Family Visits - Gary and Sandra (part I)

My brother Gary had told me two years ago that in April 2018 he had an international conference in Merida. It seemed like a long time in the future at the time, but time flew by just like the afternoon rains come and go here in Merida this time of year. 
He and Sandra arrived via Easterwood/DFW/CDMX/MID around 6:30 on a Friday evening. I had cooked dinner for all of us so we came back to the house and had pina coladas on the mirador followed by our Texas version of poc chuc which is pretty darn close to authentic, with lots of talking mixed in, and even some rest.
Sandra always bears gifts. She brought Terry and I matching Columbia-style shirts embroidered with the TAMU logo. Awesome! I proudly wore mine the following day sightseeing. 

Gary, Yours truly in her new shirt, Sandra

We spent the next two days walking town, taking the turibus down Montejo and other fancy parts of town, meandering through the College of Architecture where Gary visited with students, oohing and ahhing at the Camino de Flores, shopping, eating street food, eating at La Chaya Maya, going through the maze with awe and wonderment at Mercado Galvez followed by a sampling of candy bought at the market and a meal of street food at the mercado. Gary's ability to eat salsa de habanero impressed even the most tolerant diehards. I loved watching their faces as they watched for him to pass out from the heat and they saw nada. This was followed by more pina coladas on the mirador. 

Sandra suggested I paint "our coche" parked directly in front of the house to dress it up a bit. We don't think it has been moved for several months. We don't think it has a motor. We know it doesn't have hub caps nor any mirrors, it has a semi-seat, and the windows apparently don't roll up.
We spent Sunday strolling the Plaza Grande, shopping, and eating marquesitas. The following picture was taken after a dual hat purchase and eating churros and marquesitas.

Aren't these two cute??

I think their take away was that yes, we live in an authentic area of centro. On Monday morning they moved to the Hyatt for the conference. They traveled to points north so they saw the old, the old artistocratic, the new, and the noveau riche.
After the conference, they came back and stayed one more night on Thursday night prior to leaving early on Friday. By then, Terry and I had traveled into Playa del Carmen and caught the bus to the Cancun Airport to meet my sista. That was all on Monday. The three of us stayed one night in PDC and on Tuesday Terry flew back to Houston and my sister and I started our adventure by boarding a bus to Merida. 
More on that next post!

A Visit to Posheria Merida

One recent morning Terry and I headed out with plans to pay the garbage bill, walk up Paseo to Sanborn's and then catch a city bus out Calle 60 to the talavera guy. But, we got sidetracked and did part of what we intended to do. We walked through downtown and up Paseo and as we walked up the big, shady sidewalk I looked over and saw that Posheria was open. I had told Terry before I wanted to stop in, but we never seemed to make it in. Today was the perfect day!

Julio and the Posheria

I had read about the history of Posheria and was intriqued and curious about their flavored, corn-based liqueurs called pox (pronounced posh). Pox has its roots in the Chiapa highlands where Julio was lucky enough to gain the trust and respect of the indigenous people and they shared their techniques for making this elixir that warms your heart in a good way as it goes down. He has some pretty exclusive rights to make, bottle and sell it. And, it just seems to me to have the makings of a new, exciting, cutting edge trend - sipping pox.

We were lucky to meet Julio and hear his story first-hand. He gave us several samples and of course we walked out with not one, but two bottles..and warm tummies!

I just have to say if you're in Merida, put going to the Posheria on your to do list. You won't regret it. Besides, it just sounds so hoity toity - love saying Posheria!

Cheers to Mas!

I'm washing clothes today. I usually wash most of my things by hand for two reasons. I wear mainly delicate, sheer fabrics because of the heat and secondly, washing with a semi-automatic is not that far away from the time it takes to wash by hand. That isn't as in "weapon" but as in washing machine. The washer takes electricity and it has cycles for lavar, desaguar, and enjuagar. That would be wash, drain and rinse. It also spins but I forgot the Spanish word for that. It does a heck of a job. And of course, it looks like it could possibly rain today - that seems to always be the case when I decide to wash and hang out clothes. It hasn't rained a drop since we've been here and it isn't the rainy season so we'll see.

(Internet File Photo)

I don't use Tide or Cheer. I don't know if you can buy Cheer around here but I know you can buy Tide. I use Mas. It is definitely the detergent of choice in Mérida because everybody you walk by smells like Mas. And I mean that in a good way. I wouldn't be surprised if you can buy it at Wal-Mart in the US. 

So Cheers to Mas!

Life is Good Today

Life is Good Today!
We left out of HOU on a beautiful, sunny, warm morning last Wednesday and arrived at CUN to an even more beautiful sunny, warm noon. Headed to Playa del Carmen to unwind for three nights before coming here to Mérida on Saturday. Not sure now which day the cold weather struck up north but we managed to escape it! When we arrived the house was as clean as a whistle. Always welcome!

We've done our usual except I was unpacked before Terry. Usually, I lag and unpacking is the first thing he usually does. 

We walked the bici-ruta on Sunday and walked back down Paseo de Montejo on Monday for cigars. He scored! We also stopped at SoHo and had a nice visit with the lovely couple A&Y. I'm dying to go see the Camino de Flores at Parque de Mejorado, but I'm saving that for when Gary and Sandra get here on Friday. Sunday is the last day for it so we will be cutting that one close. I will definitely post pictures of it.

Botanas on the Beach

Yesterday was cruise ship day in Progreso so we took the bus down for a leisurely day on the beach and to re-connect with some of our beach amigos. We talked with Hamaca Francisco...he recognized us before we recognized him. There was a nice hot breeze the entire day and we were grateful for the few hours here and there we had spent in the sun to acclimate. We have our favorite beach bar and our favorite waiter. Nothing tastes better than a Sol or two or three in the shade after spending a few hours drinking a Sol or two or three that we brought with us from the casa. We waited for our amigo to seat us and each ordered a Sol. As he brought our beers to us, he also had help to serve us a large tray of botanas. When I say large tray I mean there were at least 15 different items placed in front of us, each on a small saucer. We had taquitos, chips, more than one salsa, kibis and slaw, potatoes, fresh bread, salchichas, beans, and several other items that we ate but didn't know what they were...bite-size, delicious little surprises. We were told: Poco a poco despacio...Little by little slowly. And that's what we did.

In fact, maybe we stayed a little too long and took a little too much time enjoying the beer and botanas because who should appear from nowhere? No other than Ernesto. Well, I can't really say "no other" because he told us he is now Kevin...just call him Kevin...or Ernest.

Kevin or Ernesto or Ernest

So it's like there were two others. Not sure what exactly he was doing in Progreso for the day. When we questioned him he said he was selling on the beach, but he had no wares and he couldn't give us an answer about exactly 'what' he was selling. Don't get me wrong - I'm not insinuating he was selling anything illegal. That's not his style at all. His style is more - I am just trying to find a friend that will buy me a beer. We talked and I showed him pictures of family and we asked how he had been doing. And, then he ordered a round and told our waiter to put it on our tab. Even though he said he was buying. We didn't fall for it and neither did our waiter. He asked if we wanted to serve him and us each another beer and Terry declined. Ernesto/Kevin/Ernest got a little embarrassed and then said his good byes. We just thought it best to not support that habit. As he walked away the older lady in the picture grabbed him by the butt. That was good for a laugh by all and a nice gesture to send him on his way.

The Black tourists in the background were from the cruise ship. On a non-cruise day you don't normally see Blacks in Progreso. They were having a great time and kept us laughing!

Paid our tab and Terry made sure our waiter knew my sister and I would be on the loose the following week. He put him in charge of keeping an eye on us if we showed up in Progreso!

But, that's another story :) Yep, Life is Good Today!