Our Mexican Adventure

So, the other day I needed to return some items I had bought at Walmart. It would be my first time making a return in Mexico, as I’ve been quite careful not to buy anything I thought might not work out. Stories of other expats trying to make returns had not been particularly encouraging.

But John had rejected the power strip I had bought at his request as soon as he saw it, and I wasn’t putting up with a $6 bum lightbulb, so I strolled confidently up to the returns counter. As I waited my turn, I read over the returns policy, and determined that nothing would stand in my way.

I gave the customer service clerk my reasons for returning the items. She took the lightbulb out of the box, and spent a good 2-3 minutes examining it, turning it around, upside down, holding it up against the light. Finally, she got on the phone and asked someone else to come take a look. Great!

So, the return nazi marched up to us, and asked my reason for returning the lightbulb. She mimiced the actions of the first girl, but dissatisfied with this, she went as far as to completely disassemble the light bulb in order to inspect the internals. I don’t know what she found, but she eventually gave up on it.

Next, she asked why I was returning the power strip. ‘Ah, the cord is too short’, I responded. To which I was shot an incredulous look that said ‘Yeah, right. First a bad lightbulb, now a short cord. You’re just messing with me! I’m throwing you out of here on your %*@!’ Well, not exactly, but that was a pretty cold, hard glare she gave me!

So, she takes the power strip out of the box. It’s encased in a plastic bag, which she holds up to the light, and very carefully checks for any rips or holes. I was lucky. The bag was pristine. She still seemed unsure, so the customer service girl helped me out by telling her that I was making an exchange, not a pure return. Okay, fine, I could go get my items for exchange and bring them back to the counter.

But I had to press my luck. ‘I’d like to purchase other items from your fine store as well. How can this be accomplished?’ Oh boy, the return nazi was in a tizzy now. Customer service girl came to my defense again. Their Spanish got too fast for me to comprehend, but I’m pretty sure customer service girl said something like ‘Oh, she’s just a silly gringa. Give her a break!’ Return nazi walked off in a huff, and customer service girl processed my return. Thanks customer service girl!

When I got to the lightbulb aisle, I found return nazi waiting for me. She very graciously helped me find the lightbulb I was looking for. She then asked if I would like to test it out. ‘Umm, sure, how can I do that?’ So, she took the lightbulb out, walked me over to the lightbulb tester, and screwed it in. This one was not a dud. Silly gringa!

By the way, as far as I know the word ‘retorno’, although a real Spanish word, in not used in this sense. Generally, a retorno means return from some sort of journey. On highways, you will see signs for a ‘Retorno’ where you are allowed to make U-turns. When I made my return, I said ‘Quisiera hacer una devolucion’. Not sure if that’s completely correct, but it worked.

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Sunday, September 16th marked Mexico’s Independence Day, the celebration of Mexican independence from Spanish rule. In some ways, Independence Day here in Playa del Carmen is very similar to Independence Day celebrations in the U.S. Families and friends gather for food, drinks and good times, stores and homes are decorated in the colors of the national flag, and a fireworks display enthralls crowds in the town square.

But instead of burgers and brats (sorry, I’m from the Midwest), Mexicans indulge in the traditional party food of pozole, a hominy and pork soup. They decorate their homes, cars and tiendas with Mexican flags and red, white and green ‘papel picado’, another Mexican tradition of decoratively cut paper banners.

The most interesting difference to me is the tradition of the grito (shout). The grito is a reenactment of the shout to fight for liberty made by Father Hidalgo in the wee hours of September 16th, 1810. Today, crowds gather in town squares all over Mexico on the evening of the 15th to participate in the reenactment. A government official shouts ‘Mexicanos, Viva Mexico!’ (Mexicans, Long Live Mexico!) to which the crowd responds ‘Viva!’. This is repeated several times, then the Mexican flag is waved, and then um …

Well, the truth is that John and I have somehow managed to miss this ceremony two years in a row now. This year, we were eating pozole at a bar just a block from all the action, when the ceremony began earlier than scheduled. We heard the shout, but missed the rest of the ceremony. We did run up to the roof of bar, and managed to see much of the fireworks display, which was even better this year than last!

The celebration in Playa was very much a party atmosphere. Revelers were shouting and using noisemakers, waving flags and banners. Vendors sold everything from Mexican flags to marquesitas (a tasty, crispy crepe filled with edam cheese) to ceramic frogs.

The next day a parade was held, which we missed. However, we were thrilled to accept an invitation to the house of a Mexican friend for an Independence Day party. Unfortunately, I had felt sick since waking that morning, and the aroma of the food which our friend, Ara, had so lovingly prepared for us, made my nausea unbearable.

So, I had to go back home to nibble on plain crackers and sip 7-Up, while John had a grand old time, eating home-cooked pozole and tinga de pollo (shredded chicken in chipotle sauce), attempting to understand and participate in Spanish conversations, drinking tequila, and singing along to Mexican music. Mexicans love to sing LOUDLY! John came home raving about his Mexican Independence Day.

¡Viva Mexico!

Watch a video of the fireworks display.
Watch a video of an auctioneer hawking ceramic bowl sets, frogs and angels.

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This blog was in serious need of a new look. Ever since John changed the site to the Shaded Grey (sure sounds exciting, don’t it?) Wordpress theme, I’ve hated it! Maybe that’s why I’ve barely written anything for this blog since then. The conversation that ensued after his redesign was something like this.

Libby: “That’s really boring!”

John: “Well, if you don’t like, YOU can change it!”

Libby: “Fine, I will!”

And that I did … it only took me about a year.

The photo in the banner was taken by me in Playa del Carmen just south of Coco Bay. I spent an entire evening searching through endless photos of beaches, palm trees, people, cats, parties, food pics, family events, etc to find one I liked well enough for the banner. We have a tons of photos, all organized only by date. How do you find a picture of a Playa del Carmen beach when you need one? So, I finally downloaded some much needed photo organization software, Adobe Photoshop Album Starter Edition. It’s free! If you’re looking for a full-featured photo organizer and editor, you should go with Adobe Photoshop Elements.

You might notice that we’re now shamelessly plugging our In the Roo website all over this blog. It’s our baby, and although we still have a lot more work to do, we’re quite proud of it. In the Roo is a searchable and taggable directory of Playa del Carmen hotels, condos, restaurants, bars, stores, websites, you name it! Make sure you check out our interactive Google map. Street overlays are not yet available for this area, so John painstakingly built all the streets on our map. And all the cool features you see are the result of his brilliant programming skills!

As if all this self-promotion weren’t enough, now we’re promoting other companies and products as well with the new ads on this site. Yes, we’re sell-outs. But hey, everyone else is getting rich off the internet, why not us! Well, we can dream can’t we.

And finally, for you bookmarking fiends, I’ve also added icons for bookmarking our posts at several popular bookmarking sites.

I promise that the next post will have something to do with Mexico!

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