Wednesdays in Cozumel

Wednesday is fruit and vegetable day on the island.  This is the day that you can see grocery carts piled high with tomatoes, onions, chilis, peppers, carrots, spinach, oranges and grapefruit being wheeled out of the store.  On the past few Wednesdays, we have bought a huge bunch of spinach for less than 10 cents.  five pounds of carrots for 25 cents, a jalapeno for a penny and 2 avocados for 50 cents.  Today Peggy went to buy wine and just couldn’t pass up the deals on grapefruit and juice oranges.  Grapefruit was 3 cents a pound and oranges were 5 cents a pound.  Wine?  Wine was slightly higher than US prices.  The moral of the story – buy lots of fresh stuff so we can afford vino!

Cozumel Radio

The only station that we can receive on our little radio is the local island AM station. While it’s fine, all of the DJs are Mexican and speak Spanish. Of course, this IS Mexico, no? Some time ago our friend Lynn told us about an online radio station that plays lots of “island” music, soft rock, etc. And, the DJs speak  English with a sprinkling of Spanish. We’ve been listening to it while we prepare dinner and have a beer. We’ve told lots of friends down here about it and last night, we heard our friend Rita! “Hi, this is Rita from Albatros Charters…..”. So, if you want a bit of Cozumel, try www.cozumelradioonline.com. “Always on  island time”.  Who knows maybe you'll hear somebody you know being  the evening DJ!  “Hi, this is Ed from the tropics and….. on island time”.

Tu eres un Ironman!

We saw the Ironman from a little different perspective this year. We were able to see the swim portion of the event from a boat! First, the elite class start and then the remaining 2300 entrants take off looking like a giant herd of baby turtles with their arms flailing. They swim like crazy to break away from the massive pack. Soon they stretch out for the swim. Most athletes shoot for an hour time. Back on land, we watched riders zoom by on their 112 mile bike ride. That’s 3 times around the lower half of the island. Averaging about 20 mph, the riders then jump off their $5-12,000 USD bikes (mostly Cervelos), change clothes, and begin a full marathon! The winning man (USA) completed in in about 8 1/2 hours and the winning woman (Swiss) finished in about 9 1/4 hours. The running continued all afternoon and evening until the midnight cutoff.

There were roughly 2,500 participants with about 600 women and about 500 Mexicans. It’s estimated that the event attracts over 10,000 people to the island- a huge economic boost.

We volunteered at the Red Cross Information Tent from 7PM to midnight. It was mass confusion as we (who know very little information) were barraged by questions of “Where do I pick up my bike?”, “What’s the status of my daughter who is in the Medical Tent?”, “Where’s transportation to the hotels?”, and on and on. All this while we we trying to keep a tally on finish times (thankfully, we weren’t the official timers- athletes wear computer chips for that), entry into recovery, departure times, and trying to locate contestants who had been in the medical tent for a long time for concerned family members. Even though we didn’t have adequate information for families, the athletes were well taken care of by doctors, nurses, paramedics and massage therapists.

There were loads of foot blisters, strained muscles, dehydrated, and tired, tired people. But, lots of happiness and tears in completing an incredible physical challenge. It was tremendous to be able to congratulate the athletes and to, hopefully, be an encouraging face at the end of their long day.

The swimmers’ arms are moving too fast to capture them in a photo.  All you can see is turbulence like a fish feeding frenzy!

Another boat with cheerleaders!

Swimmers starting to spread out in a long, long line.

Bikers coming down the the Melgar, just south of the Palacio with folks cheering them on.

A runner beginning his marathon.

  The local airbase had vintage planes performing aerial acrobatics above the competitors as they raced through town.

Underwear Run

The island has become a beehive of activity; gearing up for the Ironman Competition on Sunday. Lots of participants are arriving today. Taxis are all busy. Lots of events taking place. This morning was the first annual Underwear Run. This was a benefit for the Humane Society and Chrysalis (an organization that provides materials for poor children to attend school). The Run is a short course, maybe a mile.  That wasn’t nearly enough for the 40 plus participants because then they went straight  into  Zumba after the run.

Here are a few photos. Obviously, some of these folks are veterans of previous underwear runs elsewhere. Lots of enthusiasm and fun all at 7:30 AM.

 

The masked man is our friend Monstro (Monster?).  This is his 3rd Ironman.  In real life, he is an artist and divemaster.

Movin’ on Up

After owning this house nearly 5 years we finally bought a dining room table and 4 chairs to replace our plastic table and  patio chairs.  Two years ago the Mabe stove replaced the  two burner flameneta and now a dining room set. Crazy, no? God bless Social Security! We’re movin’ on up in the world!We purchased the set from a  friend who owns a rustico furniture store. We’ve known Haddy Haddad for probably 15 years. We met her at small beach restaurant  where we used to stop between dives on the old slow boats for lunch of empanadas.  One day, while Peggy was out on the boat, Ed started telling Haddy what a drunk Peggy was.  He really had Haddy feeling sorry for him, pobrecito Eduardo. When Peggy came back to the beach, she knew something was up.  Ed confessed pretty quickly with the result of Haddy and Peggy pounding him on each of his shoulders. Funny. Back to our purchase, after not seeing anything that we wanted to ditch our fine plastic table for in her store, Haddy took us to a 3 story warehouse.  After climbing over furniture and performing a minor archaeological dig, we found our table in pieces.  A few days later, voila, Haddy’s husband delivered our fine furniture. 

A fashionista is born!

Who would have thought it would be a bicycle helmet that would cause such a stir!  This deeply discounted Nutcase multi-purpose helmet we bought this summer is being widely admired and coveted down here this year.  At age 60, you want to keep as many options open as possible. With this helmet, Peggy will be able to do some technical climbing, skateboarding, snowboarding and rollerblading as well as making a stunning fashion statement.  We know what most women who see this helmet will be asking for this holiday season.  Merchants, stock your shelves!

Treasures

Almost every time we dig in the soil here we find something whether it be a rusty nail, marbles, a rusty bottle cap, or bits of plastic clothes pins.  Every once in awhile,though, we uncover real treasure,  almost certainly left by Mayan women as the island was  sacred fertility ground.  Above are some of the more interesting pieces.  Did Michael Jackson really play here way back when?  Did the Mayan women really invent pink high heels?  And, we think, the old guy might have been a star in the silent movies.  We’ll post more discoveries as they are unearthed.

Recycling, Cozumel style

Last year Ed decided that when we came back down that he would change out all sink and toilet shut off valves and hoses.  Included in our bags were a couple of Home Depot faucets as well because the ones we had were pretty well corroded. Yesterday he changed out the valves, hoses, and installed a new faucet in the bathroom. Work went smoothly maybe because the cat went home? Soon Ed was able to put the old stuff out on the sidewalk beside our garbage container. Within a couple of  hours everything was gone. One of the guys walking by picked it up, probably to sell the brass. This happens a lot down here- you just put stuff out that you don’t want and it eventually disappears. Recycling!

New Neighbor

Several years ago Matt and Deb purchased the large lot across the street from us.  We heard this summer that construction had begun on their house there. When we arrived, we saw that it was well under way. The house is a good sized  two-story with a pool and nice yard. We’ve been watching the 15 or so workers crawl around like busy ants, pouring concrete, laying block, chipping away for electrical conduit, etc.  The house is supposed to be finished by Christmas, but the jury is out.

The new  house backs up to and overlooks Summer Place Inn’s pool area.  Well, it seems that the owners of Summer Place took offense at something - don’t know exactly what.  The new house’s orientation? Dirt and construction noise? Workers ooggling guests?  All we know is that one day last week a large curtain went up on the Summer Place wall! No one knows exactly why. And no one is asking either.

Summer Place is the terra cotta colored building on the right.

The white material is hanging between poles about 10 feet from the new house’s second floor windows.

Chaton (Kitten)Update

A friend of ours saw the couple who rented our house in 2009, Jake and Sara, the other night and told them that their cat was at our house. Jake replied that their cat wasn’t missing. We were puzzled!  So we took a picture of the cat and emailed it to Jake and Sara.  Meanwhile, Peggy heard conversations deteriorating into expletives and threats when Ed and the kitty were on the back porch together.  The verbal stuff was interspersed with the sounds of collections of screws and fasteners being knocked off the washing machine.  It seemed to Peggy that this saga might not end well.  Then last night Sara stopped and indeed the black cat is theirs. Seems that Chaton (French for kitten) had run away some nine months ago! If only cats could talk. Where had he been? Who fed him? Was he temporarily adopted? Regardless, he seemed well fed and pretty happy. So, Sara took Chaton home. She also gave us cell phone numbers if  he “visits” again. We have some cat food here. Just in case. 

Incredible Journey, Part 2

The cat is back!  As you might remember, we had a wonderful young couple rent our house in the summer of 2010.  Their black kitty must have really loved this house because she came back several times last year.  Who knows how many times she may have visited this summer while we were gone. 

She just makes herself at home here sleeping on our washing machine on the back porch and prowling the yard for frogs.  We’re happy that she doesn’t seem to like the hummers or the banana quits.  She is pretty insistent, though, about trying to come in and we’re adamant about keeping her out.  So far, we’re winning that battle.  She followed me most of the way to the grocery store tonight.  Did she want to make sure that I got the cat food she prefers?

We know that her human companions have moved a few times since they lived here and we don’t have a valid phone for them.  We have emailed them and we’ll let you know what happens.

Buy Fresh, Buy Local

It came as a delicious surprise to me that we have a chocolate factory in Cozumel.  Is life great or what?

Our friend, Laura C., got a group a people together to tour the factory this past week.  A young Mexican couple started it almost 5 years ago.  They have one full time employee.  In a regular sized kitchen, they are able to make 3,000 candy bars a month.

This couple is trying to get a kaokao (cocoa) plantation going on here.  It takes the plants about 4 years to start producing.  The plants are pretty picky about where they like to grow.  But really, how could they not like Cozumel? 

Back to the chocolate….the flavors are fantastic – lemon dark chocolate  is my favorite.  Other close runners up are chili, orange, white, coffee, coconut and passion fruit truffles.  Okay, really, they are all my favorite! 

Unfortunately, I have no pictures of our tour.  There is a website, though.  It’s www.chocolateskaokao.com.   

Testing, testing

We’re just trying something here to see how it works. 

You know how our last post was unedited?  Well this program is supposed to help us look a little bit smarter. Above is a pic of 3 parts  (Ellie, Charlie and baby Keanan) of the Hirst family of five.

 

 

Above, for some reason unknown to me, is a bigger pic of 3 (Alex, Jamie G. and Aubrey Belle) parts of the Galyon four.

 

And finally, is a pic of 3 (Jamie B, Kelley and Cody) of the Baxter/Burzo four.

 

 

 

It's happened again!

It takes me by surprise every year. Each year, October in Cedaredge is absolutely spectacular. The weather is sunny and cool much of the time, the aspen haven't yet given up all of their leaves, soup and our homemade bread taste especially fine and the lambs are fat and sassy. Our friends who remain in Cedaredge, start to think about hunkering down for the winter. This year, as with years past, I can't imagine leaving this special, special place. It's wrenching to leave the prospect of beautiful mountain snow, the town's winter activities and most of all, our friends.

Then each year we take our Tour de Grandkids. We marvel at their happy lives. We love to play with them, to watch their antics once we have worn ourselves and to appreciate all of the love their parents give them daily. We gather images in our mind to hold close until we see them again.

Finally, after months of Ed's preparations, we are back to Cozumel with 300 more pounds of stuff that we can't seem to be able to live without. Our arrival was perfect: no airport hitches, plane actually early, our friend Rita at the CZM airport to pick us up, and all bags arrived intact. Priceless!

The house was good. The house had been cleaned. The yard mowed. The gardens weeded and plants/bushes trimmed. Dan at Casas Cozumel had done an excellant job or maintaining the house during the summer. Now, all we had to do was unpack our bags and unpack all the stuff we had put away for the summer. Unpacking, rearranging. washing, cleaning, going to the grocery (mostly for beer!), etc. took 4-5 days. But, we're all settled and comfortable. Please see how comfortable Ed is in the photo below! Setting up hammocks was a priority!

Rina was pretty much a non-event. About 6 inches of rain but no damage. It sure made the grass and plants green!

Our friend, Pedro (Rita's boat captain, on his moto with his dogs-Chester (on the back) and his poodle on the front!

Ed fighting his cold! This is his usual remedy for any health issues, both physical or mental!

The gardens along side of the house. Most plants survived, but still plenty to do.