North lighthouse adventure

Our friend Becky organized a sailing trip to the lighthouse at the northern tip of the island.  Eleven of us boarded a 55 ft sailboat captained by Dario and his dad, Domingo.  What a beautiful day.  It felt like we were truly out at sea as we went north.  The channel between the island and the mainland got much wider the closer we got to the tip.

There was an eagle ray washed up on the shore that had a HUGE bite taken out of its wing.  We’re talking a big shark!

Bob and Lynn look really tense, don’t they?

Our fearless leaders, Becky and Steve.

Peggy just can’t help herself some times!

This is Laura whose 50th birthday was the impetus needed to organize this trip.

Sunset on a boat, ahhhhh.

Don’t Drink the Water

We ordered a Berkey Water purification system a month ago and our friend Lynn brought it down after Christmas. We were getting tired of hoisting the 19L bottles (5 gallons) of filtered water. The Berkey uses ceramic filters to purify about any type of dirty water. It’s a gravity system so filtering takes awhile- about a day. Putting it together was simple and filtering water is easy. One down side is that we can’t watch it like we can watch the laundry and paint dry.  So, we’re filtering tap water and it’s fine. Ed’s been drinking the water for a few weeks now and Peggy may start soon. Before she does, she’s been waiting to see if Ed developed any problems! Kinda like a king’s food tester. So far no problems. The Big Berkey reduces our consumption of  of purified water by about half. At currents rates, Ed figures it about a 47 year payback!  Not bad!

  

A stunning addition to our kitchen counter!

The Garden and the Gardener

Since arriving in November we’ve been pruning, trimming, planting and generally tending to the garden. It was in good shape when we arrived. The gardener, Manuel, had been coming twice a week this summer to take care of it and the lawn. When we got here, we told Manuel we’d take over the garden and would text him when the lawn needed mowing. Worked well for the first 2 months.

We’ve added a few more plants and flowers the usual way- taking cuttings and clippings from plants we see. Lynn brought some coleus that adds its rich deep red color. Becky and Steve brought over a cutting from their chaya plant (really it’s more like a tree!)  Chaya  has edible leaves with irritating spines that dissolve when cooked.  It is called super spinach here with tons of anti-oxidants. An unusual flower, Colo de Gato (Tail of the Cat) was picked up yesterday in front of a little auto repair shop. It has flowers, long and red look like a cat’s tail that can grow up to 12 inches.

Now, back to Manuel. Well, texting Manuel worked OK the first few times. Then, he became slow to respond. Finally, the last time when he came and did his thing,  he left his mower and said he’d be back to get it a couple of hours. The mower is still here after 3 weeks now! We’ve texted him several times and he always says he’ll come get it soon. Unfortunately, moving it out of our way and putting it in and out of our back back porch has resulted in a broken front wheel. Do you think we have squatters rights to the mower? Can Peggy now make a few extra pesos mowing lawns? How do we fix the front wheel? We’ll update the blog as things develop.

Here are some random garden pics.

The dieffenbachia came from the vacant lot next door.  The lipstick plant is one of many cuttings taken from one plant that was here before we were.

We love having this vine dress up our wall.

PS All we had to do was write about and he came! Manuel came by yesterday. He had been on the mainland for a few weeks tending to a sick relative. He didn’t seem fazed by the lack of a wheel on the mower and said he’d be back next Friday. Alrighty then!

A Fact of Life

The other day when Peggy headed out on her bike for her afternoon swim, she was met with a ton of traffic including several large buses coming down a normally quiet side street. When she made it to the main drag,  she found her friend Lynn standing in the street with policemen next to her crunched car.  A scooter had ploughed into Lynn as she pulled out onto the boulevard. The accident was her fault. No one was hurt, other than their pride.

Lynn called out to Peggy asking her to go get Javier, husband of Laura.  By the time Javier got to the scene a few minutes later, Lynn and the car were already gone.  Taxi drivers standing nearby said they had been taken to the police station.  At the police station, Javier did what he does so well!  Over the course of a few hours, he had made good friends with the cops by schmoozing, buying them cokes and joking.  All the while, he made sure that necessary documents (car title, registration, divers license, insurance, etc.) were brought to the police station.

On the “outside”, our friend Dick brought his neighbor, George, to the station as a reinforcement.  George knows everyone on the island.  He glad-handed seemingly all who worked at the station.

The ending was a happy one.  Lynn didn’t have to spend the night in jail wearing her bathing suit, George was able to take time out from sweeping his sidewalk to see old friends, Laura had the money to pay the fine and bribe that Javier negotiated, and Javier got to eat a Snickers bar that was meant to soothe Lynn’s nerves.  As a body builder, Javier just doesn’t do Snickers bars!  The best part is that Lynn realized just how many friends she has here (not enough space here to list all who helped in one way or another ) AND, yes, her car is wounded but drivable. 

Construction

Pulpo has finished (for now) the work that we wanted. He and his son Arturo put in kitchen and dining room shelves, a bathroom counter, a new and stronger tinaco(water tank) holder, patched some wall cracks, and then put a coating on the roof. We’ll have them back in a few weeks to install some more tile in the bathroom. Also, we’re thinking about putting in some wooden sliding doors below the bathroom counter. Gotta go find Aman who goes by the name Chris the Carpenter.

Our new shelves in the dining room hold our valuables – our modem, phones, photos, AND Princess Puppy (a rather dilapidated dog who occasionally hides from us.  Alex helps us find her)!

Here are the kitchen shelves.  So nice to have some things at eye level and the tile makes it so much easier to clean – not that cleaning is something we do very much, but just in case we get the urge!  The plate from the Yucatan that our friend, Paulino, gave us several years ago has found a new home over the stove.

Here are the bathroom counter and new tinaco stand. The counter is one solid hunk of concrete with rebar throughout anchored into the walls. An incredible job of building the wooden form. Messy but still amazing. Proves the builders down here can make about anything from concrete. The tinaco on the roof is now supposed to be “Wilma Proof”. In other words, it will be able to withstand sustained winds of 150 mph like those winds delivered courtesy of Hurricane Wilma several years ago.

Here is an update on the construction across the street.  The twenty some workers weren’t able to meet a finish date of Christmas Eve.  Maybe February?  

Whoa, back up!

Gotta back up to New Year’s Day.  We went to a scrumptious brunch at the home of Laura and Javier.  The various New Year’s resolutions were impressive.  Jodi had the most ambitious one.  She plans on competing in a 1/2 Ironman competition in Cozumel this May.  Peggy plans on residing more in the present.  The part of Ed’s resolution that Peggy remembers is being a better husband and grandfather.   Peggy doesn’t really think he needs improvement but she is certainly not opposed to him trying!

For once, Peggy remembered her camera but as usual, she forgot to take many pictures of our good friends.  She did get a picture of the delicious food with, Laura’s legs thrown in!

Ed and Steve.

Sally, Bob and Lynn.

Later in the day we re-convened at Bob and Lynn’s house for the Giants/Dallas football game.  We liked the game but REALLY liked the pizza al pastor style – pizza with shaved pork from a rotisserie and pineapple with the requisite onions and cilantro.

Three Kings Day

On the 12th day of Christmas, called Three Kings Day in Mexico, there is more than a little excitement for children here.  They get presents!  Santa is all well and good but the Three Kings who brought presents to baby Jesus are even better.

Last night we were invited to a Three Kings Day celebration at the home and restaurant owned by native Cozumelenos , Aida and Ramon Rivera, Edwin’s parents.  We brought a top for our Edwin and Marianna’s 4 year old daughter.  It is amazing to us how, no matter a person’s age, tops are fascinating.  Abril loved it!

Beside presents, the other tradition involves buying one or two of the thousands of cakes produced by bakeries for this day.  Inside each of these cakes is at least one little toy baby.  If you happen to end up with a piece that contains the baby, it becomes your “gift” aka responsibility to make or buy tamales for the next big celebration on February 2nd.  Since Peggy got one of those pieces, we have a built-in invitation to the February 2nd fiesta.  Oh and by the way, bring the tamales! We’d better find out where to buy some, rather than try to make them.

Christmas 2011 Part II

I spent the week of December 21st with the Galyons in Broomfield.  This was the first Christmas day I had spent with them in over 10 years!  I apologize in advance for all of the pics but I was just so excited to have posing subjects! 

Both the Hirsts and Galyons had elves who were sent by Santa to keep track of the kids for the holiday season.  The one below, Sparkle,  must have had a pretty rambunctious basketball game the night I got there, as he seems to be resting in the netting.

Sparkle hid candy canes on Christmas Eve before heading back to the North Pole. The search for the canes lasted for several days and ended when Alex, Aubrey and I were home together. I was upstairs putting Aubrey to bed when I heard absolute quiet from downstairs.

Gaga: Alex, are you okay?

Alex: I’m fine.

Gaga: What are you doing?

Alex: I just found a candy cane.

Gaga: Oh, good. Where is it?

Alex: At the top of the tree. The broom isn’t working!

Needless to say, I swooped a bewildered Aubrey up and went flying downstairs before the heavily laden tree was toppled. From a normal 5 year old this wouldn’t be so surprising but from Alex it was a shocker.

Both Alex and Aubrey LOVED having their pictures taken.  After each set of pics, they would come charging back to me to see how they looked. 

 

Dressed up for the annual extended Galyon family Christmas Eve movie – The Muppets. 

Aubrey’s elf dress.

Alex said grace for Christmas dinner.  She thanked God for sending Jesus and his blessings.  Even her heathen Gaga was touched!

Aubrey’s “smile” is really more of a pained look associated with “what’s this in my mouth”.

Eric and Alex constructed the most amazing marble structure.

Aubrey on the move!

Jamie worked at a Halloween costume store and was able to stock up the kids with some great costumes.  Alex, aka Ariel, is amazed that her tower is still standing with her destructo sister around.

Kids and Christmas, what a great combination!  I loved my time with all of the kids AND their parents.  Wonderful to hear Aubrey call out “GAGA, GAGA, GAGA” when she saw me and to have Alex jump up in my arms.  The only thing that was missing was Papa!