airport really early. Thank God for coffee. We were so out if it we bought our drinks, some food and a pound of coffee to take back with us. We paid then wandered out without any of it. They had to call after us to actually take our purchase.
The flight from Colombia to Mexico was fine. When we landed they made an announcement. “The government of Mexico requires all flights to be disinfected. But don’t worry this spray is safe.
The flight attendant didn’t seem thrilled to disinfect us.
After a few hours at the Cancun airport we took a bus to Merida. This bus was Platino which was a higher level than first class. Besides extra legroom and WIFI we got water and apple juice.
We arrived back in Merida, checked into our Airbnb and immediately went out for tacos. It’s nice to be back.
On Saturday we moved from our Airbnb to a hotel near the, airport since we had an early flight on Sunday. It’s good we did because the trip to the airport hotel took over an hour and went over a mountain and through another mountain via a really long tunnel. While we waited for our Uber we watched a guy on the 5th floor of a building lower a rope for his door dash delivery then hoist it back up.
You can see him top right pulling up his red bag of food.
For dinner we went to a steak place since Colombia is known for their meat and we hadn’t really had much on our trip.
The decor was supposed to be American but it was a weird mix.
When we ordered gin and tonics they told us they only had beer. We pointed to a wall of alcohol but they said it was just American decoration.
The above is not for actual drinking. Jeff did manage to get them to make us drinks but but with the Tanquery on the wall but with some Gordon’s Gin behind the bar.
This religious statue didn’t really fit with the Americana theme on the wall.
But, the steaks were amazing and they even came with corn on the cob and a baked potato.
On Wednesday we started the day by going out to breakfast. Jeff got “American Breakfast” which was eggs, pancakes and bacon. I got a more got traditional breakfast of eggs scrambled with tomatoes and a cachapa which was like a thick sweet corn pancake with cheese on top. And I had a traditional hot chocolate to go with it. It was good but between both Jeff and I, we could only drink half the mug.
It was prefect weather so we walked around and soaked in the sites. Above is a fruit salesman. You can buy fruit in the grocery store or from him.
Here’s how recycling works.
Above is the day care across from our Airbnb. I know it’s open like that for air flow. Our door is the same, but from our balcony it looks like the kids are in prison. But a very happy prison. We can hear then laughing and playing.
The door to our Air bnb is the same. It’s just funny seeing kids behind the bars.
On Tuesday we went for a nice walk. It was paved but straight uphill. After our walk we were hungry so walked to a little fast food type shop. Jeff discussed food options with the chef and we sat down to wait. There was a little bench in the mini mart where se sat for 20 minutes.
After 30 minutes they found us a table and chairs, set them up and put this plate of potato chip crumbs out. I assumed this most be a topping for the food the would be out shortly.
After 45 minutes we were pretty good friends with these guys. After 55 minutes the potato chip crumbs were long gone, our new friends went home and the waiter came out to ask us if liked garlic sauce. He also said what literally translated to “It’s a shame about the wait.” I’m pretty sure he meant sorry for the wait but it cracked us up.
After an hour this came out. I think it was made of yucca dough and filled with cheese. Normally something like this I would think was pre-made and just fried or microwaved to order. But since it took an hour I’m guessing she made the dough to order. Maybe even milked a cow for the cheese.
Finally after an hour and 15 minutes the chef brought us our main dish she was really nice an apologetic for the delay.
I don’t remember the name but it was like a stew of plantains, yucca, bread chunks, steak and sausage covered in cheese, guacamole, tomatoes and garlic sauce. She said it was a special thing they made on the coast which is where she was from. I can see if she made each element from scratch how it took over an hour.
It was a long lunch but an experience which is always fun.
