Before I get started about my day, I want to show off my new office space. I managed to get the legs off the table I’ve been using so I could relocate it to the back room and finally use the apartment as I intended to!

The table is working great as a desk, to my surprise. A chair is a much more pressing need and I probably won’t bother getting another surface! Tonight, I will finish the set up by adding my printer and storing supplies on the copious shelves in the closet.

Now, on to the main event! After getting up super early this morning to finish today’s work project, I met up with Dale at 9:00. We walked across the beach to get to the south dock, commonly known as the beach panga, to go visit Maz’s historical district.

The panga is a very short trip, less than five minutes. This panga is 30 pesos. The northern, or village, one is, I believe, 16 pesos for residents. Oh, and this is round trip! You pay on the Maz side. Don’t lose your ticket!

Once in Maz, you can walk about a mile to the historic district or take a pulmonía (open air taxi). Dale and I are walkers, so we did the whole day on foot. She’d been a couple of times and was a good guide.

My first impression upon landing was just how clean and well maintained everything was, not what I expected to be honest. I spotted a sushi restaurant minutes from the panga which means… I CAN WALK TO A SUSHI RESTAURANT. OMG!!!!!!

You can tell when you get to the historical district as it’s all beautiful colourful old buildings and very tight streets, not unlike New Orleans’ French Quarter. Off in the distance, I could see the bright yellow cathedral that told me that I really was in Maz!

Being a Sunday morning, it was very quiet and most businesses were closed, a nice introduction to this part of the city. Dale just had me walk up and down streets until I noticed the archeological museum, free for all on Sundays!

We went in and spent, oh, a half hour or so. It is a small museum, but has tons of history about the area and is very well laid out. I learned a lot. There are some English translations, but rudimentary Spanish will help you get more out of it. I want to go back on my own another Sunday to read through everything.

Dale then led me to the water to see part of the Malecon and to get a good view of Ice Box Hill. She then showed me the HSBC bank she was told is one of the more reliable ATMs in the city.

It was just past 11:00 by this point and I was ready for lunch since I’d had an early breakfast. Dale had had a big breakfast and wasn’t going to be particularly hungry again today, so she was happy to head to a bar/restaurant she’d been to a few times and have a beer whenever I was ready.

She directed me back to the waterfront and the little restaurant with tables on the sidewalk. We ordered beer and were given breakfast menus, LOL! I asked at what time the lunch menu started and was told it was just about that time. Minutes later, we got the lunch menus. Everything looked good and prices were reasonable. Beer was 5 pesos less than at Carmelita’s on Isla.

I looked through the offerings and Dale had mentioned at least twice by that point that she’d enjoyed the nachos there and would be interested in nibbling on some (not in a hint, hint sort of way, more of in an I was actively listening manner). That sounded good to me and even though she is sort of vegetarian, she’s off the wagon this winter and was okay with ordering nachos with chorizo (sausage) on them (as well as beans and chihuahua cheese). Our beers came with chips and salsa, so that with the nachos made a filling lunch for me and a good snack for Dale.

The bill didn’t make sense, though, 210 pesos. We were both sure the nachos were 85 pesos and that we’d been charged twice for them. My first instinct was to just swallow the 42.5 pesos each. Then I told myself that I have enough language to ask for the bill to be explained to me, dangnabit!

So I flagged down the server and said that I didn’t understand the bill because we only had one order of nachos. The server immediately agreed that there was an error and ran off to fix it, apologizing profusely, and returning with a new bill that had SORRY written on it. The new bill was just 125 pesos and I added 15 pesos for the tip, making lunch, including beer, just 70 pesos each!

We both wanted ice cream after that and started keeping our eyes peeled for helado signs when I noticed a guy at a cart serving something that looked like ice cream. I asked Dale what she thought and a Mexican couple that spoke good English explained that it was a Maz-specific hand churned fruit ice cream. They told us what the flavours were and recommended guava. That’s what I ordered and the guy asked if I only wanted guava. I asked for another flavour and that it could be a surprise. The other flavour he picked was vanilla.

Dale unintentionally got the exact same thing! We were both really impressed by how light and easy on the tongue the guava was. The vanilla was creamier and closer to real ice cream. Our small portions were exactly the right size for me and just 20 pesos. Very yum!

As we ate, Dale guided us to the very impressive cathedral, already decked out for Christmas. It was, oh, about 1:00 by this point and we weren’t quite done, so she proposed we walk a couple more blocks to the big mercado.

WOW, what an experience! This part of town was BUSY and a lot closer to my border town experiences. I was looking for a hat but the prices were higher than I was willing to pay so I gave up on that. I did find a lentil seller and bought enough for four or five meals for NINE pesos. 75 cents CAD! Dale was surprised to see me buy those and be so happy about them. She eats them, but does not cook and would have no idea what to do with them. I lived off lentils as a student and they will be a welcome protein source!

We were both pretty cooked and done by this point, so we headed back to the dock, stopping at a pharmacy so Dale could get a few things now that she had a translator. She also had me help her buy a few things in the mercado. I have apparently earned my cheese! 🙂

It was so neat to head HOME from Maz while traffic was going in the opposite direction, coming from Isla back to the city on a Sunday afternoon.

Our next trip across the bay will be on the village panga to find the Ley grocery stores. More adventures forthcoming, but, first, mucho trabajo (work) ahead for a couple of days! 🙂

My whole day to that point cost me 140 pesos. That’s the panga, lunch (with beer!), ice cream, lentils, and some hand soap for my bathroom!

Now, pictures… and more details. 🙂