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.

Time with Friends

Blech!

Monday is our last day here so today was spent packing up our personal items, start packing my suitcase, laundry, sorting out the foodstuff...what stays and what goes to the food bank.

I also spent some time at neighbour Deb's helping her set up her own blog. I'm not very tech savvy so, while it wasn't quite a case of the blind leading the blind, it was definitely a case of me leading a blind person without wearing my own glasses. I set mine up ages ago so there were a few things I'd forgotten how to do. We finally got things figured out so she'll be blogging soon. I'll give her a proper shout out in a future post.

Neighbours Liz and Marty had us over for a farewell supper. Roast beef, mashed potatoes, corn on the cob and salad. Cheesecake for dessert.Yummm!!!

After supper we chatted and listened to some of Liz and Marty's favourite comedians on You Tube. It was hilarious. We laughed until we cried. Of course, we'd had plenty to drink and funny always seems so much funnier when one's state of sobriety is in question.

We're going to miss them when we go back home.

A Dinner Date With Friends

This afternoon Sr B and I headed into Merida for supper at fellow blogger Theresa's . She had also invited the lovely Joanna, Joanna's sister and their respective husbands. The elusive Husband was also in attendance. The amiable Mr. Dog wandered around, checking up on everyone and enjoying the occasional ear scratch.

We started the evening with Hemingway margaritas. At least that's what I think they were called. They're made with grapefruit juice instead of whatever it is that they're usually made with. I'm afraid I'm not a margarita aficionado so I can't really offer up any more info other than that they were delicious.

Theresa cooked a typical Cuban meal that was yummy, yummy, yummy! We started with tapas of boiled baby potatoes with two sauces, one tomato and one creamy. Salad was avocados and pineapple. Pork with garlic onions, black beans and rice (or perhaps it was couscous?), pickled beans and sugary plantains comprised the main meal. My previous experiences with plantains have left me underwhelmed but Theresa's were very tasty. Dessert was flan which, like the plantains, previous experiences haven't been that great, but Theresa's was fantastic. That gal can cook! Husband is a lucky man.

It was such a great evening. Good conversation flowed with the wine. There was plenty of Spanish spoken which I really enjoyed. My listening skills are much better than my speaking skills. Even though I wasn't really able to converse, I understood much of what was said.

We all agreed we'd have to get together again, taking turns hosting. I'm going to have to dig out my best recipes. Theresa has set the bar pretty high.

Flip Flops and Fun

This morning we went uptown to do some poking around in stores, just to see what different ones had to offer. Window shopping. One thing I noticed is that Mexicans sure do seem to love their flip flops. My goodness. It seemed as if every other store was selling them. And the selection is incredible. Everything from the same old same old to some all tarted up with rhinestones. Regular flats to heels and every colour you can imagine.

We wandered around for about an hour but didn't buy anything, though I did see a beautiful quartz domino set that I might pick up another time.

A quick stop at the grocery store for a few things, plus some window shopping, and then it was back to the condo where we went for a quick dip in the pool before lunch.

D and V had organized a games night for tonight. Supper was potluck botanas under the palapa by the pool. The plan had been to play games there, too, but it was too breezy so we all went back up to D and V's place where Senor B and I learned how to play a dominoes game called Mexican Train. I tied for first place. Talk about beginner's luck. We would have played a tie breaker round but everyone was tired so J and I took the tie and we all called it a night.

Theresa Comes to Visit

Today, Theresa from What do I do All Day? came to visit me. I met her at the bus depot and we walked the 3 or 4 blocks over to St Bonnet's for brunch. At her recommendation, I tried eggs with machaca, which she said was similar to beef jerky but better. She was right. It was very tasty. So now when I see this ingredient in the store, I'll know what to do with it.

After brunch we stopped at Parasina's, a fabric store, where I bought some heavyweight thread I needed. Theresa is a very proficient Spanish speaker so I was glad to have her with me. A transaction that would have taken me quite a while to do with my very limited Spanish was accomplished in mere minutes.

We went back to the condo for more visiting. She regaled Senor B and I with tales of her experiences and mishaps between the Spanish she knows and the Spanish that's spoken in Yucatan. Not all words are created equally and some words that seem harmless will have a very different (and occasionally vulgar) meaning the way it's used here.

Theresa does a lot of cooking and was impressed by a Mexican cooking magazine I had picked up at a drugstore in Canada and brought down with me. She gave me some helpful pointers about some ingredients. I was going to leave the magazine here but I think I'll take it back and study it some more.

Originally, Theresa's husband was going to come out to Progreso, too, but he was a little under the weather and couldn't make the trip. Hopefully he gets to feeling better soon and that we'll have the opportunity to meet him in the near future.

Theresa and her husband live here year round and she found today to be quite pleasant, but Senor B and I felt like melting so, after she left, we went down to the pool for a dip and some visiting.

Supper was leftover soup from last night which I had made using a recipe in the cooking magazine. It was delicious last night and even more so tonight. Soup is one of those things that tastes better the next day.