Every where one looks, down here, there is a taxi, waiting to take you anywhere in the city.
Most are pink and white, easily visible through the hundreds of other cars, all going this way, and that. Each has its own identification number on it, and, those that we have used, have been fairly clean in the interior.
Most of the gentlemen that drive these taxis are of middle age, and eager to talk about what is going on in the US. One of the drivers, on a long trip to “downtown”, did not stop talking the entire way. He could not get enough of hearing about our president, the impeachment farce, the economy, anything that Ivan would tell him about. It was a joy to watch, and listen.
As I have told you before, the fares down here are incredibly inexpensive as compared to the US. We can go ten kilometers, taking about an hour plus, for only fifty pesos. That is absurd. I know that does not sound like very far, but for the time it takes, to get from a to b, it is well worth the money.
The only transportation less expensive is the Metro. That is only five pesos at the moment, but once we get our senior citizen cards, it will be free to ride wherever, and whenever we want. And, now that I have finally gotten my residency card, that has my CURP number on it, (remember, that is the number that is registered to one as a personal identification number- like our SS numbers), we can go get my drivers license, and our senior cards.
That will open up travel for us, so we can start traveling around this country, and then, on to Europe. After CoVid 19 has run its course, that is.
Not sure when all of the virus will be gone. Now I read that it is mutating, attempting to remain virulent in whatever part of the world it is inhabiting. Great!!!
There is a really good video on YouTube by RT news called “Mexico City goes quiet during pandemic”. It was just posted yesterday, April 7th. and is only three minutes long. It clearly shows what is, or more importantly, what is not going on down here. (Note: during the video, you can see the pink and white taxis driving around El Zocolo, which you will read about in an upcoming post).
Normally, all of the walkways, and streets, especially the Zocolo, or the main square, downtown, where the governmental palaces are, (the first twenty three seconds of the video are all of El Zocolo), those are usually teeming with people, from all over the world. Not for the past two weeks have their been tourists, natives, or anyone, for that matter. For the most part, people are respecting the quarantine and staying home.
I know it is hard to stay home, not go out, and think about the endless hours, and endless days that we still have, yet, to go before we can go out safely. However, we will go out safely again, as long as we take the necessary precautions now. We will get through this, eventually. A friend of mine used to say, (when we were in surgical procedures together that did not appear to have an end in sight), that there has never been a surgery that did not end. Same thing here- there has never been an epi/pandemic that did not end. Patience.
Post script- Wash your hands Roger, was from the old Lava soap commercial from the seventies.
We have been here two weeks now. I miss our condo. We were just getting into a rhythm there, walking, eating less, cleaning, and laundry.
Though we are not in our condo, we are actually proving useful over here. I have been getting up, every morning, fairly early by my estimation, and making a large pan of eggs, (usually one egg for each of us, a total of six) with various additions, (such as chorizo with diced potatoes and onions, or bacon and cheese with homemade salsa), refried beans, and coffees, both with and without caffeine. Whenever anyone has gotten up, usually between ten and twelve o’clock, I have been heating tortillas on the stove top, in the flame of the gas stove, my favorites, because the tortillas always have small amounts of burned spots, which give the tortillas a better flavor. Fortunately, those here, enjoy their tortillas the same way. Score!
I was taking a tray of food into Juan’s room, our cousin, in the morning, because that is what I have seen others do, but he told me he much preferred getting up to the table and eating there. In his room, he has to eat lying on his belly, and it is very uncomfortable for him. So, after the second day of “room service”, he came to the table, after his morning ablutions, and had his breakfast there.
The other thing we have been doing is eating only two “real” meals a day. We have breakfast, which, as I said, is usually more brunch than anything, and then dinner, around five or five thirty. Tonight, I made frijoles negros (black beans, in the Instant Pot, OMG!), white rice, and tacitos, here they are called flautas, or “flutes”. I made a dozen flautas of pork, (and you now how I make the pork), and a half dozen from chicken.
I make decaf coffee in the evening, and serve los dos Juanes a light snack before they finish watching their “noticias”, or the news. Since they are not able to walk right now, or, not much, I feel that if they eat two “real” meals during the day, they only need a light snack in the evening. As my F-I-L loves his coffee, he can have the decaf, plus some light cookies, and enjoy himself, without worry of staying up all night, or gaining weight. Win, win.
Yesterday, again, I did two loads of laundry, and, will attempt another load tomorrow. That will give me something to do in this seclusion. Plus, the new washer and dryer work so well, it is not a chore. Plus plus, when I open the door to the rooftop, and see the gorgeous jacaranda tree in bloom, it is sheer joy. I know that sounds crazy, but I have always been a laundry girl. The satisfaction of taking piles of dirty clothes to the laundry area, which used to be in the dungeon, and make all of that into clean, wearable clothing again- marvelous.
We have been trying to make our “going out” as infrequent as we can, but, we do, on occasion, as you have read here, go out to the major stores only, Costco, Sam’s Club, and Soriana. Remember, the other day when we went to Sam’s Club, everyone that went into the store had to have a SC card!!! We can get everything we need at those three stores. Except eggs. No one has eggs on the shelf. I am close to panic mode here folks, because we eat eggs every morning.
Stay happy, stay healthy, STAY HOME. Wash your hands Roger. Ten gold sovereigns to anyone who can tell me what commercial, from the seventies, the underlined line came from.
Post script- not going home until Easter Sunday, or the day before. P&P are shut up, really, in their sons apartment in Saltillo. They have not been allowed out of their sons apartment since they arrived there two weeks ago. The entire city is shut down, actually. Amazing. We, too, are supposed to stay home, but it is not like that in the suburbs. Many people, ourselves included, are, for the most part, going about our daily lives. Fortunately for us, that does not require us to leave here very often. When we do, we wash our hands, wash our hands again, and then again, when we get home.
Post script two- I am going to try to upload of a photo of my right arm, from this afternoon. Just curious as to what these f***ing bugs eat when I am not around?
Hah! They look even worse tonight. They are weeping, itching, then, becoming painful. The top one, now, is about the size of a quarter, and the bottom, the size of a large nickel. The one at my elbow, that you have not seen, is also the size of a nickel. The first week we were here, I woke up to three of these, two on my left ankle and one on my right. In the past week, I have, yet again, awakened to five of these, this time, on the right side of my body, two on my right buttock, and two on my right thorax and one on my shoulder. I cannot stand much more of these. They are driving me crazy(ier).
Quite a bit of México adheres to the Catholic religion, as most of the world knows. There is, however, a lather large population that are Jewish, as well. For some reason, I did not even consider this.
Driving around the city we have noticed some of the most beautiful churches, cathedrals, and synagogues. There are more Catholic Churches, and cathedrals, and most are very old, and large.
We have only gone into one of the cathedrals, and, that is in the middle of the colony called Coyoacán, about five kilometers from our condo. That, if you remember, is the colony where Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera lived. It is my favorite place to walk, eat, and shop.
Inside it, one can see all of the things one would expect to see in a beautiful old cathedral- the decorative gold pieces, the stations of the cross, all done in magnificent old world splendor. The murals throughout are elegant, and huge, still bright with color. The ceiling is something out of a movie. It gives one the feeling of peace, and tranquility when walking through it.
On the other side of town, there is a beautiful, modern church that we pass each time we go to, and, from Sam’s Club, and Costco. When you drive past, at a specific angle, you are able to see through the windows,, into the church, at all of the beautiful stained glass, in the front of the church. It must be the welcoming sight that the parishioners see whenever they worship there. Absolutely gorgeous.
That said, there are not as many churches here as one would expect. I guess I, myself, expected more than I have seen. A bit of admitted cultural ignorance on my part. I am learning new things every day. I know- it is about time. 🙂
We ventured out again today, to Sam’s Club. This time, only people with a Sam’s card were allowed in. If children were with their parents, only one of the adults were allowed in. We had the store to ourselves, for the most part. Lines were short, parking lot only a quarter filled.
The only thing they did not have in stock were eggs. Normally, we buy the eggs in a box of one hundred eighty eggs. Today, there were about a dozen containers of eighteen eggs, so we got one, which had a limit of two.
We bought a rotisserie chicken, and a slab of ribs, for dinner tonight. I made a pan of rice, to finish things off, but ended up not eating but one rib, and a pinch of chicken. Juan’s toilet needed fixing so “the guys” all helped with that and finally finished about eight o’clock. They all ate the above, then had coffee and a piece of pound cake that we also bought at Sam’s Club. It was just too late for me so I had two glasses of milk and called it a day.
To finish the day, I did the dishes, then went upstairs, to play in the Wordscapes tournament, (which starts every Friday, and ends Sunday night), then we watched GOT until after midnight. Short night.
Stay happy, and healthy. Wash your hands. Stay home, unless you absolutely have to go out.
Pretty much the same today as any other of the last eleven days. Except today, I did laundry, in the beautiful new washer and dryer, here at the house, after I made a very tasty meatloaf, with whipped potatoes, broccoli and corn that we ate for dinner.
Since we have been here, I have made a large breakfast for everyone, usually chorizo con huevo y papas, frijoles, tortillas or bread, all with a cup of deep, dark coffee. This seems to hold all of us until “dinner”, which has been between four thirty, and five thirty. Usually, at eight thirty or nine o’clock PM, everyone sits down for decaf coffee and sweet bread. As we have not been buying sweet bread, this has become just coffee, and maybe a piece of bread with peanut butter.
Tonight, as I was watching another episode of GOT, it began to rain. And then it became a storm, complete with lightening and thunder. Not to forget the deluge of water coming down in torrents. And you all know that spring thunderstorms are ambrosia to me. The temperature has dropped about ten degrees in the same amount of time, so I am in Heaven on Earth. It has been storming for at least twenty minutes and has not let up, well, not until I started typing this last sentence. Now it seems to be moving off into the distance. Damn.
Stay safe, stay happy, but, most importantly, stay home to stay healthy.
We are going home Monday, or Tuesday of next week. P&P should be on their way back here by then, and we will no longer be needed. So, we will be taking Juan, our belongings, and going back to our condo- next week.
Very little sound outside- very eerie. However, yesterday, when we were out shopping, the stores were quite busy, surprisingly enough. Lots of people wearing flimsy masks- made me appreciate the N95 masks we were given every year during our TB screening. Unfortunately, I left my last three masks in my locker, when I retired. And, airborne viruses were exactly what we were being prepared for.
Originally, the scare was always Tuberculosis, but now, with this CoVid19 virus, well, who would have thought it would ever happen? It seemed a huge waste of time, every November, having to breathe into that plastic funneled helmet to check out what size N95 mask one would need in case of a viral contamination. Now, as I look back, a pandemic is exactly why we were being fitted for the masks. Who would have thought?
Remember, the single most important thing you can do during this crisis, besides staying home, is washing your hands- especially if you have to go out for any reason.
Stay safe, be as happy as you can be- you wanted a vacation, now you have one. Try not to go anywhere you do not need to go.
One bit of new information we are hearing down here is that the virus is mutating at a fairly rapid rate, and adjusting itself to the different areas of the state/country/ world it is in. The dogs that they were training to sense the virus in people are no longer able to do this, because of the rapid mutation. This is a virus most of us “younger” people have never witnessed.
I have just about reached my limit. We went to Sam’s Club, Costco, and Soriana today to restock the necessaries, fresh produce, meat, water, Kleenex.
It is so hot today that I begged the family to go with cold sandwiches, potato chips, and cottage cheese for dinner. I told them that I just did not feel like standing in the hot kitchen tonight. They were, thankfully, quite willing to acquiesce. When they think it is hot, well, you know that I am beyond hot.
I sent these two photos (above) of thousands of rolls of toilet paper at Sam’s Club, and Costco, respectively, on Messenger, and got a few responses. I, then, responded that there are no empty shelves here, but there are many stores that are closed, whether permanently, or temporarily because of the crisis, it is hard to know.
The small stores are all owner operated, and have no resources on which to fall back, so many will, more than likely, go out of business. I was telling Ivan how fortunate we were in the timing of my retirement. We bought the condo, and two cars with cash, and have a nice nest egg in the bank, down here. Blessed.
Stay happy and healthy. I believe we will be going back home, to the condo, this weekend. Waiting to see when P&P are going to return.
Post script: cold dinner was well received, thankfully. It has cooled down a bit, and it will be cooler in the condo, as the sun does not shine directly into it. There are three floors above us to blot out most of the direct sunshine, and, therefore, the heat.
I hope this post finds you all healthy, and happy. even. We are all doing well here, in our seclusion. Though, seclusion does not sit well with me, I am doing my part.
For the most part, I sleep, watch Youtube, cook, and clean (some). We are still at Juan’s house, but Paty texted me today that they will try to come home this weekend. In Saltillo, visiting their oldest son, they are prohibited from leaving the house. Here, at least, we are able to leave, but are restricted from gathering in groups more than ten people. The stores have a guard at the entrance that has a large bottle of gel sanitizer which he squirts into everyone’s hand as they enter.
We go to the store, come back, wash our hands, and go on about our business, which, usually, includes cooking a meal or two, or doing some laundry, for the family here. I must say, with so much repetition, I am getting pretty darned good at frijoles, arroz, y sopas. (Ok, that was beans, rice, and soup). The laundry part is a no-brainer. Plus, the pork, cooked in the Instant Pot, is amazing. There is plenty of that in the freezer, as well.
I am also really good at preserving all of the above. You know me folks- I am the Vacuum Sealer expert. Everything I make, that is of significant quantity, I freeze overnight, then vacuum seal it the next day, and put it in the freezer. That way, when P&P come home, there will be enough food in the freezer so they will not have to chance going to the supermarket.
The one highlight of all of this is that we are watching GOT again. I have never watched a series with such good acting as Game of Thrones. If you have not seen it, I highly recommend it. If you like period pieces, dragons, beautiful costumes, excellent acting, this is the series for you. Even Ivan enjoys it. Now we are getting the others here to watch it as well. It has thirteen, or fourteen, different languages in the subtitles!!!
Enough for today. The high today was eighty eight degrees, and I did not suffer unduly. We stayed downstairs, for the most part, where it is about five degrees cooler.
Stay healthy, and try to keep happy. This will be over soon, and we will pick up the pieces and move on.
It is incredibly hot down here, in the upper eighties by two o’clock in the afternoon. Our “cold” weather did not last very long- not by my standards, anyway.
However, everything is blooming, and the colors, of the trees, bushes, plants, are all breathtakingly beautiful. But, you already know this, if you have been following this blog.
The smells that accompany the blooms are just as magnificent as the colors. When driving, or walking, there is usually a nice breeze, (the only redeeming thing, in this heat), and on that breeze you can smell the forsythias, jasmine, and, the oleanders.
In our park, alone, we have all of those, plus the ever gorgeous jacaranda trees. Their flowers are a beautiful, bright bluish purple, like the lilac bushes up North. There is a large jacaranda tree right outside the terrace, here at Juan’s house, and, when we walk out of the bedroom, onto the terrace, it is a sight to behold. In fact, it is just about the only thing you see, out most of the windows on that side.
