Jeff and I are in an Air Bnb right now but we want to move to a long term rental that that we can stay in for a few months. We found a realator company that is highly reccomended by expats. This is the car one of them drove. It was a motorcycle motor. It was super small and not something I’d want to ride in for more than a few blocks.
You wouldn’t think an oven would be a big deal but most apartments here don’t have them.
The above apt has a nice view until you realize it’s overlooking a Walmart.
On Sundays they close one of the main roads to bicycles. We saw this in Panama and Colombia too. Such a cool thing. Maybe it’s everywhere and I just never noticed.
It was 102 for a high so we got out early and didn’t eat breakfast. This nice tamale seller gave us a free sample of a strawberry tamale. It was so good we boought some chicken ones. I am going tamale crazy.
I’m also going door crazy in Merida.
By 11:00 it was already too hot so we went into a 2nd floor coffee shop. This crossing guard was cutting a rug out there in the heat dancing.
Jeff and I are not wine snobs, but when someone suggested Mexican wine we were both dubious. But it was really good. Who knew. It wasn’t the best wine of our lives but I’d buy a bottle.
It was 102 degrees here yesterday, but nice in the morning. We went to a Slow Food market. I guess Slow Food is worldwide. It’s an organization that promotes organic and ethical foods. The vendors were so nice and patient with my Spanish and proud of their products We bought cheese, sausage, bread, veggies, honey and tamales which we ate there.
Our Airbnb is in a, really modern part of town. But on our walk today we found a quiet street with colorful buildings.
Next we stopped for quesadillas.
It was at this point we realized that Merida was on Mountain time. An hour later than the west coast and an hour earlier than Chicago. It’s really confusing if you look at a map. Merida is directly south of Illinois but is an hour earlier.
Today I got my maitenance drug. Since I get it every three weeks this was a big milestone. It all went well which means we can stay longer.
It was crazy though. This is how it went in Panana. I walked over to the clinic. The infusion center was a bunch of recliners lined up. I got the infusion, an hour later I walked home.
Here, I had to bring Jeff and we were assigned a hospital room. There was a really comfy sofa and cookies.
My oncologist, who I had had a zoom appointment in Panama and and in person appt the day before hung out with us in the room.
After a really long wait I got the infusion. During the 30 minute treatment they insisted I lie in the hospital bed. Then sandwiches arrived.
Also rumors circulated among the nurses that Jeff spoke really good Spanish.
We were told that I couldn’t leave until insurance approved the charge and it could take 4 hours. Jeff asked if they could put a hold on our credit card since it could be 3 weeks before insurance approved it. It was a nice room but I didn’t want to move in.
Jeff went to pay but I was not allowed to leave the room. This was the text with the bill dept.
I was not thrilled to be held hostage and crammed everything we didn’t eat into my purse. I scored an apple, two granola bars, 4 sugar packets and some cookies. There was also a hotel type set of soap, shampoo and conditioner. They probably wonder when I had time to take a shower.
Finally I was released and they insisted I leave by wheelchair. It took 4 hours which was silly but my doctor is great and I got great care.
Today we unusually nice out according to the locals. It was beautiful and felt about 20 degrees cooler than Panama City. We took a really long walk into the centro. There were so many great door photos. Here is the first one I saw.
After our walk we went grocery shopping. The store was similar to an American supermarket but there were a few differences.
I could be wrong, but I don’t think pig sized pork rinds are common at Safeway.
Is Twix Coffee a think l thing in the US?
I know dried chilis ate available, but in bulk?
We weer able to find everything except few a,few things like canned garbonzo beans. But we did find the dried. So next time I remember to soak them the night before and have 3-4 hours to cook then we’ll be all set.
On Monday we took a bus from Tulum to Merida. The bus, was great, air conditioned. Comfortable, quiet. But it was long. Somehow we didn’t realize it would be a 5 hour trip.
But once in town we got an Uber who gave us a quick tour of the town. Then we got to our Airbnb and we ordered in food.
