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...