Paying our Fideicomiso

About a week before we left Canada, we received a bill from Scotiabank Inverlat for our annual fideicomiso payment. There was some discrepency between what they were requesting and what we believed we had already paid so we had our lawyer look into it. She finally got it straightened out so today we went into Merida to make the payment.

We had no address for the bank. All our lawyer told us was that it was on Paseo Montejo, across from the Museo Canton. Senor B didn't seem convinced that I could get us there and back. Oh, ye of little faith.

We took the Autoprogreso in and got off at Chedraui. We hailed a cab but he was in the far lane. We watched him turn the corner, cut through the parking lot and come around for us. Excellent! Step one completed.

In the best Spanish I could muster, I told him where we wanted to go. He got us to the Museo but we couldn't see the bank. He drove down the street a bit farther and came up the other side of the street. We found it! Step two done. Btw...Scotiabank is across from the Palacio Montejo. Now we know.

We had to buzz to get to the upstairs office to see the accountant. Hurray for Spanish. I was able to tell the man on the other side of the intercom why we were there and he let us in.

We didn't see the accountant. Instead it was a young lady who was probably his assistant. Our lawyer said we might end up seeing her. She did some calculations and came up with a price that was 700 pesos higher than what the accountant had emailed our lawyer who had then forwarded it to us. Fortunately, we'd had the foresight to print off the emails. I showed them to the lady who then showed them to the man working in the same room. He confirmed the price in the emails. She prepared the paper we would need to present to the teller and, with that in hand, it was back downstairs to pay.

We weren't sure who we had to pay it to. The gentleman at the front desk looked at it and sent us to a lady in an office. She looked at it and sent us out to the teller. The teller looked at it and took our money. Step three done and the main mission accomplished.

Now we had to find our way back to Progreso. No problema. All we have to do is get down to the Autoprogreso depot downtown. That required crossing the street and looking for a bus that said Centro. Done.

We decided to have some lunch while we were downtown. We stopped at Cafe Habana, on the corner of 62 and 57. At least I think it's 57. Definitely on 62. We had a fabulous waiter who had a wonderful sense of humour and who spoke very good English. The Habana clubhouse with potato salad that we both decided to have was delicious. The cost was a bit higher than the more mom and pop style restaurants but it was still reasonable. Two clubs, two beers and a coke came to 256 pesos. The restaurant was clean and the wait staff attentive. We would eat there again.

After lunch we continued on our way to the bus station. Right across the street from Plaza Grande, on C62, is a great little ice cream store that we almost always hit when we're in the city. I have no idea what the name of it is but they always have pastel pink chairs outside. It was hot today so we decided to get a small treat to enjoy in the shade in the park. That sure hit the spot. As we were relaxing in the shade, cooling off, I watched the many police officers who walked or drove by. Those black uniforms, in the heat, must be brutal. I wished I could have bought them all an ice cream.

We boarded the bus and headed home. Mission accomplished! And almost all of it in Spanish, too. Huzzah!