Funny Thing Happended on the Way to the Parque

The population of Mérida is about 970,000 which isn't small fry. Quite a change from El Campo. But to explain, El Campo is where we live when we aren't here. No, it isn't in Mexico. Yes, it is in the Estados Unidos. Confusing, huh? Anyway, in a city the size of Mérida one may think you could easily blend into the hustle and bustle of a large city and essentially get lost among the people. It isn't so. As with any big city, you have your quadrant of tierra that makes up your stomping grounds. Not having an automobile makes this even more so. Each smaller quadrant is marked by a park and a church. We are about nine blocks from the Gran Plaza and we walk by two parks and two churches along the shortest distance to get there. If we make a few turns along the way we will walk by three more churches and an additional church. 
We headed out taking the shortest route in search of the art store. We had been told it was moving and we were given the new location where it was to be relocated on our last trip. It was to be on the next block over. Shouldn't be hard to find at all. On our first attempt to find it we had failed. Somehow we had counted two blocks instead of one. I don't know why that was so hard for us to count. But, the good part was that we ran into Ernesto and had a nice chat right in front of the TEATRO ARMANDO MANZANERO. He was hanging out on the front steps as if he was waiting for the next performance. But, quite sure that wasn't the case. He asked about family and was excited to learn of his new sobrina, a reference to Baby Isla. He is now divorced but stays in frequent contact with his 16 year-old son and 10 year-old daughter that live about an hour out of the city. 
On Saturday, we hiked out again to find the art store. It was late in the day so we should have known better. But we were walking down our street just in front of the arches when we heard a familiar voice holler out: "Terry!...Terry!" We turned to look and there was Ernesto looking all kicked back, with his world traveler sprawl going on, as he sat in a horse-drawn buggy headed to Centro. He motioned for us to join him in the buggy. He was going to the theater in style, I presume. Of course, we see the buggies frequently and knew they came down our street on a regular basis. It's easy to hear them on the worn, brick street.  But we weren't expecting to see Ernesto riding in one and we didn't expect anybody to call us by name. We hopped aboard and enjoyed the ride to downtown. Of course, we paid for the ride. It was our first time to ride in a horse drawn buggy down here. 

As far as finding the art store, we did find it one block over from its original location. It was closed for the afternoon.

Comfort in the Lack of Changes

There always seems to be a process and routine when we arrive. We get off the ADO bus from the trip in from Cancun, and as we head to our hood we look around and comment on what has changed and what has stayed the same. It always stays pretty much the same, and we comment that it makes us immediately feel comfortable. 
We were, however, a little disappointed to walk to the house and see that Carlos and crew still had not received the dinero from our neighbor so that they could paint the dingy red, peelling paint house next door. Painting the house was something he wanted to do almost 2 years ago and of course, we wanted it painted as well. Oh well, there is always
mañana.
We were pleased to see that Casa Kahanek had very few spots of peeling paint caused by the rainy season and humidity. And the bright orange patio was still a bright orange patio. Harbor's tiny little blue handprints on the patio wall is a lasting memory of his early summer visit.
Y. had gotten Mari to clean the house and it was immaculate. I hauled a new set of sheets down here with us since linens are one item that is expensive down here. But, when I pulled back the quilt on our bed, I saw that I had brought sheets last visit. Oh well! Now I have two sets of brand new sheets for a doble bed.  
We made popcorn and drinks, sans ice, and headed to the mirador. That was the best we could do upon our arrival. Lights were out early around here.
This  morning we woke up early and stepped outside on our way to the grocery store. Remember the statement about painting the house mañana?!!! It is now painted a beautiful purplish blue. What the heck? When did they do that. They did it early in la
mañana! Still a little work to do after the albañil's work is dry and it can be painted...
mañana. 

The House Next Door

We have been here less than 24 hours and we know our tienda amigo is still around because he rode by on his bicycle and hollered at us. We have already met up with Carlos and chatted with him. We saw all the same older workers that sack groceries for tips at the grocery store. We've seen the older gentleman inside his door where he always sits and reads his newspaper. We saw the courtesy car guy at San Sebastian Park. We saw Julio's antique shop has been painted and was open this morning. We have seen some, but not all, of the city workers in the office next door, and the hawker at the Cancun airport that said he wasn't even going to try and get us a shuttle to the resort hotels because he said he remembered us and he knew we didn't go there. Hmmmm?! 
I don't know that I am getting that warm, comfortable feeling from that last one! 

Back at Casa Kahanek...Car belongs to city worker/not ours