Facebook?

Please understand one thing. I am not trying to be rude or offend anybody here. But I feel the time has come to make one thing clear about me.

I do not do Facebook.

I have checked it out and it is just not a time waster that I want to waste my time with. I know that there are literally thousands of you out there who think it is the best thing since sliced bread. (I wonder what was the best thing before sliced bread??)

So if any of you have gotten the Ignore answer from me, please don't take it personally. It's just something I don't want to start up with. And I don't want you wasting your time sending me things via Facebook that I am not going to pay any attention to.

Send me an email or leave a comment on my Blog instead. Those I pay strict attention to!

Ouch!

I think I'm going to start keeping one of those mini flashlights next to my bed. Since it seems like I get up at least once a night to go pee, I would probably get a lot of use out of it. I could have used it for sure last Saturday night.

As I sleepily left the bedroom, I happened to jam one of my toes full force into the door jamb. I thought for a moment that I was going to faint from the pain. The whole room lit up but this time with stars. I hobbled on into the bathroom and turned on the light. I was almost afraid to turn on the light. I thought I might have self-amputated my toe and was expecting to see a lot of blood.

When I looked down at it, I saw nothing. I sure felt something but at least there was no blood. My original mission accomplished, I hobbled back to bed and somehow fell back to sleep through all of the throbbing.

Sunday morning I got up to find the index toe (do toes have names?) on my left foot swollen, dark purple and the end of it bent over. It looks to me like I may have broken it at the first knuckle.

I've long heard (and experienced once before) that there is nothing one can do for a broken toe. Just leave it alone and let it heal. Before I haul myself off to the doctor so he can jerk it around and really cause me to faint, does anybody know if it's true that nothing can be done?

Otherwise, I'm needing a little sympathy here!

My Sunset

I've posted a few pictures of the sunsets here on Isla. All taken from the view on the north end of the island. But there are other views of the sunsets.



Here's what I see on cloudy days.

What A Disappointment

I love Oaxaca and all things Oaxacan. The food, the people, the land, the architecture. All of it. In fact, I took my vacation this year on the Oaxacan coast. So I was understandably excited when I heard that the Oaxaca Fair had set up downtown. So, with a few extra pesos in my pocket, we headed on down to check things out. Didn't take long and I parted with not one peso.

They have set up booths on both sides of the walkway leading from the Square downtown to the newly remodeled malecon. Not too exciting from a short distance away.






There are the standard booths with trinkets and do-dads. Like these drums. I'm just not sure how they fit into the Oaxacan culture though. I'm no expert so maybe. Who knows.



Then there were stacks of these little cars. Racing cars by the looks of them. I actually liked these. The wheels turned on them, but not very well. Just some quick bandsaw cutting probably put these together. I do like how they all have a different company "sponsoring" them. Look at the all the beer companies represented!



These reminded me more of Chiapas than Oaxaca. Chiapas people are known for their hand weaving. Especially these bracelets that are everywhere in Mexico. All being sold by women in long black skirts that look like they are either made from uncured Yak wool or just plain roofing felt. Or their equally ambitious children.



I first saw bedspreads and tablecloths like these in 2007 while visiting Patzcuaro. Nothing distinctly Oaxacan here either.



Or here. These look more like they are straight out of some shop in Merida, Yucatan. I never saw a single woman in Oaxaca wearing a huipil dress.




Now we're getting a little closer to one of the things in Oaxaca that is near and dear to my heart....handwoven rugs. But, alas, these are not them. These are factory, machine woven rip offs.




I would guess that this one may be handwoven. I couldn't get close enough to it to really tell.




I love the bakery goods from Oaxaca too. You never really fill full after eating one.



Now this says Oaxaca. In fact, it is just screaming Oaxaca. The black pottery that they are famous for. I've kind of (but not totally!) left my passion for Talavera behind in pursuit of good pieces of this stuff. I've already been told that I am buying too much of it. I really like the candle thingees with the holes in them. They give off great shadows.



Clothing booth after clothing booth. Again, these are much more Chiapas than Oaxaca. Although I would be hard pressed to swear that they are not popular in Oaxaca. I know they are available also right here on the island but I have no idea where they originally from.



All in all, the "fair" was a big disappointment. Don't waste your time. Unless you want some black pottery!

Cleaning Up

Every once in awhile the few bushes that remain along the road across from me get to big for their britches and have to be trimmed back. So out comes a city crew and, with machetes flying, take care of the job in no time flat.

Last week it was time again.

These guys get in their and hack away as if their lives depended upon it. I guess I can't blame them for wanting to get it over with quickly. Besides the obvious danger of working with no warning cones and the fast traffic that goes by, there are other reasons to be cautious.

These bushes are full of creepy crawleys just waiting to sting you, bite you or slither away and startle you.

I do notice that, for some reason, it is always the older guys who do most of the work.

They trim back an little piece of green that dares even cast a shadow onto the road. These are the bushes offending the road directly across from me.

These are the same bushes after they have learned their lesson. A bit of a severe haircut if you ask me.

Sunday Beach Leftovers

Isla Tableau

I've always like the way this piney type tree looks against the sky. It is right inside the gate to NaBalam's courtyard.

Isla Sunset

Isla Beach Cactus

Isla Monster

Special photo for Max, the Wonder Boy, for doing so good in his exams!

Isla Worker

Some days I feel like I really need to clone myself.

Isla Duh! Moment

6

Living In Paradise

One thing you can say for sure about living on this island. It is never boring.

We have indoor plumbing. But we have to carry the water ourselves. Makes flushing the toilet a lot of fun. Do I have to fill the tank full or is half going to be enough this time?



Is this storehouse of water going to be enough to meet my needs today for showering, doing dishes and flushing the toilets?



And don't forget to take the solar shower down, fill it back up and leave it lying in the sun. Otherwise you are going to have a cold shower again.



So what's really going on? Evidently (the story changes every day) three days ago one of the lines that carries water from Cancun to our island broke. No water has been coming to the island at all. So for the past three days people have been living with water that is stored in the tanks on their roofs. But we didn't know that. At least not until our tanks ran dry yesterday.

Had we known we would have been conserving water like crazy. We would not have done five loads of laundry yesterday. I would not have watered the plants. I would not have washed every dish in my house because they were covered with cement dust from some recent work I had done in the house. I would not have mopped my floors three times.

Nothing in the papers, no notices, nothing. This island can drive you crazy sending around cars and golf carts with loudspeakers announcing for days, nay weeks, ahead of time that the circus is coming to the island. But can they bother to tell you that you better conserve water because the supply of water coming to the island has stopped?

Evidently not.

Naked Lady

I guess this isn't one of my usual rants about that eyesore known as Condos Aluxes. It's more of a WTF! were they thinking.

The "special" beach area for guests in now complete and open and oh-so-very-posh. Gimme a break. At any rate, this is the sign that greets visitors and passersby.



I thought it said "Cafe del Moar". Upon closer inspection, they just got carried away with their swirly dwirlys and the extra loopy thing meant to make the M look elegant and sophisticated just makes it look like an extra letter. Of course, it really says "Cafe del Mar". Geez.

Then they have the naked lady statue kind of next to the sign. This thing looks really familiar to me. Can't place where I've seen it before. Some art deco museum or something? Does anybody recognize it?




It's not a bad statue, really. But c'mon. Did they not stop and think for a moment what a joke this was going to be for tasteless tourists?




I kid you not. I had to wait patiently for my turn to take a picture of it. I almost walked away. I almost took a picture of people taking pictures of it but did not want to support what they were doing to this poor thing. Suffice it to say that somewhere out there, among their other vacation pictures, are plenty of pictures taken by wives and girlfriends of their husbands/partners or whatevers doing disgusting things to this statue with their hands, fingers and yes, tongues.

Yuk.

Ladies Who Knit

Project Warm Hearts 2009 is constantly on my mind. I work on some project for it every day. But it looks like I'm not the only one who has had it on their mind.

Meet some of the ladies from Tanglewood Manor in western New York.



These wonderful ladies heard about our charity and it touched their warm hearts. So they grabbed their knitting needles and set to work producing hats, mittens and scarves. When I heard about these ladies and how they were helping, from so far away, I was touched beyond belief.

So my thanks go out to these wonderful women and to Cheryl Krull, the CEO of Tanglewood Manor who spearheaded this campaign and brought the articles personally down to me.

Doesn't it just wanna make you cry or something!

Beach Update - Part Two

Moving around to the bay side of Isla, we'll take a look at those beaches now. We'll skip Playa Posada, the beach that runs from the ferry docks north to across from Jax. That area never seems to change much.

This is the beach used by the tour company from Cancun, Islander. The same ones who have the private playground. It certainly is easy, even without the flags, to see where their property" starts.





Look how they pack them in here. I digress. The beach here hasn't changed much. It has gained a few yards of sand but that's it.




Let's move on a bit to Playa Sol. Often referred to simply as Sergio's. In December, that volleyball court was filling with water and those umbrellas would definitely have been in the water.




The beach was lapping at this volleyball court. Remember I showed you that black tubes that they were blowing sand into? Look what they have achieved.

Looking back at the volleyball court. I would have been standing in water in December.

Looking back towards North Beach, in front of Chichi and Charlie's. In December, the water was lapping on that wall and there was no beach. None.

So there you have it. From what I saw on Sunday, I think it's about time I hit the beach again!

Another Beach Update

December 22. That's the last time I ran a beach update. Man, is there a lot to report! Things have really changed. So much so that I am splitting this update into two parts. Part Two tomorrow.

We'll start where I usually do. The little beach in front of Villa Kin (formerly Casa Maya). This is located right at the start of the bridge going over to the Avalon. Not much change. This little beach seems to be impervious to erosion or growth.



Looking over to the Avalon's beach. The deeper water that runs under the bridge is getting narrower as the beaches continue to grow.




This is the beach that is on the east side of the NaBalam. It is also the beach you see in the title picture of my blog. (scroll back up) With the placement of all those sand bags, the beach is now growing. Nothing like it was before, but still there is hope. Notice the stick that I always use to gage the beach here. It should not be in the water.




Looking at the corner of the front restaurant of the NaBalam. Last time I updated, the water was lapping on the foundation.




Looking back from that corner to the Avalon and the bridge.

Standing in front of the NaBalam restaurant, looking along North Beach. As a sign of how well the NaBalam is not doing, look at all the footprints of people passing by but not stopping. I suppose that is what you get when you continually raise your rates but let your hotel continue to crumble and deteriorate.

North Beach, eroded or not, continues to be one of the nicest beaches around. And one of the safest. Look how far out people can go and still not even get wet!

Approaching the beach at Maria del Mar and the swing bar. In December the water was up past these palm trees. Now that's beach reclamation. It appears that this has become the new topless area of North Beach. (enlarge for proof!)

Yes, they are still there. Yes, we see them.

In front of the swing bar. The beach along North Beach undulates in and out and now has an incline to get to the water.

Not much going on at the swing bar on this beautiful day.

Again, these front palms were under water in December. And no, that woman on the left is not hanging her laundry. Those are the privacy curtains that surround those stupid beds. I don't even want to guess why people would need privacy. Ick.

Finally and distressingly. I saw lots of these on the beach today.

Fully armed with bullet proof vests. Machine guns in hand. Some of them even had those black masks on to hide their identity. Which I find incredibly spooky. Really, we don't need this huge military presence on the beach. Just when we are trying so hard to assure people that it is safe here. Which it is. Why do they want to needlessly scare vacationers like that. Not too bright.