I Think I'm There

By the time you read this, I should have reached my vacation destination. "What?" you say. You didn't know I was going on vacation?

We decided to get ourselves a housesitter and head out for a month. Yup. One month. We have abandoned all responsibility and care and left that to others. We have rented a condo and will be spending the month of August hanging by the pool. Or at one of many beaches easily reachable by car. Or maybe exploring in the mountains, which we have as a backdrop. Or visiting a coffee plantation. Yup, we drove to our destination. It should have taken 2-3 days of driving to get here.

Long time readers should be able to guess where we are. (no fair "guessing" if you are one of the few people I have told!) If you think you know, give it a guess. If not, I'll fill you in on Monday.

Inside Up

Want to feel dizzy real fast? When you get inside the tower at the Ultramar ferry, on the Cancun side, look up. That should do the trick!

Tasty As It Looks

One of my favorite exotic fruits is now all over the grocery stores and vendor stands. NOB it is known as Dragon Fruit. Down here, it is called Pitahya.

It's a gorgeous looking, if not slightly odd, fruit. Very picturesque too.





Once open, you discover all of these tiny seeds scattered around. Don't worry. There is no way you can pick them out and they are safe to eat anyway. Truly a fruit that tastes as good as it looks.

I know I have posted about this fruit before. But it is so good, it bears reminding people about it.

Sunday Dreams

One of the good things that has come out of the heart wrenching news we received three weeks ago is that I now feel like I have been born again. In the sense that it is time to wake up and smell the coffee. Make some changes in my life. I think I was just kind of stagnating. Letting life run over me and doing nothing to keep myself healthy, fit and in control.

Part of the change is in the form of getting myself back into a healthy life. I've had several check ups already that are long overdue and several more scheduled for when I get back. Of course, they are the awful ones that I am really dreading. Like a colonscopy.

I've also been thinking of changing over things in my life. Physical things. I'll soon be without glasses. Something I have not been for 30 some years. Ever since I gave up wearing contacts. And I've been thinking about my life in Mexico a lot. Why I live it. Why I like it here.

Three of the things I like about here I could like anywhere but I did not discover them until I moved here. They are Diego Rivera, his wife, Frido Kahlo and Posada's iconic Day of the Death creation, La Catrina. Here they are pictured together.




They are featured in a very famous painting by Rivera entitled "Sunday Dreams in Alameda Park".



So one Sunday, while sitting in Brisa Grill, I found my eye drawn back to this door over and over.




And I had all this leg space, so why not?




I printed out some pictures from the Internet and went to see Ramon Velazquez, the owner and head artist. Could he do something so detailed? His response was an enthusiastic "SI!".

So I made an appointment and two weeks ago had my first sitting. He only did the outlines at first. That alone took two hours.




Last Saturday I had my second and final appointment to get the coloring done. At first I thought I wanted to change it up and make it really bright, Mexican type colors with lots of red, yellow, orange, blue and purple.

In the end, I decided to stay true to the painting and go with the more subdued colors and shading. Even so, it was 4.5 more hours of grueling pain. But well worth it, I think.




Here's a closer look.




So what do you all think? I would really like to know. Not that I can change it or anything!

Fire On The Water

Last Thursday I got a call from a friend who was on the beach by Sunset Grill. She told me to grab my camera and get there fast. A boat was burning off shore and it was a good one.

I was still making preparations for the arrival of the housesitter and had no time to get down there. I assumed the fire would be out by the time I got there anyway.

Luckily Daniel of Noruega Art Gallery had a friend who was able to get some great photos of the fire. Daniel reports on it here and includes more great photos. Click on over and take a look. Very dramatic.

Getting Ready

Not much for you this morning. I have lots of stuff to post but none of the pictures have been edited. Or not yet downloaded from the camera. It's just been too busy around here lately.

One of our amigas from Cancun was here last night for dinner and to go through the household routine with us. She's been to the house plenty of times, but not with the thought of taking care of it in mind. Or what and when to feed the cats, how to work the alarm system, that kind of stuff.

Later we went downtown for a couple of drinks at Adelita's, then home again. She spent the night over in the cabana so now I am waiting for her to get up and come over to the main house. She has 7 minutes before we have to leave to take her to the ferry so she can get to work. Somehow I don't think she is going to make it!

Off to the mechanic later this morning for a check up on the car. Don't want to break down someplace in Mexico! Then this afternoon I have to retrofit one of the hurricane shutters and drill a couple of new holes into the house for it.

So much to do still. But I am confident all will be ready by the time we leave.

Have a great weekend everybody!

Gross Me Out

I'm not overly fond of seafood. I'll eat shrimp, some fish, and the occasional bite of lobster. That's about it. Although I do love chilpachole, a kind of spicy seafood soup made mostly with crab.

I've eaten other types of seafood. Conch, octopus, squid and even shark. (imagine that!) I don't really care for any of these and I am in no hurry to repeat the experience.

Needless to say, I do not linger in the seafood area of the big grocery stores. Stuff like this grosses me out so badly that I could not even take this picture. I had my friend Dougie take it for me.

Unfair Is Unfair

The last time I saw Rosemary from Cool Ice Cream, she was being driven away in the front of a police car. I should add that she went willingly. So why was she being escorted away by the police? As an eyewitness, I feel qualified to tell you the story.

Monday afternoon we were downtown running errands and crap. We decided to stop at the loncherias in front of the municipal market. As we rounded the corner, I noticed that Rosemary was just ahead of me. I also noticed that a tourist on a rented motor scooter made the corner right behind me.

As we got close to the entrance to the parking lot for the market, the tourist suddenly gunned the motor on his scooter and sped by me. His intention was to pass both me and Rosemary ahead of me. Unfortunately, he didn't make it.

I'm sure that Rosemary did not even see him. Or if she did, it was too late to do anything. She clearly had her left turn signal on. Something the idiot on the scooter probably never even saw.

Rosemary started her left turn into the parking lot, cutting this idiot on the scooter off. He had no choice but to hit his brakes....hard. By the look of his crash as it was happening, I think he only applied the front brake. Or maybe the back brakes weren't working. It was a rental scooter after all.

In the following diagram, which is hard to see I know, you can see how it went down.

The tourist was not badly hurt. Despite the fact that he did some cobblestone kissing. His right knee and leg were scraped up and he was bleeding. I hope it hurts like hell. He put every body's well being in danger by his antics. Yes, it is legal to pass on the left. But not at a highly accelerated speed and not without paying attention to what is in front of you.

His rental scooter was badly damaged. Still drivable though. The last I saw of him, he was back on it and driving away. No doubt to go to the hospital to rack up a bill and then back to the rental company for an assessment of damages. Both at the instruction of the local police.

I was able to briefly talk to Rosemary before she was taken away. I was appalled and sickened to hear that the police were assessing 100% of the blame for causing this accident on her!

Why? The reason they gave was news to me and I have been going to those loncherias and that market for the past 19 years or so.

If you look at the diagram I drew, you will see that there are two entrances to the parking lot. Except there really isn't. It seem that the entrance Rosemary turned into is really an exit! Who knew? I have seen tons of people enter through the "exit" and have done it myself. I have even seen police cars do it. What is very important to note here is that there is absolutely no signage whatsoever to indicate that one is an entrance, the other an exit! None. Zero. So how are people supposed to know this? Divine wisdom or something?

There is no doubt in my mind that Rosemary was not at fault. She made a correctly indicated left turn. If this tourist had not been hotrodding on his rented scooter, which he evidently did not know how to drive in the first place, this never would have happened. I simply can't fault Rosemary for entering through the exit when nobody on this island, other than the police officers in attendance today, knew there was a difference between the two. Not even the owners/employees at the loncherias knew it!

If you ask me, a great travesty of justice was done on Monday. I hope Rosemary contests this.

UPDATE: I spoke to Rosemary's partner today. She had to pay a 400 peso fine AND for the damages to the scooter! Life can be so unjust sometimes. When I asked him why she paid instead of contesting the lack of signage, he replied that she did not want to spend anytime in jail.

To The Rescue

I got some news from a reader/friend last week. Incredible news. Good news. Fantastic news.

Kathy of PaaMul contacted me to say that she would be driving back to the USA in August. AND that she had room to carry the Project Warm Hearts packages to John in Xico! I could hardly believe it. It just goes to show once again what I keep saying.

The Blogger community is a wealth of good people who care about each other.

I am still in shock at this incredible offering of kindness and assistance. In times of need, good people step forward to carry the ball.

But that was not all she offered. Get this. She has offered to accept packages at the address where she will be staying NOB and carry them back down to John! So all of you people who have been wanting to send a contribution to help the kids of Xico, now is your chance.

We are not going to publish the address, for obvious privacy and security reasons. But if you contact Kathy, she will give you instructions.

I'll be on the car ferry today, packages loaded and on my way down to PaaMul to drop them off to Kathy. And to have a nice visit also!

Whale Shark Festival

The island is currently experiencing whale shark frenzy. To my knowledge, this is only the second year that tours to swim with the whale sharks have originated from Isla. They have been leaving from Isla Holbox for quite a few years now.

To help promote this industry, the island is hosting a whale shark extravaganza. Earlier last week there was a parade downtown, complete with a life size whale shark atop a golf cart. There were tents on the beach and much music and drinking and speakers.

Evidently there is going to be some kind of show in the town square this weekend. I happened to be driving by and was able to stop and get some photos for you.

One of the many posters exclaiming the virtues of the tours.



Not sure why there is a galleon on display. Maybe they are trying to say that whale shark watching has been going on since the days of pirates?



Along one side of the square they have booths set up. Not as yet manned. I looked at the titles on them and most of them are tourist industry related. I do like these colorful flags. They are on pivots and swing around with the breeze.



As can see, the square is decorated with all kinds of fishy fiberglass statues.



Let's take a closer look at some of them.

What would any exhibit here be without the obligatory dolphin? Just a week or so ago I stood on my front porch and watched a pod pass by. Always a stunning event.

Fish everywhere.

I loved this guy.

In the same category as the galleon is this. I have never seen one around here and I doubt that I ever will.

I have seen these though.

This was a very popular statue. I had to wait at least five minutes for my turn to take a picture of it. People were all over it posing.

More fishies.

I haven't strolled through the square for awhile. I was quite surprised to see this sign. How progressive is that!

Telemarketers In Mexico

When we lived NOB, Minnesota passed a No Call law. If you put your name on the list, telemarketers could no longer call and try to harass you into buying something. It didn't work very well though.

They quickly learned that they could continue to call you if they did not specifically try to sell you something. Instead, they called to give you the opportunity to take advantage of their special offer. Semantics, if you ask me.

Over the years, I learned to stop hating their frequent and incessant calls and to have fun with them instead. I loved to waste their time and keep them from calling somebody else. Some of the things I tried on them:

. Keep interrupting them from their pre-typed format. Ask them where they are calling from. How's the weather there? Is their office air conditioned? Or are they in a cubicle? They keep loosing their place on the page and have to start over. Or they read the same sentence again. Where upon you tell them they already said that. They soon get frustrated and hang up voluntarily.

. Ask them if you can ask them a question first. They always say yes. Drop your voice and very seductively ask them "What are you wearing?" Man or woman. Doesn't matter. The next thing you hear will be the dial tone.

. Tell them that you are currently unemployed but would love to receive a free sample of their product.

. Offer to have their windows installed for free in your house in exchange for them taking pictures for their ad campaign.

. Tell them that you a little busy right now but would love to hear more. Could I have your home phone number and I'll call you back?

I miss playing those games now that I live in Mexico. Not that we don't get telemarketing calls. We do. Sometimes as many as five a day. And everyone of them is from the Mexican phone company, TelCel. They are trying to sell add-on features to your phone.

You are not exempt if you have a cell phone. They will leave text messages on your phone, filling your inbox with special offers.

I have finally learned how to deal with them. I used to just hang up or ask them if they speak English. Sometimes they do so now I ask if they speak Chinese.

But the best one? After you say hello and identify it as a sales call, just set the phone down. Don't say another word, don't hang up. Just pee your pants giggling as you listen to them say over and over, "Bueno?" You'll soon enough hear the click and dial tone.

Ok, so I'm childish. But a good laugh is a good laugh!

Daredevils At Work

This cell phone tower around the corner from me is new. The old one collapsed during Hurricane Wilma, falling onto the house across the street from it. So it is now four years old and evidently requires servicing now and then.

Can you see the "ants" crawling around on it?




These have got to be some brave men. Or stupid. Or, I hope, well paid.



They were up there the entire day. Climbing back and forth from one level to another.




Even though I watched them through the binoculars for awhile, I could never figure out exactly what they were doing. Repairing those cables? Soldering joints? Scraping away rust? Who knows.




All I know is that I would not do that job. Although I must admit one thing. I would like to have the opportunity to climb as high as I dare on it just to take some aerial photos. Wouldn't that be cool!

Project Warm Hearts In Trouble

Last week I packed up the toys, stuffed animals and projects that people have knitted for Project Warm Hearts and headed down to the post office. My intention was to mail this stuff off so that John could get a start on sorting and selecting. I was totally unprepared for what happened.

First, understand that they guys at our Post Office are about two of the nicest people around. They are always helpful to me and eager to get my stuff sent out correctly. They are well aware of what the stuff is for and to whom it is going. They think it is a fantastic thing. Once I even stopped in with a map to show them where Xico is. They had no idea.

I knew something was up when I walked in with my boxes and they both took off for the back. They came back out to the front, trailing sheepishly behind the supervisor. Neither one of them wanted to break the bad news to me. They let their boss do the dirty work.

Mexico has now imposed a tax, a duty, on all things sent from Mexico. Even within Mexico! So even if you are sending a wedding present, a gift of used T-shirts or whatever to somebody, expect to pay heavily. Not to mention the cost of postage here, which ain't cheap.

I was not happy, but if I had to pay a tax, so be it. They looked into the box of scarves, gloves, mittens and hats knit by the ladies from the nursing home and said the stuff would have to be taxed as "new items". I tried to talk my way into "used items" by stating that the yarn was leftover bits and not new. They weren't buying it. To make matters worse, they needed receipts for all the items since they were new! Ridiculous, to say the least. But there was no getting around the "law".

The second box contained all of the stuffed animals that Jackie had collected and brought down to me. Stupid me. I had neglected to tear off all the "Made in China" tags. Nothing from China can be accepted in Mexico. They were going to confiscate them, by law, until I said I would tear the tags off and give them to local children. (which was a partial lie but I may end up doing that anyway)

The clincher came when they told me that they have no way here on the island to levy the tax or to collect it. I would either have to take my packages to Customs at the airport or to the central post office in Cancun. They cautioned me that without receipts for the stuff, it would be refused by them also. How in the world am I supposed to ever get receipts for stuff people have hand made?!

I briefly toyed with the idea of just loading everything in the car and driving for three days to hand deliver the stuff to John. Nice idea but not the least bit practical. I would rather send him the money that it would cost do that.

And that's what all of you should do. Scroll back up and click on his link. Then hit his Donate button and specify that you are donating to Project Warm Hearts. I think that by giving John money to buy clothing and toys for the kids is the only way we are going to be able to make a difference in their lives this year.

It fills me with sadness that all of the work of others and myself is for naught this year. But you can make me, and lots and lots of kids, happy by donating. Go on. You know you care.

Everyone Needs A Home

I was sweeping my back patio the other day. Not something I normally do. And I found this.




A tiny little seashell. I figured it had been blown in from the beach or something. How else could it have made its' way from the beach to my back patio?



The answer is simple, really. It was brought here by its's owner!

Soul Searching

Last week I got the kind of news from a friend that leaves you with your mouth gaping open in astonishment. The kind that fills you with disbelief and an immediate horrible grief. The kind that has you sitting on the edge of your bed, sobbing into a towel. The kind that makes your soul feel hollow. I'm sharing no details. Suffice it to say that I have not been coping well with life this past week.

I even considered not returning to this blog. How could I post happy pictures and thoughts when I had none? Nothing seemed important anymore. Not this blog. Not my life on the island. Not my friends. Not my partner. Nothing. I abandoned the real world around me as much as I could and retreated into myself.

I'm still suffering from shell shock but the tremors are subsiding. Life is returning to normal. Good friends are helping. And not just flesh and blood friends. Blog friends. I have been overwhelmed by the thoughts of concern and care that have been sent my way. By strangers really. But not really.

This Blogger community is a world all its' own. I've always known that I have some good friends out there in Cyberspace. This past week drove that point home to me again. Thank you all.

So I have decided not to abandon you as you have not abandoned me. I will continue this blog. It may take awhile to get back to my full spirit. But this thing gives me so much joy I simply can not walk away from it. I need joy in my life again.

Tomorrow we return to normal. Or my new normalcy. I think I have changed this past week.

Out Of Service

For personal reasons, I will not be publishing this week.

My Baby, Simon

I haven't shown you pictures of my baby all grown up for a while. And he is a big baby too. I fault myself for that. I have coddled and cooed to him his whole life.



The first thing people notice about him is his big blue eyes. When he gets scared, which is frequently, they get even bigger. Guess who he comes running to to protect him from all the big bad things that surround him?



That's ok though. I don't mind giving him hugs at all!

Dead Drunk

While I was outside last Sunday, dealing with the electrical emergency, I noticed this guy lying on the cement slab you see here. At one point, he rolled over and ended up in the grass. That is how I knew he wasn't dead.




It's not unusual to see drunks lying in doorways on Sundays. It is unusual to see them lying someplace like this. Looking for all the world like he was dead. Tossed there like some limp rag.

While I was out there, several different Police vehicles drove by. Any guesses as to whether or not they even bothered to stop to see if he was dead or alive. Breathing or not?

If you guessed No, you win.

Trouble in Paradise

Saturday afternoon I was sitting at the dining room table, minding my own business and listening to the rain pour down. I couldn't see it because I had to close all the doors and windows to keep the water from blowing in and drowning my house.

Once the downpour had turned to a drizzle, I went to the front door and opened it. Let there be light and air flow once again! As I was standing there, looking out and watching the rivers run from the street down onto the beach and out to sea, I heard a pop and saw a flash.

The next thing I saw was a great plume of black smoke coming from somewhere over in front of the cabana. My neighbors quite often build a fire in front of their house and at first I though they were burning something. Then it dawned on me that they could not have a fire going in this rain.

That thought had just barely crossed my mind when I saw huge flames shooting out of the glass electric meter that belongs to my cabana next door! I ran through the house shouting, "Fire! Fire!", rudely waking up those amongst us who were peacefully taking a siesta. I knew it was an electric fire so I grabbed a towel from the bathroom. I guess I thought I could run over there and smother the flames.

By the time I reached it, the flames were gone and only wisps of hot, smelly smoke remained. Naturally, we have renters in the cabana right now and they came running out also, having heard the same pop and seen the smoke and flames. Amazingly, they still had power!

This is where the meter was installed in the wall.



And the meter itself. Amazing that it still functioned as well as it did!





I called my electrician, but he was away for the day, not to return until Sunday. He is such a good guy that when he got my message, he called me back and said he would be right over. Which he was.

Something about only the neutral rod had been damaged in the fire and then it overloaded the positive, causing the renters to lose all power this morning around 4AM.

Mr Electrician rewired the system into the main grid, bypassing any need for a meter. So I won't be charged for any electricity the next day or so. He is coming back tomorrow with a new meter and will install it and everything should be back to normal. I told him that if I wasn't being charged for electricity in the meantime, there was no hurry. He just laughed.

And what caused the fire? Water and salt. All that white stuff you see above on the meter is salt. Water from rains ran down the wall, got into the salt compromised seal and caused a short.

An interesting side note about Mexico and why I did not call the electric company. Although they provide the meters free of charge, it is the home owner's responsibility to install them and keep them in service. They would not have responded to my call at all, even if the thing was still burning. That sort of thing can be frustrating, to say the least.