Mexico - Discoveries and Surprises

May 26, 2022

Aside from the sunshine every day all day long and only 20 minutes of rain in the whole 5 months we were in Mexico, there were a few other interesting discoveries and surprises during our trip. Some positive, some negative and some just interesting.

One of the very first surprises we learned was that indeed Amazon DOES deliver to Mexico!  That was both a blessing and a curse.  A blessing in that we could get things we would otherwise have no way of getting and then a curse because well, Amazon delivers!  I was thinking I’d get away from it while we were away but I just couldn’t resist.  Everything from clothes, tools and outdoor/camping equipment right down to cat food, dish soap and Robaxacet!  Given we were in a small town that was an hour to larger shopping centres and an hour and a half to a decent pet food store, Amazon was awesome.  Local mini arborrotes (grocery stores) offer many items, but not those that we’re more familiar with in Canada and the US.  More about that later.  

One of our earliest “surprises” was the taste of the bread.  It seems Bimbo bread has the monopoly in Mexico.  We couldn’t help but smile and say “Bimbo” everytime we saw a Bimbo truck go by - what a name!   We could only occasionally find a brand other than Bimbo bread when we went into Nuevo Vallarta.  Of course there are local bakeries too but there seemed to be more demand for rye and sour dough bread and the few loaves of white that were baked were gone earlier than we would get up in the morning.  Every loaf of Bimbo we tried and even the few other brands we tried all had what we can only describe as a chemical taste. We figure it must be something in the flour or the preservatives used.  Once a month or so we’d drive about an hour into Nuevo Vallarta to their bigger grocery chains where we found a wonderful bakery.  Speaking of baking, it was only in this one store La Comer that we found the baking to be comparable to what we’re used to.  Although all the baking everywhere looked good, including the huge tray that would be walked around the beach daily (see previous post for a pic of that), the taste was just not what we were used to.  We did however discover the most wonderful cinnamon rolls freshly made at a local restaurant in town - the Waterman Cafe.  Thankfully, they would often have some left when we stopped by for an afternoon Americano.

We also got a kick out of another brand of food called “FUD” which made a number of food items including cold meats, chesses, pizzas, hot dogs and bacon etc.  What can I say, us gringos are easily amused.  Must be all that sunshine and warmth!  

Speaking of grocery shopping we discovered a couple amazing “we have everything” chains including Soriana’s and La Comer.  La Comer is where we primarily shopped in Nuevo Vallarta.  Unfortunately it was an hours drive away so we would only go about once a month to load up.  We had to watch our time as we would of course have to leave Heffay and the cats in the RV while we were gone and we didn’t like to leave them much more than 4 hours.  

I captured a few shots of La Comer which offered everything - think Superstore or Super Walmart but WAY nicer.  It was gorgeous both inside and out with covered parking to keep your car out of the sun.  La Comer even had a little deli/coffee shop inside where we’d stop for a coffee and some amazing danishes before heading back on the road. 

La Comer

There were a number of things that we just couldn’t find at the small local grocery stores.  Some things were only available in stores that catered to expats while other things were just not available at all.  Even though we’d been to Mexico dozens of times on vacation, living there and buying groceries was a totally different experience, so many of these things were surprises.  Here’s a list of some of the items that were hard to or impossible to find unless in a store like La Comer that catered to expats:

- Dill pickles

- Large jars of peanut butter and jam (bigger than 250 ml)

- Soup - we are spoiled by the variety of canned soup available to us.  I occasionally found a cream of mushroom and cream of chicken but that was about all. No chicken noodle or vegetable etc anywhere to be found

- Gluten free pasta - we occasionally found some GF Spaghetti

- Salad dressing

- Bagels

- K Cups - you can’t find them PERIOD other than on Amazon.com.mx

- Salsa like we’re used to up here is non-existent.  All I could find was in-store made pico de gallo which although good, isn’t the same.

- Fajita or Taco seasoning = no such thing.  I had to learn to make my own with spices which wasn’t all that bad to be honest 

- Gravy mixes or instant potatoes = non existent.  Couldn’t find beef broth or beef bisto either

- Robaxacet - we found it once in a Walmart and then found it on Amazon.com.mx.  Surprisingly to me, once we got into the US we couldn’t find it there either.  Even the Costco in the US didn’t have it whereas up here Costco has their own Kirkland brand of muscle relaxant.  Things that make you go ‘huh’.

- Dawn dish soap - there seemed to be a monopoly on dish soap too with one brand taking up all the shelves.  I did try it, but couldn’t adapt to the scent and lack of sudsing.  Amazon to the rescue!  I never imagined ordering dish soap through Amazon, that’s for sure.

- Chocolate bar variety - we could only ever find Snickers, Milky Way, M&M’s and Hershey chocolate bars.  Nothing like the variety we have up here

- Chips - 95% have hot spices added, no surprise I guess.  We could get regular Lays and Ripple chips.  Couldn’t find regular corn chips, only lime and salt/chile flavoured.  But they were both good! Of course, no ketchup or BBQ chips were available.

- Cat treats are hard to find!  And forget about any lickable treats.  Our boys had gotten used to Catit lickable treats and we ran out of them about half way through.  Thankfully we still had many dry treats we brought down with us, so they didn’t go without ❤️ 

Something else that was new is how Mexico provides food ratings so differently than up here.  They don’t use a “daily %” rating system like we have where a product will list how much each ingredient rates against the recommended daily intake.  Instead they use a much more simplified system of visual warning labels. 

I researched the food labelling approach a little bit and learned that like Chile, Mexico’s system is intended toward helping steer consumers to something healthier by using simple labels rather than over complicating things by using numbers and percentages.  It makes sense and has been proven that when people are rushed, stressed or not paying much attention these bolder in-your-face labels are found to be more effective.  

Some other interesting discoveries included:

- The benefit of drinking something like Gatorade and Powerade regularly to replace electrolytes.  Given the amount of sweat that poured off of us in the humid climate, having those drinks on hand was a game changer in keeping our energy up.

An actual picture of our weather station one morning reading 99% humidity outside and then what the outside looked like = full glorious sunshine!  Up here it would be pouring rain if it was 99% humidity.

We did try Electrolit too which I think is likely the “healthier” version but gawd it was awful!  I love how Dan described the texture “this tastes like 15 year old girl spit!” - reminiscing of his younger years as a teenager kissing girls who wore cherry lipgloss lol!  A memory that he says grossed him out as a 55 year old man.  HA!

More discoveries included: 

- Sparkling water - I never liked it in years past. I remembered it to be too sweet, too carbonated and chemically tasting.  Now though, the sparking water that has no sweeteners, sugars, calories etc were pleasantly surprising.  Friends picked me up some at Costco in PV and I was hooked! 

- The BEST dog toy isn’t one you buy, it’s one you find!  Everyday we’d hunt on the beach for hairy coconuts for Heffay.  They were his favourite toy that he’d methodically tear apart for hours.  The trick was keeping it outside of the RV because of the crazy mess they make.  

- Another surprise, Canada Dry ginger ale IS available!  Even in the local small grocery stores from time to time.  I really didn’t expect that.

- Beef - the price of beef was amazing - Four one-inch thick T-bones for $30 Cdn.  Needless to say, we had lots of GREAT steak!  The cost of chicken and ham/pork was fairly comparable to what we pay at home.  I bought about 400g of sliced turkey breast one time at La Comer before realizing how expensive it was when I looked at my receipt.  It rang in at the equivalent of $30 Cdn - ouch!  No more sliced turkey breast from then on!  

- Wiska’s cat food packages - the boys LOVE them.  It was their daily treat I started giving to them so I could hide a probiotic in it for HeyZeus.  Every morning as the sun would come up HoseHey would serenade me with his cries to get me up to give them their wet food.  They are missing them up here as I can’t find the exact same stuff, but we’re making due 😉.

- I LOVE LOVE LOVE cooking with gas!  I totally get why all those home shows had people demanding a gas stove in their kitchens now.  It’s hard adjusting to the electric stove at home again.

- We didn’t miss television AT ALL.  Netflix, Amazon Prime or YouTube was just the right amount of TV entertainment.  And I purposely avoided all the news I could.  It was HEAVEN!

- The cost of local fruits and vegetables was very affordable.  It was so amazing to have a veggie truck come into the park daily with all kinds of fresh fruits, vegetables and even cheeses to buy.  And if there was something you wanted and he didn’t have, Enrique would put it on his list and pick it up to bring for you the next time.  So incredible!

- Finding toilet paper that isn’t scented is a challenge!  Yes, you read right….scented toilet paper. So strange! 

- Veterinary services are SO CHEAP in comparison!  We had a couple incidents requiring vet services while visiting and both were so affordable it made me want to yell “start the car” when I came out!  The first visit was for HeyZeus and consisted of an examination, lab tests, antibiotics and probiotics for one week.  Total cost was $25 Canadian.  Next Heffay had a sore that got infected, after the examination and some antibiotic cream for 1 week = $15 Cdn.  Then I also got three sets of shots for HoseHey as he was due, and 3 months of flea and tick treatment for Heffay = $75 Cdn.  Crazy cheap in comparison!  

Finally, a nice surprise particularly when we were getting ready to head north was that the price of fuel was not being impacted in the same way it was in the US and Canada.  Upon leaving in late April gas was  $1.39/litre on average and Diesel was $1.62/litre.

All in all, these discoveries and surprises were another cool part of our journey and the experience of living in another country.  It highlighted many things we take for granted up here.  Some things were hard to adapt to, others forced us to learn new ways to cook and then there were those that resulted in us making a list of the items we would want to stock up on to bring down on a return trip! 

Until next time / Hasta la proxima vez!