Why I love Mexico

I could add to this almost everyday, but today I found myself saying “I love Mexico” a few times.

Remember these shoes (pic) www.blukicks.com 

I bought a pair online and should have bought one size bigger; they are wearable but not overly comfortable. This morning a friend showed up at my house and asked me if I wanted to go with her to Mazatlan, she needed to take her daughter’s shoes in to get fixed, she needed to have an arch put in, her feet are flat and did I want to get my shoes fixed too? “My shoes fixed?”? What shoes, I don’t have shoes I say”. I only have flip flops. “The shoes you bought that you are not wearing because they need fixing” she says. “Why would I have an arch put in to shoes that I am not wearing much anyway?” I ask. “Bring them” she says. Ok, I have learned that when I don’t understand to just follow, listen, look and learn and stop asking questions that I don’t understand the answers too anyway.

I really wish I had had my camera with me to the shoe repair shop, oh my. It was a little hole in the wall, literally a hole in the wall, oh my, the ancient equipment, I can’t even tell you what it all was or what it all was used for...fixing shoes I guess. The equipment looked older than Moses and so did the 2 men working there, or at least older than dirt. Very old it all was. One thing that I did recognize immediately was a shoe stretcher, I had seen one last week in a shop (but didn’t clue in then) A shoe stretcher! Fix my shoes! I get it....we’re gonna stretch my shoes. Genius these people are. For sure I now also want an arch put in, I have flat feet too. All this for a mere 80 pesos. He doesn’t even look at my feet or measure anything or call a foot doctor, or make me walk on a mini foam treadmill to see what kind of foot print I have, nope, I have flat feet, that’s all he needs to know...simple, he’ll put an arch in my shoes. I love how things are just not complicated here. He also doesn’t make me any expensive promises like how this will cure my head aches (I f I had some) or how this will cure my back aches, or how I will be able to run a marathon next week. Nope, just an arch put in. The arch will be put in in an hour but they need be on the stretcher overnight so I can pick them up tomorrow. I love Mexico. I wish I had my brown boots here, they need stretching too.

The next day I head in again to pick up my shoes and I decide I may as well do all my business in one day. I want to have a bone density test done and I want to have an eye exam as well.

First I stop at the market to have breakfast. I order eggs ranchero (look it up) with coffee and creama, she says “I don’t have creama today” What! No creama! How can this be? She says she has milk, “but no creama?” I ask. No, no creama....she must be thinking I am hard of hearing or just dumb, but she feels sorry for me (I must have looked pathetic) She rescues me. “How about milk with coffee?” she asks, hummm, milk with coffee instead of coffee with milk, things are looking up for me now. “Sure” I say. Wow! What a huge difference it makes when you simply switch those words around. She brings me a cup of streaming hot milk, all frothy and white and pretty and the jar of instant coffee, I put a heaping teaspoon of coffee into my hot milk and I almost melted into a pool of warm milky mush, I went to frothy milky lala land, all alone upstairs in the market. I fall in love with milk with coffee. Genius. I love Mexico.

I do eventually leave the market, I don’t ask for a second cup because I am afraid it will never be as good as the first one was.....like a drug, I might spend the rest of my life trying to recreate that warm milky mush rush that I had today. I vow to never forget this breakfast. I move on.

I head over to the lab and walk in with no appointment (that’s how we do things here) and am simply asked for my name, they find me in their system (I’ve had this done before) without even having to sit down in the waiting room I am ushered into the little lab room and we are checking them bones right pronto. I am told my results will be ready in 20 minutes, I sit in the waiting area where I pretend to find the Spanish magazines very interesting, making sure I am not reading them upside down, I don’t even get through the first magazine and I am called, my results are done. I don’t think it was 15 minutes I walk out of there with my results in my hand. I love Mexico.

My next stop is the eye doctor. I have had new glasses made here a few times, the last time was 2 years ago but it has probably been more like 6 years ago since I had an eye exam and since they only cost 200 pesos I decide it’s time for an exam. I had made an appointment yesterday when I was in town (just to be safe) I walk in and again, no waiting. Turns out I need a new prescription, I am not surprised. I decide I want to keep my frames, because I like them so he will just replace my lenses in both my glasses, they will be ready in 4 hours.

From there I head to a store called “muebles Pacifico” they sell Spanish colonial furniture and I buy a high chair for someone at home. I have some friends that drive down here every year from Sherwood Park and they usually haul a box or two back and forth for me, this year a high chair as well. Spanish Colonial furniture is made of a beautiful hardwood and it stained a dark chocolate brown, usually has flowers craved in it and the seating surfaces are of cow hide ( like my new rocking chair). This h chair is a beautiful piece of furniture that will be passed down from generation to generation. This is no flimsy cheesy high chair; it is now a family heirloom. My high chair and I catch a taxi to my friend’s house where I have a rather long winded lunch; we eat progies and laughed about someone that bought a lime squeeze for 100 pesos and chat about things important and unimportant like love, politics and the prices of lime squeezes....just kidding we didn’t talk about politics. We always have a hoot when we together.

I head back to the eye doctors and this is when my world got lit up, you don’t know you need new glasses until you get new glasses. I see things so clearly now....that’s a song isn’t it? I wish I knew what song that was. I decide to walk home instead of taking a bus, good thing I did, I found a treasure at a second hand store. I walk by this second hand store all the time and once in awhile I step in to see if there is anything new, there usually is, and today I scored...these dishes. They are beautiful, I love them, and made in Mexico too. She only had 2 cups so I just bought 2 of each and the teapot. I‘ll keep my eyes (since I can see so clearly now) peeled for another set of 2. I was so excited to buy glass dishes when I moved into my house but hadn’t bought any yet because I don’t have shelves in my kitchen yet so I really don’t have any place to display pretty things but I couldn’t resist. Putting shelves up is just not as easy as I had thought; I’ll work on that next year. I just want to “be” for the rest of my time here. I’m tired of projects, plus I am still waiting on screens. One thing at a time.

Oh, the other day I saw a bus driver brushing his teeth while he was driving his bus down the main street in front of the market. Yup, he was brushing away and spitting out the window and manoeuvring around crazy traffic and pedestrians..... I love Mexico. Of course I wasn’t the one that got spit on.