My first Monday wasn’t productive work-wise, but I got some other things done. I really need a solid night of sleep. 🙁

The propane delivery folks came by in the early afternoon and were super efficient! I bought $700 worth — about 60L. I doubt that even made a dent in the capacity of the tank, but I didn’t have a few thousand pesos to drop on this today! I’m always amazed by how not scared of heights Mexicans are and how much they trust their ladders! I’m sad that I was so surprised that half of the two-person team was female.

I may have walked backwards into a ginormous cactus to take this picture and still be picking spines out of my arms and shoulders.

Tank partially filled, I was given a proper electronic bill printed from the back of the truck and which I paid in cash. Then, I had no trouble lighting the water heater (it really does help to have propane…). After letting the water run a bit, I had hot water in the bathrooms, but not in the kitchen. My landlady says she never used hot water in the kitchen and checked with her husband, only to confirm that the kitchen is not plumbed for hot water.

This isn’t shocking because I learned in Maz that it’s the cultural norm here to wash dishes in cold water and that it is just as hygienic. I did that in Maz, but never really got used to it. I’ll keep using my kettle for the time being, but, who knows, maybe in a few months I’ll be in a mood to following the plumbing and see if I can determine the complexity of getting hot water to the kitchen…

The rooster situation has reached a crisis point as there are more and it sounds like several neighbours now have them. I was woken for a solid hour last night listening to headache-inducing concerto and am at my breaking point.

I can just see some lurkers going, “Oh, look at the stupid expat not able to adapt to life in Mexico.” Well, roosters on rural Isla were one thing. Roosters in the city are another. My landlady completely agrees with me that they are unacceptable and has assured me that I am not being an intolerant expat. Proof? Mérida has bylaws against roosters in the city. If the roosters aren’t gone in a few days, she’s going to town hall!

The city noises, especially the constant music playing, don’t bother me at all. The neighbours had a party Friday night and their music just became white noise that lulled me to sleep. Soon as the roosters are dealt with, I’ll be able to sleep well here. Right now, it’s about on par with the zeds I was getting in Chelem, which are just enough to function, but not enough to perform at peak efficiency. Hopefully, this will get sorted because work is picking up again!