December 14, 2021
Day 21: Cancun
ReBooked!
Fully the first half of yesterday was spent trying every phone number that the Westjet site contained, plus several others. The initial problem was not the simple one of trying to raise a human, but rather of finding a WestJet number that would actually ring, from our Mexican phone. The Mexican number, that had worked the day before, simply would not work, and Westjet's array of other phone numbers are all toll frees, with varying prefixes. Some internet research revealed that to dial these you need to change the prefix, like 877 becomes 871, or somesuch. But this produced all sorts of crazy error messages, in English or Spanish. For example, something like "the toll free number you have dialed is not supported outside the United States, so you will be charged long distance rates should the recipient accept the call". This before the line goes dead.
Finally, for no apparent reason, the Mexican Westjet number connected. So then it was "unusual call volume" "we are working quickly" and blah, blah, blah, --- for 4 1/2 hours! Little did they know that my phone has a huge - huge! battery, and I waited them out. My phone was ok, but my brain turned to mush as their corporate propaganda tape looped and looped. Once or twice every loop, and unusually clear and loud voice jerks you out of your stupor to offer a callback. This is a cruel hoax, because they do not call back to Mexico - I already tried it! Their other thing is to advise you to go the the "on hold" section of their website and fix whatever your problem is yourself. I tried that too, it ends with them saying "call us".
But hey, we did get rebooked, and will fly to Vancouver and then Victoria on Saturday. The bag of down jackets, waterproof socks and gloves, etc. that we left at the Holiday Inn in Vancouver, so we could cycle home, they gladly agreed to ship. All it took was the magic Visa card!
Our next step after booking Cancun to Victoria was to get to Cancun! The man (tour guide) who had been first on the scene of the crash, agreed to drive us over, which is a distance in excess of 300 km. He would then turn around and drive back to Merida, making his trip 600 km! The price given was 3000 pesos.
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We left just before evening, drove mostly in the dark, and arrived about 11:30 p.m., taking into account a time zone change. The man was so kind and helpful, first extracting the shaky Dodie from the van and then helping to carry the bikes and gear. He was also completely non cranky when I at first directed him not to our lodging but to the bakery. My phone, always eager to please, has bakeries on its brain!
Thinking about the ride, I just called the man, to say I didn't think the 3000 pesos fairly covered his costs and effort, and I would like to get some more money to him. No, no, the amount was fine, he insisted, don't worry, he counselled. Mexican people are amazing!
This morning, Jorge, our B&B host went with me to a local grocery store which agreed to use its Visa machine to hand me some cash. The little store was deceptive - those guys had lots of high denomination bills - not from selling bananas, probably! The 7% commission they charged made me feel like I was dealing with someone a little shady, but actually it's not too different from an HSBC ATM, which is an active and public ripoff!
Yesterday at a little fruit stand I got some tomatoes, red pepper, papaya, mandarins, and wow, the quality was so devilishly high. These items, when locally grown like that are super food. Today I went out again, adding watermelon and grapes and cantaloupe. If I still had a bike to ride, could I ever go!
Speaking of bikes to (not) ride, Dodie had the idea of wrapping the folded and sleeping Fridays in a web of plastic wrap. I asked Jorge about finding that, and it seemed like a mystery concept to him. Still, I went out and pretty soon scored several hundred feet. So now it looks like a giant spider is ready to eat the poor Fridays!
Jorge has gone off to cook some chicken and rice for us to share. We have not even fully settled on what our room rate will be here, but I told him we will also split the cost of any non breakfast food he buys. Jorge is playing it much more like a friend than like an entrepreneur. I had Joni on the line and in her perfect Spanish she discussed the proper care and maintenance of her parents and thanked Jorge for his efforts, (I assume!)
Tomorrow we'll begin to tackle the logistics of the Canadian required PCR test. Coming back from Mexico, we already feel like lepers. I phoned Dodie's doctor's office to get her in to see him asap. "Mexico?", they said, "we don't think so!". After some discussion, they agreed the doctor would phone, and go from there (presumably after spraying alcohol on his phone). Oh, Canada!
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She did send me a couple of screenshots which I could email to you if you want.
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