I did a good morning of work and then headed to Maz to hit a bank, the big Waldo, and the big Ley, all on Ejercito Mexicano, a road I’ve now taken a few times by motorized transport, but never on foot.

I felt a little thrill as I turned onto Juan Carrasco, which becomes Ejercito Mexicano. A new area to explore! I walked for a bit, taking in all the marvelous commotion of vehicles and music and people walking, inhaled the rich smell of tacos, churros, and other goodies being cooked right on the street, and felt absolutely right with the world.

Contessa had asked me to pick her up some croissants, so my first stop was the Panamá bakery, where they only had one left. The following conversation ensued:

Me: (pointing to croissants) Do you have more of these?

Clerk: That’s it.

Me: No more today?

Clerk (points to oven, in which I can see croissants)

Me: How long?

Clerk: Eight minutes.

NOW we’re getting somewhere! I told her I would wait and could I use the bathroom? Getting directions there was much easier to extract out of her!

When I came out, I had a bit of a wait and checked out all the wares, talking myself out of bringing anything home! Soon, the clerk was sliding the croissants out of the oven and asked me how many I wanted. I told her and she called to another clerk to ring up four croissants for me. Minutes later, I was presented with a greasy bag that smelled marvelous. Let’s just say that I added one croissant to Contessa’s order for myself and enjoyed it immediately. 🙂 There’s nothing like a fresh croissant!

Next, the bank. I played a live game of Frogger to get to the Santander, only to find that its ATMs were down. Darn! I went back across the street (the words with which to convey this death defying feat escape me) to try my luck at the HSBC. Success! Fees were comparable to Santander and I got a few small bills. I had hoped to only make one withdrawal this month to save on bank fees, but forget about my daily withdrawal limit, so I’ll take out more money later this month.

Then, I came to the Waldo’s, which is much bigger than the one in Centro. I went through and got a few things on my list, plus a little splurge for myself. Instead of looking for a manicure place today, I bought bottles of nail polish, polish remover, polish hardener, and a crystal nail file since I somehow managed to forget to bring one here and have been suffering along with emery boards that have gotten soggy in this humid climate. I haven’t done my own nails in a while, so it’ll be a fun way to relax one evening while watching a movie.

Then, I used the impressive pedestrian overpass to cross the street and go to Ley.

As I landed on the other side, I saw a sign that said Chinese food and sushi. I knew the sushi would be terrifying (which it was), but non-Mexican food sounded very appealing. I checked out the food and combos and decided to eat there after I was given a couple of samples and they were all delicious!

The following conversation ensued.

Clerk: What can I get you?

Me: Hong Kong, please. (spring roll, rice, one dish, agua fresca)

Clerk: Bla bla bla chicken bla bla shrimp costs extra.

(Pause to let my computer process that and that this is about the spring rolls.)

Me: Oh, uh, chicken!

Clerk: Main?

Me: Mango chicken, please.

I then got foisted onto another clerk.

Clerk: Agua fresca bla bla bla bla bla hibiscus.

(Pause to decide if I want her to repeat flavours. Nah, I’ve been curious about hibiscus).

Me: Hibiscus.

Clerk: Bla bla ice?

Me: A little bit.

And then, I got passed onto the clerk and that was easy because I don’t have any trouble with numbers.

I find it hilarious how Mexicans just talk Spanish to us Gringos at full speed with no consideration whatsoever for our language skills or lack thereof! Once again, I wonder how I’d get by if I didn’t have the level of skill that I do.

The food was, I’m almost ashamed to say, really yummy. 🙂 The chicken wasn’t nearly as sweet as I expected and it had a bit of kick. The carrots were crispy and really good. The rice wasn’t mushy and had just enough soy sauce. The spring roll tasted strongly of cabbage and other veggies, very fresh.

Hibiscus water wasn’t particularly memorable, though. I expected quite a strong floral flavour and this was pretty bland. The beverage was also a lot less sweet than I expected and so I drank the whole thing.

I then hit the Ley. It is like a small Soriana or Walmart with household and personal goods in addition to groceries, but that was the only special thing about it. Otherwise, it had all the same food I can get at the smaller Ley or the City Deli, so I was rather disappointed and didn’t come out with much. I’ll definitely need to go back to Soriana! I did come home with a tub of hummus and look forward to seeing how it tastes.

Back outside, I repacked my bags and schlepped the block to Ejercito Mexicano, where I quickly flagged down a pulmonía. I was quoted a fair 40 pesos to get to the embarcadero. What a treat the drive was! I was quite tired and my shopping was heavy.

My bags weren’t heavy enough to justify a pulmonía on this side, so I walked home, stashed the cold stuff, and went to Contessa’s to deliver her slightly smooshed croissants. She gave me some reading material for my trip to Durango next month (thank you!), so I have some reading to do in the next few days.

For the curious, today’s expenditures were about 500 pesos. 200ish at Waldo’s, 200ish at Ley, 60ish for lunch, and 40 for the drive home. So yeah, bigger spender than yesterday, but by Canadian standards, just peanuts. 🙂