Missing Gringo Comforts
Today is a quiet, lazy day... a perfect Sunday. There's been tropical and cool rain for the last hour (after we watered the garden this morning, of course). Right before it started to rain, we had returned from a typical gringo morning: breakfast at Segafreddo's Italian coffee shop and shopping at Costco. We saw no fewer than seven people we knew there. All those price comparisons for big flat screen TV's has exhausted us, so one of us is taking a siesta. The other one is using the laptop computer over the new wireless DSL that we got installed at home TWO days after ordering it! That must be some kind of Telmex service record... and it would be hard for Pacific Bell or some other US telephone company to beat, too.
On the way home from Costco, we were remarking how many things we used to think of as "missing" from Merida when we first moved here. It seemed like there were so many things from the U.S. that we couldn't get here. But now, it just doesn't seem that way anymore. It does seem like the things we really need (DSL service, car repair, insurance, etc.) are as good or better here. And the things that aren't here maybe aren't that important anymore. (Is sourdough bread really that important?)
(don't answer that...)
...well, there just aren't that many of those things anymore. We can even get organic milk and Pop Tarts here.
Update (3/08/2006): we recently found sourdough bread at Mega...
Update (3/04/2007): there is now sourdough at Mega and Costco (neither are that good though) but PopTarts have mysteriously disappeared from the Peninsula. Organic milk, on the other hand, is everywhere. So it goes...
Comments
Working Gringos 18 years ago
With your divemaster and ballroom skills, sounds like you would find the most opportunities on the Mayan Riviera. There's not as much diving around Merida (only in the cenotes), although there is a lot of dancing!
As far as a place to stay, you'll just have to look around. There are probably places farther south of Cancun (around Tulum or Puerto Morelos) that might have what you are looking for. And some of the communities where the locals live might have houses for rent, but they aren't going to be listed on the internet.
If you want to be near Merida with that scenario, we would imagine you can find a place out by the beach in Progreso or one of the neighboring towns.
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Flyingk9 18 years ago
Hi Everyone,
Robert @ Annette here from Atlanta Georgia
Looking to move to the mayan riviera to work possiably in the resorts and live.
My Fiancée is a seasoned silks and Trapeze(think Cirque du Soleil) performer and I am a Divemaster.We both are ballroom dancing performers and can instruct the basics as well.
We are going to be traveling in a large tour bus type motorhome and would like to rent some small ranch house or something with some area for parking this monster(and not a RV park)!!
We are not looking for a upscale type Residence(think hippie type) just somewhere out away a little with power and water as we like living among the locals and no I am not new to this just have no contacts in that area.
Any and all comments are most welcome
Thanks
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Carlos Daniel Gallegos 18 years ago
Some things are the same. Some are not. At the McDonalds in Merida, there are no Sausage and Bisquits or McGriddles. (I love the McGriddles). There are the Burrito breakfasts. At the Chilis in Merida. I ordered Fajitas. The waiter brought me Tortillas de Maiz. I told the guy that in my Tejano (TexMex) culture, we eat Flour Tortillas with Fajitas. So, yes there are some things gringos can do without. Some things you can find in Merida that are close enough. Not the EXACTLY same, but, close enough.
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Working Gringos 18 years ago
That is truly a weird combination... (thank you. And if you can't get them or bring them for some reason, that will be okay too.)
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Cyndi Y 18 years ago
Hellmans blue and Ginger Altoids comin' right up!
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Working Gringos 18 years ago
Actually, we just thought of something else :-) Everyone has said that you can't get real mayonnaise down here... you know, Hellmans with the blue label. We used to be able to! But then we went shopping the other day, and sure enough, nothing but mayonesa con limon!! So maybe some mayo...
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Working Gringos 18 years ago
Cyndi, we wouldn't dream of asking you to bring rice milk all the way from the States. We do have soy milk and organic milk here now and that is suficiente (enough)! Fruitcake sounds good, but is way too heavy. Something Merida still doesn't have yet is a wide range of US candy and we've become rather partial to Ginger Altoids. If you must bring something, those will be a lovely present. Thank you and just keep coming back. We don't do this for Altoids, we do it for love.
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Cyndi Y 18 years ago
Okay, so can I safely assume that we can bring you fruitcake and rice milk from WholeFoods between 17 and 20 December, when we are staying at MedioMundo? If you really want specific things from Gringolandia, we would be very pleased to bring you what your heart desires. Rice milk and fruitcake are the only gift hints I could get out of that article that would not get stale or spoil between ABQ and Merida. I can bring something else (foody, non-foody)/more because my medical supply luggage is not counted in my airline weight allowance, and I carry a wheelchair bag with my medicine, my c-pap breathing machine, and food in case we get stuck somewhere, so food doesn't look at all suspicious. Ah, the perks of disability.
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Working Gringos 19 years ago
Hey now, Brenda :-) Thanks for the compliments and for checking in. Where on the Mayan Riviera are you going? Why are you leaving PV? Always curious... Nice to know there's a kindred spirit out there.
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brenda montague 19 years ago
Hey working gringa! I like the way you express yourself. I am also a granola crunching, former hippie, deadhead fruitcaky California girl that has been living in Puerta Vallarta for the past 1 1/2 years. My husband and I are moving to the Mayan Riviera in a couple of weeks. We have never been to the Yucatan and I enjoy reading your articles on life in the Yucatan. It is an adventure living and working in Mexico.
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Working Gringos 19 years ago
OK, Working Gringa here. I'm pretty sure that when an organic beverage says "tea", somewhere in that drink is a liquid that has been steeped in tea leaves. There are drinks that add sugar and fruit and stop resembling tea after awhile, I agree. Organic milk means that the cows have not been given meat byproducts in their meal (you laugh, but it happens) and also that they have not been given steroids or antibiotics, many of which show up later in the milk, and that nothing has been added to the milk. Organic doesn't mean vegetarian...it means "no chemicals". Or at least that is my granola-crunching, former hippie, deadhead fruitcaky California understanding of the situation.
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