Settling in, well sort of. I’m here for a month and haven’t hit the 1st week yet.

Things have changed here in my absence. Guy Fieri no longer has a restaurant on 5th Avenue (it really wasn’t that good anyway), the ferry to Cozumel used to cost $13 round trip…now it costs about $35!!! The Tequila Barrel is no longer here. Walmart is the same, Mega is now Soriana’s and Aki Super Mercado is about the same.

Finding a mom & pop Panaderia is tough. So far only Walmart, Soriana and Aki. I’ll continue my search. I was annoyed at Soriana’s my last visit, I asked the Panderia clerk where the Tres Leche was and he just looked dumbfounded ….and responded ‘Huh’?

Both Walmart and Soriana stores have parking garages so the store is elevated above it. You can use steps or the escalator. The escalator doesn’t have steps as we do in the U.S., it’s just a belt. This allows you to bring a cart up and down. Once the cart is rolled onto the belt it locks magnetically. Cool.

I’ve the patio door opened while writing this morn and next door at the cantina “Black Magic Woman” by Carlos Santana is blaring….I love it, think it’s cool!

As I’m checking out the changes I’ll start looking for some other extended stay units (like for 3 to 6 months at a time) because this one is topping out my budget and I want a little less on the housing without sacrificing the location much.

I’ve almost got my kitchen stocked like I want, I’ll finish that next week early. Gotta make another beer run…

I experimented with this one yesterday. It came highly recommended to me by a local that worked for “Mexico Loco Bar and Grill”. He is one of the people that are ‘Street Hawkers’ beckoning you to their business. He was really a neat character. We chatted for a while on the street (I’ve eaten and drank at ‘Mexico Loco’ before, cool experience) but they didn’t have like a 2 for 1 special that others had so he pointed me down the avenue. Moments later I noticed he had walked right past me with his ‘Mexico Loco’ menu in hand and entered the 7-11. I had made my way to the cooler before he did where we met up again and he was pulling a Barrilito Beer from the shelf, smiled at me and told me it was a good beer that was brewed by the Corona Brewing Company. It sold for $11 pesos…that’s about 60 cents U.S. I passed for the moment. But later on at Walmart (2nd trip for the day) I bought a 6 pack for about $3.65 the Corona was $4.50. It had the heavy full initial taste of the Corona but the back taste was a little less desirable. I’ve still got some and will give it another try today.

I got a 5 liter of water for $1.50.

Coca Cola Light is $1.49 for a 1 liter bottle.

These chips are 69 cents U.S. as opposed to $2.49 in the states and the bags have little to ‘no’ air in them!!!

Well, I’ve thrown enough stuff at you for the day…I’m going chase down some more stuff.

Stay happy everyone!

Peace, love, and beaches,

John