A Very Busy Day

This morning I went with friends Bindi and Debi to the Bamboo Beach restaurant in Chicxulub for the Muelle Market that's held once a month. Lots of great things to purchase. Some are made by Mexicans and some by expats. I picked up some homemade lunch meat, pickles and salmon dip. I took my camera but I was so busy looking at all the cool stuff that I forgot to take any pictures!


Afterwards, we stopped at a fruit and vegetable market and picked up a few things. Bindi headed home and I went with Debi to her hair appointment to help her discuss a hair colour service that she'd like to receive next week. Today she just got a cut.


I love watching other hairdressers work...to see how they do things. We all have our own way of doing things and we all learn from each other. She told me about the colouring technique she's going to use on Debi's hair. I had never heard of doing it this way so I can't wait to see the end result.


A group of folks from the condo go down to Barlaventos, a restaurant downtown, quite regularly, usually on cruise ship day. Today was one of those days and Sr. B and Bindi's husband had gone with them while Bindi and I were out. We joined them later.


We were seated at tables on the sidewalk and a young fellow was standing nearby, singing and playing his saxophone. Way too loudly. People were yelling to be heard above his music and above the sounds of everyone else talking so loudly. I was getting a headache, so I headed home.


Later, we went to Owen and Bindi's for supper and then played a board game that's kind of a cross between Chinese checkers, Trouble and Skip-bo. I lost the first round and won the second. I never caught the name of the game but it was a lot of fun.


It was a busy and noise-filled day. Quite overwhelming for my introverted self. I'm enjoying the peace and quiet of now being home.

Local & Foreign Artisans Market

This is the event a bunch of us went to this morning. It was held at the Bamboo Beach Restaurant from 9 to 11am.

There were lots of neat things, all handmade. Carvings, jewellery, leather change purses/keychains/bookmarks, knitted and crocheted shawls, paintings, ceramics, items to help support the food bank and probably a couple other things I can't remember.

I bought these necklace/earrings sets for myself. (Sorry for the crappy pictures. A photographer I'm not). Oh my goodness. This guy had a fantastic selection of jewellery, all handmade by himself. It was hard to decide what I liked best. The feature I really like about these is that the clasp is that silver circle and bar just above the 3 dangles. The traditional closures that require one to reach behind their necks is a PITA. Of course, it's possible to bring traditional closures to the front but, depending on how a necklace is put together, it can affect how it lies. With my bum shoulder, this kind of closure is perfect!

I also bought a small tub of peanut butter and this very cool purse.

It's crocheted and made with pop/beer can tabs. This is a well constructed bag. The crocheting is nice and tight and even. Whoever made it knows what they're doing. I bought it at the table supporting the Chicxulub food bank. For my Merida/Progreso readers, if you care to, you can save your tabs and donate them to the ladies who do this work. Email me for the contact person's details.

I overheard that this might become a regular event, occurring on the third Thursday of every month. I can't confirm this but it would be great if it did.

After shopping, we all had lunch at the Bamboo. Everyone's meals were delicious, as always. Then it was home to relax. Shopping is hard work, after all.

Lest We Forget

The Remembrance/Veteran's Day ceremony was held at the Bamboo Beach restaurant, in Chicxilub this morning and was very well attended. Both the Canadian and American anthems were sung. The Last Post and Reveille were played via a computer. John McCrea's moving poem, "In Flander's Fields", was read and the computer provided "Amazing Grace" stirringly played on the bagpipes. The restaurant, as well as the street outside, was surprisingly quiet during the 2 minutes silence.

The restaurant provded several varieties of very tasty sandwiches after the service.

Participating in Remembrance Day has always been important to me so I was very happy to find out that a service was being held down here. This was the second year it was held at The Bamboo. I'm hoping it will become a regular thing so I can honour our veterans this way every year.

I Didn't Have to Cook Today

The highlight of today was spending time with Marc from An Alaskan in Yucatan . I met him down at the bus depot this morning and we came back to the condo to hang out for a while. For lunch, we all went to a fairly new restaurant called Casa on the Malecon, located on the east end of the malecon. It's strictly a seafood place. We had planned on going there for my birthday but it was closed that night. Lucky for me because I'm not too big on seafood.

We had the usual botanas and we also each got a cup of shrimp broth that was surprisingly good. We all had fish filetes, each with a different sauce. All were tasty but one of them wasn't fully cooked on the inside. The prices seemed reasonable enough for this area.

The restaurant appears to be an older home that's been converted. There were tables on the patio as well as on the grass, which is where we chose to sit. Lots of trees on the lawn gave it a park-like feel, yet the Gulf vista let you know that you were still at the beach. It was a unique and pleasant experience.

Marc is a wealth of information and we learned about different plants and some history about the area. Sadly for us, he had business in Merida and, all too soon, had to leave.

The Bamboo Beach in Chicxulub hosted a Welcome Back, Snowbirds supper tonight so a whole gaggle of us from the complex went. The first drink, as well as tacos, was on the house. The tacos were very tasty and the service was very good. There was a live amateur band that played music from our era. In English, too. The supper wasn't very well attended, though. I'm not sure if it wasn't very well advertised or if there were conflicting events that kept expats away. It's unfortunate for the folks who missed out because it was an enjoyable evening.

I think we have a rogue mosquito in the condo. I've had hardly any bites since we got to Mexico but I've sprouted several over the past 2 or 3 days. Poor Senor B has one of those huge bites that I usually get. While I feel bad for him, I'm glad it's not me this time.

Another norte has blown in but it's not as wildly windy as it sometimes is. The cooling breezes are very welcome.