Cozumel stories? Actually not. These are the bears that we had made from the mink coat that Peggy's dad gave to her mom one Christmas. One bear for each of the grandchildren and one to join the favorite bears, Philip and Ginger, that belonged to Peggy's mom. Special Christmas memories.
Peg's Mom and Dad had this maple drop leaf buffet. Harry had painted it bright yellow. We tried to strip it to its natural wood finish but it was deeply stained from the yellow enamel. So, after years of sitting in the shop, it was finally sanded and Ed painted it to match our funky breezeway door. Peggy is happy to have it back in its rightful place.
Shortly after we arrived we stopped into Eco Divers for their normal (or abnormal?) show. Usually the show consists of drinking and telling stories. This particular night it was Jorge (left) playing with his best friend Polo. Polo is a teacher and a musician. The playing didn't last long and then it was on to drinking and telling stories!
Coming home one night we were greeted at our front gate by this big boy (or girl). He moved out of the way to let us in and so we took this photo of him beside the front porch. Even the cats ignore him! He's a bruiser! As stars do, he eventually got tired of the photo shoot and moved under a large fern.
We travelled to Merida for a few days before Christmas and stayed at the Gran Hotel, just off the main square. A hundred years old. A very regal old place. Needs a bit of TLC but still great architecture. This is the view of the courtyard and front desk from the second floor. What a grand staircase. Lots of antiques and old photos on the wall.
While in Merida, we signed up for the Cuzama Cenote tour. We were joined by a young couple from Mexico City. An hour and a half drive to Cuzama and then to a non-working hacienda. A group of men operate "trucs" (coverted rail carts) that take visitors to 3 different cenotes. The trucs go into the hacienda about 9 kilometers. Notice the narrow tracks. These were once used to haul the hennequin (sisal) from the fields to the processing plants. The tracks, which you to go all over the hacienda and into town, have all been ripped up except for the ones used by the cenotes guides.
This is the entrance to the first cave/cenote. To get to the cave, we climbed down the tree roots to a homemade ladder. The cenote was more like an underground river. The only light came from the guide's flashlight. He was a very important man to us! What an adventure.
The main entrance to the second cenote, 9 Mouseholes, is one of the "mouse holes". The 9 holes let in beautiful light below. This 20 foot ladder was well constructed and led to a poured concrete platform. The opening had been chipped away to make it larger.
Looking down as Peggy near the bottom.
Inside the cenote. It was probably about 80 feet in diameter and maybe 30 feet deep. As usual there was a tree near main opening with roots reaching down to the water. Makes for a pretty dramatic sight, no?
The ladder - Peggy just likes this photo!
Back on the truc to the last cenote. This little horse seemed to love pulling us! He clopped along and jumped from one side of the tracks to the other. When we arrived at a cenote, the horse was untied and just grazed freely. If we met another truc coming our way, we stopped and the guide pulled the truc off the tracks and then reset it when the other passed us. He who had the fewest passengers, yielded the right of way! The guide dog ran along behind and he too seemed to just love the 18 kilometer trip. We have a wonderful mental video of this "rail" trip in our brains. Thankfully it's in our brains because we don't have the video on our camera! About half way to the farthest cenote, a section of the tracks was missing. So we had to walk about 100 yards. The horse had to pull the truc over the sand. It seems that a competing group of cenote guides stole that section of track! Oue guide said that his group would re-lay that section in a few weeks. He didn't say where they'd get the tracks! Probably would steal them from a different competing group!
The last cenote. A really big one. About 80 feet across and over 100 feet deep. A guide dropped his cellphone (actually 2 of them) and the water was so clear that the phones could been seen resting on the bottom. Way too deep for a surface dive to retrieve them?
Another random pic, this one of linens at the Gran Hotel.
Decorated Christmas tree at the Palacio (main government office) just off the square in Merida. We took lots of photos for familes using their cameras! Could have stayed there for hours doing that! One of our last trips here, Ed went in an office to see if he could meet the governor. The governor wasn't there but he sure scared a security guard who was reading a newspaper with his feet propped up on the governor's desk!
A restaurant we visited in Merida. A converted old home. Just beautiful. Had "pok chuc" for dinner. That's a marinated pork cut into strips. Delicious along with a local beer, Montejo!
The two cats who adopted us a couple of years ago were still here when we arrived this year. Neighbors Matt and Deb fed them all summer, along with our house caretaker, Dan. Here's the orange kitty sleeping in the kitchen window between the window and the protectoras (wrought iron bars). She's pretty comfy here. This is the cat who will cry for us to turn on the hose so that she can have a drink.
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