Norris and his family have definitely been on our minds. Terry and I realized he is the closest friend of ours that has passed away. We miss him, but have great and funny memories....we have spent quite a lot of sundowner time reminiscing in his honor and have had so many laughs there wasn't any room for tears.
We are now on Daylight Savings Time here so same time here as in Texas....finally. It was confusing us at times. DST didn't start here until this past weekend on April Fool's Day.
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| Sighting of Tim's Truck on April Fool's Day |
We were a little reluctant to go to the beach in the middle of Semana Santa, but we needed a beach fix. The beach was beautiful, Mexicans were all along the beach - not all bunched up like the cruise shippers always do, and it was a really nice day. We really enjoyed it. And we got to try out our new Koozies we picked up in Cozumel - Perfect for the double-meat sandwiches!
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| The Perfect Koozies |
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| The Mexican Marinas next to us |
On Sunday we went for a very long walk - we estimated from start to finish it was probably 6 miles....so fun when they close the street to traffic and all the families come out and spend time together.
Of course I didn't have my camera with me when -
We walked to the Gran Plaza later on in the day ---- only 5 blocks away. They had some dancers, both male and female, I am guessing in their 20's all dressed in traditional clothing, They were all classic Mexican beauties. They danced for probably over an hour and drew quite a crowd. More than anything I was struck by their beauty. Then we went and parked ourselves on a bench along Calle 60 next to the Gran Plaza Hotel and just people watched...vendors set up everywhere and the horse-drawn buggies passing by. In front of the huge cathedral they were making all kinds of crosses out of palm leaves since it was Palm Sunday.
We laughed as a guy set up shop and he was doing the human mannequin thing with a tip jar in front of him. He looked like a silver statue until somebody unsuspecting would walk by and then he would move and scare the bejesus out of them.
After a while, a Mayan Mexican gentleman all dressed up nicely came and sat down beside us. He could speak English so we conversed with him in English and Spanish. He was 76 years old and started talking about what it was like growing up and living during his lifetime. He said he had lived through the effluent times when henequen was king down here and everybody had money and big houses were built, parties were given, and times were good. That was back in the 30s and 40s. Then the demand for henequen dropped dramatically with the invention of nylon....I guess that would have been duPont's hayday. He said things weren't so good for awhile. Back in his earlier years he had picked cotton by hand in Presidio, Texas and he said they were just starting to try out automated cotton picking machines, but he said they didn't work very well. He asked us about cotton growing in Texas, and if they ever figured out how to get those cotton picking machines to work. We somewhat regretted having to tell him "yes".
Then he went on to describe what it was like when this area got hit by Hurricane Gilbert. We can remember that very well becasue we thought it was going to hit close to Victoria and Terry was working at Carbide at the time...it was the only time I ever remember them literally shutting everything down and closing the plant. Then, the hurricane didn't hit us, but hit down here ----- very destructive here and people still talk about it. They retired the name "Hurricane Gilbert" after that....it hit the Yucatan coast as a Category 5. I remember it because it came in September right after Kimberly was born....would have been 1988.
When the gentleman got up to leave, we all shook hands and I said "Hasta luego" to him. I prefer to say this rather than "Adios" thinking it has less of a finality to it. He took a couple of steps and then came back and very gently told me that "Hasta luego" to the Mayans means "I will see you later after death" so to speak. That a better thing to say is "Hasta pronto", ie, "See you again soon" would be a loose translation.
Talking about weather ---
The rainy season down here is typically the summer. Last year when we were here for almost 3 months, it never rained more than a couple of drops. Well, yesterday we never made it to the grocery store although we talked about going in the middle of the day. We were completely out of groceries. So, we had decided last night we would just go out to eat at this wonderful place that serves fantastic yucatecan food. It's called "La Chaya Maya". Believe it or not, we haven't eaten out here in town at all since we have been here. We have cooked ALL of our meals. But last night was the night. Well, about 4 o'clock the winds picked up and the sun was replaced by clouds...it all happened very quickly. And then the rains came....torrential rains with LOTS of wind. The wind blew rain into the house underneath the antique windows and underneath the old doors....another reason there is nothing but tile on the floors here. It was fun to watch. We lost internet and electricity. The street filled up with water and winds just kept blowing. The rain lasted probably 30 minutes or so. It took us a good hour to mop the floors afterward and by the time we finished, it was getting dark. Still no electricity. We have no flashlights...should get one, I guess. The whole area of town where we are was dark, except for the La Chapurria Bar on the corner that always cranks up the generator. I laughed because there was water everywhere and it was still raining....but the beer delivery guy still came and made a delivery to the bar. I felt sorry for so many people getting off work and walking in the water and others trying to ride their bicycles or scooters in the flooded streets. Very uncustomary for this time of the year. So-----we had a half of a bowl of popcorn for dinner last night, but are going to make that La Chaya Maya meal today so we are getting all worked up for it.
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| Lloviendo! |
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| Pepe sighting! |
We went to the zoo the other day --- Parque Centenario and the Zoo are only a short 7-8 block walk from us to the west. The highlight was the monkeys, of course, and then the beautiful peacock that spread his tail for us. And the fact that it is all FREE. We spotted the cutest little hotel along the way tucked inside a garden. I fell in love with it. When we got home I found it on the internet....rooms are about $25/night US. Next time we need a hotel we are staying there!
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Aventura Hotel....about $25 USD/night  |
We are looking forward to Kim's visit. She will be here in less than 2 weeks. We will be taking a trip to the Carribean Coast during her visit.
Needless to say, being down here is such an experience and we really enjoy just observing customs and seeing how other people live. I want to do a tv show in the Yucatan and name it "What's Your Story". It would be our secret way of finding out more about people. They just all make us both so curious as we wonder where do they work, what is their day to day life like, what do they like to eat, where do they go in their free time, what is their ancestry, show me your house, do you have a family....and the list goes on.
Until next time - HASTA PRONTO!
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