My Mexican Big Mac

A sometime reward for a good, hard day in Cancun is a Big Mac to go from the Ultramar dock in Puerto Juarez. Blasphemy, you say. Ha!
Look at the box. The burger was made especially for me. It's not a joke. I watched the seniorita do it. See, in Mexico, fast food is not so fast. It is made to order. And taken to go to eat on the ferry.
It has never seen a heat lamp! It is luscious. And to kick the Special Sauce up a notch, envelopes of jalapeno relish are provided. It is a great reward at the end of four hard hours in Cancun. Delicious! Curiously, the box is made in Costa Rica

A Day Without Morons

Back on the UltraMar Monday to pursue hearing aids, we took the front inside seats with a different view. Carlos was on the other side, ready to deliver me to the Pabellion - I'm not going to debate the spelling - and I was ready for a new experience. It was that.

The stupid secretary wasn't there. Instead, there was Eliz, deftly handling phones and a waiting room full of patients. She was a delight through my visit and took time to understand me and spoke so that I would not misunderstand her. She works for Dr. Conrado Antonio Menendez Peraza, an ear, nose and throat specialist, not an audiologist as I first thought.

And he retested my hearing much like the doctor AND audiologists at the Cleveland Clinic did two years ago. He didn't have to do a test to see if the bone "hears" different than the ear drum. The Cleveland Clinic determined my hearing loss was the same at both points.

I misplaced the Cleveland Clinic results, but drew him the bell curve as I remembered it and wrote that it was a 25 percent hearing loss. He said I was pretty darn close, but that my loss was closer to 30 percent now.

He called the hearing aid guy, I guess he's the audiologist, an Adrian, and gave me directions to get there. He also called Carlos in because it isn't the easiest place to find. Eliz quickly wrote up the taxpayer receipt for the 800 peso visit. On leaving, I mentioned how efficient Eliz was, so different from the other secretary when he wasn't in. Yessss.....he said.

Adrian, the hearing center guy, speaks English but was clearly relieved that I speak Spanish. He just ran out of material making earpieces for kids going back to school, but we set up an appointment for Monday. I am to call Wednesday to make sure the molding putty is in.

After that, some light shopping. Fifty dollars worth of groceries at Soriana - peaches in my basket - and a ceiling fan at Home Depot. Yes, another appliance has failed. The great room's fan had a ball bearing replaced last year, but the grinding noise was back with a bad vibration. The island just eats things up!

So, as luck would have it, there was a Hunter Douglas sale at Home Depot. I got the "Georgia" model for $1400MP. It replaces a very similar fan/light that was a 3000 peso item 5 years ago. It was a great day in Cancun. A day without morons.

Goodbye Mr Stress, Old Year!

There was Mr Stress before Scott and I got to El Cejas. He was worried about the arrival of his sweetie Kathy and his cousin Laura...one coming from Denver the other from DFW. We stopped on the way so I could get an email I forgot and Scott also checked the computer their for airline updates! Now with the address of a new German deli that sells sauerkraut, but it's still not opened, we were off. The address is of the mother of the guy who is opening the deli, so it was a private house with barking German breed dogs and open windows!
We have joked that buying shrimp on Isla is like making a dope deal with unmarked houses, etc. Why, it's like buying sauerkraut in Cancun!
A stop for doggy diaper pads and we were ready to eat! El Cejas!
While Scott texted the airlines and family one more time, the oysters Rockefeller arrived.
Great for Scott to share with Carlos the cabbie and me. And we each had a vuelve la vida cocktail, the one that includes raw oysters. I also had a naranjada, billed as OJ with mineral water, it was actually and orange juice and mineral water slush, but much tastier than an Orange Julius!
Then I was off to Telebodega, where I found the same new 15 cubic feet fridge that Inge had bought (we compared notes this morning!) and two table lamps for 110 pesos each, which they wrapped up for me to carry and promised January 10 delivery of the fridge.
Isla Gringo and B were there, too, for an emergency replacement fridge purchase for one of their units. We wound up on the curb as I waited later for Carlos to come back from the airport. They were having no luck with finding a station wagon cab to hail! Carlos was just two minutes away when I called to see if he could carry their little fridge too! No problem, he has a station wagon.
Great good luck could not keep Isla Gringo from fretting at McDonald's as he watched the baggage handlers and the ferries, alert to any mix up.
The only mix up was here, when I forgot I had an extra bag with sauerkraut and bratwurst. I loitered around the ferry dock for an hour until the right UltraMar ferry, alerted by shore crew, came back and handed it it to me. Good bye old year Mr Stress, Happy New Year!

Making a list

One of the conference tables on the new Ultramar gave me a chance to think in ink.
I had a list of items needed from here and there. Three Big Box stores.
In the end, I only made Walmart and Chedraui and stopped for a couple tacos before coming home at 2pm. The joy is I am going to a two-weeks- after-discharge appointment with my neurologist, Dr. Jose Adres Yupit at Hospital Americano.
And then, after it's over, maybe a trip to Costco to pick up the rest of the list. Then I sun , splash in the pool and sleep! And Lora doggie dog will be getting a shampoo!

New and Improved - Ultramar ferry

Welcome to a new age! This was the Ultrama ferry that took me to Cancun at 9am Friday. Inside, new seating, two, four and two seats again by the windows. In the center, the front faces the new snack area and the first seats in the center are arranged around a table, handy for local accountts on their way to and from clients, and snack eaters!
There is also on each side, two tables for four. Nice to have more meetings, or spread the kids out with their Happy Meals from McDonald's in Puerto Juarez.

But the big news is the ramp! It opens up, uhmm, like the spaceships we have imagined.
And once opend, there are no more steps, front or rear. Its a gradual incline to lower deck level. Those who want, can go up to the upper deck like before. Sorry, that involves steps!
Luggage and packages are stowed in shelving covered by a fake leather, heavy plasctic flap. The ride is smooth, too. You almost forget you are on a boat. Except when you look out the windows into that aquamarine water that seems never to end.
And instead tourist propaganda preaching to the converted, the morning ferry at least is tuned to Mexican network news, where I learned we were experiencing cold front No. 46 of the season. Only elsewhere! It was a high of 25 and a low of 10 in Puebla and Chihauhua. In Merida, tempertures were heading to 40 and around 36 here. That's relentlessly hot! But hey, it was a cool ride. The AC worked!