Everything changes......

Good morning! It's Dec. 30th..I'm sitting at the hotel just having finished a plate of fresh papaya and watermelon, toast and a cup of coffee ( yes, another coffee relapse...). I've been pondering a topic for today and frankly, haven't come up with much. I was going to send a picture of Lucky in his elf hat but alas, I didnt download my latest pictures to the computer...Thought Id share this blue beauty with you...the beach has been chock full of shells lately and the waters warm but keep your eyes peeled for these things- they sting, even when dead im told. As an adult, I tend to occasionally take peoples word for things instead of having to find out on my own they were right.....One day I counted 8 of these while on a beach walk.
So, now that we are back at home, there is a lot less beach walking. Its SO far to the beach ( across the road......) as opposed to stepping out the door at the house we were at. I believe i posted a couple pics of said house, here's a few more...

If you look real close, you can just make out the "patients" legs in her bed....and that TV is a loaner from the other neighbors (the flat screen was at the shop..). This TV now resides in our living room where we watch videos on it..well, we were..the DVD player stopped working yesterday...The owners will be moving dowm permenantly in February....

The patio and beach are on the other side of these doors...

So, this house has it all..a generator that comes on automatically when the power goes out, a huge pool, a stove, oven, microwave, ice maker in the fridge...it also has one thing after another that needs to get fixed...a house full of "things " is a houseful of problems......We have very little at our place and thats perfect. There is very little to go wrong. The poor woman is forever in the process of sending something out to be fixed or having someone come out...$$$$$$$. I guess I'd have to say our biggest concern is do we have water today? Some days its not on....every now and then, the power goes out for no reason...well, there's not much in the freezer so it doesn't really matter.....

The new year is just around the corner, a fresh start, a new beginning, another revolution of the planet. On new years eve we will be in Santa Clara guietly ringing in the next 365 days. We will hang out at two different houses, eating, snacking...midnight is so late for us! On the 5th we will be back in Merida where I will venture out with a friend into the stereets where thousands will throng to a huge musical event celebrating 400 and some years since the cities birth. Another late night...We were invited to some peoples home on Christmas Eve to eat and celebrate. We found out ahead of time folks here do that around 11:30- PM!!! wrapping things up around 3:00..ohhh, we had to decline that one though we were touched to be included in "family" festivities.

Well, thats it. The last blog of the year is pretty low key. Low key is good. There is a certain ebb and flow to our days here...some require more running around, some have a walk on the beach, some have rain ( so we dont need to water..) some have a nap....most are filled with a quiet peace. The locals in Santa Clara say its " muy tranquilo"..very tranquil. What more could we ask for? Well, more coconut flan would be good........Happy New Year!

Yuletide Greetings.....

Sleigh bells ringing? Let it snow, let it snow? White christmas.?....grama got run over by a reindeer? No wonder it doesnt feel like christmas to me- the music doesn't fit! I'm sure there must be some sort of palm tree song or coconuts roasting in a barbeque pit song or something...i just haven't found them...
I awoke to a clear, blue sky with a light breeze blowing and pink flamingos grazing in the lagoon ( none of them were wearing santa hats...). Barefoot, in my shorts, opened the front door and said to the dog " Lucky, I don't think we're in Portland anymore...". he's never been there so he didn't get it. He just looked at me and wagged his tail...Last year was our first christmas away from our family and friends. it was a little tough. the mother of one of the guys who worked for us made us scarves and i cried. These people live in a stone house with dirt floors and gave us gifts. This year, i had a list of 18 people that i made things for. In some cases it was just a card ( which I made..finding a box of cards proved difficult), like for the nice guy at the gas station or the young family at the lavenderia (laundry) or the man who delivers our water. The point is, we've made friends and acquaintances here. In a year, we've built a community for ourselves.
One of these people is our neighbor. Some of you know we've been taking care of a woman who had hip surgery. While we have returned to our house ( after a 30 day stay at hers ), our duties continue. She can't drive for 3 months so we have to do her shopping for her and yesterday we needed to pick up her flat screen TV that had been repaired. To do this, she had us drive her truck... It is a grand behemoth of a thing ( behemoth:"something of oppressive or monstrous size or power"). Navigating the streets of Merida, while NOTHING compared to the near death experience of commuting in India, is a wild ride and navigating through it in a land yacht was indeed exhilerating. I am happy to report the truck, our bodies and the flat screen all made it home safe and sound in addition to the numerous bags of food we brought back from Wal-Mart. Speaking of which- Wal Mart- 2 days before Christmas...and we were there! OMG! I thought my head would explode. With a throbbing headache and a stomache that was screaming " get to the bathroom NOW!!" we attempted to fulfill our 'patients" food requirements. Ruffles potatoe chips, Campbells tomato soup, Heinz catsup...where are we? i dont know where these items are..i don't buy them. We also had to do our own shopping so with two carts and mobs of people, we tried to maneuver around the masses while blaring Regaeton music pulsated through us. Even louder announcements spewed out through an intercom system which was turned up to the max so they could be heard over the music.....whew...gave me PTSD just telling you about it......
On the way in, i drove. One of Johns customary habits while driving is heavy and regular use of the windshield squirters. Its very important to him that he have maximum visibility. I, on the other hand, am annoyed by this. I can see fine UNTIL the squirters shoot water all over the windshield turning it into a brackish mess as you wait for it to clear, silently praying there isn't a bicyclist, pedestrian or village dog who has picked that particular moment to cross our path.. We discussed this difference as we drove after John reached over to apply the washers. ' No! I'm driving and i say no to the squirting. I can see fine." " But theres dirt on the windshield". I pondered this..I can see just fine. I look through the dirt. He focuses on the dirt and therefor can't really see the road ahead. This is very telling about our general outlooks on life. Even though things can be a bit messy, cloudy, murky, dark, dusty, blurry ( interject adjective of choice) sometimes, I can see it as temporary. The path ahead is there i just need to stay on it. If i focused on the dirt, I would miss the trees, the clouds, the roadkill....I ignore the dirt and see what is out there, beyond it. Others ( John in this case) only sees the dirt. The dirt obscures everything else and only when its removed can he take in what lies beyond.
With a new year rapidly approaching, I am going to keep this in mind when it comes to people. I am going to focus on what lies beyond the dirt. We all have habits that are less than endearing. Maybe its a belief i disagree with or a value that isn't mine. I want to try to look beyond that into a persons heart. We all have baggage and we are all, whether we like it or not, creatures of our upbringing. We can change and get rid of a lot of that if thats what we want, but traces of it remain. Does that make us bad? Evil? Rotten to the core? It makes us human.
In my minds eye, i am traveling down the road into 2012 where endless possibilities await. No squirters on, listening to " coconuts roasting on an open fire....flamingos nipping at your nose...." Happy Holidays everyone

hello again..

This is going to be brief because i already hear the dog barking upstairs....

We are at the hotel ( I think there are only 2 other occupied rooms..) and John and the dog are up by the kitchen. Dorismar, the young lady who makes breakfast then helps clean rooms, really likes Lucky and vice versa. She feeds him sandia- watermelon- so she is his pal for life.

Things are pretty much the same this week. we are still at the home for the infirm...this occasionally includes my husband. He took a tumble on the scooter the other afternoon. Luckily he only scraped his leg, no broken bones. Wouldn't that have been a good time -taking care of TWO incapacitated people....later he rode the bicycle to the house and almost crashed into the bushes on the return trip. Our "patient" suggested maybe cataracs were causing problems with his night vision. Well, we won't rule that out but it was daylight when he laid the scooter down......

So, more church people brought soup, I've had more conversations about religion with the lady from Texas- oh- we also had a conversation about addicts/alcoholics and how they should set up a center on say...Alcatraz. people would be locked up and there would be a facility for folks who want help and one for those who dont. There would be a time limit and if the ones who didnt want to quit still kept it up, they'd be euthanised- " that way they dont have to suffer anymore"....bless her heart....

The doctor who did the bone graft on the hip has been out twice now. keep in mind, this means a 3 hour roundtrip drive to check on a patient...without billing her...because he is genuinely concerned about how his patient is doing...gotta love this system!!! The government paid for his education too....Speaking of health care, a Canadian couple who spends part time in santa Clara recently went into merida to get their insurance. They were only in the office about an hour or two and had insurance-poof! Free. Just like that. We are going to get on board with that as soon as we possibly can. The 'patient" said " well, the quality of those government hospitals isn't like at home. You might be in a bed in a dormitory where the family has to sleep on the floor". As opposed to the plan I'm on now where John would be my attending physician/nurse...well, he does have extensive experience with anesthesia....The Texas lady served as doctor to Johns scrapes by dousing them with something called "balsam and thyme linament". This has some amazing healing properties but burns like napalm when applied. She didn't mention this part to him before she put it on...

We have about two more weeks on our assignment...its nice for John and the dog. They get in daily beach walks that are good for the soul. Lucky is the cleanest dog in the yucatan as he gets a bath after each walk...about 3-4 a week...I'll be glad to get back to my cozy little place. i very much prefer it to the huge, cold, stone and concrete edifice we are in now. I like color and textiles, music and walls with art and photos on the fridge. I may not require much, but i like to feel alive.

So as the holidays approach,the only sign of it at our house are some trees the lady from texas gave me to stick to my windows. i think of "White Christmas" (the movie) - when they open the doors at the end and everything is covered in snow and a happy ending is had by all....I cant get in the mood under the shade of cocnut trees or while wearing flip flops. We will be going to Portland mid January. The decorations will all be down by then and the the stores will have moved on to the Valentines Day displays but I'll be eating turkey dinner with my kids and spending time with friends. Thats when my holiday will begin.......

Here I am!

OK...lets see...where to begin...first of all, I didn't quite get the order of the pictures down ( that backward thinking thing..) Anyway- I believe i told you all that we would be staying at our neighbors ( across the road and down a bit) house to take care of her after her surgery. She had a hip replacement/ bone graft. Four days before this she fell and broke her other knee cap..if this surgery doesnt take, she will be in a wheel chair in two yeeras with no options. Its very important she heels (!!! hahahaha...) HEALS correctly. ( wouldnt we all be in trouble if we had to heel correctly!!)But I digress....we have been there for 2 weeks on Sunday. We are giving her 1 month so we are halfway there. I have been rather busy changing sheets, emptying bedpans etc and frankly too tired to blog. She has another woman come stay on Thur so we can get into Merida to our mtg so this is our reprieve. BIG thank you to the neighbors without whom i don't know how Id be doing right now. The woman, Carol, is so helpful and kind. She is a southern baptist Republican from Texas amd i have really come to appreciate her...lifes funny huh?..this first pic is a photo of their house. They are in the process of getting thier old palapas roof torn off and a new one put on. They are only here occasionally but plan on retiring here full time. they have lived all over the world. We are going to get some of the old wood to build a little shady roof over our pool and a small front porch. We recently had a two day major wind storm. As it was dying down, John said to me one morning " come check this out". He took me out between the house we are in and the neighbors and he pointed up. This bird was hunkered down riding out the storm in the relative calm of the coconut tree. he apperaed wary but held his ground, well, tree. I got out the bird book but couldnt find it. Birders-if you could find out what it is, let me know. It was the size of a seagull with a large blue beak. The next day, it was gone.

This is a pic of the bedroom we are staying in but its a poor shot. Out the window , over a low sea wall you can see the ocean. Well, YOU can't see it, thats why Im telling you...thats what we wake up too. She has a person come, marseille (who has worked for us on many occasions)EVERY DAY! He cleans the house ( the clean house...) and takes care of the pool and yard....the floors are like glass in here.

Here is a picture of the outside of the house from the beach side. I'm a few feet from the edge of the water where Im taking this from. When we had that big wind, the water came about 3 ft from the wall. Would NOT want to be there in a hurricane. I find there are many reasons to be glad we live across the street from the beach. Sand being another.

One of the last times I was visiting Marcie before her surgery, she took me to her front yard and showed me a tiny little surprise- a hummingbird nest in one of her bougainvilla. It contained two gumdrop sized eggs. We were both amazed that a lizard or snake had not eaten them and wondered if the nest had been abandoned. The other day, Marseille came in the house and said something about taking a picture. Its sometimes difficult for me to understand all of what hes saying so i just got my camera and followed him out. He took me to the same little bush but this time the nest was occupied by mom and one baby. The poor little thing was scared to death but didnt budge. I quickly took her picture and left her alone only to hear the roar of the lawn mower as he started cutting the grass ( Marcies ex-husband was adamant about having a lawn " I didnt move all the way down here to stare at the sand". Really? Because you built your house right on the beach).

I guess it doesn't matter if our safe haven is the crook of a coconut tree, a shot glass sized nest in a bougainvilla, an enormous house on the beach or a little bungalow, sometimes we just hunker down and wait for things to pass. Life goes on with or without a roof, when we lose an egg, when the storm winds blow and when the bedpans are full. The only constant is change. So if things aren't going well for you today, just hang on, it'll pass. If things are going great for you today, savor it, it won't be this good forever. But then that will pass too...and on and on and on until the really big change comes at the end of our "movie". The story of our life. Here's to hoping yours has some interesting twists and turns to spice it up.

Lucky dog and other fearless creatures

No picture today and , again I need to apologize for missing a week. Sometimes i feel i have nothing to say and don't want to just ramble. I don't know why not, i do it so often!
I've been wanting a bicycle but it hasn't been in the budget. Living is cheap here but we really have to watch what we spend in order to make it through the month. Good things come to those who wait though right? Well, sometimes ( sometimes they just miss out all together...). I was given a fabulous beach cruiser bike in almost new condition! John lowered the seat to fit my munchkin like legs and i was in business. He bought me a basket ( around $4.00) and I was off and running. Speaking of running, Lucky LOVES to go with me. He looks like a little trotter running alongside with his tongue flapping merrily in the breeze. He is not too street savvy so i was concerned about his response when a car approached but hes such a smart boy- i snapped my fingers to the right of the bike and he cruised right into position. Each day we have ridden a bit further. today we went to the other end of the village and back stopping at the beach where i discovered to my dismay there isn't sand but mud. i don't know what is going on in the gulf but it all landed here. he sunk up to his chest at one point but was undettered from bird chasing. Of course he had to have a bath when we got home after which I of course had to have a bath...
We were hanging out after. i on the stool at the breakfast bar, he laying by the door, then he decided he wanted out. I watched him stand with his nose pressed to the screen for a minute then he pushed..tentatively. Stopped. Pushed again then sort of bumped it with his nose. it opened!. he was surprised and unsure of his next move. he sat there a minute then pushed it again to see if he'd get the same result. it would open a few inches then come back to its original position ( there is no spring). Now standing, he carefully bumped it a third time and stuck his nose in it. The door hit it gently upon its return. He calculated this didn't hurt and there didn't appear to be a great risk. I could see him pondering for a moment then...bump, push, out! Now, i could have at any point just gotten up and opened the door for him saying "here, let me help you" but he wouldn't have learned a valuable lesson- he is capable of doing it himself. It made me think about how many people are enabled by people who are trying to be helpful but are really hindering peoples growth. I feel this is a universal idea whether its a parent doing for a child what they could do for themselves, people who are learning how to live on their own, entire countries of people who have become dependant upon aid ( I've recently been reading about what a crock most aid is...). It's like that old saying ( and i'm paraphrasing ) about give a man a fish and he eats for a day, teach a man to fish and he'll never go hungry ( well, as long as there are still fish to be caught!). Just like Lucky bumped his nose, people need to learn they can over come a little bump on the road to learning something. the other thing I saw was that he overcame his fear. It was scary to push that door open and walk out. He wasn't sure what would happen once he got past the point he was familiar with. it was an unknown but he took the risk and reaped the reward- he can now let himself out. He has more freedom. So many of us get stuck, held immobilized by the fear of " but what if...?"
Later, we are going to ride up to the manglar and see if we can catch a glimpse of one of the local crocodiles basking on his sunny little knoll. " but what if he comes after you?"...what if he does...what if he chases us down the road?! What if he's not there at all? We won't know if we don't go look. I encourage you all to push those doors open and walk out- even if you get a little bump on the nose.

drive from Santa Clara to Dzidzantun

OK actually I lied...this isnt the road to Dzidzantun, this is passed there in Cansahcab, the next town.

This was in Dzidzantun. I snapped this as we were getting gas

This guy is sooo typical. Rubber boots, maybe a rifle slung across his shoulders and a load of sticks on the back of his bike. This was on the road from SC to Dzidzantun.

This beautiful shot is the santa Clara basurero- dump. Where we first saw our dog. As a pup, his litter was dropped off here to fight the vultures for scraps.

so there is a whole other blog- 2 this week. the other one is SC pictures...till next time, thanks for taking this journey with me.

Santa Clara

I try to be a woman of my word so, as promised, i am posting a few pictures of our village. I took several photos but can only post 5 at a time so, here is a tiny sampling. Guess i'll just have to show you a few more from time to time.
So- as we were leaving our house today to come into Merida, I was poised to shoot. First, as you approach the village ( we live on the outer edge..as if the village isn't remote enough, we live outside of it) from the west, I don't know if you can make it out or not but there is a chapel. One wall is open- always. You look in and see the pews, the virgin, you know, churchy stuff. Its the structure with the red roof in front of the red and white cell phone tower. you also see our trusty Ford Ranger that has been and continues to be one of the best vehicles I've ever owned. Just passed that yellow sign, you turn right to head into Dzidzantun. If you continued forward, you would go to Dzilam de Bravo and the end of the road.
A left hand turn at the church, and you pass this cute little place. It, like most of the places in Santa Clara, is a vacation home. People come down for Semana Santa (2 weeks in April- like their spring break) and the entire month of August.

Just passed the little green house is the beach. Lots of fisherman come in and out of this spot. Some enterprising person installed a beer store just to the left of this concrete building. And to the right of these boats, is Quincy's house. He and his wife have been working on their mega structure for 3 years- for the two of them. It is enormous. She is a head hunter and works out of her home online. They are...how shall i say it...know to tip a few. a few buckets full!

Oh look! Its my navigator on this tour...we are3 driving along the beach. this cute little house on the left was built by a gringo realtor and was sold to gringos. it was one of the first to bring in the big bucks which sort of set a new precident (sp?) for selling prices here.

Oh I DID include a picture of the mega structure....this really does not display the grandeur of this place. It towers over everything else around. Well, except for another home to the left of ours on the beach. it was the first giant gringo house built in the village. I will be staying in it, as a matter of fact, for a month as the woman who lives there is having hip surgery and will need help. She's a nice woman. Lives in the big house alone.....

Well, I must say, these pictures really don't show you a darn thing. im going to have to do a series of these. I am in fact going to post a drive to Dzidzantun right after this...a bonus post! The snowbirds are starting their migration. Carol and AJ from Texas via Dubai, Singapore and points unknown, will be down in 2 weeks, Peggy and Tom from Ontario and Newfounland will be down in 3 weeks, Rosealia and Wayne will be down next week from Woodstock, NY just to name a few. Its so odd, when they all left in May I thought Id get bored or lonely I find that i greatly enjoy my solitude. Our routine of playing gin, yard work, chasing the dog around the yard, sweeping sand out of the house, tending to the pool, reading and taking siesta pretty much fills our time. Now that we've been here over a year, i have reference points-when the flamingos come and go, when the window birds start banging on the glass and when they go, when the leaves fall off one bush in the front and when the die hards remain behind as the rest flee. We have come to the conclusion that those of us who have chosen to move down here are all a bit....odd? different? weird? eccentric? offbeat? dropouts?alcoholics? crazy?anti-establishment? all of the above? but those of us who stay here for the duration, through the heat of a Mexican summer, the crowds that swarm the beach in August, the hurricane season...are we even crazier? maybe...maybe crazy like a fox ( a drunken, one eyed, addled, lunatic fox!!)

horrific stench and coconut flan

No pictures today...i was thinking that I have never actually shown you any pictures of Santa Clara itself so my goal is to do that Thursday when I post the new blog. Since I didnt post one last Thur., that makes this the new old blog i guess....yes, i'm in a weird space today. Yesterday was dark, dreary, very windy and rainy. Today has been more of the same minus the wind. It was actually cool enough for me to put on socks around the house.
Last week we paid some guys to come cut down all the coconuts. There were huge clusters of them in some of the trees that turned watering and yardwork into some kind of adrenaline junkie extreme sport....(commentator comes on speaking in hushed tone)..."she's going for the philadendron under the tall palm....OH! Thats gotta hurt..oh..is she Ok? Is she moving? There's a dog licking her face ..the paramedics have arrived but they are evidently having a hard time moving the dog. He seems to think it's some sort of game...". Anyway, we had them cut down. When there was a threat of Rina arriving in our neighborhood, we patted ourselves on the back for the foresight to remove potential missiles from our parimeter but for lack of hurricane force winds, they remain laying in the front yard in a heap...or pile...mound? stack? we thought we had a guy coming to buy them but he never showed up. I even pulled some out into the drive with a sign "se vende coco's"on Sunday for the weekenders...no luck.
Late this morning after breakfast and fiddling about, we called our friend Merritt who lives down the road in Dzilam de Bravo ( FYI- the pirate Jean LaFitte is actually buried there). He has been ill- Merritt, not Jean- and was finally up for visitors. I wont go into his afflictions but i will tell you is he was recently hospitalized for 10 days, had a major operation that took 6 hours, ICU for two days and the bill was $25,000.00 What do you think that would have run in the states!! He has international ins. so most of it will be covered. Dzilam de Bravo is about 10 miles down the coast. it is literally the end of the road. Beyond it is a wildlife refuge (one of the places the flamingos go for the winter...not much of a migration!)As we approached Dzilam the stench was overpowering." What is that?!" we both scrinched up our faces and rolled up the windows as fast as we could. It smelled like everyones sewage was in some large open community pool. I think what it actually was is a lot of rotting seaweed. the wind has been blowing in hard from the north which means everything in the gulf has been 'flushed' south to this town. While we were there, we also visited a friend named Linda whose house is awash with the beautiful things she has painted all over her walls and the fabulous tile mosaics she has created outside. She is originally from canada and has lived here for over 15 years. She has no car and lives on $250.00 a month. She takes in lots of stray cats and dogs so its a real menagerie. I brought her some books and she made tea and broke out a treasured box of cookies from Wal-Mart. She asked us if we had remembered to turn our clocks back (daylight savings comes early here). " oh! thats right! Folks at the meeting Thur. told us but we forgot." we promptly switched our timepieces... After we drank, ate and caught up on all the latest, we headed for home, thankful to leave the smell of Dzilam behind us. On the way we passed flocks of egrets hanging out with flamingos. A heron or two, drove passed 'mino de oro' an abandoned salt hacienda. as we approached the edge of santa Clara, we saw the "cocos' man. He drives a beat up white VW van with a load speaker mounted to the top. He drives up and down blaring things about his various coco treats. We stopped and talked to him about our pile-o-cocos in the yard and a couple hours later, there he was. He gave us a complimentary slice of DELICIOUS coconut flan...omg to die for! His wife makes it. Mmmmm...if I knew how to make that i'd weigh 300 lbs...after he and john loaded up all the nuts and he paid us (about $18.00) john came in and we played a hand of gin..an afternoon ritual. when we finished, we looked outside-'its dark! Its a quarter to 6 and its dark!"..'the time change....." so that explains my weird space. it's gloomy, drizzly and dark at 5:30..it feels like portland! Makes me a bit melancholy ( Lynda, you will be happy to know I used the dictionary to look that up...)so, there you have it. Just split a piece of flan with john and we'll watch an episode of Mad Men we checked out at the library in merida. Pretty good day even if it did stink and get dark by 6......

Tiny bit

So this will be the shortest blog ever....sorry, I know I've been remiss...I have been without internet for a while now. I used up my allotted megabytes early sending and receiving photos. Oops..won't do that again...
So lets see...we successfully renewed our FM 2's ( resident status certification) and it was a very simple, painfree process (once we got new bank cards. I did tell you about John leaving the bank card at the ATM right?). Luckily, our friend Lynda came to visit and brought all of our mail, tea, picture frames, books...yes, those who come to visit know they have to lug not only their things but a list of wants and needs for us...our friends love us ( good thing...). John had a wonderful visit with his family in Minnesota. A good time was had by all and Lucky kept me company while he was away and before Lyndas arrival ( dont tell him but hes getting fixed tomorrow,... Lucky that is, not John!)....so, Im very sorry to cut this off all ready but I have to run. I need to go set up my meeting (where there will be 3 in attendance,=...) pack up, stop at walmart for milk then get home. The guys came and cut down the coconuts the other day so a storm wouldnt blow one through a window, now they are in a pile in front of the house. A guy is supposed to come buy them at one so...gotta run!

keep the doors wide open

I find I am in a reflective time- the period between Sept 25th, when we left portland , the two weeks we spent on the road and our arrival here in southern Mexico on Oct 10th. It was so much more then a trip. It was the culmination of a five year plan, much preparation and psychic re-arranging. After lots of purging of possessions, many, many goodbyes and enormous financial changes we were ready both physically and mentally. There was a brief moment as we hit the freeway on ramp my head screamed " what are you doing?!!" but it blew out the window and i settled in for an adventure.
I keep picturing the seemingly endless miles of nothing. Days of scenery that never changed. I was pondering that today while i was in my back yard hacking palm fronds with a machete. It struck me how life is like that sometimes. I clearly remember being so sad that my life seemed like a bad movie being played over and over, endlessly looping back on itself. Not only did the scenery never change, i had no hope that it ever would until it ended. The most horrifying thought was that it wouldn't end for a long time.
Luckily, i experienced some major life changes including the epiphony that i had some say in how my life went. Not only could i make choices, i didn't have to be a victim of the outcome. I also learned if i made a choice that wasnt good...i could change my mind! I acquired two vitally important tools- self esteem and perspective. I also developed a point of view that was bigger than myself. I realized i truly am a part of a much larger picture and i can add to it in a positive way or big a bug on the worlds windshield.
The freedom that i have in my life today, the freedom to enjoy my life today, is amazing. That trip down with it's endlessly empty vistas was just part of the journey to get here. Eventually the view changed. We emerged from a vast nothingness to endless variety- acres and acres of sunflowers as far as the eye could see , vast jungles and rainforests where we expected gorillas to come crashing out. We saw roadside communities reminiscent of Mad Max where burning barrels spewed black smoke and greasy men weilded enormous tools trying to fix trucks that were new in the 50's . We passed over country that had been hit by a hurricane and slowly navigated washed out bridges, roads half erased by mudslides and relatively new freeways that were so full of axle breaking pot holes we thought they had been bombed.
Had we, at some point, just stopped, thinking 'its too ugly, I can't go on. I can't look at this anymore" we would have missed it and we never would have gotten to our destination. Sometimes, you end up on a road where there is nothing for as far as the eye can see, but thats OUR eye. Sometimes there is something a little further on, something we just can't see yet. We consult our map, ask directions and head on to our destination. Sometimes detours happen and what seemed like a big waste of time and gas, turns out to be one of your favorite parts of the trip. I don't think we are meant to know our entire path or why we go one way instead of another, our job is be present on the journey. Our journey brought us to a magical place with warm winds, tropical birds a new language. I have people that help me when i need it, i have keys to a couple of buildings in the city and two of my neighbors homes. I am trusted and cared about. I am here with a man I've been with for 32 years and we still like each other most of the time. Who knows where the path leads from here. It's my job, and my pleasure, to keep the doors open to possibilities and proceed with grace. Jackson Brown says " sometime between the time you arrive and the time you go, there may be a reason you were here but you'll never know". I don't need to know.

a typical day

Every Thursday we head into Merida. It's about an hour and a half drive. We leave Santa Clara, go through our little sister town of Dzidzantun, then through the next village which is Cansahcab and from there we connect with a highway that takes us into the city. We do the same in reverse the next day when we come home. As we were passing through Cansahcab , we noticed they were getting set up for some sort of hootenanny. On the right side of the picture, you can see the "arena". This is made entirely of sticks with grass woven in for shade. This is a two story structure that will not only support the weight of a full capacity crowd , but keep a bull corralled while they have a lariet competition. this goes on for hours...long into the night. It's a major event lasting for days. This is a good thing considering it takes 3-4 days to build. Vendors will set up all around (this always happens near the square and often in the front yard of a church). You can also see one of the vendors in this photo. There was also a corn on the cob vendor and a "hot kakes" vendor. After dark, young people will be strolling around flirtatiously, old people will be seated, chatting it up with their neighbors. There will be the "burachos" hanging out on the dark fringes hoisting cervesas, recognizable in any language or skin color by their glassy eyes, red noses and generally dissheveled look. Early in the day you'll see vacarros riding healthy, beautiful horses in circles, practicing. It's all quite spectacular doings for whatever village happens to be hosting it. We leave the festivities behind and wind our way to Dzidzantun. Here we make a couple of stops. First at the vegetable market, a tienda about 10 ft. square, we buy a papaya, some bananas, potatoes, pepper, carrot, onion and some garlic powder ( i also get bouillion and beans here ), next stop, the bakery where we pick up a couple of cinnamon rolls and a small loaf similar to a french bread. Next stop- super Willy's where we pick up yogurt, corn flakes and oatmeal ( I recently learned that mildewed oats can make you very sick...these will not be kept in the cardboard again....).One more stop...a little tienda that makes tortillas fresh daily. the ladies- 3 of them- are all very sweet.
We stop for a handfull of warm, fresh tortillas and she gives us two very strange looking things and a half dozen or so freshly picked limes. She instructs us how to cut the fruit and adds that we should squeeze on some lime ( you put lime on EVERYTHING here...maybe if i'd have put some on the moldy oats i wouldn't have gotten sick...)Oh, I also got some cookies. they are sort of like a short bread but with a bit of ...lime! flavor....She gave us the fruit and limes as a gift because she wanted us to try it. So all of the things i have mentioned and that you see in the photo cost us about $12.00. It'll last us most of the week with the "integral" (wheat) bread , milk and meat we buy at Wal-Mart (sorry, it's true...) in Merida.

Little shop of horrors called and they want their fruit back! How weird is this? It is muy deliciouso! mmmmm......my friend Carol tells me it's called dragon fruit. who knew something that looked so odd would taste so good? And speaking of hidden surprises.....i pulled my bathing suit off the clothes line on the back porch later that day, and threw it into the chair to get undressed. As i did so, i thought..'what was that i just touched?"

Oh nothing, just a FROG! Yes indeedy do..in my bathing suit! Now how did that thing get into that while it was hangin' on the line? And why?! Thank god i didnt put it on.....One day theres a frog in the sink while i'm doing the dishes. on the airmattress in the pool and now in my bathing suit bottoms! I had better start checking under my pillow before i go to sleep....

So after all the driving, shopping, swimming, cooking, eating, frog catching,etc.,etc., it's finally time to play

with Lucky!!!!! oh yes, isn't he excited?! he's running around the front yard playing keep away with his smashed milk jug because, you know, i REALLY want it.....

After we're done, i'll go inside and either have a cup of tea or some Coca-lite and john and I will play a hand of gin, maybe read for a while, watch a DVD then go to bed. In the morning we'll wake up to another sunny day and see where it goes from there.....In 3 days it will be one year since we pulled out of our driveway and started this adventure. Do we have any regrets? Look at that last picture and tell me what you think......

just touching base....

O.K., ok..."no more flamingo pictures please!!!" Is that what I'm hearing? well, i've been sick for a week and am trying to keep things simple....they just make me happy all right? Sorry to be behind, but as i mentioned, i've been ill...i at first suspected bad oatmeal. We both became ill on a sunday...both woke up with fevers and were wishing we had a revolving door installed in the bano...Mon., tues, hmmmmm... i thought.."what could it be?" I started mentally going through what we'd eaten, where we'd been and the only thing i could come up with was oatmeal. i had cooked up a vat of it and while it was simmering i thought the color looked a little...off. 'Oh it's probably just the way the light is shining...it tastes fine..." In recalling this i pondered...could it be...? Mold on cheese is ok..and who hasnt eaten moldy bread? Besides various prisoners, lots of folks- myself included- have eaten moldy bread. How many times have you heard people say "a little penicillin is good for you right?" Everyones an MD..I just had someone tell me yesterday (after explaining I'd been in and out of the bathroom for the last week) "you need to give yourself diarhea. Drink salt water with sugar in it. It'll flush you right out". This suggestion came after her enema suggestion...How many people have i heard suggest you EAT Vicks when you have a cold?! (shudder....) I've also been told garlic and yogurt were both cures for a yeast infection but never got clarity on which method of ...introduction into the body..if ya know what i mean...should be used .And none of this addresses how or why they thought an ice bath would help people with mental health issues, but i digress....oatmeal- So, i went on line...google search- "can mildewed oatmeal make you sick?" ( love the internet! ) lo and behold-yes! as a matter of fact, mildew on oats can make you very ill...fever, diarhea (for a week or more..) .Oh my god- Ive tried to poison my husband...( he's the one I gave most of the vat 'o gruel to). So, our neighbor had mentioned that there was a bug going around. She said she'd been at church and had to run to the bathroom and violently throw up..( I could make several comments here but i will with hold them...) She and her husband had been sick all of the following week. So, i'm not sure about the poisoning, but thought i'd pass along the info about the oats just so you all know.
The second piece of info is- expired antibiotics still work. We dug up some old Amoxycillin out of the medicine "trunk" (a.k.a. our coffee table). I was so tired of this bug, oat mildew poison, whatever was causing my dilema that i finally broke down and took some. It had expired in Dec. 2010- so it wasn't really old....anyway, here I am!! I have not laid down or napped for 2 days . It's a miracle i tell you! Today is John's birthday and I was able to get up, pick some flowers out of the backyard and put them in a vase for him, then i made his favorite- pancakes. The batter looked a little funny but it tasted O.K.........just kidding!!

odds and ends

Ahh! vacation time is over! The village is quiet again, the neighbors are gone leaving in ther wake a pile of refuse in their back yard. They opted to drag their waste into the yard rather then take it to the nearby basurero (dump) MUCH to Lucky's delight...Many a day he came home with a large odorific hunk of old fish ( his fave- he actually turned down a tbone bone recently..)i kept trying to keep hime in the yard so id check the security of my fence line ( the palm fence remember?). On several occasions I noticed a number of palms missing. it took me a while to figure out the neighbors were requisitioning them as incindiary devices to use in burning their trash. I should say, attempting to burn their trash, as most of it was left intact ( his best find was a shoe sized piece of shark skin...mmmm). Needless to say, Lucky was delighted to have easier access to his daily buffet, but now that they've gone until next april, I went out back the other day, machete in hand and sweating like...i don't know what...like someone really sweaty...( and i profess to be a writer..?!) to fix it the fence ( "desperado, you've been out ridin' fences..." remember the Seinfeld episode?). Hordes, DROVES of butterflies and dragonflies, all different types, were passing by right over me. Unfortunately i don't have National Geographic quality equipment so instead of seeing the cloud of flying insects, you get to see one that dropped down to take a break... I posted a little bit last week about the tempest passing through ( this is now almsot a daily occurence) and thought i might include a visual aid. You can't see them, but in the right hand corner of the lagoon, the flamingos are hunkered down waiting for the storm to pass.

I also shared with you recently about the butterflies eating the pears...somehow they lose a little of their allure when the fruit is laying on the ground (borderlining on creepy , actually...) but thought i'd include this as well.

i just paused for a moment to talk to my friend jenifer (from Kuwait) on skype...as we were talking john walked in and informed me there is evidently a tropical storm headed our way. as we were driving in from merida today, we noticed the manglar is so full of water, if it gets much more it will be overflowing the road. if there is in fact a tropical storm bringing heavy rains, we will be heading back to merida....ill keep you informed...

In the meantime, take a lesson from the flamingos- if a tempest is in your midst, hunker down and wait for it to pass. One way or another, it always does....

the calm before the storm.....

Around 10:15 A.M.:

The sky glistened like a polished robins egg and furnace like temperatures radiated from the sand. The air was oppressive with its heat and silence. No car or motorcycle passed by. No bird called out a warning. No distant motor of a fishing boat cruising in the gulf or voice being carried over the lagoon. It wasn't just an absence of noise, it was as if all sound had been erased leaving an eerie stillness. Soon, the air in the front yard filled with butterflies and dragonflies. Hundreds of them. They seemed not to have a destination only a desire to stay aloft.

As if someone hit the 'on" switch, the palms began rustling and cars appeared on the roadway. The sky began to cloud up and blacken and the wind was cued to gust. Within minutes it was raining. The force of the deluge picked up until the sound covered all other noises and you had to shout to be heard. The next addition to this orchestral piece was the sound of thunder, at first a low rumbling like a giants hungry stomache. As the storm neared, it progressed to a base drum and quickly escalated to the sound of two cars careening into each other at high speeds, metal shreiking, electrical systems sizzling. Gashes of lightning snapped through the sky seeming to cleave through the coconut trees. The flash of light followed so quickly by thunder it was impossible to count to even one before the sound erupted.

Just as quickly as it had begun, it began to pass over. It rumbled away like an angry child stomping up the stairs. Once again the sound of thunder became distant and the feeling of surging energy ebbed. As the deluge continued to form small rivers through the yard, i looked at the lagoon to see the flamingos response. They lazily continued to scoop their beaks through the water sifting out the brine shrimp, unaffected by the rise and fall of barometric pressures, sizzling ozone and monsoon like downpours. Five minutes later, the rain stopped, the water soaked into the sandy terrain and the last of the clouds cleared returning the sky to the original robins egg hue. The only proof that anything had happened was a soaking wet, red Mexican blanket thrown over a front porch chair.

Nuthin' new......

A couple of mornings ago, I was sipping my tea and enjoying the quiet when i glanced out my front window and caught a glimpse of color. I went to the door and saw this woman standing across the street by the lagoon (thats a mound of freshly harvested salt to her left) looking at the flamingos. In the small villages, this is what the older women ( Ok...so some of them are my age...) traditionally wear. usually there is a shawl/scarf sort of thing that goes along with it. i love the colors... Well, the summer vacation season is winding down. The hordes are beginning to disembark from our peaceful little village. Its been nice to have a milk guy in town...he drives a motorcyycle that pulls a little trailer behind...his horn moos..he has cheese, milk and eggs. The "milk" you commonly find elsewhere comes in a small rectangular carton and sits on a shelf-not refrigerated. It leaves a feeling in your mouth like you've been guzzling vegetable oil...oh! thats because evidently it has quite a bit in it....the "moo" guy has actual milk. There is also a guy who drives around selling periodicals..they are all in spanish of course, but its good practice. One day as a gift he had an insert from a New York Times he gave me...also, one of the tiendas in town has been selling fresh tortillas. Normally, none of these things exist in Santa Clara but since all the city people ( this includes the Dzidzantun folks...city! hahaha...if you've been there, you'll know why im laughing...)anyway, this has already stopped. the temporary little snack shacks have folded up and by the end of the week there will be nothing left but the trash. I intend on being a one woman litter patrol. Each day i'll target a small area and clean up.....Maybe by the time the next vacation rolls around i'll have it done!
I know i've sent you sunset pictures before but...what can i say. When i one day ride off into one, i want a vast selection to choose from......

Before we came down, i had long since given up eating beef and actually, kind of struggled with all meat products. Here, i am even more motivated. Here is a photo of a local meat vendor. What exactly is that hanging from the hook you may wonder/ i can't tell you...i avert my eyes, frankly, as we drive by these. how do people not get sick from this? Remeber that it is VERY HOT HERE too...do you see a screen of some sort to keep flies away? No, you don't, because there isn't one....I'm not saying it's wrong or bad. it just is. It's how it's been done for who knows how long and it works for them. I, however, will not be partaking....Speaking of flies,

I'll leave you with one last bit of weird info....I can't remember where i was, but a few years back i was sitting in some country and saw small plastic bags of water hanging from various locations. i asked someone what they were for. " they keep the flies away"....? Really, are the flies frightened by the site of plastic ? The water makes them afraid they will drown if they come to close? maybe they are afraid the bag will fall on them and crush them (this will seem like they are drowning due to the water but actually they are smothered..) Made no sense to me. Recently we were on a little side trip and i passed a little store that seemed to have nothing but a singular bunch of plantains for sale. mysteriously, there was a clear bottle filled with water suspended from the ceiling by a string. I took a photo of this shop and showed it to someone pointing out the bottle of water. "I dont know what that was for". " Probably to keep the flies away" was their response.?..This conversation took place in spanish so i couldnt get any clarification on why a bottle of water would scare a fly. you know how they have ..what is it....Im trying to think back on my reference material on flies that i obtained by watching the movie "The Fly" ( both the Vincent Price and Jeff goldblum versions)...isnt there something about them having multiple eyes or eye lenses? maybe the refraction in the water causes them to see sooo many versions of their reflection they are totally freaked out by it. Thinking they are having some sort of acid flashback they buzz away and find somewhere to curl up in a fetal position (what does a fly fetal position look like?) until it passes...i don't know but i'll tell you what, ill try just about anything so i filled up a couple of ziplock bags with water and hung them on the back porch where those little rascals like to hang out because its cool. Guess what? Virtually no flies! What? what kind of crazy phenom is this? i need to google 'flies and plastic bags" to see if this can be explained...Yes, thats right, i have a lot of free time on my hands........So the next time someone tells you so and so couldnt scare a fly, you can respond " well, he could if he dressed up like a plastic bag full of water!" so what if they think you've lost it. it'll make you more mysterious.....

various subjects...

Hello, hello! well, i gave you so many pictures last week, that I'm only giving you one this week. Actually, its one i hijacked off Ron's camera......

so, lets see, I actually made notes of what i wanted to talk to you about but...left the list in the room. sorry, I'm too lazy to go get it. lucky is lounging about on the bed soaking in the airconditioning. i told him this morning " Lucky" I said " you really hit the big time with us didn't you?" " village dog makes good. Stayin in hotels, a collection of chew toys, get to go for rides and you have food every day." He's the slumdog millionaire of Mexican dump dogs.....

One thing I do remember i wanted to tell you is that last week we met a lovely young woman named jazmine and her father at the hotel. he made her come introduce herself to us so that she could practice her English. She is a Latina version of emily- petite, cute, sweet. She's 19 and doesn't know a soul who speaks english. her father is also a very nice man and by the time we were all done with introductions and conversations they were inviting us to come visit them and stay in their home in Ciudad del Carmen.Its about a 4 hr drive from here and i do believe we will be taking them up on it. John and i are going to launch into taking bus trips. Its great, you sit back, read a book , nap and you dont have to worry. There are still occasional checkpoints to pass through but whatever. She and i have been emailing each other: she writes to me in English (which i must say, is MUCH better then my spanish!) and i write back in spanish. Writing it is even more difficult then speaking it but i think this will be a beneficial practice for both of us. She corrects my errors and vice versa...
Topic #2- last night i decided i was hungry for some bar-b-que. We brought a small grill down years ago..its quite rusted out now but i am resourceful. its one of those tiny, short, 3 legged kind ( this one happens to be missing one of its legs so i propped it against the base of a tree). The charcoal here is like an actual piece of coal like from a bon fire. it still looks like wood but burnt. you see people riding along the road on bicycles through the countryside with bundles of it strapped onto the back of the bike. they use the wood to cook with ( much cheaper then using up the propane) and they also make "carbon" which you can buy from them. So I had my carbon but no fluid..as i said, i am resourceful. I picked up some old coconut husks left laying around by my husband when he cut a couple open. sometimes his lack of clean up is a good thing....I layed them in the bottom- did i mention there is a saucer size hole in the center of the bottom? So, i layed them off to the side. this wasnt too difficult as it was sitting caddywhampus (sp?) due to the fact its leg is missing and its leaning against a tree...i lit them and put the charcoal on. About 20 min later the chicken was cooking. Along with some rice and canned peaches( all the fresh fruit around and all I had was canned peaches...tomorrow is shopping day- I was reaching...) and voila! dinner...i quite often feel like a contestant on survivor. in fact, i was just telling john today ' id be GREAT on survivor....except Id probably get kicked off for being bitchy and controlling. you know those lazy people who are on there who just lay around or the prissy ones who don't want to touch anything? Yeah, id have a hard time with those...and the next thing you know? 'Jill, you have been voted off. the tribe has spoken...'
While I was out there getting the grill ready (and i use the term loosely)...i was surrounded by butterflies. they could be moths but they are always out in the day so i dont know, anyway, their wings look like water. Like puddles of rainwater, and they were busily eating pears. Not pears like at home, but similar. we have a tree in the backyard and when one gets overripe, the butterflies eat them. i was thinking how special is a food that is eaten by butterflies? Does it perhaps have some magical qualities? Should i be fermenting it and....no...definately not. i can just see John and i running around the back yard naked chasing fireflies shouting " we're communing with fairies!"and telling people how we almost captured tinkerbell (dont worry lynda...)
One last bit of info some of you may find useful....when i was up in June, I bought toenail clippers for Lucky. Now, if you clip too much, it hurts (think cutting your nail past the quick...) and it bleeds. i was soooo afraid of hurting him. hw was very trusting to so I was extra careful in shortening his scabbard like nails. but alas..somehow there was a small nip. nothing major and no blood but enough that now when i bring out the clippers he dashes away and will have no part of it. Ahhh but remember what i am? yes, r-e-s-o-u-r-c-e-f-u-l. So i devised a plan to hypnotize him! I had to enlist john because its at least a three handed project and, much like the grill, i only have two...wait, that was legs...anyway, you get the picture..So, johns job was to massage luckys back and neck. now who hasnt had a massage? You know how its like the Vulcan grip- you are immobilized with pleasure. his little doggy brain said "run!" but it was over rided by the pleasure center that said " no, dude, its all copacetic. Stay, relax, enjoy..."And so he did. i carefully, VERY carefully clipped each nail as delicately as if they belonged to ms tink herself and before you know it, not only was the task complete, but Lucky now has a very positive connection with the clippers. he'll probably run to me next time he sees me pull them out!
well, there you have it. Another week in paradise. Met new people, learned new tricks and isnt that what life is supposed to be about? How many can say they spent their week cooking over coconut husks, being invited to stay with some lovely new people, being surrounded by butterflies and massaging dogs?! And all that was in between painting, reading, playing gin, doing yardwork and floating around the pool ( on the BEST air mattresses EVER i might add that Ron brought down).
Next week who knows what tricks and tips i may have come up with...acupuncture with cactus needles...?

serenity now!

I did not inhale!!!

So I have to tell you going into this, that where i began writing is actually at the bottom. I am learning that I have to do this backwards........

So Johns not a real active guy, but he can sit in a leather chair and enjoy a good cigar. You can buy Cuban cigars here...

Heres the house.... as you can see, its still rough. you can make out the outline of the cinder blocks...paint will come next, more art, etc, but you get the general idea. And if this looks too rustic for you? It probably is....We live a really simple, basic existance here. Not a lot of luxurious extras. well, it depends on what you think of as a luxury item...we DO have toilet paper! just remember to put it in the waste basket, not the toilet...(its a Mexico thing...)

Lucky needs to make some last minute inspections.... Can you see the tabletop? I covered it with these little "fortuna" cards. They are sort of like bingo. I was in a gift shop the other day and theyve stolen my idea! they are puting them on everything now...im so ahead of the times...

Theres a large industrial ceiling fan above the bed ( almost powerfull enough to blast small geckoes off the wall)and you can just make out one of the corner lights. A friend in Merida has similar lights in her house but my guys bumped it up a notch by making them out of stone instead of cement. They are great. While providing ample lighting, you don't feel like you're being grilled by some hard boiled cop ( that seems to be a poplular lighting technique here...hmmmmmm...) Note the mosquito netting- thanks Maggi!

Ahhhh...the finished- or shall I say- semi finished project. At least complete enough for Ron to stay in. This requires getting used to sleeping in a humid box. I read a piece in a book recently that described it best- 'like being inside a freshly baked muffin.." (On a side note- the book was called "Born to Run" and was about a tribe of runners in northern Mexico...its actually about a lot more then that. A great book...I encourage folks to read it) Now, where was i....

The work begins.....

Lucky, of course, has to supervise and act as consultant......Note the MESS! It took quite a bit of work to make it look like a yard again....

herrrrrrreessss Ron! Yes, strolling about the front yard, soaking in the sun ( which turned into a terrible burn that blistered..had to buy some aloe. But Rons a tough guy...no complaints..)

OK, so I am being challenged by the blog gods....last week it took several attempts to get on and after typing and attaching, what i had written vanished. I was too tired to start over so...sorry, I know it has again been a while. This morning it has been a chore just to be able to get to the " new post" segment of the show. After trying every combination of possible passwords, it finally took one after I had tried it 3 times prior...at least im on, but I am a bit apprehensive about if your eyes will actually ever read this. I will proceed "as if".....

I want to also gripe about how I can't place the photos..I upload them and they just appear at the top of the blog...so they wont really follow the text....enough griping now. We'll work with what we've got right? The cigarette packs- hows about those pics huh? dead rats, spouses in hospital beds, parents with one leg and the ever popular blackened fetus surrounded by cigarette butts ( my personal favorite). Of course we all know scare tactics are productive right? Thats why nobody drinks too much, commits crimes, etc., etc.Right? And remember what we started this with? Smoking pictures! ( but let me also remind you, i did NOT inhale so its OK right?...) Oh! remember the high school anti drug propaganda films where the unsuspecting girl took LSD and stuck her hand in the flame because she thought it was a flower? John actually went to some music festival with a girl who did just that!! Put a real damper on the whole trip when he had to get her to the medical tent....

So its getting pretty hot. Time to wrap this up...when i realise that im sitting in a puddle and my dress is outlining every curve because its stuck to me, its a sign Im hot ( still not always real 'in touch" with myself)....I am learning to think backward when posting now (so much for being a forward thinker..)so hopefully it will flow a bit smoother from now on. Wrapping it up by saying we have had a great time with Ron here. Lots of fun and adventure. I will tell you more about that next week if the blog gods allow. Thanks for traveling along with me on this journey and remember, we're leavin' a light on down here in the Yucatan......

OK- onto other things...

Butterflies, brawls and bumps

Where to begin- so much to report.....Got into merida today in the bright, blazing heat, worn out from all the sweating. John and I decided to grab a bite of lunch then nap but it was not to be. The dog- Lucky- hopped up to join us and had the " jimmy leg" goin ( seinfeld fans out there?). Anyway, it just finished pouring so it is a bit cooler but even more humid which seems impossible. This is the rainy season. It is sunny in the morning, hot with very little breeze, then in the afternoon it feels like the oxygen has been sucked out by an alian space hose. After this, the light becomes a weird greenish color- similar to someones palor just before they throw up- followed by rumbling ( which always reminds me of Rip van Winkle who said it was giants bowling...) thunder and eventually rain. Then the cycle starts all over again.

So we noticed about a week ago, throngs of yellow butterflies all over the place. There is no way to avoid them when driving. I picture one shoving another out of our path yelling "save yourself'" in silent butterfly lingo just before they get sucked into the grill.You see them stuck to the wipers and antenna. john even had one in the cab of the truck the other day. Thousands of them. Its like driving through big, yellow snow flakes. You even see them on the road...delicate little road kill (i want to pick them up and create something with their little wings..). Our friend Katalina, who has lived here for a few years, told us today when you see them all over like this, it means they have flown away from a storm and that whatever direction you see them coming from, thats where the storm is. How amazing is that! They must be able to tell way in advance to be able to stay ahead of the wind.

We all rode in together today- john and Katalina in the front, Lucky and i in back. It was a stuffy, hairy ride indeed. Thats why we were worn out when we got here.

Now for the brawl part- well, it wasn't really a brawl. That was just a tease like the 10:00 news does to keep you from going to bed. Actually, it was a disagreement that led to a bit of an argument betwen john and 'el heffe' Manolo-the quasi forman of our work crew. I'll sum it up by saying evidently he didnt know who he was dealing with when he tried to scam us out of money. It didnt fly. John shouted at him "you're a liar and I know you understand what I'm saying!". Well, they all ended up down the road at a guys house who is bilingual. After a lengthy conversation, everything got straaightened out and work has been going smoothly ever since. The walls are up on the casita and tomorrow the roof will go on. It should be done in another week.( I'll keep you posted with info and pics...the guest house will be available to rent...) it is nestled between the coconut trees so it is shaded in the afternoon. the rear window opens out to see nothing but palms and the bathroom has an opening of decorative cement blocks that are covered in palm fronds. It'll be lovely....

As I'm sitting here in the hotel kitchen are, i am sopping wet. Literally, my dress is sticking to me and my face is...dewy. yes, it's humid....

Onto the "bumps' portion of the show.....Just before dawn this morning- about 5:30 am...i felt/ heard movement in the bed. The covers were being pulled off ( our only cover is a sheet) and a muffled sort of "clunk". Yes, it was my poor husband taking a 'header' out of the bed. He was wrapped up in the sheet and took it with him as he went down, broke his fall with his head ( luckily,or he could have been hurt!) and broke open his brow. Now, at home we might have gone in for a couple of stitches but to those of you who follow me regularly, you know unless you've really hacked something open with a machete you aren't going to get stitches. so, we cleaned it up and dabbed on some antibiotic salve, whipped on a band aid and started our morning. like he doesn't already have a headache every day! Poor guy....

I'll wrap up with this...I am learning a bit about the political system here. not really surprised to find out its as corrupt as ours, just a different type of corruption. At home in the states, as here, its the people with money who don't want to part with it that pull the strings. Right now, they aren't able to pull them quite as easily and thats why there are a lot of killings. The main difference to me is, their killings go on within the boundaries of their own country while ours happen in someone elses country. Im not saying which is worse. Dead is dead. Orphans are orphans....sorry, don't mean to be a downer. I try to stay in denial around this stuff as do so many others...' i just don't want to know about anything unpleasant...lets go shopping!"...sorry...

well, the sun is shining its searing little head again.....it's about 5:30. I'm gonna go down to the air conditioned room and check on my boys, one hairy, one scabby...both will be happy to see me. They love me. Either one would shove me out of the way and hit the grill. Unfortunately, my husband would probably fall down on his way to do it.........