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!