Settling In

Well, we made it. YAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Other than some blowing snow for a few miles on our way to the airport, the trip down was uneventful. We didn't fly from our home airport. We went from the one 6 hours down the road. The savings was substantial, more than paying our gas and hotel room there.

Instead of an early morning flight, we flew at 1:00pm. It was so nice to be able to get a decent night's sleep instead of being up at 3 or 4am. We landed in Merida shortly after 10pm, about 15 minutes ahead of schedule and made it to the condo about 11:45pm. I'm a night owl, so this schedule suited me just fine. Sr B, on the other hand, didn't fare so well. His morning person self was exhausted.

We haven't taken a cab from the airport since 2010 so we were shocked at the price increase. It used to be 500 pesos but now it's 800. We about dropped a square one.

My still meager Spanish got us to the condo just fine. I apologized to the cab driver for my bad Spanish but he said I spoke it well, that he had no problem understanding me. Little does he know that I practiced saying the instructions to our place...lol.

We share our condo when we're away and we always have to play Scavenger Hunt when we get here. Our guests move things around so it's an adventure trying to find things. The garbage can and toilet brush were missing from the bathroom. I didn't find them until the next afternoon, wrapped up in a black plastic bag and on a shelf in the laundry room. We're still trying to figure out why.

Thursday was spent unpacking our suitcases, getting groceries, saying hello to old friends and meeting new ones...generally getting settled in and relaxing from the previous day.

Today was spent cleaning and doing a few maintenance items. I discovered that the washing machine won't allow cold water in. Hot water isn't a problem, cold water is. It's not the pipe or the hose. We were hoping it would be as simple as cleaning the calcium out of the screen but Sr B thinks it's the machine itself. Darn it!

Sr B installed some LED strip lighting above the stove. It's such a dark area, especially in the evening, and this made a HUGE difference.

There's a young man who comes through the area with breads and pastries on his tricicleta. I went down and picked up 4 pastries for 20 pesos. We don't buy a lot of this sort of thing so I have no idea if I paid too much. No matter. It's only an occasional indulgence. We had a couple after supper and they were nice and fresh and delicious. We're in danger of this becoming a regular indulgence.

So...not too much going on but I didn't want to wait too long to touch base and end up writing a novel.

Progreso, Here We Come!

We'll arrive late in the evening of March 6th. Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy!!!

(Photo pinched from Google)

WAAAHHH!!!

It's time to go home. Our flight is at 9am tomorrow so we'll be leaving here by 6am. I know I've said this before, but it bears repeating...it should be illegal to have to be up that early.

I can't believe how fast the time has gone. An old cliche, I know, but it's true.

Today has been filled with packing and deciding what to leave behind so we don't have to pack it along next trip. Can you believe we're going home with far less than we came down with? We could probably fit everything into one suitcase. I had to make a quick trip uptown to pick up a bottle of Xtabentun to take home. Laundry and final housecleaning had to be done, but didn't because of the never ending parade of well wishers.

We had an impromptu supper, al fresco, at neighbour Liz's. Neighbours Owen and Bindi joined us. Food was shared, drinks enjoyed, hugs freely given. We've been so blessed to have been given the neighbours that we have.

"Don't worry about washing your bedding, I'll take care of that."

"Towels need to be done, as well? I'll do those, too."

"We'll wash your floors and take care of XYZ."

I hate that they're taking care of my last minute things but if I had tried to skip out of the get together, they would have grabbed me and hauled me back outside. So I thanked them as graciously as I could and enjoyed our last night together.

According to our daughter, the temperature at home is -5,000,000.

WAAAHHH!!!

A-Shopping We Will Go

Neighbour D was incredulous when I told her, last week, that I'd never been to the cruise ship markets so we made plans to go this morning. D has mad language skills and became fluent in Spanish in an amazingly short time so she's a good person to have around when dealing with situations requiring more than basic Spanish. She's able to converse with the vendors to let them know we're not cruisers so "please don't charge us tourist prices." I could say it but her fluency makes her sound more believable than if I tried to tell them.

There are two markets set up for the cruisers. One is set up just outside the Autoprogreso station. I don't know where the other one is but it seemed as though it was only a couple of blocks from the other one. We walked to it and I blindly followed D.

My goodness! What a selection of goodies! Some of it is the same old, same old but most of the tables had similar, but different, products. Jewellery, for instance. One had shells, one had beads, one had silver. Same with pottery, clothing, knick knacks. Same products but with many variations.

I bought 3 wooden carvings. These two are on the long wall that form the living room and kitchen.

The vendor told me what each of them represented. One is the god of love but I can't remember which one and I forget what god the other carving is of.

This guy got lots of attention as I walked around the market with him. Many other carving vendors wanted to look at him and asked what I paid for him. Check out his snake head foot. What you can't see is that he's carved on both sides. He's probably meant to be hung in a window or from the ceiling. He lives on a small, high space between the washroom and our bedroom.

He replaces this lovely painting that I received from Theresa . I've put it in the kitchen and it helps to fill another large space though I still need something else. It's a pretty big area, as you can see.

I also bought some small gifts for the grandkids.

We didn't get to all the stalls. D's daughter is visiting and came along, too. Between what we all bought, we were fairly loaded down. We travelled like the locals and hauled our treasures home on the bus.

I'm looking forward to going back on our next trip down.

Grey Cup Sunday

Today was a big day in the world of Canadian football. The Grey Cup is to the CFL what the Stanley Cup is to the NHL. (*snarky comment...*Remember them? Spoiled brats, all of them. Oops, did I type that out loud?)

We started a tradition the first November we were here by inviting one of our neighbours over to watch it. We're one of only a few in the complex with Canadian TV. This year, we decided to invite a bunch of our neighbours in. I asked everyone to bring a botana and we would also order pizza. Well. Everyone brought more than one goodie so we didn't need to get pizza, after all.

I was cheering for Calgary but, sadly, they lost. I don't really understand football but even I could see that they got outplayed by Toronto. So, congrats to the Argos on a job well done.

We managed to cram 15 people into our little place along with all the food. The living room was stuffed but it was so much fun. It's like being part of a big family. Those who love football were in front of the TV and those who didn't broke off to a little side group and chatted. Lots of laughter seemed to be the order of the day and everyone enjoyed the get together.

We plan on making this an annual event.

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.

When it Rains

Today was cool with lots of drizzly rain this morning. We just hung out at the condo and I took advantage of the cooler weather to do a deep clean on the laundry room.

While it hasn't been overly hot while we've been here, it wasn't a job I wanted to tackle until it was significantly cooler. I don't particularly enjoy getting hot and sweaty.

We use the laundry room for storage and have one of those heavy duty plastic clip-together shelves that don't require any tools to assemble. Everything got pulled off the shelf, wiped down, sorted and re-organized. I discovered I need a couple of bins and hooks to tidy things up even more.

On the bottom shelf, we have a single blow up mattress that we brought down and stored rolled up. When I moved it, a bunch of little dark bits fell out. It looked like mouse poop. I took the mattress outside and unrolled it, unsure of what I might find. Nothing. Nada. I wonder if the little bits were bug eggs.

I also did a deep sweep and mop of the floors and a load of laundry. I spent most of the afternoon working on my Spanish lessons that I brought with me and doing some web surfing.

It's still chilly. We get the welcomed Gulf breezes blow through our condo so it always stays nice and cool even on the hottest days. But, on days like today, the breeze isn't so welcome. Tonight I'm sitting here with sweats and a fleecy jacket on. I could close the windows but that makes it too stuffy in here.

So that was my day. Nothing too exciting but it sure feels good to have that job done.