The Girl With the Magic Fingers

Meet Sochi, the girl with the magic fingers. She's amazing.

She has a fold up table that she hauls over on a hand truck. I have no idea how far from the complex she lives but I think it must be a bit of a walk because she looks a bit tuckered when she gets here.

Senor B and I had booked her for 10am today. We've had her come a few times and she's always prompt. Today was no exception. A big "Hello, it's nice to see you again," accompanied her warm, wide smile.

Her table is almost as big as she is so we help her pull it out of the bag and get set up. Then it's down to business.

She uses a nice glide-y lotion, a metal ball with small spikes and few other gadgets that I saw but didn't take note of what they were. She uses the ball on the bottom of the feet. Eek! It made my feet twitch and I was afraid I was going to kick her!

I get a monthly massage at home so I'm used to them but she went deeper than my guy at home. There were a couple times I winced. She gave my frozen shoulder a good going over. I'm sure I'm going to hurt tomorrow.

I have a bug bite on the back of my right arm that has become very swollen. The red area is a good 4 inches in diameter. Because it's so big, she was concerned that it was a cockroach bite. Say what?! Cockroaches bite? omg. I got it during the night, along with 3 or 4 more, so I'm pretty sure it's just a mosquito bite.

A full body massage takes just over an hour and she charges 250 pesos. Much cheaper than my guy at home and every bit as good. She also has clients in Merida. I left all my business cards back in Canada but if anyone is interested, I can get her contact info. She doesn't speak a lot of English but with the help of my handy-dandy dictionary, we managed.

Last Day Here

Pretty slow day today. We had massages again this afternoon. Oh man. My massage guy at home has competition. The only negative is that she uses a fairly heavy oil and you feel like a grease pit afterwards. And she won't let you shower for an hour after. I guess the scented oils need time to work their magic.

I tend to not be chatty when I'm getting a massage. I like relaxing and finding my place of Zen. But Sochi and I did trade a few words. She doesn't speak a lot of English and asked me about a couple English words and I asked her about a couple Spanish words.

Today is our last day here. We head into Cancun tomorrow afternoon so that we can catch a 7am flight Sat. The day was mostly spent doing up laundry and organizing a few things. We have a bit of left over food...a couple eggs, jam, PB, an onion, a little bit of oatmeal and pancake mix, that sort of thing...so S upstairs will take it to the soup kitchen. They don't mind open packages, which is nice. I hate throwing out perfectly good food but so many places won't accept open packages.

We don't have a phone to call Gustavo for a ride so we emailed him. No answer yet. We might have to borrow a phone in the morning. Hopefully we find a ride so we don't have to hitch hike...lol.

While we've been sweltering in the heat, the folks back home have been dealing with a whopper of a snowfall. Up where we live, snow at the beginning of June is uncommon but not unheard of. So snow at the end of March isn't unexpected, in the least. Still, we had hoped to escape it, especially since it's been an uncharacteristically warm winter and the temps have been well above freezing most of the time that we've been here. We arrive to our home airport about 5:30pm and had planned on making the 3 hour drive home that night. Depending on how things are when we land, we may wait until the next day.

Anyways, cross your fingers that we find a ride into Merida to catch the bus and that we don't arrive to ADO to find out our scheduled time has been cancelled.

Hasta luego.

Best Day Ever

Well, in the top 10, anyways.

Yesterday, we were introduced to Sochi. Not sure of the spelling but it's pronounced so (like toe) chee. Sochi does massages, manicures and pedicures so we set up appointments for full body massages at 10am today. She asked if we were allergic to anything or if we had metal parts. She uses a magnetic something-or-other and needed to know.

Sochi lives a couple of blocks down the street from here. Friends had told her they would pick her up but they forgot. Oops. She doesn't have a vehicle so she loaded her folding table onto a hand truck and rolled it over. What a gal! She's known within the complex so someone let her in the gate. Her cheery, "Hola. Buenos dias!" at the door let us know she'd arrived.

We moved the kitchen table to make room for her bed and she went to work. ohmygoodness. She's amazing! She uses scented oils which was intriguing. She started with a menthol smelling one, moved on to a lavender one and then used something very warming on my bum shoulder. I was so relaxed and "into" the whole thing that I didn't think to ask her what she was using. I have to get a monthly massage at home to keep myself limber enough to continue working, and hers was as good as any I've had. Senor B enjoyed his massage, as well.

Sochi showed me a couple of exercises to do for my shoulder and one for Senor B for his neck. She doesn't speak much English but we managed to understand each other.

Our massages were about an hour and twenty minutes each. Wonderful fragrances and a couple exercises to do. All done in the comfort of our home. For the fabulous price of 250 pesos/$19CDN each. We gave her 600 pesos/$46CDN for the two of us. My massage back home costs me $80 for one hour. No fragrances and I have to do the travelling.

We're going to try and book her before we go back.

A Hot Day in Paradise

Woke up early this morning. I was up and rolling shortly after 7:00. I don't get up that early at home, even on work days. Sheesh! But it was just one of those days where I woke up and couldn't get back to sleep.

After breakfast, Owen, Señor B and I went uptown. We stopped at the glass shop to remind them that we wanted them to come. "Twenty minutes," we were told. So Owen made one more stop and then we went back to the condo to drop off Señor B so he could wait for the glass guy. Owen and I both had to get groceries so we did that after dropping off Señor B.

We agreed that whoever was done first would wait outside the doors for the other. I got there and waited a few minutes. Then I noticed that it looked like the rear lights on Owen's truck were on. I figured he was waiting inside with the AC on, so I toddled on over. He wasn't there so I just stood at the back of his truck and waited for him. I waited about 10 minutes and felt like such a fool.

In México, they have guys who help you put your groceries in your vehicle and help back you out of your parking space. These guys are a godsend when the traffic is heavy. It's customary to tip about 5 pesos. So there I am, a red-headed white chick who is clearly a foreigner, just standing there getting gawked at. I felt like people were thinking, "Oh, look at the Princess...waiting for someone to help her." Ugh.

When we got back to the complex, Señor B said the guy hadn't come yet. Whatever. If he comes, he comes. If he doesn't, he doesn't.

Massages had been arranged for the afternoon and we had decided to get one. We were down at the pool waiting our turn when we heard Owen talking to someone who was speaking Spanish. The front balcony/walkway overlooks the courtyard so it was easy to hear them. It was Glass Guy and friend. They measured up our space, saying they would return Wed am to install the glass. We shall see.

The massage was just as fabulous as the other one. I had a different girl and she did some things a bit differently. Because of my job as a hairdresser, I bend to the right a lot. The muscles on the right side of my body are contracted because of it. This gal must be somewhat experienced because she really worked the right side of my body, digging right in with her arms.

She also massaged my belly...?!  This was a new one on me. Not sure what she expected to accomplish by rolling (because, seriously, how could there be any massaging involved here?) my middle-aged, overweight, birthed-three-babies waterbed belly around. I'm so glad there weren't any guys around at the time. The only man allowed to see that gelatinous, stretchmarked mess is Señor B.

Monday is water day at the complex. Because we can't drink the tap water, we get our water in 5 gallon jugs, just like at home. It costs 20 pesos. You leave the money in the jug and leave the jug outside your door. The water guy replaces the empty with a full one. We leave him a 5 peso tip because we sure appreciate him hauling those heavy jugs up the stairs. I saw him carrying two of them, one in each hand. He must have very strong hands.

It was hot today. The wind came from the south which is inland. It's much hotter than the more typical wind that comes from off the Gulf. I actually went in the  pool. I hate water. I hate getting wet. So you know it's hot when I'll actually choose to get wet. It's supposed to be hot all week so I expect I'll be in the pool quite bit.

It was L's birthday today, so a bunch of us got together under the palapa for supper and drinks. We ordered pizza from Dominoes and it was just as good as it was when we got it in Nov. It was a fine ending to a fine day.

Meeting and Massage

This morning Bindi and I, along with a few other condo residents, went to a meeting downtown. The Canadian consulars from Cancún and México City were there to get an idea of the issues Canadian expats are facing and to address their concerns. They were then taking those concerns to a meeting with local authorities in the afternoon.

We took the little local bus, which is really a converted van, there and back. Cost is 4.5 pesos per trip. Because Progreso has a lot of one way streets, we had to walk a block to catch the downtown one. The one coming home stops right at our corner.

Yesterday, Bindi had arranged for some gals to come to the complex to give massages. There was enough interest for 4 girls to come. They set up their tables under the palapa down at the pool. Señor B and I both partook. Cost was 200 pesos each for one hour. It was very nice and was all done without the privacy of an individual room, like we have NOB. They have a technique for taking off your shirt and bra without compromising your modesty. I was quite intrigued.

Afterwards, a bunch of us got talking and decided to go to Natasha's for supper. Her little restaurant has a real name but everyone just refers to it as "Natasha's." Señor B had sauteed shrimp and I had the BBQ spiced chicken. Both meals were delicious. He had a couple of beers, I had 2 drinks and we both had dessert. The bill came to 370 pesos, so probably in the neighbourhood of $32. The salad was especially delicious and I had meant to ask her what dressing she used and if she had some we could buy, but I forgot. Pretty sure it's the fault of the second drink I had. Holey moley. It's a good thing I didn't have to drive after.

Then we went back to Owen and Bindi's for more visiting.

It's been a bit chilly since we got here. I've been wearing my jeans in the evening and taking a jacket when we go out. There's lots of heat in the sun, but the wind is cool, coming in off the Gulf. I know, I know...wah, wah, wah...how cold can it be? It's certainly much warmer than back in Canada, but one thing to know is that they don't have central heating here. When it's cold, there's no way to warm up except to add layers of clothing. I had to add an extra blanket to the bed last night and will use it again tonight.