Halloween in Mexico

 Alas, no trick or treaters so far.  I say 'so far' because Halloween goes from Oct 31 to Nov 2 because Dios de la Muertos adds on to it and is the bigger holiday here.

Of course, people aren't letting kids run around at night here, because memories of the cartel in our area still have families on guard.  The only place where they were trick or treating was on the brightly lit 'Malecon' or boardwalk where it had been arranged.  

That didn't stop me from putting out a plastic pumpkin full of candy on our gate.  It's right under the light so everyone going by could see it.

No kids, however, I notice all the candy would disappear every time a delivery man came.  They would swipe all the candy I put outside of the pumpkin into their pockets right in front of me with big grins:  Para los ninos!  (For my kids!).  

We used to leave out treats for delivery men in the USA, and even a fridge with cold drinks.  It was a more popular with the javalinas than the delivery men to be honest.  But I see here that the delivery men love extra perks!  So I'm going to keep free candy and stuff outside for them.  Like...I never saw this enthusiasm with the USA treats.  Here:  Mom or Dad can be a hero with a pocket full of candy for the kids.  Muy bien!

Now here's a video of Frijole and our elder cat Scrappy:

In other news, my mom and I have a guy for old lady pains now.  He's an orthopedic surgeon who we see at this private hospital we go to for any medical things.  He gave my mom a shot in her shoulder that took away her pain for three months.  She went back for knee shots (I paid my neighbor to take her because I was super busy with work) and then yesterday we both came in for knee shots.  

I got two cortisone shots in my knees which got rid of my knee pain, but made my nerve damage pain from my bone cancer surgery more noticeable.  My mom got a shot which was a gel to go in between the bones and replace the missing cartilage so it's not 'bone on bone' anymore. It's like a mini-knee replacement surgery so she can get by for the next 6-8 months without surgery.  (Mega long needle and she needed local sedation for it.)

Price?  $525.  And they didn't give us an itemized printout like last time, which is sus.  I worry this guy might over charge us because he has some bad reviews from gringos who were charged more than locals.  But whatever.  It's still cheaper than the USA would be for me.  

My knees are much better, and my mom is going to do this instead of a risky knee replacement surgery.  I say it's a win.

What isn't a win is that we found an ATM that let's us withdraw cash from my mom's US Bank account, and on top of the ATM fee fucking US Bank charges her $18-$23 per withdrawal!  I wanted to move money to my non US Bank account so I could save her fees but it's a hassle and she loves having her own cash now.  It's also saved our ass a few times when we needed to pay cash.

Like in Sams Club recently.  I told you that I had my neighbor drive my mom to her Dr. appointment.  I gave my mom my credit card in case the bill was high.  When she got back she gave me the wrong credit card (same company) but this was HER card that was locked.  

And we went to Sams Club and neither this card nor my back up card would work.  The backup card just doesn't work on their shitty card readers no matter how they try to stick a folded piece of paper in with it.  And my main card was wrong.  So we had $450USD of groceries and no card was working.  

Fortunately we came up with the $9000 pesos, but only because my mom had cash for me.  It would have been really humiliating otherwise.  

I would hate not to be able to go to Sams Club.  I know I'm spoiled but sometime you want a rack of ribs and not weird cuts of meat that are really hard to chew.  😞  

I make a lot of money, why can't I have some luxury?  It can't always be about saving for the future.  I deserve to live now.