Oh readers!!! I just lost a very lengthy bit of writing!! I HATE when that happens. i will attempt to encapsulate my ramblings as i have now lost the desire to repeat it......OK I was ranting about health care. Many people were concerned that we would not get it here. What would we do? As if there are no doctors in existance south of the border or that they only have rudimentary tools such as..tin can lids and shards of dirty glass to fix us up with. Then i launched into a rant about the stellar care we got from kaiser..like the woman who said"oh oh" while performing a PAP test on me then proceeding to tell me i had cancer and would need a complete hystoectomy (without anything as mundane as a biopsy...) or the dr that through so many different meds at John at the same time he has ended up with tremors and numb feet in addition to the pre existing condition he was being treated for...than I wrapped it up with the story of how they have been jerking us around since before we left with random bills that trickle in from who knows what. We went around and around with them before we left about squaring things up as we were leaving the country. Anyway, without explaining adnauseum every detail, the last bill they sent , a frind went to pay (even though it arrived months after we had moved) and was told it had been taken care of, don't worry about it. Two weeks later, they turned it over to collection!! What? We were with Kaiser for 16 years, have always paid everything on time, really had not incurred any bills with them then, over $10 (that we don't even know what it was for..0 it goes to collection. I really do have a point to all this...Im sorry to vent on you all but it's so absurd to me. This is what we "gave up" to come here.
Now, since we've been here, we have met many Canadians and have heard what their medical system is like. You need medication? It's yours. no, you don't have to pay for it-its taken care of. it's free. You need to see a dr./ make an appointment. how much? Oh, it's free. Now, if you have to see a specialist, you may have to wait a while ( I had to wait three months to make an appt to get my teeth cleaned....)Are people foregoing food to pay for medication? Why? It's FREE! I know, its a novel concept- free healthcare...it's inconceiveable! Their mad! It'll never work! It'll bankrupt the country!!Well, it's been working pretty smoothly for a while now and their dollar is stronger than its been in years.
The day before yesterday, John and I were working in the yard. In the vacant lot next door, he saw a really big porcelain transformer that was partially broken. Being the 10 year old boy that he is at times, he wanted to look at it..it's a guy thing I guess, well, the next thing you know I hear"Jill run and get me something. i cut myself and I think it's pretty bad" These are not words i want to hear. As I put the rag on, I see he has a pretty big gash that will most likely need a few stitches. Just so happens that our friends Lucio and Marseille were coming to visit us from Dzidzantun. i called them and informed them, in my limited spanish, that we had an emergency and were headed in. Once we got there, I called them and asked them where a doctor was. Within 3-4 minutes they rode up on their motorcycle and we followed them to an office. " The doctor isn't here" back on the road to the clinic. Now, I knew where this clinic was but was under the impression you had to be registered- alocal- to go there. lucio went in then returned to tell us the dr. would see us. we went in to meet a lovely young woman ( who reminded us of Aleka) named pamelawho spoke a bit of english. she cleaned the wound (ow!) and bandaged it. She said it did not require stitches. At home, I can assure you, he would have been given 6-8 stitches but i think they are used to machete cuts here so this was small potatoes. We thanked her profusely and asked her what we owed. she looked at us like we'd taken leave of our senses ?those crazy gringos!) and replied "It's free" like we were simple. "free?" "yes" Do you know what an emergency room visit costs at home? Of course you do..."can we make a donation then?" "no, no"
So the next day as we passed through Dzidzantun on our way to merida, we stopped at the market and bought Pamela some flowers-25 pesos for a lovely bouquet.About $2. John dropped them off at the clinic and she smiled warmly as she took them.
Once before when we were here on vacation John had to go to the dr. The visit-at the docs house-cost $3.00. Now, the medications are not cheap here and actually thats what the largest chunk of our money goes for but we are still learning the ins and outs and have heard we can get a discount card. My point is, we are being taken care of in a very kind, humane personable fashion.
The day we came in to the emergency visit and met Lucio and marseille, they told us they had been planning on visiting us because they had christmas gifts for us. They had been out twice to give them to us but we weren't home. we followed them to their house. It was one of the old style village houses that had been costructed with small stones, pebbles really, because it was the material that was available. The 94 year old grama that lives with them was leaning out the window and the 7 dogs were circling about. Marseilles wife and young son came out as did Lucios mother. Warm hugs were exchanged all around the we were handed hand made scarves that the mother had made for us and each of us were given a bottle of cologne. Now, these people have next to nothing. the boys haven't worked much since they finished their work with us, but they are happy, loving, giving people. I was so touched Iwas instantly brought to tears. We talked for a while and i told her it made me very happy. that we had no family here. She told me "we are all gods children so we are all family" All of this was in Spanish of course, and i was so greatful i could understand and be understood. i can't tell you what a touching scene it was.
So, John's hand is healing nicely, he's not allowed to go in the vacant lot anymore. We are regularly amazed by this magical place we live. i know everyones idea of mexico is one of danger and violence. yucatacans don't consider themselves part of mexico and the yucatan was rated one of the 10 safest areas of the world. I believe it. I do miss my family and friends terribly but I don't miis the impersonal big business way things are run there. that the dollar is the big motivator. that people get so caught up in material things they lose the human connection. On the other hand, you probably won't find a big porcelain transformer thats tumbled down and fallen into the lot next door.....

smooth sailing

Can't remember if I've already shared this picture or not, but it sort of reflected my mood today.

Sorry I failed to give you anything last week. just couldn't quite muster it up. Was a bit of a chaotic trip in and one of the many wonderful things about being unemployed is that I don't really have to do anything I don't feel like doing.

I can already tell this is going to be a disjointed rambling covering various topics so here we go....

I've shared with you about the hotel being our second home and how the people who work there are sort of an extended family. I made Ilena, the woman who makes our breakfast, a scarf for christmas, John brings in coconuts for the desk clerks and cleaning staff. One of the desk clerks works nights and is always concerned about my warmth. He'll grab my arm and say "mucho frio" while he rubs it briskly and suggests I put on a sweater. He forgets I don't speak much spanish and will launch into rapid fire dialogue, most of which escapes me. Roger is the only English speaking clerk. He spent some time in the states a few years back. While working seven days a week, he took english classes at night and in four months learned the language. He saved all his money and when he came home, built a little house on his piece of land his father left him. He's a great guy with a cute two month old baby. He showed us a picture.Oh! Those cheeks and legs I want to bite... ( speaking of biting, they sprayed the hotel today so it smells like insecticide. It seems that it has only stirred them up as opposed to being lethal...)We asked roger if he would accompany us to the bank to help us open an account. Being the swell guy he is, "no problem " was his response. So yesterday we took all of the necessary documents ( you MUST have a copy of your electric bill...this seems to be a key ingrediant in a number of transactions...) and after maybe a half hour, had opened our account. We have to go back though to clarify one issue...they will be mailing a statement out every two months..."no! We don't get mail. " we explained. Who knows where it would go or who would end up with it if it were mailed...so, their system was down but if we go back, we can request online banking instead...probably next thur. we'll take care of that. The reason for opening this account is we are saving our change. Once a year we have to pay a fee for our property and it is handled through this bank. We decided if we start saving change, that should just about cover it. Unfortunately, the machine that counts the change was not working yesterday so John, Roger and I were standing around the bank with small plastic bags-furnished by the bank- filling each one with 100 pesos worth of change. Roger informed us that when we bring our change in in the future, we are to count 100 pesos, write it on a piece of paper and put it in the plastic bag. The teller will deposit that amount then later count it. If the tally is off, they will call us and ask us if we want to bring in any shortages. Its an interesting system.

Speaking of interesting systems, we were without water for five days last week. I don't mean we had NO water, the water was off. We have a cistern so we had some in reserve but we had to be very, very frugal. Evidently this happened once last year and there was no water for two weeks! We've decided we are going to buy a large plastic tank, like the one on our roof, and sink it in the ground, That way we will have a greater reserve. We have no idea what why the water was off. One person told us the line broke, one person said the punp broke and another said it was sabotage (if we were at home they would be telling us it was terrorists who were responsible...)...There are many mysteries here......

Another mystery is "What was that roadkill?" a fun little game we play sometimes on the way into town. I have to google yucatan animals or get a book. i swear to you it looked like a tapir or an anteater. Sort of the markings of a badger with an ant eaters nose...we passed it so quickly i couldn't get a good look. I was tempted to have john go back but it seemed a bit bloated...there are some mysteries that shouldn't be examined too closely...

Ther are quite a collection of folks here at the hotel today. Yesterday when we pulled in, we parked next to a BMW motorcycle that looked just like the one ridden by the guy we met at the bonneville salt flats. It had a washington plate. John later found the guy and struck up a conversation ( John is the unofficial ambassador for the hotel). He is a fisherman out of Alaske. He's the first mate on a fishing boat in the Bering sea. For those of you who don't know, this is one of the most dangerous jobs in the world. He has ridden this bike all the way here and is leaving this morning for belize. His main destination is Panama. He's a big barrel of a man with a friendly smile and an openness about him. Last night when we came in from the meeting, John saw him roaming around in wet shorts. he was obviously very drunk and when John asked him if he was OK he just pointed to his room and made his way inside. this morning, they ran into each other, John asked him if he'd gone for a late night swim. "why?" he asked "was i wet?" Yes, I remember those days......This morning he's on his way. "Need to get the wind in my face to clear my head" he told John.

There's also a couple from Ireland and a woman from france. I don't know their story as I've been getting served fresh papaya and tea from ilena and writing to you. When i'm done, I'll go down to the room and work on my embroidery a little...my newest pastime...I'm making pillows. They have these great Mexican designs at a little store in Dzidzantun...then we'll head to Wal-Mart where I will buy some Barilla pasta. This is a special request from Carla. She is a member of my Tues. ladies group who is from italy. She is going to cook spaghetti for us and we are going to get facials for 40 pesos ( about $3.50).

So there you have my disjointed update. Nothing too exciting, just little snippits of life here in the yucatan where it is "muy tranquillo". I will make an attempt to get some new photos to use as visual aids for next week. Until then.....adios!

A wonderful visit

At 4:30 a.m. in a hotel room in the Yucatan, three people were quietly moving about. John and I were seeing our friend Carol off to the airport. It was a brief visit, that like all pleasant things, passes much too quickly.
We met Carol about eight years ago at a low point in her life. Who knew then that we would all end up together in a remote corner of southern Mexico laughing it up. She arrived in Merida at 9:30 p.m. on New Years Eve. John decided that since it was a party sort of night, we should greet her with a flair so we stopped at a novelty store earlier in the day where he purchased a pair of clown sized purple glasses with a red nose that lit up. I opted for the colorful tinsel tiara. As folks lined up to meet their friends and loved ones as the plane disembarked , small children (and adults) stared at us quizically. Obviously, they have no feel for holiday flair and tom foolery.( should that be capitalized? Is it a name...?)After an hour and a half of waiting, some of the zest wore off and John removed his glasses. At last our friend appeared. There is a system at the airport in merida where you push a button that randomly gives you a red or green light. Green-universally-means go and red...well...Carol got the red. This means you pull off to the side of the line and get your bags searched. We watched this with great anticipation. I saw the man who was examining her goods hold up a bag at which point she pointed at me and he got a very sheepish look on his face as he dropped the bag and moved her along. Once she cleared, we hugged and greeted each other and she described her trip to us as we exited the terminal and got a cab. Once we were in she said "when that guy was checking my stuff, he pulled out a bag Emily sent you for christmas. He asked what it was and I told him 'my girlfriends underwear'".
Her first day down we went down the road to Dzilam Bravo to meet some folks. At one home, there was a visitor named Carla who spends her time between London, Italy and Phoenix. She is a lovely woman I'd had the pleasure of meeting before. She told us about her trip to see the butterfly migration outside of Mexico City. Later, after we had returned home and eaten dinner, we were cleaning up and I handed Carol her sunglasses. "Those aren't mine" she told me. I knew they weren't ours so I said "well, who's are they then?" "Oh my God! I bet i took that womans glasses!" Sure enough, the next day I got a text asking if , perhaps, my friend had taken the glasses in question. "Great! now your friends think I'm a thief!"
The next day we decided to drive into Progresso. It's about an hours drive and there are some euninhabited expanses. "I have to go to the bathroom" Carol informed us. Being a good sport and the rugged , up for anything individual that she is, carol decided she could "handle" things with a quick pit stop at the beach. we pulled over and I got out to look for shells while Carol made her way into the bush. Soon I heard a motorcycle behind me which was odd because I was on the beach and hadn't heard it approach. As he pulled away, Carol came toward me saying "great! That guy just watched me!" I turned around and there he was smiling at me then he started up his bike". We ribbed her for the rest of her trip about how its not OK to come to a new place and steal things and expose herself to the locals. Next time, try to keep it in check a bit more.

So, this picture shows us in our sea kayaking regalia ( Carol is wearing Johns beach shoes). We had a blast out on the water.
Then of course, carol had to experience the joys of the hammock...

We drove to San Felipe, a little coastal town near the more popular Rio Lagartos. In San Felipe, all of the houses look like little story book wooden places painted bright caribbean colors.

On our last night, we wnet out to eat in Merida. On the way, as we were heading through centro, we crossed the street.Carol was the straggler and as I stepped up on the curb, I heard a commotion behind me. Carol had been mid crossing when a bus rounded the corner. She froze for a second like a deer in the headlights until her fight or flight reflex kicked in and told her to JUMP! A guy on the corner who saw the whole thing was wide eyed with horror. Would of put a real damper on his trip to see a woman crushed by a hurtling Mexican bus.

By now, Carol should have landed for her grueling 12 hour layover in Houston..( what is that about the stages of hell?...)We were sad to see her go. It was really nice having someone from home, someone we have history with. I was sad for a little while. Then we switched gears and talked about how we needed to stop at the store on the way home. How I want to stop at the nursery outside of Motul to buy some pots for plants, how our friend is coming out to the house Tue. to visit and another friend will be out Wed or Thur morning. And so we continue on. Carol was a new friend once whom we had no history with. One day, these new friends will have a shared history with us. Each day we create a new bit of history.

So the history Carol created on her first trip here was watch out for her sticky fingers, traffic disruptions and flashing....let's see what she brings to the table next trip down.