Work

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Off the Map

I headed to the house today after the cleaner arrived. I’d packed the third bookcase, more bedding and clothes, and some additional kitchen things. Just before I left, my landlady texted to ask when an electrician could come by today and I said between 10:30 and 1:00 since I had an appointment at 2:00 outside of town. The cleaner was a bit late so by the time I got to my house at about 10:40, the electrician was waiting for me!

It took all of five minutes for him to diagnose that there is a problem with the wiring and that this wasn’t going to be a simple controller installation. I had a hard time understanding him since he spoke so fast and with a different accent than I’m used to, so I was shocked by how much I understood of a phone conversation he had. He listed a bunch of materials he was going to need for the job because he’s going to have to tap into the bathroom fan wiring. We made tentative plans for me to return to the house on Friday. If that’s the case, then I won’t go this weekend.

He left and I lugged in what I’d brought with me, then the fun part of my day began.

You see, I had quite an epiphany the other night. You know how sometimes a solution can be staring you right in the face? I don’t have a bed yet, brand new beds are expensive, and I still need a washing machine and a stove as well to be really comfortable in the house. If could postpone just one of those purchases right now, I could get the other two.

Well, I actually dabbled with the idea of buying a hammock in lieu of a bed, thinking I’d be more comfortable in one temperature-wise. That is what the locals have been sleeping in here for ages. But then remembered that I froze overnight in Mérida last winter and we’re already getting cold nights in Chelem so a proper bed would be comfortable for a part of the year at least. I was also leery of the learning curve to sleeping in a hammock since I’m such a poor sleeper. I definitely want to get a hammock at some point as I know I’ll be happy to have one next summer, but that was not the solution to my bed issue at this time.

Since there are two twin beds downstairs, I resigned myself to sleeping down there for a bit, even though I’m desperate to set up my master suite and settle into my proper routine here.

Which is where my epiphany comes in: move one of the beds upstairs for now. How obvious is that?! The beds are just about brand new and very comfy, with a pillowtop! I don’t wiggle around a lot in bed, so a twin is fine for now. By the time I’m going to need to bring the bed back down for a guest, I’ll be in a position to buy myself one.

So I took one of the beds downstairs apart and lugged the pieces upstairs. The mattress did not have handles, so that was the hardest part. I then dressed the bed with my spare set of sheets, one of the blankets I bought in Maz, an extra pillow I brought from Canada, and picked out one of the many small tables available in the house to use as a night table. Finally, two screws on a wall by the window gave me the perfect place to hang one of my paintings.

I will unfortunately likely need better window coverings as I don’t think the room is going to be dark enough so I have to investigate what’s going to be the easiest way to achieve that. Still, bedroom done! Real progress! 🙂

I took a break after that to see if the coffee table I bought a few days ago would work where I needed it to. It’s perfect — exactly the right height and size. Shame that it is covered in a very gross bright red faux leather.

However, as I suspected, it has a solid wood frame. I’m going to remove the faux leather and I’m pretty confident that after a couple coats of paint, the exposed frame will look really nice!

It was getting close to 1:00 by this point and I had to drive out all the way to the bowels of Kanasin, a community just outside the southeastern limits of the periférico:

That arrow at the bottom points to the last thing Google would navigate me to. My actual destination was off the map!

You see, I’d spotted an item on the garage sale site a couple of nights ago that I really wanted and which was still available. I learned quickly that there is more often than not no point in showing interest in an item if you can’t get in your car straight away to go pick it up. People don’t hold things if they can have cash right now because things go really fast. But this was such a lovely piece that I took a chance. The seller agreed to hold it for me until this afternoon, but checked several times that I was sure I was going to buy it because she had other buyers lined up.

The transaction started to make me a little nervous when, after I got through her text speak and appalling spelling and spent some time on Google Maps, I realised she was out of town. I was going to be quite pissed off if I drove all the way out to her and she’d sold the item out from under me. But I woke up to a text from her saying to call her on another number to let her know when I was leaving Mérida this afternoon, so that made me more confident.

The easiest and fastest way to get to her house was to drive back north to the periférico as if I was going to Progreso and then drive all the way around. The periférico is a really good idea, but don’t think it’s anything like a city bypass in Canada and the US. Exits and entrances are rather a mess and poorly indicated — you often have to drive quite a distance on the service roads to get on and off — and there are frequently bad accidents. Definitely not my favourite part of Mérida to drive, but for a situation like today, it was preferable to the shorter route directly across town as I would have spent twice as long baking in my truck!

The lady I was meeting up with told me to call her from a Willy’s supermarket by her house so that she could direct me. But as it turned out, she was in a planned community with well numbered houses and streets, so I found her on my own with no issues! The neighbourhood was quite creepy, with only one road in and then a bunch of identical streets radiating from it.

I was 40 minutes early and the woman having said she really couldn’t be there before 2:00, I drove back to civilisation to have lunch. It was lunchtime, so I had no trouble finding a cocina economica doing rapid business. I ordered “milanesa empanizada,” which is a thin breaded pork cutlet (like schnitzel).

This is what “Mexican food” really looks like, which I think may be a shock to some people.

I had a bowl of very thin black bean soup, spaghetti with tomato sauce, shredded carrots and cabbage (no dressing), cucumbers and tomatoes, rice, and the breaded pork. Not pictured are the tortillas, lime, and chiles I had to ask for that came with everyone else’s meal! The meal was not particularly memorable; tasty and generously portioned, but nothing special. However, at $35 (about 2.30CAD) I could easily justify having something like this several times a week for lunch instead of cooking. Of course, similar meals are a bit more expensive in the big city, but not much more. I had a half portion. The couple next to me had a full portion and ate off the same plate, making very interesting tacos out of their pork and spaghetti!

I thought I’d be rushed for lunch, but the seller texted to say she was running late, so we moved the appointment to 2:30. That would mean I wouldn’t have time to return to the house to drop off my purchase, but as it would turn out, it was bigger than expected and too much to carry on my own.

She finally showed up around 2:40 and helped me load this vanity into my truck:

It’s real a shame that the pink paint job is terrible because I could have totally lived with the colour! But as it is, it will drive me nuts, so it has to be redone. Since this was my housewarming gift from Contessa, it really does need to be painted a glossy teal-y blue-greeny colour anyway. 🙂

I’m really hoping it will fit in my master bath, but it’s a bit longer than I expected so it may not. The idea was to use it to store bath products, jewellery, first aid supplies, etc., and to get a nice basket for the “hole” in the middle to store towels. If it doesn’t work in the bathroom, it will fit nicely in my bedroom and still be able to hold many of those things. Thank you again, Contessa, for the gift as this piece is really a “want” more than a hard need right now and I would have talked myself out of it!

Well, it’s now 5:30 and much as that cold beer in the fridge is calling my name, I really need to go make a serious dent in my work queue. Tomorrow is going to be a monster otherwise!

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Chelem Chicken

Amusingly, my work flow went from RED ALERT to wondering if I’m ever going to sleep again in the space of about 12 hours. I’m booked through to the end of next week. Wow!

Since things have been so slow, I’ve been taking it easy and haven’t felt much pressure to go out and run errands. So of course I’ve ended up with just about no food in the house and the nearest restaurants being closed. Therefore, huge work day be damned, I had to run into Chelem today for emergency rations.

I’ve been here, what, five months now? And I have yet to manage to time a trip to Chelem with the sale of chickens. I’m either way too early and they’re not cooked or I’m way too late and if there are any left, I’m concerned about how long they’ve been there because they really don’t look fresh. Today, I was determined to be there around 1PM, a time during which I’ve ascertained there should be cooked and still fresh chickens available.

First, I went to Willy’s to get some cheese as well as food for Puppy. I had cash, but decided to try my new debit card. It worked!  Unlike with Canada’s Interac system, the money is not yet debited from your account. It works more like a credit card, where your available balance changes, but the amount has to post.

I don’t know yet if there is a fee for using the debit card. I’ve had fees for depositing cash into the account and a PayPal transfer so I wouldn’t be surprised. I’m really starting to wonder if I will actually save money having the Mexican account, but regardless, the practicality makes it worth having!

I then went to a chicken stand almost right by Willy’s and, sure enough, there was cooked non-scary chicken left. I asked for the price of half a chicken. The lady sized me up and said, “Half is $55. Whole is $95…” I grinned at her and said I’d take the whole one.

I watched as she bagged it up for me, then added baggies of rice, salsa, and a mushy white thing. When I got the bag, I fished out the white thing and poked it, completely confused as to what it might be. So I asked.

It was mashed potatoes.

I’m still laughing at the look on her face at my question. It says a lot about my diet and my expectations for food here to not have recognised the contents for what they are! Since I was obviously new to the world of mashed potatoes, she slipped a second baggie of them into my bag, saying that I would find them so delicious that I’d need a second one. 🙂

One final stop for water later, I was home (and amused that Puppy was way more interested in the water than the chicken!). I laid out my lunch and tucked in. The chicken was great, of course, and much meatier than other chickens I’ve bought in Mexico. The rice was like the rice I recently has in Mérida and must be the way it’s cooked in Yucatán. I don’t care much for it, to be honest. I didn’t sample her hot sauce, saving it for leftovers since I’d had hot sauce at breakfast and was still feeling it. As for the potatoes, they were very tasty indeed! It’s a rare day that I prefer spuds over rice!

Thanksgiving is on Monday, so I should have at least one leftover meal of the chicken and spuds with gravy, peas, and carrots. 🙂 I’ll miss the cranberry jelly, but I’d have to go into Mérida for that and that’s not happening until at least Saturday. But, hey, at least when I get to Mérida I can actually afford to go pick up a few pieces of furniture and get some paint mixed up! The tides of fortune do ebb and flow… 😀

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Autumn Comes Even to Yucatán

I can’t believe I’m down to my last weeks here!

Unfortunately, my house move isn’t going to go as planned/hoped for. After starting off super strong, September (and the past several months!)’s workflow dried up overnight and October is promising to be more of the same. For the first time in ages, I have to take things day by day. Thankfully, I’ve so far been able to pretty much fill all my work days, but I forgot how stressful it is to sit and wait for work to come in!

I have touched base with all my clients to confirm that they’re just slow and that there’s nothing wrong with my performance and was suitably reassured. Usually, I can just enjoy these slow periods and the free time they bring, but finances are super tight, as one can imagine they would be at this setting up a home stage. So this means I’m focused on essentials only right now and have to be prepared to move into the house pretty much as-is. Thankfully, I have everything I need to be comfortable!

I’m again super grateful that I rented a house with so much good furniture. I don’t care that I’ll have to keep cooking on a hot plate for the foreseeable future, not when I have three comfortable places to sit and dine, a proper workstation, a bed (even if it’s in the wrong room), a couch to relax on, and a fridge to keep the beer cold!

A certain someone did send me a housewarming gift (thank you again!) and I am watching the classifieds so I can spend it on either shelving for my kitchen or a storage solution for the master bath! And, of course, I’m still planning to move and paint the desk before the end of the month. 🙂

That’s what’s going on on the new house front. There was some excitement here in Chelem over the weekend in that I had to take Puppy to the vet. He’s thankfully okay and our bond has strengthened since he was such a good boy on his adventure. I sure am going to miss him! It was really gratifying to be able to handle the whole situation in Spanish although it took a few tries before the vet thought to say “Does he have an anti-scratching necklace?” for me to understand that she meant a flea collar!

I’ve spent a lot of time in the last year or so pet sitting and I’m glad to have had my only real vet emergency at the end of it or I might never have done this again. Pet owners: empower your pet sitters! It was really reassuring to have permission and funds to do what needed to be done to give Puppy the best care possible. Again, he’s fine and this was not a life or death situation, but it was still not much fun to have to tell a pet owner that their baby is in less than optimum condition!

At any rate, to my surprise, even here in the tropics, it is most definitely autumn. The days are super short — it’s fully dark around 6:45, meaning that I have to do my outdoor chores much earlier in the day and then finish my work quite late to make up for the long lunch — a great way to ease myself into more of a Mexican schedule! It’s also surprisingly chilly in the evening and the pool has been downright cold! I don’t enjoy an after dark before bed swim anymore and it’s even not that nice at 4ish. Today, I swam around 2ish and didn’t last long. Quite surprising!

Here is a photo I took on Saturday evening (last evening in September). In Mexico, there are palm trees at the end of the rainbow….

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Mexico Is Tightening Supervision of Foreigners’ Visas and Local Income

Several people have sent me a link to the recent Yucalandia article about how Mexico is tightening supervision of foreigners’ visas and local income.

Nothing in this article is new or a surprise to me. It just says what I’ve been saying since I first came to Mexico — the old timers need to get with the times and the new timers need to learn the new rules and stop relying on and trusting old advice. Mexico is modernising at a rapid pace and keeps better records that can be accessed from anywhere in the country thanks to new computer databases. Foreigners need to stop treating Mexico like their playground and start treating it with respect.

In particular, this article deals with how many foreigners/expats are cheating the tax system by not declaring their income in Mexico. Read the article for more all the details.

I’m not sure why people keep feeling a need to send me this link. Maybe because I’ve talked a few times about starting an Airbnb business here? Well, let me reassure you all that after years of not being able to follow Canadian laws (while still doing the very best to fulfil my tax obligations), I am super happy to be in a country where I can live the life I want and I have every intention of complying with the laws to the best of my ability. That means no Airbnb business until I gain “lucrativo” status, which would allow me to start a business here and earn income. I am going to ask at residente temporal visa renewal time if that would be possible or, worst case, I’ll wait until I’m granted permanent residency, at which point I’ll automatically get the right to work and earn money in Mexico.

But wait, some of you say. Aren’t you working in Mexico? Technically yes.

I don’t like to talk about financial matters in great details because everyone’s situation is so different, but I will say that there is no question at all that I am complying with Mexican law at this time. In Mexico’s eyes, I am not working in Mexico. I am physically in Mexico, yes, but doing work for a Canadian company for non-Mexican clients. All my money comes from outside of Mexico and only comes to Mexico after first going through US and Canadian banks. For them, my job is just like retirement income. I fully declared what I do to get my money and all my documents were examined at the consulate in Montreal and accepted. When I came here, I put on my paperwork that I’m a freelance transcriptionist and both the immigration offices in Progreso and Mexico City accepted that as well.

It is an inevitability that I will eventually start a company here since doing so would reduce my tax burden in Canada. I just need to let my immigration status settle a little and do a bit more research about how to do what I want to do. I will consult with a lawyer and accountant when that time comes.

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Next House!

It’s getting busy over here as house hunting is becoming a second job. I’m on schedule financially and slacking a bit to give myself time to make trips into town. Unfortunately, I have to use my truck for that (was hoping to use public transportation), which is very expensive, but it is what it is. I’m also having only so-so luck consolidating trips.

For instance, I had to meet someone in Progreso about a cooler she had for sale, but she would not agree to meet me tomorrow on my way to Mérida (where I have three commitments), only at 11:30 today. At least, she did concede to meeting up in the Bodega parking lot, saving me a bit of time. I was mercifully able to finish my pressing work for the day by 11:00 and dash out to meet her. The cooler was smaller than what I’d hoped she had, but good enough for the price so I bought it.

Then, since I was there anyway, I went into Bodega to get some of their “famous” (expats rave about it) fried chicken for lunch and to get a few things household things. One of those was a set of plastic drawers for storing office supplies (especially writing implements), which I haven’t been able to find in a pleasing colour or the right size. So when I saw this, which is exactly what I wanted, on offer for $80 I was quick to snag it:

I also wanted a bucket like the pink one I use as a trash can in the office to store the parts for my stick blender, but Bodega was out of them. So I decided to buy the office a new (purple) trash can and move the bucket to the kitchen!

I also bought myself a two burner hot plate. I cook daily and am having trouble keeping the stove here looking pristine. Mexican stoves, even expensive ones, just can’t seem to handle heavy scrubbing or being used with cast iron without the finish coming off. I always get hives about having to maintain other people’s stoves and three months here was my limit of dealing with that stress. The hot plate will keep the pressure off when I get my house since I won’t be desperate for a stove. I’m using my crockpot, ricer cooker, and the toaster oven here a lot and actually wondering if I need a stove. It’s amazing how one’s worldview changes after a couple of years of living in other people’s kitchens.

It was a super quick trip and I was home by one and absolutely ravenous. My lunch was good, and I’m pretty sure that was my first time ever having fried chicken, but it’s definitely not something I’d be keen to repeat regularly (I’ll stick to the roasted birds). But it was definitely a nice Friday treat!

Now, as for house hunting, I’m starting to feel like I’m on an episode of House Hunters International… 😀

I have an appointment at 2:00 tomorrow to see a house located in the northwesternmost part of Mérida, in the Francisco de Montejo neighbourhood that has been dubbed a city within a city.

This would put me about 3KM walking distance to Chedraui, Costco, and the Galerias (which has Scotiabank, sushi, and a cinema) and according to Google, there’s quite a bit in the heart of the neighbourhood, but it’s hard to gauge what there is on the outskirts, where this house is. It appears to be a quiet residential neighbourhood with a good economic mix.

Part of me still wishes I was looking in Centro, but I have to be sensible — my line of work is not conducive to living downtown!

The location right off the Periférico would be very convenient for going back and forth in October. So while I’m not immediately going OOH at the location, I think it has potential.

Now, the house.

The exterior is inoffensive. The neighbouring houses are much prettier, but this isn’t too hard on the eyes. I just don’t know if my truck would fit in the driveway (which would be nice because it would be out of the sun):

The kitchen appears to be one of the better ones with cabinets that I’ve seen:

The house here only has a long counter with stools to eat at and I like it. I wouldn’t have any pressure to get a kitchen and chairs for a bit, just some stools.

The stairs have a handrail!

Both bathrooms appear to have been recently redone and this one (which I think would be the guest suite’s) even has storage:

At least one of the bedrooms has built-in storage:

The master bath has what appears to be a very clean Jacuzzi tub. I have yet to see outside of the super huge compounds a pool that is big enough for doing laps. So a tub like this would equal a pool and be less maintenance:

The red would absolutely have to go. I could learn to live with those floors. They appear to be grey or blue, not black, so they would work well with the pink/purple/green/orange things I’ve accumulated. I really don’t like them, but between them and the beige or white floors that I’m seeing too much of, they are fine.

Another bedroom, but without a closet organiser:

This house has three things that you can’t see in the pictures that make it an extra special candidate:

1) The huge covered upstairs deck that would be a dream backup office for extra hot days;

2) The fact that the house has FOUR bedrooms. FOUR. Two on the ground floor sharing a bath and two on the upper floor sharing a bath. FOUR.

3) And all this for a mere $6,000 a month. That makes a not particularly aesthetically pretty or interesting house a bit out of the way very attractive. The fourth bedroom could be a den or a craft room or even a second guest bedroom should my Airbnb idea get off the ground.

The house also has a back garden.

I’m really excited to see this house tomorrow as it is presenting quite well in photos (ugly paint job not withstanding).

Now, back to work I go. I was supposed to take the weekend off, but, of course, that’s not going to happen. I’m going to have a very long day Sunday as I’m sure I won’t work a bit tomorrow.