Mexican Odyssey

 231125 – Lease Signing   Mi Casita Nueva 24/11/23 Friday Martha picked me up at 8:15 to go to my new house and sign the lease. Thanks to Martha, that went very smoothly and we made arrangements to get the gas hooked up and a few other small details. Afterward, Martha and I went to the Telmex office to arrange to have the internet installed in the new house. They told us that they would be there to install it on Friday or Saturday, which surprised me a bit, because it can take up to a week to get a modem installed in the Twin Cities. When that was settled, Martha took me to the supermarket for a few items and then dropped me at home. Around 3:00, I got a message from Telmex saying that they would come and install the internet that afternoon, so I grabbed an Uber and hustled down there. As one might expect, I waited until 8:00 and no installers showed up. Martha volunteered to pick me up Saturday morning and help me move some items and then call Telmex to find out if ...

 Thanksgiving Day - Sunday – Thursday   Sunday Brunch with the local Expats 19/11/23 Sunday I was invited to meet a bunch of the people from the Atlixco expat community for Sunday brunch at Vittorio’s, across the street from the Zocalo. I had been communicating with the group on WhatsApp and it was nice to be able to put some faces to the names. One of the expats is Aleksandra, the AirBnb host from my last trip to Atlixco. I didn’t get to meet her at that time because she was out of the country, but her husband, Carlos, was a great host who helped me when I was suffering from what I call Montezuma’s Prank, which is like Montezuma’s Revenge , but not so severe. There was some lively discussion and I found out that a couple of the expats are musicians as well. I hope that we will get together for some pickin’ & grinnin’ in the future. I had a ham, egg and tortilla concoction which was covered with mole and it was delicious. Mole (MOH-leh) is a savory sauce that is ma...

 18/11/23 Thursday – Saturday   This is a combi that goes to Bodega Aurrera Thursday 16/11/23 It was a pretty nothing day. I took my walk and then just hung around the house all day. The hot water to my shower stopped working on Wednesday due to air in the lines, and my landlady came to fix it, brought me water, and put my dirty clothes in the wash. Before she left, she offered to rent the place to me, outside of AirBnb, for  $8,000 MX per month (about $470 US). I told her that it was a generous offer but that I had already taken a place in the city which is a more convenient location for me. I also spent some time playing guitar, studying Spanish, hanging my clothes on the line, and, later, taking them down, folding and putting them away. Too much excitement! Friday 17/11/23 I got up early and did a little studying. At 9:30, I went to Tony and Shirley’s house to learn how to use the combi buses. These are small buses that have a bench seat behind the driver and...

 16/11/23 Monday – Wednesday Settling In   My band-aid: Paper towel and Velcro cable tie Monday 13/11/23 I slept for 8 hours last night, and that was according to Mr. Fitbit, who always docks me an hour or so for my bathroom visits! I don’t think I have slept that long in several years. I didn’t take a walk this morning because I had an early Spanish class with Martha S., which went well. This was an evaluation class where she quizzed me on what I already knew. I told her that my goal was just to be able to converse freely with Méxicanos. Now that she knows what my level is, she will tailor the next classes to help me achieve that goal. After that, I spent some time studying on my own, playing guitar and cooking. In the evening, I decided to unpack a computer monitor that had been delivered on Sunday, so I got out one of my seldom used knives to cut the tape. I knew that the first inch or so near the tip was dull, but I used it anyway, despite knowing full well tha...

 12/11/23 Saturday and Sunday Mi Casita   Outside my AirBnb, where it ends at the gated community Outside my AirBnb, the start of all my walks Saturday 11/11/23 At 2:00, Martha and I went to check out a couple of houses for rent. While we waited for the first landlord to show up (Mexican Time is not an exact science), we discussed the pros and cons of furnished versus unfurnished, and whether I would be open to an apartment ( departamento ) instead of a house. We had answered a lot of ads, but only 2 people responded with an appointment. We were hoping that more would get back to us before we called it a day. The first place was just a couple of blocks from my house. It had a beautiful, shaded yard and a covered patio with lovely brick arches. The house was very utilitarian, and it had a brick shed in the corner of the yard. It turned out the “shed” was the bathroom. It was a nice, modern bathroom with a shower and no tub, but the “outsided-ness” of it put it in the ...

11/11/2023 Saturday Getting Acclimated My Airbnb Garden Area   I’m starting to get acclimated to life here in Atlixco. I’m beginning to realize that I don’t live on a tight schedule anymore. I found myself skimming the Strib ( Minneapolis Star-Tribune ) this morning and not paying as much attention to the latest dire predictions. Thursday night I went to bed just before midnight, woke up at 3:00 AM and couldn’t get back to sleep to save my soul. I finally quit trying at about 4:00 and got up and started going over some Spanish lessons. At 8:30 I started getting drowsy, but I’m supposed to work from 9:00 to 11:00 so I couldn’t lay down then. At 10:00, the cleaning lady arrived, and I found myself moving my laptop from place to place to stay out of her way. She offered to put my dirty clothes in the washer, but I was on the phone and told her that it could wait until next Friday. When I took stock later, I realized I will have just barely enough clean clothes to last until ...

09/11/2023 Thursday Official Temporary Resident   Popocatepetl on my morning walk today It has been an eventful few days since my last post. Monday: I got the notice that my guitars and my box had arrived at the shipping place. I had just recently been included in a WhatsApp meetup group for expats in Atlixco, and, since I knew this would probably be more than one carload, I asked the group if someone with a pickup would be able to help me. After a while, my local facilitator and guardian angel, Martha Sceravino, volunteered to pick me up at 2:00 and help me. When we got to the place, I asked if I could unpack everything and leave the boxes and packing material. They said yes to unpacking, no to leaving the material. I had packed a couple of framed pictures, and I could tell,   when I moved the box,  that the glass on the frames had broken. Martha and I could see that there was no way to fit the shipment plus the cardboard in her car, so she recruited a taxi at ...

 05/11/2023 Sunday More Immigration Forms I woke up around 7:00 AM to another beautiful day; sun shining and birds singing. I got the crossword puzzles from the paper and then wrote the letter that I email to my family every Sunday morning, with the xwords attached. I was listening to Jimmy Buffett’s Barometer Soup album while preparing the weekly update and it seemed perfect. Martha was supposed to come to my place at 9:30 to help with some online forms that we will need for the canje , but she got held up in traffic so didn’t get here until after 10:00. We went online and had to verify my passport by uploading a picture of it and then filling in a form. After that, there was another form that requests trading my FFM for a Temporary Resident Card. Martha brought her adorable and well behaved dog with her and I was glad to have a canine in my house again, even for a little while. I can see myself getting a dog a bit further down the road. After she left I read the paper and s...

 04/11/23 Saturday Cooking   I woke up at 7:30 AM today after having gone to bed around midnight last night. I decided to take a lazy day and didn’t do much of anything all day. I didn’t even bother getting dressed, hanging around the house all day in my pajamas.   I spent the morning doing some online shopping. I don’t have a comfortable place to type on the computer, so I want to buy a table and an office chair. Martha suggested Mercado Libre , an Amazon-like site, only it is Méxican. I found a 4’ folding table and a desk chair for a reasonable price. I need to ask Martha about how the delivery works from this site; do they leave it by the door (not likely) or what? Also, I forgot to buy a tea kettle when I was shopping on Friday, so I may get one online.   I did some Spanish studying, cooked some rice and steamed some potatoes. I had rice and veggies for supper and I’ll have hash browns and veggies tomorrow for breakfast.   Tomorrow, I’ll see if I...

03/11/23 – Friday Shopping I went to bed around midnight and got up at 7:30, a remarkably long time for me to sleep. It’s another beautiful, sunny day and I’m feeling better, but still a bit lightheaded; my balance is off. I’m hoping it’s a temporary thing that will go away when I get used to the altitude.   Martha came at 9:30 as planned and we took off for the mall. Our mission is to get a printer and office supplies, some kitchen appliances, and groceries. Our secondary mission is to get a Méxican e-sim for my new personal iPhone so I will have a local number. We got to the mall at about 10:00 and our first stop was Office Depot . I looked at printers there and found one that I liked, but Martha suggested that we walk a few stores down and check out a store named Coppel , which is a small department store with a limited selection, but it is Méxican. I found the same printer there for about the same price, but they didn’t have the ink, so we went back to Office Depot fo...

 02/11/23 Thursday Dia de los Muertos – Atlixco Part 2   I got up this morning and felt a lot better, especially after downing a liter of water. I am feeling a bit lightheaded today, probably due to the altitude. I didn’t notice it so much on the first trip down, maybe because of the excitement of being here for the first time.   The sun is shining and it’s still a bit cool in the morning. There are small steps going to both bathrooms, which I made note of so I wouldn’t trip. I did some morning computer stuff; email, newspaper, etc., and then got dressed to take a walk. I rambled around the neighborhood, taking several breaks to rest, and got in about a mile. On the way back, I stopped at the little store and bought enough food to get by until tomorrow. Dealing with the señora at the store was ... interesting, but we made it through, getting tortillas, ½ kilo tomatoes, bananas, ½ kilo cucumbers, mini-muffins, and a couple of Coke Light. It came to $128 MX or about ...

01/11/23 Wednesday ( Getting used to Méxican date format ) Dia de los Muertos – Atlixco Part 1   Highlights: The night before my flight, I was unable to get everything done that I had wanted to do. I ended up disposing of a lot of my notes that I didn’t have time to scan, and I had to throw away a lot of stuff that I couldn’t find a home for. Between trick or treaters and the new owner stopping by with her husband, I just ran out of time. I had to leave the house as a bit of a mess. I emailed the agent that I would pay for clean up, if necessary.   My grandson, Jesse, gave me a ride to the airport motel and took back the car that his father had loaned me when mine died. I repacked one of the suitcases that I knew was overweight and ended up leaving behind a bunch of items that I decided weren’t worth the overage charge.   In the morning, everything went smoothly with the Uber to the airport and the check in. I had a small SNAFU when I called Martha, my guide a...