Looking back, I can see now that it all started on the morning of Saturday, August 25. Miguel and I were wrapping up our Vancouver visit. I was up early to join my two sisters out on the road to cheer on my nephew, Michael, and brother-in-law, Dave, riding in the 2018 Ride to Conquer Cancer.
It started out reasonably enough. Punctually picked up at 7:15 by my sister, Sandy, we motored over to the pre-arranged meeting point with my other sister, Nicole. Armed with pom-poms, cowbells and tambourines, as well as a couple of handmade signs by yours truly, we huddled under umbrellas in the misty rain cheering the passing riders and awaiting the approach of Michael and Dave.
Within 15 minutes of our arrival, we saw in the distance the two of them pedalling towards us. Everything was working out so smoothly! Together, the Three Sisters Reid cheered wildly as the duo sped towards us. As a Ride to Conquer Cancer alumni myself, I had my phone out videoing the moment as they passed by us, gleaming with pride and smiles as wide as the road they rode down.
I should mention here that the phone I was using was a new Samsung S7 Edge which I received shortly before my trip up to Vancouver. A pretty thing, with a big, shiny screen and curved glass edges, it displayed your images and videos vividly, filling the screen from edge to edge.
Once I finished filming the duo, I moved to place the prized phone back in my jacket pocket. Rather than dropping straight into the safety of said pocket, the phone instead dropped straight to the ground, landing on the edge (how ironic) of where the asphalt met the gravel shoulder of the road.
Like the glaring glass of a broken mirror, the cracked screen of that shiny Samsung began a seemingly superstitious spell of rough luck. Or, perhaps it was simply the realities of living in Mexico that ganged up on us. Either way, something surely contributed to the string of mishaps that made our return to home, sweet home in Cancun slow and tedious.
But I’ll let you be the judge of that…
No Electricity.
Arriving home to hot and humid Cancun the evening of Sunday, August 26th, tired and travelworn, Miguel and I roughly organized ourselves for a new week. We were about to throw ourselves into bed at 8 o’clock when the lights above us brightened intensely and then cut out entirely.
Shhhii-iiiitt, we muttered simultaneously in the dark.
By some miracle, Miguel was able to fidget with the circuit breakers and get the air conditioner working in our bedroom, but nothing else. Too tired to care, and content that we at least had a cool room to sleep in, we promptly climbed into bed and nodded off to sleep.
The next day, the electrician informed us the cable connecting the house to the main meter would need to be replaced. Due to the expense of this job, the landlord would need to first approve it before work could begin. So, while we awaited the official OK to proceed, I proceeded to empty the fridge and freezer into our cooler and located our portable battery packs for cell phone charging.
A full day of chipping, re-cabling and re-concreting of outside walls began Wednesday morning and by nightfall, we were technically reconnected to the grid. However, a new problem was identified in the process and I would need to contact the electricity commission (CFE) to install a new meter. Until then, too high a voltage was entering our house so we were unable to plug in any of our appliances or turn on any lights. At least the air conditioner units were built to withstand high electrical loads and we could enjoy our candlelit dinner comfortably under a gentle air-conditioned breeze.
CFE arrived the next day as promised between 2 and 6 in the afternoon (a Mexican miracle). Turns out they needed to replace another cable between our house meter and the next hub. But within 30 minutes of their arrival, we were officially back in business. The electrician even returned to check that everything was working as it should and by 6 o’clock the fridge was humming, the TV was glowing and lights shone overhead at their prescribed brightness.
Home, sweet home.
No car.
Making our electrical woes worse was the fact that our car, which had gone in for service during our stint in Canada, was still in the VW shop. Being the pro-active planner I am, I had arranged with a savvy mechanic friend of ours to help manage the 30,000 km service of our car and a warranty issue which required up to 72 hours for VW to ‘deal with’. As we only have the one car, it made perfect sense to have this taken care of while Miguel and I were both out of town. Two weeks should be more than enough time to square these things away, no?
No.
The final days of our holidays in Canada had us stressing about whether or not our car would be ready for our arrival. Approvals were required by VW head office for the warranty coverage and they were slow to respond to the dealership’s request. Like, a week too slow. Then, when the part was officially ordered, it took another five business days for the part to arrive from the central warehouse in Puebla.
So we ended up arriving home with no car. No car to commute with to the office, no car with which to grab groceries or to simply get out and about. Nada.
It, in fact, took an additional 10 days to get our car back after we arrived home. Thankfully, Miguel’s office had a courier car with which he could drive home each night and take back in the morning. But Antonio and I were left at home to try and entertain ourselves – part of that time without electricity.
When all was accounted for, VW had our car for over three weeks – the majority of that time, it sat waiting for a part. For whatever reason, they were unable to release the car to us until the part arrived. But when I finally got word it was ready for pick up, I jumped at the call and grabbed the first available slot to collect it – 5:30pm.
Our friend picked me up and together we travelled the short distance to the dealership. We proceeded through the sales showroom and down into the service department. As we walked to the reception desk, I saw our car still parked in a service bay, dirty and not in the least ready for pick up.
I laughed, a little maniacally, and pointed this out to my friend. “After three weeks, and the last pick-up appointment of the day at 5:30, and the car isn’t even ready for delivery.”
And it still wasn’t ready until 7 o’clock. But hey! Better late than never, right? And we live in Mexico, so it was still technically on time, right? And, at least we got our car back.
Home, sweet home.
No internet.
After a rough 10 days at home, our electrical issues resolved and our mode of transport returned, it was time to get back into that sense of routine, finally.
The hot and humid weather we returned to in Cancun was thanks to the rainy season which runs from June to November. Now, mid-September, we were in the thick it. The rainy season brings with it insane quantities of water in short periods of time, ground shaking rolls of thunder and a calibre of lightning only the Caribbean can deliver.
Poor Antonio hates the rainy season. He can sense storms coming a day away and begins pacing madly throughout the house, panting profusely, and whimpering at the first prickle of his whiskers.
I’m not much of a fan either as the rains bring flash flooding of all roadways including the drive to our place. It literally paralyzes the city and in our case occasionally traps us in our development. Sometimes, if we are caught on the wrong side of ‘the junction’ in our complex which repeatedly floods, we have to abandon our car and walk the remainder of the way home. This, in fact, happened to me twice in September – the first with no umbrella and the second with the wrong shoes so I had to walk home barefoot.
I’m also not a fan of these storms as, without fail, it brings with it a brief outage of electricity and resets our internet. It doesn’t take much, 3-5 seconds perhaps without electricity, and we spend the next 3-5 hours without internet. This happened enough in September that I called our provider and complained three times.
The morning of October 2nd, I was due to start an online workshop – one that used video conferencing to interact and share materials with each of the participants. I was excited to begin this course for a number of reasons and the day before, like a well-practiced Girl Guide, I prepared my space, checked our internet connection and took the steps to ensure the morning would run smoothly for my first session.
Around two in the morning, while we slept soundly, an impressive blitz of lightning and clap of thunder simultaneously exploded overhead. I literally thought a bomb had gone off. I shrieked and Miguel bolted upright in bed. But when nothing more crackled up above, we attempted to return to sleep with our hearts racing and Antonio now vibrating under the covers with us.
Hours later, as I attempted to review my newsfeed over breakfast, I noticed our internet connection had disappeared. “Mother father!” I howled. With just 40 minutes until my online course was due to start, I scrambled to hit the reset button on the modem to no avail. I stormed upstairs and burst into our bedroom on the verge of tears. “Why, oh WHY, on a day like today must our internet fail?!?”
Miguel could see the frustration welling up on my face and jumped into action offering to bring me into his office where he could surely find me a space to do my course. Not ideal, but it more a less did the trick. With the clock ticking down, I quickly showered, threw my laptop into a bag, and we commuted the 20 minutes into the office where I logged onto my first session of the course, just in a nick of time.
It was another 10 days, multiple visits to Starbucks for internet access, plenty of walks with Antonio, early bedtimes, no Netflix, maxed out data plans and numerous books read before we got our internet back. This result was thanks to another three calls to Telmex customer service and a special favour called into the Telmex rep at Miguel’s office. If it weren’t for that, I think we still would be without internet today.
But here we are, reconnected to the first world.
Home, sweet home.
Sick pooches and pooched productivity.
By now, we are almost seven weeks since that fateful Saturday morning. In amongst the challenges of being without lights, mobility and a reliable connection to the internet, Antonio got so sick one night we (read, me) had to take him outside every hour on the hour throughout the night. After a trip to the vet, a special three-day diet and a 10-day recipe of prescription medicine, Antonio returned to his usual self. But the poor guy didn’t know what had hit him. But looking back, I know what did. $%&@ ing phone.
Then there were days when even the simplest tasks – those you thought were completely in your control – could not even be completed. Like the day when nothing seemed to be going right – we were internet-less, the washer had broke, my cell reception from the house was terrible and I couldn’t contact the Mabe service office. Instead, I had to drive a little way out of our complex to get a signal and finally make the service appointment. Desperate to feel even the littlest bit productive, I continued on down the road to the nearby shopping complex with the goal to finally sign up at Zona Fitness, a mediocre gym at best, but one which included a 25m indoor pool which I was keen to access in order to train for a long distance swim race.
I had visited the gym just a week before to ask about a drop-in rate and possible promotions, and so, armed with all the information and moved by my growing boredom at our internet-less home, I parked the car, strode up to the front doors and stopped mid-stride. Neon poster papers plastered the doors and windows, and a heavy dose of packing tape sealing the sliding doors shut clearly communicated they were not open for business. Nor would they be again, ever. Turns out the owners had up and left overnight leaving hundreds of members paid up and out of luck.
Just another example of how trying to get things done just works against you sometimes here in Mexico. But on the bright side, at least I hadn’t registered the week before. Otherwise, I too would have been left out in the hot, humid Cancun heat.
Home, sweet home.
Certainly, not all of our trials are documented here – I’ll spare you the details of the case of the flooding toilet, the daytime break-in of our neighbours, the lifting floor tiles, the immigration renewal issues and the expiration of my driver’s license.
Three months since our return home to Cancun, however, I do believe the line has been drawn in the Caribbean sand. Our luck seemingly turned the corner at the start of November starting with a wonderful visit from a very good Vancouver friend (save for the fact my original iPhone 5C, which was resurrected post-Samsung, sputtered to a slow death during her stay). As well, Miguel’s insane work volume allowed him finally to take a few weekends off for local explorations and changes in scenery. And, we closed the month with a ridiculously fun reunion visit with two Vancouver friends we actually met in Oaxaca almost three years ago. Not to mention, touch wood, our electricity, internet access and mobility continue to function.
Superstitions aside, I do believe both luck and life, in general, explained our spate of troubles. Circumstances are what you make of them. And these same troubles also put us in a position to explore some old pleasures – my love for reading was reignited (I read 4 books in those 10 days without internet), and Miguel, thanks to a new acquisition (the GoPro Hero 7) threw himself headfirst into video editing. Just look at what can be accomplished with internet-free evenings and weekends!
Modern or old-fashioned, superstitions are about what you believe and ultimately I believe things always happen for a reason. Though it’s certainly easier to blame the broken mirror or mobile phone screen (the modern mirror, perhaps), sometimes life just hands you limones. So, have a laugh, go with the flow and use those limes for a tasty limonada or a killer margarita.
Oh, and always using a high-quality case and screen protector for your phone.
The Game of Life: CDMX 