We arrived in Guanajuato in the morning of October 18 and it has taken a couple of days to settle in to our new abode. The change in climate is envigorating, the change of culture stimulating, the Mexican food delicious, the Cervatino festival entertaining, and the change in lifestyle relaxing.
Flying in the time of COVID was somewhat uncomfortable with the masking requirement. I felt a bit guilty but just this week Canada lifted its advisory against international travel. Here in Guanajuato most people are wearing masks in the street and in some places you must pass a temperature test and sanitize your hands to enter. I wish I could just flash my COVID vaccine passport.
Guanajuato is Aimeé’s home town and we are staying in the new basement apartment in the family home very close to La Alhondiga. The apartment is luxurious compared to where we have stayed previously, and it is fantastic for Aimeé to reunite with her family. For me, Guanajuato is a second home and we have been visiting our favourite restaurants and street food vendors.
It is a healthy joy to walk everwhere, and the weather and vacation lifestyle is conducive to wanting to go for a run every day.
On Monday October 4 my phone failed to start properly. Restarting several times did not solve the problem. I spent the rest of the day looking for information and a solution, but to no avail. The following morning I ordered a new phone from Amazon to arrive no later than the 14th. We leave Garden Bay on the 15th so just in time.
While waiting for the new phone to arrive, and having time on my hands, I started googling for a solution. This lead me to search for firmware and the tools necessary for reloading the phone. There was no harm in trying as the phone was dead. It’s all a blur now but I spent lots of time trying and failing. Finally, I tossed the phone into the recycling box.
The new phone arrived on October 8 and I excitedly turned it on and set it up. All was well and I was happy until I tried the software update function, which stated that “Your current software version isn’t supported. Visit a service center”! Wait a minute, that’s no good.
First I chatted with Amazon technical support. The person had broken english and (I think) he said that the software was up to date and that the phone behaviour was normal. Then I tried chatting with Samsung technical support who suggested doing a factory reset, actually a good idea, but that did not resolve the problem. Then I called the Samsung service centre in Vancouver and was told that they could not help because the phone was a US model. So much for a warranty. This left me no option but to try and update the firmware myself.
I can’t remember exactly when or why, but I retrieved the old phone from the recycling box, turned it on, and to my great surprise it started updating itself and now it works! I think something was wrong with an OTA software update when all this started and a week or so later the problem was resolved. Anyway, now I have a phone to use with my Mexican SIM card and I’ll leave the new phone in Canada.
Having a backup phone gave me the confidence to try to update the firmware on the new phone, although the fear of breaking it was ever present. There is a world-wide community of people sharing experiences, advice, and tools etc. for the wannabe android hacker. What makes this risky and difficult are all the different versions of the software bits and pieces. It was a frustrating cycle of research-try-fail-repeat before it all came together today.
With all the right pieces and versions, I was able to reload the phone firmware. The phone started normally with the new version and I tried the regular software update, and that worked. Not only do I have a supported software version, the phone was been updated to Android 11 (it came with 9). Aimeé thought I was going crazy, but now we can both relax.
We leave Garden Bay for Vancouver in two days, where we will spend two nights before flying to Mexico at 11:30pm on Sunday October 17. The Cervantino Festival started today and many of the events are viewable online. The weather forecast is looking fine.
