Beautiful day at the beach at Playa del Carmen, Mexico.
Where are Kevin and Ruth now? Toluca, Mexico.

Where are Kevin and Ruth going next? Valle de Bravo on December 25th!

Wednesday, January 13, 2016

New curtains for Sherman

Back at the end of September while still in Swift Current, Saskatchewan, Canada we had bought new front curtains for Sherman. Just the material though...which still needed to be sewen into curtains.

The old curtains are just that...old. Twenty years old! Plus, they let through too much light, both when the sun is shining in, or when we are inside at night you can tell from the outside when there is a light on inside. This new material we bought is specifically made to block the light.

Yesterday, we set out to find somebody to make the curtains for us. Easier said than done!

So we packed up the material and took one of the old curtains with us. Right next door to the hotel where we are parked is a fabric shop, so we went there first. We asked if they could recommend anybody, but they said no.

Next stop was a shop we had seen the day before. They also sold fabric, but it was more of an industrial type of place with plastics and specialty materials including automotive carpeting and things like that.

At this store, we bought some more material. A dark fabric that we want to use to make a dash pad for the motorhome. Mostly so that it doesn't reflect light from the dash onto the inside of the windshield. We have had a couple of dark brown towels thrown up there, but they have now faded badly and they never did look the nicest to begin with.

The new material for the dash pad cost 118 pesos ($9.80 CAD).

They also gave us the address of a seamstress a few blocks away. We couldn't find it on the block she had said it was, so we walked around the block, but still no sewing shop. We asked a policeman, and he directed us another block away where we finally found a clothing repair shop, but the guy there wasn't interested in making curtains.

An interesting church that we will return to.

We weren't out to play tourist, but I had brought the camera with me. That's the only  picture I took all day!

We walked back along a different major road that we hadn't been on yet. Lots of other types of small shops, but no seamstress places! Saw a couple of tailor shops, but they couldn't recommend anybody either. 

We had seen a shop selling curtains right across the road from the hotel, but it looked higher end and we figured that these types of places would only make curtains out of their own material. But we figured it was worth stopping in and asking.

And we were right. They weren't interested. But it turns out the guy there spoke quite good English and he was about to give us a phone number for a guy who might do the job, when he said that he would call him right then and there. The guy's shop was only a few blocks away and so he hopped in his truck with his son/assistant and came right over. The guy who spoke English did some translating for us to make sure that we're getting what we wanted, and we're about 90% confident that's what's going to happen. I guess we'll see!

Looked at the job, and discussed some options, and he gave us a price of 600 pesos ($49.80 CAD).

We agreed to the price, even though I thought afterwards that it was slightly expensive by Mexican standards. He says he'll have them ready for Saturday, so let's keep our fingers crossed! Including what we paid for the material, Sherman will have new front curtains for under $100 CAD. Not bad.

We went back to Sherman and had a late lunch, then walked over to the Walmart Supercenter just over 1 km away. Most Walmarts in Mexico don't have sufficient parking for a motorhome, but this one is different. It has a huge lot. And close enough to downtown that you could walk there in half an hour. GPS 20.574809, -100.406905. Guaranteed you could stay here overnight without a problem.

We woke up to rain this morning. So that has changed our plans a bit. Looks like a good morning to use the hotel's fitness equipment! Forecast says it should stop around noon.

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They've come out with a new model of the range extending wi-fi antenna that we use, and it has dropped in price by a few bucks. Fantastic for getting a stronger wifi signal in campgrounds and when you are parked across from a hotel or McDonalds. Wouldn't hesitate to recommend this product!


Great deal on a facial hair grooming kit at Amazon.ca in Canada...





13 comments:

  1. Will be nice to have the new curtains. We bought new lined ones for our coach at a Camping World about four years ago for $90.00 US . So you not too far off in price.

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    1. Yes, it will be nice. Sherman is well overdue for some. It would have been much cheaper if I had access to a sewing machine because then I could have made them myself but I don't so this is the next best option.

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  2. What a pretty entrance to that church. Hope it works out with the curtain.

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    1. That isn't the entrance to the church they are the decorative support arches on the sides of the church. Hopefully today we will go back and get some better pictures both on the outside and the inside.

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  3. You do have to go back to that church. If I remember correctly it is the one with the full sized Last Supper in a side room. Amazing.

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    1. Thank you for that info. We will definitely be going back there again and will check it out.

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  4. Can't wait to see the new curtains and pictures of the inside of that church.

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    1. We can't wait to see the new curtains as well. Definitely will be going back to that church again, maybe even today.

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  5. Sounds like the type of day I'd experience from time to time in Austria, wandering around trying to find just that one thing. It's a time waster, that's for sure. It'll be interesting to see how they turn out.

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    1. Yes, it was certainly that kind of day but we did get things accomplished and we got to see some wonderful old architecture along the way. I am hoping that we got our point across on how we wanted the curtains made, I guess we will find out on Saturday. Fingers crossed that they will be done, after all this is Mexico! :-)

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  6. The brickwork (or tile?) on that church is fascinating.... hope you get the chance to go back and check it all out.

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    1. If I remember correctly that isn't brickwork or tile but is actually painted/stained on like a fresco. Yes, we will go back for sure!

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  7. Walmarts are in all the big cities in Mexico and have been since we started coming to Mexico back in 2007. It is not the third world country that many people think Mexico is. :-)

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