Family Visits - Sista Joanne Hits Mexico (part 2)

Sistas Chillaxin' in Playa del Carmen

It was a Monday when Gary and Sandra headed up north of the Plaza Grande for Gary's  international conference and 3 nights at the Hyatt. Terry and I caught an early bus out of Merida for Playa del Carmen then got on a bus to the airport in Cancun to meet up with Joanne. Luckily we were traveling together because we got in an argument (aka a discussion) about the bus drop-off and bus pick-up at the airport. That's because Southwest Airlines now flies out of new terminal 4. Just an FYI - he was right. That's all.

We spotted Joanne several times but eventually the real Joanne came towards us and the reunion began. We usually stop off at the outside tiki bar for a tequila shot but I never saw one of those at the new terminal 4. We missed the first bus that came along by 3 1/2 seconds but caught the next bus after we were reprimanded for not letting them know we had missed the bus and now needed a seat on the next bus. I'm exaggerating about the reprimand! 

Made it to PDC and I had booked a hotel a week or so in advance. Not sure why. I even went into the site to exercise the free cancellation several times as I knew PDC wouldn't be booked up. I was going to cancel for some reason but I don't know exactly why - because I could, I guess. And I like just walking into places and asking for a room. Also, I wanted my sista to see what a $37/night room looked like since she always stays at fancy places. But, they actually charged an additional $12/night for a third person so it really cost almost $50/night. 

Well, I kinda' had directions to the hotel. But, we couldn't find it. After asking several people and wandering around in the area where I thought it was, we finally realized it was on the south side of Calle 1 and headed the 4 or so blocks back the other way to find it. 

We went for cocktails and nachos at our favorite place on Quinta Avenida. I don't know the name of it but we feel like regulars around there. We had dinner/drinks at La Mission on Avenida 10. It was an early night. 

Tuesday morning Terry and I got up and went to buy bus tickets for Joanne and my trip back to Merida. He was going to catch a bus back to the airport and head to Texas when we left for Merida. We took a long, early morning walk and let Joanne rest up. Being the sweet, accommodating sister I brought her bed coffee - with creamer and sugar in it just the way she likes it! 

There was a farewell at the bus station when Terry boarded a bus a little ahead of our schedule. We boarded a fancy ADO red bus for Merida and before we exited the terminal boarding area Joanne got queasy. Uh Oh! It's going to be a long trip to Merida! We had forgotten the Dramamine thirty minutes in advance and she had only taken it when we got on the bus. But, she never threw up and was able to get some rest before the queasiness came over her again. We were glad to get to Merida! The adventure continues... 

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!

Business is Just an Excuse

Writing a blog after leaving your location is just not the same. But, here goes - 

Paying the fideicomiso is way too modern and easy these days. It took a short walk down Calle 62, a quick stop into a location close to us, and it was done. We miss the ringing the doorbell at the back door, gaining entrance up the back stairs, a wait in a cluttered office filled with paper, and a struggle through Spanish, and keeping our fingers crossed we aren't met with a puzzled look. No more getting the piece of paper that has to be taken downstairs to a teller window, followed by more Spanish, and an exchange of pesos, and ending with a piece of paper and a muchas gracias. Now it's to handing over pesos and a muchas gracias. 

But, it does allow for more time hanging out on the mirador...where, by the way, we saw probably two dozen parrots of all sizes fly over one afternoon. We shopped, in fact we shopped so much, upon our final departure we had to bring home another piece of luggage filled with a gorgeous hand-loomed bedspread and two colorful hamacas. This is something we have wanted to buy for quite some time but never wanted to lug around. This trip was the one to bite the bullet and buy and lug. 

Harbor and Isla putting the hamacas to use back at Ranchito LaErmita

We sunned on the beach in Progreso where we never saw our favorite vendors. We don't know so we are only hoping it's because it's the slow season and they just weren't out and about. We cooked chicken, carrots and rice, we had cocktails on the mirador, and we made our exit from the casa on a much happier note this time. Back to Playa del Carmen on the "fast/directo bus" of only 4 hours duration. We arrived after dark and made our way the 7 or 8 blocks to our new, little hotel find and stayed for a couple of relaxing days and nights. We watched the Astros win the World Series here, lounged on the beach, and ate awesome Peruvian food at El Oasis. Then, we made the trip over to Isla Mujeres for a final 5 night stay up above the street in our rather large and comfortable room with a great lookout balcony. We ate, we drank, we sunned, we golf carted around the island and then did it all the next day and the next.

We put that extra suitcase to good use - Terry ended up with an awesome pair of handmade leather tie shoes in addition to the two hamacas and a bedspread I have been wanting for years. Terry surprised me when he went into buying mode and bought me a necklace with a compass pendant. I say surprised me because I spotted it two steps into the jewelry store but if it wasn't for his great negotiating skills I never would have ended up with it. The sales guy put it around my neck and I laughed and told him my husband would never go for the price. He might as well take it off. He had been beckoning us in his shop each day we passed by. Terry had gone back to the room to get more pesos out of the safe. The price on the tag was $17,800 pesos. Terry got the price  down to $200 pesos. Sometimes you just have to ask for what you want. I don't think I would have even gone into the jewelry shop nor do I think Terry would have bought the necklace except for those crazy drinks at the Soggy Peso. The extra pesos were for cigars while watching the sunset, not jewelry. 

One of our Isla Mujeres sunsets...each one is magical

Life is good and thank goodness we have "business" to use as an excuse. 

Hanal Pixán...Dia de los Muertos...a Dad and a Mom

Celebrations marking Dia de los Muertos started with 57,000 people walking from the cemetery through our little neighborhood of LaErmita and ending up in the park of San Juan just a few blocks up the street from us through the arches. The Paseo de las Animas was on Friday, Oct. 27th about the time we were watching the Houston Astros win while sitting in a sports bar in Playa del Carmen. The parade was the first of several celebrations of death. There was a day to honor lost children. Next day, it was for adults followed by a day known as "All Soul's Day" on Nov. 2nd. There were altars filled with food and flowers, there were parades, and there were church services in the jardine. We saw school children carrying baskets of fruit and other goodies along with material to construct altars at school and feed the souls of the dead. Here in Mérida, they refer to it as Hanal  Pixán. If you don't speak Mayan, that translates to "meal for the souls". Here in the Yucatan, it's all about combining the Mayan traditions with the Catholic beliefs.

As for us, we wanted to come down here for Dia de los Muertos and for our own closure concerning the dead. We have accomplished getting closure. It all started back in the summer when I had hurriedly left out of Mérida on a Sunday during our last visit. Mom had been taken to the hospital where she had a second surgery due to her CHF. I almost didn't make it through the airport when I was called back to Customs due to a glitch and my own forgetfulness about exiting and re-entering the country when we went to Belize. I ended up giving them all the pesos and all the dollars I had to get to board the plane. I was crying when I rushed to board the plane, but the flight attendants gave me hugs and assured me all would be ok. I think I knew at that moment it wasn't. Upon arrival at IAH, I drove to the hospital in Temple that Sunday afternoon and spent the night in the room with Mom. On the following Monday in early afternoon, I received a call from Terry. His mom had called him to tell him his dad had died. That meant he was going through the emotions of losing his dad while alone and responsible for securing the house, paying bills and doing all the last-minute things we generally do before heading out. He spent that last night in Mérida alone before boarding a last-minute booked flight on United direct to IAH. He doesn't remember a lot of those last hours in Mérida. I drove to Kim's from Temple on Monday evening and Tuesday morning we were waiting at IAH for Terry. One parent was in the hospital while making funeral arrangements for another. We ended up saying good-bye this past summer to two parents - Terry's dad and my mom. Coming back to Mérida on this trip was for two reasons - to pay the fideicomiso at the bank and to give us some closure - to do some grieving and make sure we really did turn off the lights and lock the doors. It turned out we had a celebration of two lives lost because that's what you do during Dia de los Muertos. Being in Mexico helped us see death as a new beginning for those that pass on and it helped replace our feelings of grief and loss with joy as we realize our parents have gone on to a better place.