At the beginning of April, my friends Bonnie and Alan went back to Dallas for a little over a month to take care of some things and check on their rental property there. When I found out that not only were they going to Dallas, but driving, I asked if they would mind taking a purse along with them that I had purchased almost a year ago for my sister's birthday. It's one of those cute ones woven from metallic ice cream wrappers, and I knew my sister would get a charge out of it. My parents live very near Dallas. Bonnie graciously agreed to deliver the purse.
I was also hoping that Bonnie would be willing to pick up my video card from EVGA that they sent as a warranty replacement for the one that went belly up last June. (It was sitting in Texas because while EVGA didn't care that we were in Mexico, they would only mail the card to a US address.) She agreed to that, too.
I called my Dad to tell him what was going on and ask him to make the time to meet up with Bonnie to make the exchange. As soon as he heard that Bonnie and Alan were driving, he asked if they would mind bringing a few other things back. My birthday was coming up, so I assumed he wanted to send me a present. I told him I was sure Bonnie wouldn't mind finding a little space in the car. He asked for a list of things we wanted from the US.
My first reaction was "nothing". If I had been asked 14 months ago, I would have been able to rattle off a number of items we were feeling deprived without. But the longer we live here, the more able we are to find some of the things that eluded us at first. It's now easy to find many of the items that were so difficult 2 years ago: dill pickles, Dr. Pepper, dog chews, cheddar cheese, horseraddish. Heck, I can even easily get Friday's Tater Skins, Blue Bell ice cream, and Pepperidge Farm Milano Cookies.
My Dad asked me to think about it for a few days, and we did start to remember a few items we really wanted and couldn't get. Chief among them is Sudafed. We can't buy pseudoephedrine anywhere in the country because it's used for meth production. Not that making it illegal has helped any, if Pepe is any indication. Another biggie is neetsfoot oil. You can buy it at any feed and tack store in Texas, but we haven't found anything even close here, and our leather goods are in sore need of some tlc.
Once we finished with the "can't get"s, we moved on to the "it's here but boy is it expensive" category of stuff. By the end of a week, I was shocked to discover that we had compiled a rather lengthy list. Rather than pare down the list, I sent the whole thing to my Dad, figuring he could choose what he wanted to buy. It was supposed to be a gift after all. There should be some element of surprise.
Bonnie got back a few weeks ago, but we were incommunicado and waiting on Megacable, so I didn't get the care package from my Mom and Dad until Friday. When I met with Bonnie, we went outside to transfer stuff from her car to mine. She opened her trunk and handed me a box, plus a wrapped package from my sister for my birthday. Then she reached in and grabbed a large Space Bag full of stuff. Then she reached into her trunk again. I thought "holy crap". My Dad had bought everything on the list, and then some.
Chuck and I got all of the packages home and started to open them. The resulting contents more than covered our 7 foot patio table.
Here's what we got:
- 2 bags of kidney beans. I have been having a hankering for some red beans and rice.
- 8 packages of taco seasoning. There is no such thing as TexMex in Mazatlan, and we miss it.
- 6 insulated cups. As hot as it gets here, you would think there would be some around, but no dice.
- A year's supply of Sudafed
- A 5-year supply of Benedryl
- Allergy relief eye drops
- A 3-pack of Kirkland saline solution
- Neetsfoot oil
- My video card
- A new Logitech cordless keyboard and mouse for me. Heavy use had rubbed off all the letters on my previous keyboard and my mouse was rather jittery.
- New swim trunks for Chuck. Swim trunks here don't have the mesh liner. Everyone wears underpants with their swim trunks. Talk about chafing!
- iKlear Apple polish – the best LCD cleaner on the market
- 2 pairs of shorts for Chuck
- 3 silk shirts for Chuck
- A large assortment of tops for me. I am pretty tall for a woman, and really tall compared to the average Mexican woman, so any shirts I try on here come about to my belly button. The world does not need to see my tummy.
- 2 pairs of shorts for me that actually come up over my hips and hang down below my hiney. Just about everything here is hip-hugging Daisy Dukes. Ick.
- Bras! Any woman living in Mexico knows how hard it is to find good bras.
- Underwear. I have an affinity for a certain brand and style. Most of the underwear I come across here is polyester (yuck) and doesn't breathe. The salt air is hell on elastic, so it's nice to have some panties I can wear with a skirt and not worry about them falling down around my ankles when I walk. My Dad also threw in some bonus items.
- A scrub top for me
- A lint roller, because I often am covered with dog hair. My Dad calls me Messy Marvin Chuck's parents heard about Bonnie and got in on the act as well. They sent
- Slippers for me. My feet get awful cold in the winter.
- A power supply tester
- Star drivers
Bonnie did have to finally put her foot down and refuse to bring the two computers Chuck's parents tried to send. Their car is a two door Honda after all.
It's like Christmas here. I think I'll go make some tacos.-
|SAdministrator |m-d-Y H:i:s jenniferHi Katie,
My Dad had problems with the Sudafed. He and my sister had to visit several pharmacies and show id and sign at each one. They spread it out over a couple of days. I have never heard anyone having problems crossing the border with Sudafed, otherwise I never would have asked Bonnie to do it. It seems like its not illegal to have, you just can't buy it here.
I have thought about taking my favorite shorts (which are now hopelessly ratty with holes and strings having off of them) and having them copied by a competent seamstress. Its just one of those round tuit things.
The first time I saw the Milano cookies in the store, my hand snaked out lightning fast and had a bag in my shopping cart before my conscious brain ever realized what was happening. Unfortunately, I have not yet seen the orange ones, or the dark chocolate, just the originals. But they sure are good.
Hail? In May? It sounds like you live in Texas! What crazy weather this year. We seemed to have skipped Spring here in Mazatlan this year. We went straight from a little cool to boy is it hot. We've even had real rain already this year.
We are still in Centro. We're on Zaragoza near the PRI headquarters. We're still finding great stuff around us that we didn't know at first - three tortillarias in walking distance, seven abarrotes, walking to the market, a panaderia, it's awesome. We couldn't ask for a better location.
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|200.66.15.xxx |m-d-Y H:i:s MazManOK so where does one get Blue Bell icecream and all the other goodies you say you can get?
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|SAdministrator |m-d-Y H:i:s jenniferHey MazMan
The Blue Bell is available in the freezer section at Walmart. I did a food alert about it here: http://mexscape.net/community/index.php?topic=338.0, although I think the price has gone up some.
dill pickles: Best Maid brand at Soriana - about $40, or $56 for a ginormous (a gallon I thinnk) bottle at Sams
Dr. Pepper: Walmart, Soriana, the little tienda next to La Cueva del Leon on Oltas Altas. Probably a lot of other places too. It is getting quite popular here.
dog chews: Walmart is the only place we have found the rawhide twisties. Sam's often sells a variety pack near the dog food.
cheddar cheese: Sargento brand at Sam's for about $100 for 2 pounds. The Soriana store brand is very good and comes in smaller packages in the cheese case.
horseradish: Walmart, Soriana, Mega
Friday's Tater Skins: Walmart
Pepperidge Farm Milano Cookies: Walmart
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|75.87.149.xxx |m-d-Y H:i:s abrihet - Job Opportunities in Mazatlanhello there,
i posted these questions in your original story of living cheaply in mazatlan, then I ran across these more recent stories and thought it may be more applicable to place my questions here. Please see below:
i greatly enjoyed reading your story, thank you a million for taking the time to share this across the world! I am very curious if you can tell me, what were your job opportunities while living in mazatlan? were you able to find something that similarly matched your income in european or american states? lastly, were you able to find a good paying job because of skilled experience? thank you for your time and consideration in answering my questions!
A
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|SAdministrator |m-d-Y H:i:s jenniferI answered your question at the original post, here:
http://www.mexscape.net/Shopping/living-cheap-the-cost-of-things-in-mazatlan.html#JOSC_TOP
Mostly Cloudy 82 oF • 28 oC
Insulated cups not being available there is sure a mystery.
I'm surprised that a year's supply of Sudafed made it across, and even more surprised they were able to get such a quantity in the U.S. I don't know if the states have the same guidelines but in Washington, we have to show I.D. and write down our info and sign a stupid ledger at the drugstore to buy a package of anything containing the pseudoephedrine. Not sure if they even let us buy more than a pack or two at a time. Another bit of Theater in our war on drugs...
Learning that you can get cheddar cheese, horseradish and Pepperidge Farms Milano cookies (I love the orange flavored ones!), I'm redoubling my efforts to move down there as soon as I can. I envy the sunshine and the heat - we had HAIL yesterday. Yes. Hail.
I had to chuckle at the taco seasoning - I have a secret love for those little packets; I sprinkle it on the cheddar cheese before making a melted cheese sandwich...
Congrats on your new digs, from the pictures it looks sweet and the dogs must enjoy it too. What neighborhood did you end up in, what part of the city?
-Katie