Bananas and Paint

We're painting again. This means that Ed is painting and Peggy is admiring. An activity that we both enjoy is watching the paint dry! Now we hear those snickers out there. Really?, you question, an activity? We don't think that Cody and Alex would scoff. They understand how fascinating it can be to start with one color and see it morph to another. Just like those magic markers and magic coloring books. For those of you who have not seen these great inventions, the markers only produce a color in certain areas of the coloring book pages. The yellow that Ed is painting started out as a much deeper yellow and we have been in awe of the transformation as it dries. Either shade is fine with us. Actually, we wouldn't mind if the final color was at the other end of the rainbow. It's just fun to use bright colors. Just like when we painted our garage door a orange creamsicle color while Adrienne and Jamie were at school. They were just a little horrified when they came home from high school that day to the pumpkin door. Now you ask, why would we include bananas in our talk about watching paint dry? Well waiting for bananas to ripen is not an easy task for us normally fast paced northerners. It requires a lot of the same patience and time that paint watching does. Ed cut this stalk down about 3 weeks ago. The info we've read on the internet says that once a stalk is cut it should be placed in a plastic bag in a cool dark area. The cool and dark part is a little tough for us but our back porch came somewhat close to fitting the bill. The internet also says that the ripening process should take a day or two. What can we say? La vida es muy lenta aqui!

The mama iguana?

After putting the little guy out this morning, we saw this one on our south wall. Did he grow REALLY fast when he had something to eat or is this his mama, papa, brother or sister? Whichever it is, this guy was really bright green. Rita's dogs were in the yard and Bonnie and Greta were barking which caused this guy to decide to move away. Peggy went upstairs to capture these images and in a few minutes it was gone. There are several larger iguanas living in the neighborhood- an orange one and a brown one. So, company abounds for them!

We have lots of iguanas and are happy for them. Most of them are in the garden munching happily on bugs. Yes, eat those mosquitoes, keep it up. We're pretty sure that this guy was not getting enough to eat inside our house. He spent most of a day either on the screen or next to it - probably weak from hunger. So, Peggy made sure to move a nearby lamp out of the way before she extracted him, just in case he showed a huge burst of strength and she had to wrestle him to the ground. It turned out to be a peaceful move to our garden.

Another Posada

The other day we were invited to another Posada. This one was a huge annual neighborhood party. The street was blocked off with chairs lining both sides of the street. As guests arrived, many were costumed and given a role in a play. Some kids were angels, some were stars, there were wise men and kings, a Roman messenger, a few lambs and of course, Mary, Joseph and baby Jesus complete with a pacifier in his mouth. There were no rehearsals, just the main event! Cecil B. DeMille would have been proud!

Even a street dog was given a costume. The tee shirt said "I am a lamb".
The pinata after the play was a free for all. Not for the timid!

Just a small portion of the whole cast.

A photo op with a star, two wise men, Mary, Joseph and baby Jesus.

As you can see, our Christmas this year had a little different flavor than a Colorado white Christmas. We certainly did miss our family and friends at home but the spirit here is a wonderful thing! Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night.

Casa Corona

We told you that most houses down here have names. Ours is Casa Bella (Beautiful House). Our neighbor’s is Casa Maru, named after the older woman who lives there. There’s Casa Calypso, Casa Patricia, etc. A block or so away is Casa Corona, obviously named after a well known beverage. After posting this, we wonder if there will be any plans by our friends Lyn and Gini to repaint their Cedaredge home and name it Casa Busch Light!

Our water man

This is Carlos and his son. Carlos is a water delivery man. He cruises the neighbor 6 days a week, beeping his horn to alert everyone that he’s selling 20L jugs of purified water. 20L, roughly 5 gallons, costs 14 pesos or a little over $1 US. We drink and cook with purified water. For everything else we use the city water, which is chlorinated but apparently tastes terrible. No one we know drinks it! Carlos and son are always smiling and happy to carry inside the water jugs.

John Deere Bug

A few blocks from us, lives this VW that is tricked out with John Deere paint and decals. Every time we pass by, we think of grandson Cody, who is a JD aficionado. Now it’s not the same as a JD tractor or implements, but we imagine Cody, when he’s of driving age, tooling around in it!

Caroling, Caroling!

Well our first caroling party was a success. We had a capacity crowd of 20 carolers. After a little caroling “helper”, we headed out to the streets with Dick, playing Rudolph, leading us on his scooter. Dick turns heads wherever he goes in this Mayan area because of his height. Six foot eight with an imposing voice to match! We got warmed up at the house around the corner. Either no one was home or the occupants didn’t want to encourage us by coming outside. After that we were pros – singing at the top of our lungs and bringing tears to the eyes of almost all audiences. And not necessarily tears of joy! We even had a few folks join us. One was a 10 year old neighbor to Dick and Gwen. Serjito was a tremendous addition since we, to tell the truth, were just a little challenged by Jose Feliciano’s song – Feliz Navidad. Perhaps not enough “helper”? Some guys in their early 20’s stopped us as we walked by and asked if we would sing them a song. They even took pictures of us on their cell phone. We can imagine what they said about us in their text messages to their friends, or maybe the policia. We got back to our house feeling happy that there had been no tomatoes lobbed at us and content to then consume vast quantities of Michoacan ice cream (coconut, pistachio, chocolate, cookies and cream and vanilla) with some very creative toppings.
So bring Christmas on! We may not have the stockings hung by the chimney with care (the ceiling fans will have to suffice) and we sure will miss being with grandkids wide eyed on Christmas day but this is a pretty good place to experience Peace on Earth.
Joy to the World!

Villa Maya

Well, the cold front has moved out. Amazing how cold 69 degrees feels when you’re used to mid-80’s! When it gets into the lower 70’s here, stocking caps and insulated vests appear. Not on us yet, but certainly on the locals. Yesterday, when it was cool, we went with several friends on a tour in the jungle. Sergio, who lives a few blocks away, bought a chunk of land about 15 years ago in the middle of the island from an old Mayan family. Over the last several years he and his family have spent untold days here developing it into eco-park with walking trails, some cooking facilities, a sweat lodge and overnight accommodations. After arriving, we looked at some large maps showing the distinct areas of vegetation and points of historical interest, such as rock walls built by the Mayans perhaps 1000 years ago. After dousing ourselves with natural mosquito repellant, we hiked off to view the facilities and then took several trails, ending up at the cenote, a fresh water sink hole. We saw lots of labeled medicinal plants and trees, large hardwood trees, and huge blue butterflies (these were bigger than a lot of birds here). There was a small farm hacked out of the jungle by an old man who raises corn, squash, achiote and papaya. The jungle is incredibly thick, almost impenetrable without a machete. Amazing that the Mayans could find their way here, much less live here. The soil seems fertile, but is only a few inches deep. You can easily scrape it away to the limestone underneath. Trees have a huge root system, because the roots have to spread out to get nourishment. We imagined how scary it must be to live in the jungle during a hurricane with the trees so precariously rooted. We saw several huge trees that were toppled by Hurricane Wilma a few years ago. The walls of piled up rocks are a mystery. We’re wondering if Ed’s walls in Cedaredge will be so mysterious a thousand years from now. Sergio’s theory is that the Mayans cleared a section of land for cultivation and marked it by these long walls. That way, future generations would know when and where to burn the jungle away for replanting- maybe in 75 or 100 years, when the ground had become fertile again. There are also half a dozen or so large (30 or more feet in diameter) circles of limestone rocks. A couple of places where Sergio has cleared the jungle away you can see them. Maybe they were homesteads or had religious significance. Who knows? It seems that on the mainland, several Mayan sweat lodges have been discovered so Sergio has built one here. The Mayan sweat lodges are similar to the one that the North American Indians used. We all decided that we want to come back and go through the sweat lodge ritual complete with steaming rocks, music and a director to lead the experience. Peggy wants to spend the night in a hammock in one of the Mayan stick huts but it will take some convincing to get others on board. In the meantime, we all were impressed by Sergio’s dedication and hard work. It has taken resources and sacrifice by him and h is family to do this work in addition to his regular jobs as a manager of a large dive operation and a marine biologist.

Lynn taking her own pictures at the sweat lodge.
Tree roots finding their way to some soil.

Paulino and family

Paulino and his family surprised us with a vist tonite. They brought us a beautiful platter that we will display proudly!

The Eco Show

Yesterday afternoon, after a big day of working around the house (Ed doing did some electrical stuff. It works! Peggy washed floors, did laundry, etc.) , we decided to walk downtown. It was The Virgin of Guadalupe Day. GD is a national holiday in Mexico with huge pilgrimages throughout the country. In Mexico City, the line of pilgrims can stretch 5 miles or longer! No such long lines here, just a day off! The town square looked very nice, but few people, so we ventured over to Eco Divers, where there’s usually something going on- and, there was. Jorge was finishing his late lunch and drinking a beer. Beer drinking is a good indicator that the “show” will start soon. Eco had a late dive trip and after a few minutes, the 2 divers, the divemaster, Porferio, and the boat captain all showed up. The divers had 2 great dives and wanted to share their experiences. Porferio and Captain Felipe wanted to be paid. So, the show began. Trying to get money out of Jorge is sight to see! He is famous for thumbing through pesos in his money pouch, while proclaiming he’s out of money. And, Porferio, who tends to spend his money immediately (mostly on beer!), was adamant about trying to get some pesos out of Jorge. Well, the “show” (arguing) went on and on. Porferio demanding money, and Jorge proclaiming he had none. Porferio would fiercely tell Jorge why he was owed and how much. Then, he’d walk away and brood, only to return in a few minutes and argue some more. And so the drama continued! The Captain, a smart man, knows that Jorge will eventually pay him, gave up early and went home. Jorge finally paid Porferio $500 pesos which merely put a dent into what Porferio claimed he was owed.
As Porferio was leaving as an old timer in Cozumel arrived. For those of you who have been here, he is the long haired man who always has a guitar in one hand and a beer in the other. The old timer said that he needed a place for two stools that were being given to him. Before we knew it, he was moving them in to the already cramped space at Eco. The stools were a sight to behold. They gave new meaning to the popular furniture here called rustico. They had chipped mint green paint with warped plywood seats. Who knows how long they will be there. They may just become a fixture down in the store.
With Evelyn the show continued for awhile longer. Evelyn is Eco’s evening manager, which means she’s the evening employee, a divemaster-in-training and basically, Jorge’s new slave. Evelyn is a young woman from Belize who recently got her hair cut in a Mohawk cut. Evelyn was preparing the invitation list for Eco’s “posada” which is a pre-Christmas party. The first guest on the list was her hairstylist! Jorge showed us a newspaper article that stated that 50% of small businesses are not having a posada this year, due to economic conditions. So, Jorge claimed that he was being magnanimous by having one. He said that each guest was allowed “2 beers and 2 tacos”! He was spending no more than $100 dollars. We were pretty far down on the guest list, but, because we were there, we did get invited. So, today, at 4 PM we’ll be riding bikes over to Paul’s house for the party. Paul is Jorge’s best friend and his wife is a great cook. So, the food should be wonderful. And, the show will continue today.

Our local hardware store

Our local hardware store, Casa Rubber, is a 5 minute bike ride away. It’s certainly not a Home Depot, but has about everything you can need. The folks there are friendly and pretty helpful. Ed has a small language barrier there, as most of the employees do not speak English. So, before he goes, Ed looks up Spanish words in the dictionary and writes them next to the items on his list. He also usually brings the worn out or item that needs replaced. Helps a lot. Well, he’s been going there a bunch these past few days- getting some electrical stuff so he can put up a motion sensor light as well as a couple of outdoor spotlights and today, we needed a replacement for the on/off float in the roof mounted water storage tank. On his visit yesterday, as it’s close to Christmas, they gave him a 2009 calendar. Today, they gave him a Casa Rubber T shirt. As you can see, it has a pretty design on the back and an emblem on the front. For years, our family has made fun of Ed’s T shirts all having spots on the front and Ed has claimed that the shirts he buys come with spots. Well, after admiring the back of the Casa Rubber shirt, he looked at the front. Lo and behold, there’s a spot on it! Fits right in with his wardrobe!

Here is the gift wrapping.Ed will wear this T shirt with pride!
Viva la isla!

Our Front Porch

Awaiting grandchilden!

Diving, Diving, Diving!

We went diving the other day! We led a trip of 3 divers for Albatros. We dove Palancar Gardens and Chankanaab. Ah yes, diving- the reason that brought us to Cozumel in the first place over 20 years ago. For years we knew more about the ocean, local dive shops and boats than we did about any happenings on land. We used to get up early, eat a quick breakfast and then were out on the slow boat until late afternoon. We were happiest when we did two morning dives, had lunch prepared in a hut on the beach (ceviche was heaven!) and then an afternoon dive. We loved the time on the boat slowly motoring our way to the dive sites. We met divers from all over the world and really became friends with the boat captains and their mates. We got to know Capitan Chucho and his mate Jose very well although sometimes our lack of fluency in Spanish could mess us up. An example, one day, Chucho brought his toy poodle on the boat. When we asked him what his dog’s name was, he replied “Sucio”. The dog was a grayish color. The next day he brought a very white toy poodle on the boat. When we asked for this dog’s name, he looked down at the dog and replied “Limpio”. It took us some time to realize that it was the same dog. Sucio is a Spanish word for dirty and Limpio is clean.
Chucho no longer captains the slow boat Lorena. He’s long been retired. Especially since Lorena sunk twice! Now, it’s fast six pack boats (that hold 6 divers) and operators try to run 2 trips a day. Even the smelly Yamaha 2 stroke engines are being replaced by quiet and efficient 4 stroke engines. Things change on the surface, but the reef and wildlife remain as healthy, diverse and beautiful as always.
After all these years, the fish seem like old friends. The grouper are like dogs following us throughout the dive. The angel fish like to dance in pairs. The parrot fish are as voracious as ever chomping continuously on the coral. The sting rays’ eyes peak out from their blankets of sand. The lobsters seem to know that they are almost invincible with the protection that the underwater national park provides.
Yes, dive days continue to be RED LETTER DAYS- in caps and bolded for emphasis.

Cantarama

One of our favorite things about Christmas is "cantarama". Kids walk door to door with a decorated palm branch. They sing a song that gains speed finishing in a rapid fire finale. They come with a small bank or container for contributions of pocket change. We love watching and listening to the kids because some start out very tentatively and slowly gain confidence. Others, the obvious ringleaders, just belt out the entire song at an incredible volume. It's a way for kids to collect money with which they'll buy Christamas presents. Last night we were visited by these kids. Tonight, when we were walking to some friends' house, we were stopped twice!

Our friend, Paulino

About 10 years ago, Eco Divers, along with many dive operations, was much larger. It employed several divemasters, store employees, 2 boat captains as well as Jorge and his then wife Elizabeth. Paulino, a young man of 19, was employed as a truck driver who hauled tanks, equipment and people. He also ran errands and paid bills and was an all around gopher similar to Radar on M*A*S*H. He probably worked there about five or six years. A few years after we first met Paulino and became friends, he married. During Eco’s downsizing, due to many reasons (economy, hurricanes, and Jorge’s divorce) employees were let go and Paulino went to work for another dive shop. We maintained contact with Paulino, although sporadic. About 7 years ago, Paulino asked us for dinner. At that time Paulino was living in a small house with no running water along with his wife, son, mother, father and brother. When we walked in, his brother was sleeping in a hammock in the front room. We noticed in the small kitchen-dining room that the table had been set for only two people. At that time, Paulino spoke very little English although he was taking lessons. The other family members spoke no English. We remembered carrying on a conversation as best we could while playing with Paulino’s son. We had bought him a ball as a present. Paulino proudly showed us photographs of his wedding which was a pretty elaborate affair. While we were looking at photos, his mother was busy in the kitchen. Then Paulino announced that it was time for dinner and little did we realize that we were the only ones eating. Evidently, Paulino and family had already eaten and we were “guests”. Paulino’s mother served us a vegetable soup with shredded chicken with Coca Cola to drink. We were very uncomfortable with Paulino, his wife and mother hovering over us as we ate. It was pretty clear that the preparation of dinner took a considerable amount of time and that Paulino and family were trying to make us feel that we were honored guests. And we were very touched and impressed. After the meal, Paulino hailed a taxi for us making sure that we would be charged the local rate, not the tourist rate.
Over the next few years we lost touch with Paulino until a week ago. Paulino had called at Eco Divers, after being told by a mutual Mexican friend (Mateo) that we were on the island. Ed was taken aback by his clearly improved English. Obviously the lessons had continued! We caught up with Paulino at Port Abrigo, where we had been told that he would be. We had a great reunion. Paulino now has two children and his toddler son is now 9 years old. Paulino looked and acted the same as we remembered. What a treat to see a hardworking young man successfully manage his life in spite of hurricanes and economic downturns and layoffs. He promised to come by and we’ll be happy to see his wife and his children.

Watching the sunset is alot more exciting than paying taxes! This beach is a 5 minute bike ride from our house.

This lighthouse is on the beach just to the north of where we took the first picture.

Sometimes we can be responsible - really

Our friend Becky stopped by this AM and said that she was working on her list of things to do. Of course, this is the list she had written out a month ago when she first arrived. Amazing how things just don’t get done. She said that one of things that she had done today was to pay her real estate taxes and garbage for the year. Now, we were really impressed by her promptness because taxes are due at the beginning of December. If they are paid by the 15th, a discount is given. So, we took her lead and got our pesos out of the safe. Peggy volunteered to go to the Palacio Municipal (government building) and stand in line, as she does better with lines and confusion than Ed does. And, there was disorganization and confusion. You take a number upon arrival and you’re supposed to know where to go next. Of course, no one does and no one is keeping track of the numbers. Finally a Mexican fellow came in, took charge and very politely but forcefully suggested that the officials get it together and organize things. Well, things happened! An employee took last years’ information from people and then printed out a current bill. Peggy then proceeded to the cashier. Unfortunately she was supposed to get a bill for garbage service from another area before cashing out. She went to the “garbage” person, who was ignoring everyone off in a little obscure corner. Finally Peggy got both bills and proceeded to the caja (cashier). All of this took maybe an hour. Taxes and fees for garbage didn’t change from last year, but the early payment discounts were less. So, the result was that our taxes went up- about $7 USD a year. And garbage went up from $1.94 a month to $2.00. Ah, the cost of living in paradise! Now Peggy's hoping that her accomplishment takes care of her responsiblilites for a while.

Sunday on the island

The first picture is of the docks at La Palapita that we took from the road .

The second picture is the wading pool.

The third is the obligatory picture of the sign for the beach!

We had such a nice Sunday! Some housework in the morning, some reading in the afternoon and then off to the beach for an afternoon swim. We went to La Palapita which is a popular hangout for locals on Sunday afternoons. It is a little beach club where you can buy a coke or a beer while catching enjoying the ocean. There’s a nice tiled wading pool for the ninos. The pool’s water is constantly being replenished by sea water and the little ones spend hours in it. The teenagers hang out on two piers in front. Ed and I watched their “king of the pier” antics for a long time. The boys just sit talking lazily with each other when all at once, they are on their feet jostling and shoving each other. They all end up in the water after doing crazy sideways dives without the benefit of their arms breaking water’s surface. It is truly amazing that our species has survived teenage years, isn’t it? It is a perfect place to swim along the shore there – plenty of fish and little boat traffic. Peggy is thinking that sometime we will see how far we can either swim or dive with the current. Probably miles! We’ll leave our bikes about where we think we’ll end up and walk or take a taxi to our start point. We’ll let you know how that event unfolds!