Valladolid...Meeting La Artista

Buses leave going to Valladolid almost every hour daily. It doesn't take a lot of planning to make this trip. We threw a few things in our backpacks and packed up a snack sack and were off for the 2 1/2 hour trip by midday. This was after we took care of the debit card issue with Bancomer.

Painted buses, tourists and the beautifully dressed Mayans seen from the corner bar

There is a Valladolid by day, and a different Valladolid by night. During the day there are bizarrely painted tourist buses that surround the main plaza and people walking around representing every country. Many are sunburned from their day trip to Chichen Itza. It makes for great people watching as we sit at the corner bar with a beer and a mojito in front of us. And, it has certainly brought pesos and life to Valladolid. By 5pm the buses are all gone and the town quietens down considerably. It's easy to enjoy the colonial structures and slow pace once the sun starts to set.

After finding a place to spend a night or two, we headed out to wander about with no particular place to go. I got excited when I saw a cute, pink painted colonial hotel named Zaci around the corner from the bus station. Then Terry reminded me we had stayed there before! He always comments that he could take me to the same place over and over and I would think I was in a new place. Well, I had really liked the Zaci hotel but we both wanted to stay someplace different. We ended up in a great little quaint hotel a few blocks from the plaza and around the corner from the Cenote Zaci. Our place allowed for getting woke up by neighboring roosters and the barking dog. We thought it was great but maybe not to everybody's liking. And, we had the most accommodating staff ever.

Valladolid by Night

Walking a side street, we smelled the strong scent of paint - I don't mean Comex house paint but oil paints...the paints of an artista. Then, we saw where the smell was coming from. The artista was painting in the open air front patio of his home. Cigarette dangling from his half closed lips and all...so beautifully artista-like. Big, earthy-colored canvasses lined the walls and he was touching up one of his paintings. I would presume he would work on it forever as I understand an artist is never completely satisfied with his/her own work. He invited us in to take a closer look and we met Jaime Fierro Duran of Chile and now living in Valladolid. We also met Ines, his partner or wife, possibly. Ines knew some English and spoke in a beautiful, animated voice.

We were in awe of his paintings in the front patio, then Jaime and Ines took us through a door leading into a more private area, and we saw more of his work. They showed us pictures on their computer from gallery exhibits in Playa del Carmen where the couple had lived. But there was as much or more pride in the start-up of a non-profit organization in the small Yucatan village of Ticuch where Jaime and Ines work with area children sharing and promoting the arts. 

The prominent hands/feet reoccur in his paintings along with the earthy, singular use of color. Jaime is muy guapo. (Picture taken from Google)

Speaking with them, although difficult at times as we were searching for the correct Spanish verb, it was also easy. They were so willing to share and welcome us into their home. Now, I want to buy a Jaime Fierrot original for the wall. We said our good-byes and ended with hugs and besitos. The rest of the evening Terry and I both could smell the scent of oil paints in our clothes...what a visit to remember! 

Jaime's website - www.jaimefierrod.com

We had a yummy, authentic Yucatecan dinner then stopped to buy a bottle of wine and some beer for the back garden at our hotel. Finding a corkscrew, as always, was a production. Eventually a bartender down the street and an amigo of the vendor helped us out. Once we got back to our hotel, we heard a soft knock on the door and we were presented with two nice, cold tequila sunrises on the house. What service!

Jorge, Our Happy Waiter

10 rooms facing a center open air corridor; shaded garden and pool behind the rooms

Jaltun Bar at the hotelito

Tomorrow - we are thinking Ek-Balam...notice I didn't say Chichen Itza. It reminds me of the scene in Captain Ron when he says "You've heard of St. Croix?"
Answer with excitement from Caroline because she wants to go to a place filled with human activity: "Yes!!!"
Captain Ron..."Well, we're going to the island just to the right of it...called Ted's."

We went to bed to dream of a Jaime Fierro original hanging on our wall.

Conducting Business in the Key of @SF^##i4i4i

After a trip to the beach on Monday to drop off another pair of Reefs with our favorite waiter, we decided to go on a walkabout. 

Bought a beautiful basket on the beach

We would leave out sometime on Tuesday after packing and doing a few errands. Then Terry dropped the surprise on me. He had his Bancomer ATM card, but not mine. We had remembered using them both on the last trip to Chedraui when we bought groceries. I think that was on Friday. The thing is, ATM machines in Mexico retain your card until all of your transactions are complete then it spits out your card. It is easy for us to walk off and forget to take the card back. Both of us were surprised that we hadn't realized we didn't have the card until Tuesday morning.
Shortly after 9 we were writing our name on the clientes list at the closest Bancomer location to the house - about 6 blocks away. We were number 4 in line to get waited on. We sat and waited about 15 minutes then we were called back. 'Gloria' waited on us. She spoke no English, but was very patient as we explained: "Perdí la tarjeta de debito en el cajero automático en Chedraui en la esquina de Avenida de Itzaes y Calle 75."
We explained it was mine that was lost and Terry's we had. He showed his to her. We did not need to replace Terry's card. But, that part wasn't understood and she had de-activated Terry's card. After another go at explaining the issue, we both ended up getting new cards since she de-activated both of ours. We had to have our passports for id, and luckily Terry had written down our account no., clave number, and his ATM card no. Of course I didn't have my ATM card no. on file. Numbers and any other information written down on paper to hand forth is always helpful, even if it doesn't get used.
The one last hurdle was when she tried to activate Terry's new card she was having problems doing it. She sent him to another representative in the teller line and she took care of him while Gloria explained to me that we had the new cards but would use our old, existing NIP (PIN) nos. As soon as we walked out, we went to the adjoining ATM to make sure all was good, and sure enough the old PIN nos. worked. They both worked fine. This bit of business took us about an hour and a half.
You may recall just last week we had gone into another Bancomer location to get Terry a new card because all of his numbers had worn off. After talking with one of the bank reps. we decided against it because he said it wasn't a problem. Both of us were glad we hadn't gone through with getting a new one and then reported it lost a few days later. 
Talking about the weather, ordering food, and asking where the baño is in Spanish is much easier than conducting business in a foreign language. 
It's like the person you're conducting business with is saying @SF^##i4i4i over and over to you.
So, on to Valladolid, Yucatan. But, that's another story. 

A Car or Kisses?

There is no better way to see the city than to walk it. That is what you do when you have no car. 

Terry and I are quite sure we have walked every street within a large part of the centro area, and also a large part of points north and northwest of centro. We've walked miles and miles of the Gulf beaches in Progreso, Chixulub, Telchac Puerto, Rio Largartos, over to Yucaltepen and Chelem. 

We did the 6-7K bici-ruta route yesterday that takes you through the main plaza and up Paseo de Montejo and back down to our neighborhood again. We stopped off in the Plaza long enough to share a bag of fresh plaintain chips.  We watched them get cooked and then taken out of the hot oil. They're one of our favorite treats.

No matter how many times we walk the same streets or different streets, it doesn't matter, we always see something new.


Later on in the day I took another walk down south of our hood. It was late in the afternoon on a Sunday which meant a lot of families were visiting, eating and drinking together.

 Many were gathered on their front patios or sitting in chairs on the side of the streets. Loud music streamed from many of the houses. I could smell food cooking and without even taking a glance, I could tell which had been drinking the longest. 

When I walk without Terry, things are different. When he is with me I get ignored just a tad more than walking alone. Although walking alone, I am always treated with the greatest of respect by men, women and children. Yesterday, I passed a boy on the sidewalk that looked to be about fourteen. He had the biggest grin for me. Shortly after he walked by me, he (in Spanish) said, "Excuse me. What time is it?" I had to explain that although I had a watch, it did not work and I was sorry but didn't know what time it was. He grinned and told me thank you  then kissed me on each cheek very gently. It may have been so he could go tell his friends he did it. But I found it sincere and very endearing.  If we had a car in Mexico, I never would have gotten those passing kisses.

Eating Like Belizeans in Mexico

I discovered I can get Terry to go to the big mercado with me if we go early in the morning before it is crowded. We dressed and went yesterday morning, early. In fact, most of the mercado was not open yet, but the seafood stands were all open. Good thing because that's what we went to buy. 
We ended up with four fillets of grouper, and a half kilo of shrimp. We purchased the grouper from one vendor and the shrimp from the vendor across the aisle. We didn't have a plan on how we were going to prepare it, but we knew one would develop. 
At the grocery store, the plan started coming together - coconut rice, curry sauce made with ingredients including curry powder, coco de crema (very rich indeed), crema, sauteed jalapeno pepper, onion, garlic in butter. And of course, the seared seafood and some broccoli on the side. I can't give you the recipe because there is no recipe. We just called it Seafood Curry a la Kahanek. 

Next time it will be ceviche and fish cooked with tomate and peppers. After all, we're in Mexico and not Belize. 
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We have spotted four woodpeckers that hang out in the gardens across the street in the evenings. They resemble our ladder-backed woodpeckers but appear to be larger. If anybody can help me out with the exact name of them, I would appreciate it. 

Photo from surfbirds.com

  At first I thought they had a nest in a tree hollow because we always spot them in the same tree and circling around a hollow. Yesterday, I walked over to the gardens with my binoculars and camera to get a closer look. Now I think they are eating insects that are inside the hole. No nest. About three minutes into my observation, a kind gentleman came to speak with me in the garden. He spoke very little Spanish and I know no Mayan so it was an interesting conversation. But, being a high-tech gardener he pulled out his cell phone and we looked at his gardening projects on his phone. We could both understand pictures. He had quite the resume - his specialty is working with the shrub/plant that can be shaped into animals and one can use to spell out words and names if you're a really awesome gardener. He was an awesome gardener. His gardening tools were few - he carried a hook-type tool used to dig that resembled a hay hook. He must have had shears or something back home.

Finding What We Weren't Looking For

Yesterday we headed out to run a few errands. We especially wanted to pay the taxes and then we were going to go downtown, up the stairs, down the hallway, through the closed door into the secluded room, and pay the woman our annual fee for garbage collection. Even though we don't use it on a regular basis, we just pay for the year and then don't have to worry about stopping/resuming pick-up. And the lady always has snacks on her desk and offers them up freely. 
 
We walked to Calle 62 across from the Gran Plaza to pay the taxes at a little booth they have set up for that purpose. While Terry was paying taxes I looked up and saw limpia somthing above a second kiosk. I asked "Puedo pagar para coleccion de busura aqui" and the answer was Si. 
I looked at Terry and Terry looked at me. We were able to not only pay both fees at the same location, but pay them both to the same person in the same kiosk. This is all getting too easy and too convenient. So cool when you find what you're not looking for. Paying for trash collection used to take us half a day and paying taxes would take the remainder of the day. 

Located next door is the tourist center so I ran in and got a Yucatan Travel Guide to give to Gary and Sandra for Gary's international agriculture conference to be held in Merida. Later on I realized he was texting me about where they would be staying in Merida at about the same time I was picking up the guide. 

We walked on down Calle 62 past the Bierhaus. We always pop our heads in to see what's happening. I always think of Corona, Tecate, Sol and Montejo when I think of Mexican beer. With a name like the Bierhaus, you can throw in Heineken and all the other German beers I'm not familiar with, but I don't think of Bud Light and Mexico together. Well, the monthly special at the Bierhaus is Bud Light. We immediately thought of Kate and Richy. So, here's to Richy - the Best and Brightest Bud Light Beer Salesman I know. I am secretly hoping he becomes an International accounts guy and gets to come check on his accounts in Merida and all of Mexico soon! 

We were actually headed to find a Bancomer branch bank location. Terry needed to get a new debit card. I thought his card had quit working, but he told me it was only that all the writing on it had rubbed off, and the letters and numbers aren't embossed on the card.  If anybody ever looked at it/checked it they might be concerned at its blankness. We were wandering aimlessly along after we realized that the bank we had in mind wasn't a Bancomer at all, but a Banamex location. Then we looked up and saw a Bancomer location. That was pure luck. We went inside but after talking with one of the reps, Terry decided he didn't need a new card after all. The one he has will expire in 2017 anyway and he will be given a new one then. Now, they would mark his card as 'lost' or 'stolen' and issue and new card all together. He didn't really like that idea after all. So we walked on. 

Next stop was to locate a market we had seen before in the vicinity. We needed to get some light bulbs and trash bags. There was an AKI market right in front of us. We went in and found the trash bags but not the light bulbs so we decided to just leave. Directly to the left, we discovered a Soriana market so we went in there. It was larger than expected. As we wandered around, we spotted salsas and found the El Yucateco Chipotle salsa we fell in love with only to never be able to find it after the one bottle found. Love it when you find what you're not looking for! We grabbed two bottles along with the trash bags sans the light bulbs and headed home.

“The Biggest Challenge After Success..."

“The biggest challenge after success is shutting up about it.”
-Unknown

Back in January or February while sitting in El Campo on a rainy Sunday afternoon, Terry went on line to look up the amount and pay our Mexican property taxes. He found the website, struggled through some of the Spanish he hadn't learned yet, and paid the taxes online using pesos in the bank. He boasted about his deftness in working through the online instructions in Spanish, and also bragged about the small price we paid for property taxes, relatively speaking. He also boasted about getting descuenta (discount). He had a lot to be proud of, and, well, he's a man. He brags!
I actually was pretty proud of his accomplishment as well. That was, until our arrival in Merida. Yesterday I checked our mailbox. Amongst the pizza coupons and JW.org pamphlets, there was a bill in the mailbox. It was for property taxes owed to be paid the first part of 2016. Our first thought was that we had paid the bill but the bill in the mailbox was produced prior to that. Just to be sure, Terry went online to check it. He realized that he had paid for one month so instead of 8 pesos, the bill is 91 pesos for the entire year. I'll let you do the math and the conversion. Regardless, we are walking down to the city offices today to pay the eleven months of taxes we owe plus the pesos back in the form of a discount we had taken earlier.
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Yesterday, A. came and brought his copy of the back door key for us. We had cocktails on the mirador last night! We went to the grocery store and bought ingredients for pollo y arroz, including lots of carrots. I decided to make some pico  de gallo - funny thing is, it is the very first time ever I have made it myself while down here. Was it good, you ask? Yes. We bought beer and visited with Gaspar at Cerve Frio. In the middle of the day, we decided to walk into town so I could get some art canvasses at the art store. As we walked down Calle 60 heading north, we heard somebody call out Terry's name. There was Ernesto! We can always count on seeing Ernesto sometime during our time here. The big question is 'when'. On our last visit we didn't see him until our last night in town. This time we saw him on the first day. We chatted for a moment then headed to the art store. When we came out of the art store, there was Ernesto waiting for us. He wanted to "borrow" some money. Terry can't tell him no, so he gave him a small amount and Ernesto gave me his shark tooth necklace as collateral. I took it and it is now around my neck. Such is the way! 

Gotta' go pay those darn taxes. We didn't realize our water was turned off, therefore not filling the tinaca as we have used up the water in it since being here. We drained the tinaca. The water is back on, but it generally won't get filled until night when there is less demand on the water supply to fill it. We just won't smell very good for the tax collector. 
 

Drinks on the Mirador

Back door and stairs leading up to the mirador

No matter how hard you try to not have expectations, you just do. 


Take yesterday, for instance. Terry and I had already discussed it and we weren't going to have any expectations regarding the day. We wouldn't expect to get to the car rental return at any certain time, what time we would be drinking our bloody mary at the airport, what time we would board the plane, arrival in Cancun, catching the bus to the bus station, the next bus to Merida, arrival in Merida, nor walking to the house, nor walking through that glorious front door. 

Nope. None. Nada. No expectations. Well, I really did expect to get to the airport bar, sit down, and have a bloody mary. But, we got there at 6:46 am. I know that because it was 14 minutes before it was time to start serving alcohol. I wasn't expecting that. 

Have I mentioned I love Southwest?! We left exactly on time and arrived in Cancun at exactly on time. The sun was shining beautifully when we left HOU and we arrived at CUN with extremely cloudy skies just following heavy rain. We think it was the same front that came through TX last week. It made for rain and clouds but a very pleasant temperature.

The bus station was packed. Not sure if it was Semana Santa leftovers or just because we were at the Cancun bus station, but there were quite a few travelers in the waiting area and Terry had to stand in line for 14-23 minutes to get dos boletos. We actually chose to leave on a later bus just to have seats in what we consider a good location, ie, far enough from the head to not be able to smell when somebody opens the door. 

No rain when we arrived in Merida. It was cool and perfect. This is when we developed that expectation. Get to the house and look things over. Marvel at how clean the house is. Throw down our backpacks, kick off our shoes and have a nice, cold and relaxing drink. The refrigerator had been turned on and there was nothing in there but an ice cold six pak of Sol. And there was vodka for me. No expectations on the cold six-pak - we didn't remember leaving beer. Not in a list of expectations. There was only one thing missing. The key. 

The key to the back door was missing. Gone. Lost. Not to be found. And you need a key to get out the door and take those wonderful stairs up to the mirador. I have to say - we were expecting to have a nice, cold and relaxing drink up on the mirador. We did have the expected cold drinks but on the front porch. Drinks on the mirador manana - but we have no expectations.