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.