I have just returned from my stock up expedition. I didn’t want to go crazy and buy stuff that I can get down in MX, especially since Mazatlan is a large city with a huge ex-pat population, even if prices might be better up here. I think half the fun of living in MX will be the hunt for things I take for granted up here and discover new things! Mexico is a civilized country. I’m sure I won’t starve. 🙂
There is one thing my research told me I absolutely had to stock up on, something that my older friends, most of them male, would never in a million years have thought to warn me about: tampons. Turns out Mexican ladies don’t use them and they are therefore extremely hard to find and expensive in Mexico. I already had several boxes and bought four more big ones. This is not one item you want to run out of!
I also bought toilet paper, paper towels, laundry and dish detergents, and cleaning wipes, as well as my preferred brands of body wash (on sale!), body lotion, and toothpaste, as well as a giant bottle of French’s mustard as I’m told mustard is not easy to find down there.
The Nogales Walmart was very dirty (do NOT go into the bathrooms unless you want to risk losing your lunch) and chaotic. It was definitely a place to get what I needed and bug out, with no temptation to shop for anything extra!
So I decided to go up the road to the Safeway for food items after. I have the bad habit on stressful travel days of not eating until the stressing event is behind me. I decided to be smart and get some easy to eat snacks for the road (trail mix, granola bars), as well as a banana to go with my coffee tomorrow morning. The motel (Motel 6) provides coffee and it is surprisingly drinkable, no worse than what I get at McDonald’s, which was a pleasant surprise this morning.
I also treated myself to a nice container of mixed cut up fruit to eat as a snack this afternoon. It’s so hot that water isn’t quenching my thirst at all, so I’m trying to eat lots of high moisture foods. $4 for the tub was actually quite pricey by US standards, but it did have a lot more variety than what I’d get for that price in Canada: mango, pineapple, blueberries, strawberries, and two kinds of melon!
Reader Contessa tells me to hit the border by seven. I’m just minutes away from it, so that will mean a not tooo early start tomorrow. She has also warned me of impending bad weather in the Mazatlan area, so I may be stuck in San Carlos a couple of extra nights. I hope I can speak with the landlady directly and get a sense of what things are like on the ground. But I definitely want to get across the border tomorrow. Hanging out here will just make the stress worse!
Smart to stock up on necessaries and odd items. Hope the border crossing goes smoothly. Take care and be safe.
Thanks, Pleinguy!
Have fun on the crossing – I’m sure it’ll be fine. I’ve done it a few times at Nogales. Mexico is a unique place, and not one that can be summed up in only a few words. Espero que tengas un buen viaje y disfrutes la vida Mexicana!
Andrew
Muchas gracias, Andrew!
Happy travels in Mexico! I love going there every winter, for most of 30 years now. San Carlos is a lovely place, and when I’m there I prefer free camping over by the estuary. Many of the same people camp there every year, mostly Canadians, and they always watch out for each other. Locals might visit the beach on the weekends, but during the week it’s very quiet. If you go there, say hello for me from Alaska.
By the way, their laundry detergent is much better than ours, there’s a reason all those whites are so bright (along with use of a washboard).