Feliz Dia de Labor

Today is Labor Day in Mexico...we're taking the day off!

Belize By Bus or Bust

It is amazing to think a whole wink week has gone by without posting...seems like it has only been a day or so. It has been an exciting week to say the least. Earlier in the week, we got word that J&L (sister and brother-in-law) are going to meet us down in Belize. So excited for them --- not to mention so excited for US! We will be taking a nightlong bus ride (6 hours) from Merida to Corozal, Belize. Then we have a 2-hour water taxi ride out to Ambergris Caye where the 4 of us will meet up. They will have arrived via air to Belize City a day ahead of us. So they too will be taking a water taxi to the Caye.
Terry and I are a little concerned because we keep hearing how expensive Belize is, but we are determined to keep our trip costs down. Example #1: we are staying at a quaint little place called Pedro's...advertised to have clean beds and cold beer. As Terry says: "What else could a man ask for?"
I can't wait to hang on the beach with 'em and have conversations in English with somebody in addition to Terry. I start laughing even thinking about this trip because I know it will be a hoot, and we are looking forward to seeing J&L. I wonder if they realize that us meeting up with them annual south of the border is now becoming a tradition?
 We are still a little confused about leaving a foreign country that we plan to return to, and not sure exactly whether we will have to pay additional fees upon re-entering...something that gets handled automatically when you fly. It seems that there are some new fees implemented in 2012, and the customs and immigration people at the borders are confused as to how they are supposed to handle it, so we are kinda at the mercy of the draw, and hope whoever handles our stamping paperwork likes us.

PROGRESO

We of course got our beach fix...went to Progreso on Monday. Since things have quieted down so much since Semana Santa, we now plan our Progreso trips around cruise day, rather than avoid cruise days. It was actually very quiet in Progreso considering there was a ship docked.  I got propositioned by a cute, little Mexican waiter when I left Terry to go rinse off before heading home. Brings me to a point --- I don't know about the rest of you ladies, but I don't mind a guy whistling at me, or telling me I'm beautiful every now and then. Mexican laborers still wolf whistle when you're walking down the street, a lot of times Mexican men will honk their horn when they see a hot chick, and they don't mind letting you know they find you attractive. A Mexican man named Juan told Terry he wanted to marry his daughter when Kim was down here visiting. There is no concern about potential sexual harassment lawsuits down here - that's for sure. You know what? I kinda like it!!!

CHELEM

We took the bus back to Progreso on Friday, and then took a collectivo over to Chelem...a small beach town just to the west of Progreso. We wanted to look around at houses on the beach. Both of us were disappointed that there was hardly anything for sale. Thus, what is for sale carries inflated prices. Somewhere along the course of the day, I think we both came to the realization that we probably couldn't ever really bring ourselves to buy a beach house knowing we would be leaving it to fend for itself during hurricane seasons. But, Chelem is a great place to visit, and the water is really pretty down there.

One of the main streets in Chelem

STAYING WELL FED

Pibil ingredients+banana leaves

Cochinita Pibil

We've been eating very well. Last night it was fettucini alfredo with shrimp. We also made cochinita pibyl that was the best ever. The trick to the great taste was that we were having cocktails and let the water steam out of the pot which made the banana leaves burn ever so slightly. Just enough to give it a hearty flavor. Won't be able to duplicate it if we try!

YOU MEAN JULIO?

Yesterday we met an interesting gentleman here in Merida named Jim. He is American and has lived in Merida for 5 years now. He came to Merida after spending 25 years as a vintage clothing store owner, most recently in NYC. I googled him later and found out his clients included some very famous people, including Nicole Kidman and Angelie Jolie. He also worked with the makers of the movie "The Titanic" to clothe the movie stars in authentic, period clothing.  And, he plays the pipe organ.

I always say "Merida isn't a very big place" -
In talking with Jim yesterday, he mentioned a friend of his that has an antique shop over in San Sebastian. I asked him: "Would you be talking about Julio?" I thought Terry was gonna fall out of his chair as he looked at me with that "who the hell is Julio look". Well, you see, we had met Julio one day when we were aimlessly walking around Santiago looking at houses and architecture. Julio has a house for sale down in the south part of town, and he could tell we were somewhat potential house buyers. MORE ON MEETING JIM LATER!

So, how far will YOU walk to save a peso?

Hasta Pronto to Kim....it was a wonderful visit

Kim's plane from Merida to IAH left at 6:01 am this morning. There is only one direct flight a day in/out of Merida to/from Houston so she really had no choice. So, we set the phone alarm for 3:15 and had told Kim we would all grab a taxi out to the airport and say Hasta Pronto from the airport. Living on Calle 70, we have taxis come by the house all hours of the day and night so we weren't worried about hailing a taxi at 4 in the morning. Since it is Sunday morning to us, we weren't thinking that translates to late Saturday night to others, ie, the downtown dancing doesn't stop until 3am!!! Every taxi we tried to stop was full...with early morning/late night partiers. We learned this from the taximetro driver that finally did pick us up 30 minutes later after our arms were tired from flailing them in the dark trying to hail taxis. No worries as it is a short 15-20 minute ride to the airport, and airport security/boarding is very easy here.

This brings me to "How far will you walk to save a peso?" ---- as it refers to Mexican taxis and airports. Let me back up a bit. When we were leaving Isla Mujeres for Cancun on the ferry, I saw a sign posted that read: Taxi fare from Cancun ferry terminal to Cancun Airport $45 USD. That sounds rather steep when we could catch a taxi at the ferry terminal in Cancun and go to the Cancun ADO bus station for 60 pesos...less than $5 USD. When we hailed our taxi at the ferry terminal and told the driver we were going to the ADO bus station, he wanted to know if we were going on to the airport from the bus station. It seems it's cheaper to go from the ferry terminal to the bus station, then hail another taxi and get as close to the airport as you can and walk...we aren't sure how far of a walk this might be. But it seems some savvy airport travelers have figured this out and are willing to make the sacrifice and walk a bit to save taxi fare. We are thinking taxi fares and airports definitely mean the price goes up....air travelers...tourists...taxi fares...
Well, this morning we hailed a Taximetro taxi to the airport and their taxi fares are all metered when you catch one in centro. Our taxi fare was 60 pesos this morning from centro to the airport. When we left the airport, we walked about 3/4 of a mile off the airport rd. to catch a taxi so we weren't technically catching a taxi from the airport to centro. Again, it was metered since it was away from the airport. Then, during the taxi ride home the meter went from premium noche rate to the normal dia rate and the fare dropped even lower....our ride home was only 50 pesos! Let me tell you, the normal taxi fare from Airport pick-up to Centro is 180 pesos.
So, we know we are willing to walk 3/4 of a mile to save 130 pesos....that's around $10-$11 USD!!!!

Isla Mujeres: comida deliciosa, cer vesa fria y playas bonitas!

My annual Mexico trip is coming to an end and my parents keep hounding me to update the blog for them so here I am--back in Merida, drinking coffee and wondering what my last day here will consist of. We spent most of the week in Isla Mujeres-an island off the coast of CanCun. It's the place you go when you want the clear blue CanCun beaches without (in Dad's terms) "tequila being shot down your throat while you're trying to relax on the beach". He can't fool me though, I know he was completely down for that at one point in time... anyway, that's irrelevant.

A little bit different than  last year's trip--we literally spent the majority of our week laid out on the beach with cold buckets of beer being brought to us every half hour. Once we arrived in Isla, it took us no more than 7 minutes to jump off the ferry, check into our hotel and plop down in beach chairs.

My parent's veins have certainly adjusted to their Mexico lifestyle because they're clearly used to pumping beer rather than water. I was guzzling water by the gallon trying to stay somewhat sober and hydrated but, to my amazement, Mom and Dad were handling the sun-alcohol ratio much better than myself.

One day we did rent a golf cart to do some exploration of the island. We drove around awhile observing the busy little town. Props to Dad for handling the local Taxi driver rage like a champ with no rear view mirror!

We paid 30 pesos each (roughly $2.70 USD) to walk around a seemingly typical park on the Caribbean side of the island which unexpectedly turned into a cliff-side hike complete with caves, amazing views and even some Mayan ruins and history. You know those post cards you see with completely clear blue water crashing over these enormous, dangerous looking rocks? The white spray of the waves always looks pretty and romantic and you can just hear the waves crash when you see those photos but you never actually imagine a place like that being within your reach... well, we were inches from it.

Dad claimed this was his personal favorite view of Isla Mujeres, Island of Women...

It was definitely a memorable day. After our surprise adventure we bee-lined for the beach, as expected.

And the food... oh the food... I intentionally took pictures of every meal we ate. The number of restaurants is somewhat ironic on this tiny little island. Every single meal we ate was excellent. If the topless European girls and cheap beer doesn't sell my boyfriend on visiting Isla Mujeres again soon then the food, without a doubt, will. Some of our favorites:

Flautas de pollo at a tiny, off-the-beaten-path luncheria

tuna carpaccio at a nice steakhouse in the center of town

garlic and butter soft shell crab at a fish shack on the beach

That pretty much puts our Isla trip into a nutshell although the pictures and text will never do the memories justice. After every vacation I always go home with some new philosophy on life. I'm totally convinced I'm going to get back to Houston and buy a Spanish book to become completely fluent and I also want to convince all of my friends we should quit our jobs, master basket weaving and move to the Caribbean to sell straw bags on the beach. Of course, real life will set in sometime this week and my vacation induced ideas of living in a beach shack will long be forgotten. However, what my parents have instilled through their adventures and what you should take from it also is that sometimes you really just have to do what you want. What do you really want to do today, this week, within the next year or even the next 5 years? It doesn't have to be some exotic vacation to the Maldives or a 46-day cruise to Cairo. Maybe within the next month you simply want to discover a bed and breakfast in the next town over. Just do it. I promise the memories are so worth the sacrifices it takes to get there.

Adios mis amigos, until next year..

Bienvenida Kim

We are anxiously awaiting Kim's arrival into Merida tonight around 9. The three of us are leaving on a bus tomorrow morning for Cancun to catch a ferry over to Isla Mujeres. Our plans are to be back in Merida Friday evening unless we decide to stay longer.

 

The Mayawawa says: "Bienvenida, Kim!"

Terry and I have had a nice several days....lots of walking and looking around Merida. Several spottings of Tim and his Ford truck out and about Merida. Tim's truck is probably THE #1 truck in Merida!



I am always reluctant to take pictures of people around town since I don't have a telephoto lens, but since this guy had a camera around his neck and was taking pictures of people, I decided it would be ok to take a picture of him. Later in the day we met up with him again, along with his female traveling companion, in The Bierhaus. It turns out they are Austrian. They wanted to know: 

"Why are you drinking Mexican beer in a German bier haus?"

So, we want to know: "When you are in a Mexican bar with a name like The Bierhaus serving Mexican and German beers, and you are Americans conversing with a couple of Austrians, what are you supposed to be drinking?"

 One-half of the Austrian Couple

Two of our 3 favorite wait staff at The Bierhaus -

Casildo and Saundra at The Bierhaus

We walked and walked Sunday during what is supposed to be a Sunday stroll down Paseo Montejo. When we got back to the house both of us were discussing that our feet were a little sore. Terry got on Google and clocked our route....we walked 10.7 kilometers! After we realized that, we both got super tired and decided to take a siesta.

This is the statue at the beginning of Paseo de Montejo.



Photos Taken While Walking in the Chembech area of Merida....on the East side of Centro....on last Thursday or Friday (I think it was)

We have spotted groups of people around Merida on several occasions that always make us curious. We have also seen them out in the outlying areas also, but to a lesser degree. The men all wear overalls and big western-style straw hats, and the women wear dresses, no make-up, very conservative hairstyles, and little kerchief-type things on their heads. We have seen them in the bus stations, usually when we are traveling second class. Not being brave enough to ask them "What is your story?", we had just assumed they were either doing missionary work or were possibly Amish and down here to buy woods for their furniture-making. Well, we found out they are Mennonites and have been living in rural settlements outside of Merida and Campeche since the early part of the century. It seems when they were looking for a country that would accept their beliefs and respect their wishes not to fight in wars, Mexico agreed to give them a place to call home. They speak an old world form of German, very few know any Spanish, have no alliance with the US, are self-sustaining and lead very secluded lives for the most part.  They seem to lead lives somewhat like the Amish in the US. Also, it does seem that in some parts of Mexico they are more progressive than in others, ie, drive their own automobiles, etc.

A photo I found online of Mennonites that live near Merida in a small municipality called "Hopelchen"

Oh, and we do have Charmin down here! -----



Another one of Terry's famous dinners - 

.....Oops!!! Better go pack for Isla...Hasta Luego!

  

 



Vamos a la playa. Y tu, Jorge?

We are still laughing about Jorge and every time I ask Terry a question now he looks at me with an exaggerated confused look on his face and dramatically shrugs his shoulders with the palms of his hands turned up...makes me laugh and want to slap him at the same time! Terry calls me Peggy Hill from "King of the Hill", referring to the episode where she was substitute teaching and being the Spanish teacher, ie, very much a Texas twang trying to speak and teach Spanish.
It all went like this -
We got on the Progreso Directo bus and headed out for a day at the beach - this was on Wednesday. We knew it was cruise day and we knew the kids still weren't back in school, but it didn't matter. Every day at the beach is a fun day. My skin is pretty dark from just being in the Mexican sun, and my hair is brown. I could pass as a Mexican, so I think. I have "Buenos Dias" and "Buenas Tardes" down pretty good. We get on the bus and before we even get out of town I notice this little boy about 8 or 9 years old in the aisle beside us, and sitting one seat behind us. He keeps eyeing me. I could tell he wanted to ask me:

"Hey, what's your story?"

I gave him and few smiles. Finally, his 10-11 year old sister nudged him and essentially gave him the go ahead to ask me....something/anything. So he asked me (in Spanish) if I was going to the puerto (port). I had to ask Terry: What did he say? Then I answered yes and that we were going to the beach. And you? I asked him his name, and gave him mine. He was JORGE. We asked each other if we had dogs? Or cats? Is that your sister? It was going pretty well. Every time I spoke, though, he would die laughing. And turn around and ask his parents in the seat behind him what I said. It was very obvious - I wasn't talking like what he was used to hearing, that was for sure. Once we got to the beach, and got set up who should we see? Jorge and family. He would run by and look at me. Every time I said something to him, he would get this totally confused look on his face, shrug his shoulders, turn his palms up and ask his parents what the hell am I saying?! It is now the reaction to any question around here.

KEEP AUSTIN WEIRD -
While we were lying on the beach drinking cervezas and eventually eating our packed lunch - we were observing the vendors and cruise ship folks. Not very far from us was a group of cruise shippers drinking tequila shots and beer. We knew where this was headed. We laughed because one of them had the infamous "Keep Austin Weird" t-shirt on, and somehow we knew they were going to live up to the t-shirt. By 2 o'clock a couple of them couldn't stand up straight any longer, and were puking in the water. I couldn't help myself. I had to take a picture! Does anybody out there recognize these two guys?!!

 

By 3 the cruise shippers were heading back to the boat. That's about the time we started seeing the "vendors by day" opening their first bottles of cerveza. The mood on the beach was definitely changing. The local Progreso folks were done with their jobs for the day and starting to kick back and unwind --- drink a few cervezas and call it a day. Here's to having a little jingle in their pockets. The irony is that there are a lot more similarities between the cruise ship folks and the local folks of Progreso...it's all about timing.

When we got back into Merida we got off the bus about 10 blocks from the house to go into the store and buy coffee. They don't sell coffee, except for instant, at our local AKI in Santiago. ...can't really figure this one out...It started raining - not a downpour but just a fine mist. By the time it hit your skin it was already evaporating. It was so refreshing and we actually enjoyed our 10 block walk home in the rain.

We stay busy doing nothing, but doing a lot. We continue to take daily walks and love going back down to La Ermita and seeing all the changes that have taken place down there. A lot of renovations have been completed since we lived there last year. This is the picture of a beautiful house that was in shambles last year, and look at it now. It was only 2 doors down from us last year and we had no idea this was what the finished project would look like. The only thing I remember about it are the large windows in front, and the fact that last year they had plastic over them.

Our La Ermita tienda buddy remembers us well. He still wants to sell us his house, and he always asks how our ninos and nietos are doing. His house is way too big for us but he keeps saying we could move the whole family down here and all live in it. Probably not going to happen!

Calle 75 casa from last year

Calle 75 now

Renovation on Calle 75

Terry cooked a fantastic meal last night. He used beef! It's the first time we have eaten beef since we've been down here. He sauted the thin slices of bistec then added papas and other vegetables along with canned salsa and put it on to stew. A few cervezas later - it was ready and -

DELICIOSO!

It reminded us both of growing up and eating our own homegrown beef that went from pasture to butcher to the table.  

I'm missing Jorge!

My Favorite Color is Clear

We received a water bill today, and that along with the fact that Terry has had a touch of turista lead me to write this. First of all, the bill comes from JAPAY and it comes in the mail. The mail gets delivered at some undetermined time in either the day or night and getting delivered means it will be somewhere. Example: it is attached to the front door, slipped in a crack in the door somewhere, put through the window in the front door, you find it lying on the floor, outside the door on the sidewalk, or you may not find it at all. In other words, we have no mailbox as such. ...but that's another story. JAPAY stands for "Junta de Agua Potable y Alcantarillado de Yucatan". 

JAPAY bill

Essentially, JAPAY is the state of Yucatan public source for water. 
Well, all the stories you hear about not drinking the water in Mexico are true, but untrue. Here's why as it relates to the Yucatan. The Yucatan is flat. It is a vast, permeable limestone base. The limestone acts as a filter as such, but everything that seeps through it goes into the water. It does not kill bacteria, unfortunately, and therein lies the problem with drinking the water. Now, to carry it one step further - there is no real septic system in the Yucatan as we know sewer/septic systems in the US. Waste does not get piped away to arrive at some treatment system on the south side of town. Waste gets piped away and lands in the filtering limestone base underneath us. There are no "nasty smells" in Merida. We have been to other parts of Mexico where we smelled human waste...a non-tourist part of the state of Nayarit comes to mind. So the limestone base is a really good natural filtering system to make the water clear and beautiful...just doesn't rid it of any bacteria. I mean, think about all the beautiful cenotes in the Yucatan. 
The water that JAPAY provides, ie, the water that comes out of the faucets, has no smell at all and it is clear...just like the stuff you would swim in at the cenotes. But, you can't drink it. However, it is pretty cool because think about this: Why should you pay for chlorinated, flouridated water that you are going to bathe in, wash clothes in, water your garden with, etc.? The JAPAY water bill for one month was 125 pesos...about $10. That's pretty cheap! Now, it would be cheaper, but something we discovered ---- the water gets to us through kinda a gravity-fed system. It comes through the pipes and when needed, gets pumped to the tinaca...or the house tank where the water is stored. The pump comes on about once every 5-7 days, I guess. 

The Pump

Our tinaca is located up on the roof, and when we checked it out and followed the lines, since they are all visible, we realized we are supplying water from OUR tinaca to our neighbor next door!  We decided since he is an entrepreneur of sorts he may be bottling up water and selling it to his Merida business associates.  

Rooftop Tinaca

Terry walks to the corner of Calles 70 and 63 and buys Agua Cristal in 5-gallon jugs. There are two guys that man the Agua Cristal (they sell cerveza too!) station and they love to sleep on the job. They now have a thing going where either he, or one of the hombres, slaps the counter to wake up whichever one has the turn to go get the water. A 5-gallon jug of Agua Cristal costs 22 pesos and lasts about 2-3 days...we drink it, make ice with it, and brush our teeth with it. Is it chlorinated? I don't know. Is it flouridated? NO. 

Good ol' Aqua Cristal

Do we know what caused the turista....was it the water. Don't know.
One thing we DO KNOW for sure is that the last time we were sitting at Santiago Parque, the fountain in the middle of the park became the water fountain for a group of boys and girls about 4-5 years old. Terry and I laughed when we saw each of them take turns cupping their hands and dipping into the big open fountain that birds use for bathing, and take a big slug of water. We looked at each other both saying the same thing: 

"Do You Think They Are Going To Have Turista Tonight?"

Semana Santa Comes to a Close

It was a Happy Easter!
We spent the Easter weekend hanging around Santiago barrio. Saturday we went to the market and bought fresh tortillas and went over to the supermercado for the ingredients to make Pollo Pibil.

We had decided to make a traditional Yucatecan meal for our Easter Dinner. It was really going out on a limb as neither of us had ever prepared it and neither of us could be sure we had ever ordered it out. Although both of us knew we had smelled the main ingredients just about every time we walked by a cocina economica or a Yucatecan restaurant. The recipes goes something like this: you make a marinade of achiote paste and sour oranges and whatever else you want to add in the way of spices (salt, cumin, garlic, onion, etc.) The only additional thing I addeded was crushed fresh garlic. Achiote comes from the annatto seed and has a nutty, unique smell to it. Sour oranges grow everywhere down here and are used in Yucatecan kitchens a lot. You rub the sauce generously on the chicken and let it marinade for as long as you want, but at least 4 hours. It's a pasty consistency. I added  sliced onions and poblano peppers to the pan and marinaded them as well. The achiote gives the chicken a very bright orange color.

Achiote and Sour Orange

Ready to Marinade

To cook - you dig a dirt hole, light wood in the bottom and after the coals form, you line it with foil, wrap your marinaded chicken with banana leaves and place the chicken in the hole. This is where we went less Yucatecan and more Texas-Bohemian. I sauted the chicken pieces in a skillet using a small amount of oil and cooked the chicken until tender. Then lined a large pot with banana leaves from the backyard, added the onion and poblano, placed the chicken pieces on top and covered it all with the banana leaves.

Covered in Banana Leaves

Then cooked slowly, adding water as needed, for about 2 rum and cokes worth of time.
We made fideo with mixed veggies and fresh tomatoes. And brought out the fresh torillas.

Fideo with veggies and fresh tomatoes

Two rum and cokes later

It was muy bueno. Success! I think I'm turning Yucatecan. 

Pollo Pibil, Fideo, Aquacate slices, and fresh tortillas

We spent the earlier part of the day lounging up on the rooftop mirador where the weather went from still and humid to clear/dry with a gentle fresh breeze.

The mood around town seemed to be very solemn today. No church bells rang. There was no bici-ruta down Paseo Montejo. Traffic was extremely light and neither of us could recall seeing one person walk down the street whereas it is usually bustling with people passing by in front of the door and down the sidewalk.

The Bierhaus

On Friday we discovered The Bierhaus. It was purely by accident. We left out to see if we could find a re-enactment of Jesus bearing the cross. We left out around 1 in the afternoon thinking sometime around 2 or 3 things would start up. We were figuring it would be going on around several of the many churches. We never saw any sign of a re-enactment taking place...anywhere. But we did see a lot of people going in and out of the churches to pray for a moment or two. There also seemed to be a lot of nicely-clad Mexican tourists in town. The men all had on their white guayabera shirts, linen pants, and straw fedoras and carried cameras while many of the women had on big-brimmed straw hats and very high heels. Well, back to the Bierhaus...it was hot and we were running on empty so we decided to stop in the new place in town - The Bierhaus. We had the cutest, young Mexican waiter. Although Germans own the place we didn't meet them. Nobody in the place spoke German, nor did anybody speak English. We each had a beer from the unbelievable selection of local and German beers then headed home.

But, we'll go back to this place!  

The Big City of Merida is Really Very Small

The storm that came through the other day did quite a lot of damage around here. We lost the cover over our patio table and the canvas awning that partially covered the terrace was ripped out. So what do you do when you need repairs? Call the repairman! We didn't know when or who, but around 2 in the afternoon who should appear - Paulino! Paulino had a helper with him, and his tools, and came driving up in the truck we recognized from the one he drove last year. He had his ladder and they went to work. After a few minutes they left to go get more supplies and when he came back Terry got to talking with him...in Spanish. And I have to say it was very good Spanish. Terry asked him if he remembered us from last year..,.you know, we were the ones that lived in the house down on Calle 75. Paulino died laughing and started using words like "tanque" and "bombero" and pointing at us laughing. You got it - Paulino was the one that went and bought, delivered, and set up the new tanque for us last year when Terry donated ours to the Yucatan Bomberos by mistake.

We took a little walk the 6-7 blocks over to the zoo because Terry had read in the Yucatan Times that they had quite a lot of damage. I was worried about the monkeys more than anything. There were huge trees uprooted within Parque Centenario, and some trees had the tops blown off of them. The zoo is closed right now while they take care of the damage --- and there was quite a lot of damage. One of the huge arches that covers the walkway into the park was damaged badly as well. Walking down the street we could see other damage and other trees being removed by city workers. Now keep in mind this is only 6-7 blocks from the house! Rewinding...when we met the Mayan gentleman on Sunday we had a conversation about hurricanes and Hurricane Gilbert that hit the Yucatan in 1988. He had made a statement that they have hurricanes but unlike us, they don't have to worry about tornadoes or twisters. We think they can now add tornadoes to the list. Can't help but wonder - you know the Mayans say this is the last year of the Mayan calendar.

It has been very quiet in town with Semana Santa in full swing. Yesterday we didn't see a kid one - families have definitely taken to the Gulf Beaches. Today we are looking forward to seeing some of the Good Friday activities such as the reenactments that go on around town with Jesus bearing the cross walking through the streets with mourners falling in behind. I want to take a picture so badly but somehow feel it takes something away from it. ...we'll see...

Best Sandwiches Ever



Worried About Not Having a Clock






 Last night we hung out up on the rooftop mirador and out on the terrace. We watched the lizards, salsa danced, watched the activities across the rooftop - last night it was Channel 3, and ended up eating sandwiches for dinner. We have been losing power off and on in the afternoons since the storm the other day. Terry said he is done re-setting the clock. That's gonna be a real showstopper! Don't care so much about not having lights (or a clock), but sure miss the cool breeze of the ceiling fans when it happens. Parte de Vida! And Terry will not allow me to whine about it -

No Whining...it's just a ceiling fan!



Lizard Study in Progress

Another Beauty