on the subject of food...

Since today is thanksgiving, I thought that food might be an appropriate topic.First of all, I'd like to clear up the fact that everyone seems to think we are eating mexican food. I can understand why one might think this, seeings how we are living in Mexico and all, but actually we live in the yucatan. Yucatacans do not consider themselves mexican or even part of mexico. They are Mayan and their food is very different. Almost every restaurant or little storefront cocina serves mayan food.They all have the same menu...panuchos, enchilada suissa (this is a chicken enchilada with a green sauce topped with swiss cheese), salbutes (sp?) which is sort of like an enchilada but is stuffed with boiled egg and has a sauce made out of pumpkin seeds.mmmmm.. The only exceptions are a couple of really bad ( so I'm told ) chinese food places and a couple of pizza joints ( don't order the lasagna...it resembles a batch of bad dog food and came in a disposable foil pan). Keep in mind there are many places here, we just haven't been to them.We went to a couple of good Argentine places......steak lovers rejoice! ( I had a nice salad). All in all, vegetables are sorely lacking. This is reflected by a number of bow legged people...my gramas people suffered from rickets...lack of vegetables. They do have something called Chaya though. Its a green leafy plant, bush actually, that is used like spinach and evidently has many health benefits though I can't actually tell you specifically what they are but hey, its dark green and leafy. They even have juice bars where they mix up fruity drinks with chaya in a blender. Whole familys slug down pitchers of it. I also can't find a sweet potatoe but can easily buy (for a price!) a Washington state apple. Oranges can be purchased for next to nothing. I was visiting a friend the other day when a truck slowly rolled by. The driver was shouting ( I have found out this is a regular occurance for people announcing the sale of anything from propane to water) oranges 40 for 20 pesos ( the peso is around 11-12 to the dollar right now) . "Wanna go halves?" my friend asked. She grabbed her coin purse and we ran to catch him. We stood at the back of the truck with her large plastic washtub while he loaded us up with green orbs. " They take long to ripen up?" I asked. "they're ripe' she informed me "that's the color they are".The next morning I pulled out my plastic juicer we had purchased the week before and whipped up two glorious, sweet glasses of unadulterated orange juice. My half will last us three days....for less than a dollar.

So far I have not found any burritos, enchiladas with red sauce, tacos or empanadas. Panuchos are everywhere, which is what i had for my thanksgiving dinner. A saucer sized corn tortilla (crispy) covered with a smear of refried black beans then topped with shredded turkey, either an avacado slice or cucumber slice,tomatoe and shredds of purple pickled onion (don't knock it till you try it!). I got 4 of these for 50 pesos. No way could I eat all that but in true thanksgiving tradition, I gorged myself and ate three with a bowl sized glass of fresh mango juice.John does not care for these and wasn't hungry at the time so later he dined on a bag of pork rinds, two coconut cookies and a couple of yogurt drinks. Oh. and a Coka Light....Coke is everywhere here...any little tiny closet sized tienda in the living room of a house in a crossroad in the middle of nowhere has coke...thats explains why the diabetes rate is so high here....

So, onion, cucumber, tomatoe and avacado are your vegies...and chaya. Chicken, fish ( we live at the beach remember) and turkey-lots of turkey-shredded. Not like slices of turkey breast. Not many potatoes and forget trying to find a good loaf of wheat bread. I made spaghetti last week-what a challenge! I felt like I was on a scavenger hunt looking for italian seasonings and the tomatoe sauce wasn't much easier. I finally found some basil and oregano and a packet of what was being sold as spaghetti seasoning but what I smelled when I opened it did not conjor any images of tuscan hillsides , gondolas or , for that matter, anything I had ever smelled before. I threw it away...

Our diets have changed considerably since moving here. Lots and lots of yogurt, granola, corn flakes (often all mixed together in a big bowl), something I never had at home-cup-o-noodles-there's some vegies! Those microscopic cubes of carrot with two peas and three kernels of corn. Sometimes a tuna sandwhich-witch?wich? my standard-torchiditos- like Cheetos but with a little kick, and John's favorite, little pastries that are made by a lovely local lady. They come in all different shapes but have the same taste-pie dough. I don't care for them. Scrambled eggs and refried black beans.....thats about it. I occasionally cook but not every day. Its hot and we just aren't that hungry.

So, my turkey panuchos today with the fresh mango juice were a real treat. Today was thanksgiving and I did that. I gave thanks for being healthy, being with my husband of thirty years, knowing my kids are OK, being warm, for the ability to eat anything at all and have a bed to rest my weary head on at night. For the opportunity to live an adventure instead of fighting for survival. For not having to eat that dog food lasagna again........

Let's talk about the birds....

Being a huge Seinfeld fan, I feel that most life situations can be related to an episode of said series. I also find that , more often than not, I am the only one to appreciate the comparisons. The last time I tried to relate this to someone, they stared at me blankly before stating " I never liked that show". I don't know how many of you out there are fans as well, but for those who are, perhaps you remember the episode where George runs over a pigeon. His date is horrified at which point he tries to explain that humans and pigeons have an agreement...they are supposed to get out of our way. He thinks the car incident is a fluke and goes to the park where he kicks a pigeon in front of a young boy and his shocked mother.

I have not seen many pigeons here, but there certainly is no shortage of avian life here. There are spoon bill herons, pink flamingos, storks, vultures, pelicans and a cast of others too numerous ( and unknown ) to mention. One thing many of them have in common is they have a very different modus oporundi. First case in point.....when driving at night, it is very, very dark out our way as there are no street lights between towns. you never know what you might come across on the road so it's important to be somewhat hypervigilant. So, you grip the wheel and lean forward (because we all know that somehow enhances your vision) looking for any forms of life that may be crossing your path. Periodically, you see a set of glowing eyes that usually belong to a dog that knows enough to retreat into the brush as you approach but from time to time this glowing set of eyes propells itself upward and heads directly at the windshield missing it seemingly by inches. This always makes us grateful for the massive amounts of raw garlic we've been eating ( its good for the heart in addition to being a fine insect repellant). These are birds that for some reason, choose to sit in the road and wait for the last possible second to move. i believe the are called nightjars. Then we have case #2....John likes to "check the perimeter" at night. He stands at various points around the house with a flashlight illuminating the night and hoping not to find anything. One night during his rounds, he called quietly for me to "check this out". I joined him on the back porch and after several "over there...to the left"s I saw a bird about two feet tall standing between the cocnut trees. I can only describe it as dorky. He had a look about him like a high school nerd who's just been busted accidently walking into the girls bathroom. He moved very stiffly a few paces to the right where he positioned himself behind the trunk of a tree. It reminded me of when I was little I thought I was invisible to monsters if I was under the sheet. I wanted to say "we know you're there you know". We waited for several moments then moved around to where the light shone on him again. After freezing for a bit he was off again wandering around the back yard. For the next several nights, the same scene played out. Then one night upon our return from the internet, we pulled into the driveway (in the dark) and who was there but our guy. We stopped the truck at the gate. he didn't shy from the headlights but actually started to approach the truck. He positioned his body in a way that looked like he was straining to see who we were and asking" is that you Bob?" ( we have since named him the bob bird). He continued to move toward the truck until he was about three feet away. As if suddenly realizing we weren't who he thought we were, he scurried off around the corner of the house and into the back yard. Case #3 is an odd little thrush. He first appeared about five days ago. We were just waking up and heard a strange tapping noise. It was this thrush pecking the window. After several pecks, he would move over just a few inches and repeat. This escalated into full fledged head banging and when that didn't achieve it's desired outcome- whatever that was- it flew up a bit and literally threw its entire body at the window. This has gone on for five days now every morning at dawn. Always at the same window, same time. I saw a robin in the back yard the other morning by John's compost pile and the thrush flew down and drove it away.

I spoke to a woman the other day and she said "there's something weird with the birds down here. We've hit so many of them with our car it's awful. We never hit any in the states". So you see, that just confirmed my thoughts. Evidently, there is no deal here. Maybe learning cultural differences and nuances doesn't just apply with the human population. Maybe there is in fact a deal in place down here that I just haven't discovered yet because I haven't learned the language.

Random musings on ritual and regalia

As many of you loyal followers know, the whittling down of our possessions and the decisions about what to bring took months. With very limited space in our "ark", what was important was analyzed from many stand points...is it something we can't get there? is it something that is expensive there? is it something essential to our day to day lives? Therein lies the crux of it....what IS essential to a life? It reminds me of the old question about if you could only take three things to a deserted island what would they be. As a child, I had a little suitcase packed with my most treasured objects that I kept under the bed ready to go at any moment. Should the house catch fire or some other possible scenario happen that would render everyone else wringing their hands about their losses, I would be smugly clutching the handle of my little plaid suitcase thinking "too bad they didn't plan ahead" (this planning ahead for worst case scenario is an entirely different topic I will perhaps one day address ...)To us, books and music are essential...artwork...a generator ( we do live in a storm belt and the power goes out)..the shoes and clothes we could have reduced even more...it's warm! and really, people tend to wear the same things over...Two small things we brought were three inch high glass bottles. One is white with a red lid, the other clear. Contained within them are remains..human remains..Let me clarify that we have not been dismembering people and "preserving" them in jars..these aren't pickled fingers or eyes. They are ashes from cremations. We were a little concerned about a thorough inspection at the border..."and what is this powder in these jars..?" The white jar is Gretchen, John's daughter, the clear one , Ray, John's 40 yr friend. John thought they might enjoy Mexico so we carefully wrapped them to keep them safe...to keep them from getting hurt..(?!) I built them a little house out in the front yard and decorated it with shells. Last Tuesday, a couple of my new friends took me to a town called Izamal. It has two claims to fame -one is that all of the buildings are painted yellow, the other that they have a virgin that the pope blessed-actually, crowned- in the 90's. She "lives "in a huge church that is completely surrounded by a very large wall (sidenote...the church and wall were constructed using the stones from the top portion of a nearby pyramid..you actually see what's left of the pyramid by looking just over the churches wall). Her actual room is beautiful..lovely paintings, chairs for those who come to pray, posts where you hang little "milagos' a sort of charm that is symbolic of an ailment ( you buy them in the gift shop. They were out of the headache ones for John so I bought a man with a missing foot...), frescoes on the walls, chandeliers. She "sits' behind locking glass doors (they keep her safe...).When there is an event or service, she slides out of her little house on a rail like a train and appears on the other side of the wall high up behind the pulpit in the chapel. It's quite fabulous really. It reminded me of a magicians trick...I feel terrible that i can't remember her name and have to keep referring to her as "the virgin"..I'm sure she would prefer to be remembered for a different accomplishment...anyway, she has a glorious crown that the pope gave her AND she has a wardrobe!! Who knew?! Icons have wardrobes? Every so often...REALLY special occasions...someone gets the honor of donating a new ensemble to her. Well, as you can imagine, these are no simple cotton tunics or shifts...no calico or gingham...these are embroidered, velvet, golden, silver, shiny, sumptuous garments...beaded, crocheted and preserved on mannequins behind glass when not in use (yet, on display).

Well, I did a lot of good works......but I didn't stay a virgin. So, I did not get a crown and my clothes are kept in a pink footlocker (it keeps out the scorpions and spiders...) My lovely home is magnificent to me

and was also constructed from simpler beginnings...

and out front sits our own version of a shrine. A simple little three sided house covered in shells. We'll add to it and build on it as time goes by. I don't think they'll be getting any outfits though.....

is this fall...?

As I sit here focusing my thoughts and feelings in preparation to launch into my weekly discourse, I am pondering how cool and grey it is here this morning and how familiar that feels. My perch is the second floor breakfast area at the hotel which is an open area (literally open- one wall is merely vegetation)overlooking the street. I am quickly reminded that I am not, in fact, in Oregon as a rusty '70 something truck drives by with the bed filled to the rim with bananas.
This is the coolest day we've seen so far. There was a storm in the night with high winds and rain that washed away the heat. As I walked to the breakfast area, it felt like an early September day where it's still warm enough for shorts and sandals but you can feel a change coming and you know summer is over. That always brought a tinge of sadness and a grim preparation for nine months of grey, cold and damp. As that feeling started to encroach on me this morning, I shook it of by reminding myself " I'm in Mexico!". I don't know what fall looks like here but the desk clerk last night was wearing a jacket! Obviously it's already chilly to him. I wonder if he was having the same feeling of hunkering down for winter. We've been here before in December around Christmas and New Years and while we were languishing in the ability to wear shorts and thongs, the locals had on jackets and gloves.
Last night we arrived at the library about fifteen minutes before the meeting and after selecting a couple of books to read it dawned on me it should be time for the meeting. I looked up to see John approaching from the meeting area with his palms opening upward in an "I don't know" motion. "There's no one here" he told me. How odd. Was it a holiday of some sort? Had they moved locations? we asked the woman behind the desk and she informed us "it's still really early" which led us into the revelation that a time change had apparently taken place. Yes, we are in fact WAY out of the loop......So this morning as I sat down to a lovely breakfast of fresh fruit and toast, I decided maybe we should get on line with MSN and take a glance at what is going on in the rest of the world. The usual horrors...murders in Mexico, people already stricken with poverty hit with some horrific natural disaster, a conservative getting elected somewhere and...wait...what's this....cheese being recalled...Costco cheese??? Didn't I just "report" on this? I ask you again-what is going on with cheese??!!! What do all these portents signal? Why am I unable to decipher the message being sent? In all of my 53 years I've never had so much involvement with cheese and now I can't seem to escape it's innundation. E coli tainted cheese at costco.....the home of Mennonite cheese.......
Speaking of food products, in an attempt to ward of the ever marauding mosquito, we have taken to eating large quantities of raw garlic. Three or four times a day, John chops up several cloves and we ingest them with various other liguids and edibles to make the intake easier. John learned the hard way that taking in too much at once can make you sick to your stomache and can burn your throat (he had to buy some Halls lozenges). The payoff is a definate decrease in bites. After the night with no windows-last Monday night- I had at least fifty bites, and that is a conservative estimate. After starting the garlic regimen, I have only been bitten two or three times. Apparently some mosquitos are really desperate. Serious addicts who will do anything for their next hit......
So, we're packin' it up and headed back to the house..the one with windows and a hot water heater and lovely tile and lots of concrete dust covering every possible surface. I'll be wearing a long sleeved shirt, John will be wearing long linen pants and we won't be stopping to buy cheese, only more garlic. Hopefully we won't hear of any recalls on that......