Palapa Life

Un Desvío...

2012-01-16T20:37:00.004-06:00

My faithful readers have been wondering what is happening with the palapa. Well, the work crew has been reduced to basically just me, so things are moving along, but more slowly. Also Christmas happened and all that, and we took a “holiday” which is the posting of this detour...

After a month of having workers here, morning to night, we decided to take a break and spend a few days away. We parked our puppy with our neighbors and drove the three hours to Merida. This was to be pre-Christmas shopping and furniture scouting for the palalpa.
It was also our anniversary (The Big 2-5) and while we didn’t have the time or inclination for a Caribbean cruise or the like, we felt we deserved a treat in a big city. Back when ropes were being made out of sisal and henequen, Merida was one of the grandest in the western hemisphere, and is today a renown cultural and commercial centre.
We chose to stay at a classical old hotel, just 1/2 block off the main square, where we could easily avail ourselves of the vibrant night life. On the weekend, the central plaza comes to full life, with market stalls being set up all around, as well as countless food vendors. In the evenings, they close off several streets to vehicles, including the two blocks in front of our hotel, where the streets became malls of more food and music.

Mexican folk dancing (Ballet Folkorico) is practiced practice throughout Mexico and tours the world representing this country's culture. We checked into an events guide and found that the 10th annual symposium of Folklorico was taking place in a theatre just two blocks away, with groups from around Mexico, including participants from the US and Canada.

We wandered down at the appointed time and found this grand theatre with four levels of boxes. It was the opening night, and after many speeches and thank you’s, and two anthems (Mexico and Yucatan?) we were treated to an evening of music and dance from the host city. Just lovely.

Mostly very stylized and formal, with costumes to knock your eyes out.

Our city visit agenda, included scouting for furniture -- specifically for the couch that will be right for our casita. We had already looked through most of the Muebles (furniture) stores in Playa, so with a few recommendations, headed out (without a city map). There were two stores in particular I felt we should check out. The first we found easily, on a main street not far away. The second, when I called them, told me that they were also not far away. I took instructions over the phone, and set out. Finding our hotel, and that first store had been easy so I was confident. Besides virtually all streets in Merida are numbered -- even-numbered streets run north-south, odd-numbered streets run east-west. What we discovered, was that the corner of 20th and 23 occurs all over the city, as the sequence of numbers changes when you go from neighborhood (colonia) to neighborhood. Yes, “Mr. No Problema -- I can drive anywhere” got to see a fair amount of the city as we drove around in a few circles. In the end, we saw a some furniture we liked, but decided to defer.

On Monday we drove out to Uxmal, one of the great historical sites of the ancient Mayans.

Meanwhile, back in the “Centro” near the hotel, the streets were as crowded with pedestrians as I have ever seen. Fortunately the downtown streets are one-way, so you just mosey along, trying not to run over shoppers who are walking with the traffic because the sidewalks were jammed. With each return to the hotel, we left the truck with the valet at the hotel, and ventured out on foot to mix and mingle.
In brief, we didn’t do much buying, but Merida is beautiful, the people and food are great, and we’ll be back.

Christmas in the Jungle

2011-12-16T18:26:00.006-06:00

Yesterday we celebrated Christmas in a Mayan village about an hour and a half from here. Chumpon was ‘adopted’ a few years ago by people in PaaMul, and is about quite a way off the main roads. This is where we built a school library last year.
For a few years a convoy of Paamulians have brought Santa with presents for all the kids in the village. It started with the school kids but has been expanded to include the pre-school children.

Our rotund white-bearded dive shop master, John, serves as and excellent Santa much to the delight of the more than a hundred children.

Susan and our neighbor Dot, took on the new project of the preschool tots.
Through the summer and fall, Susan shopped for toys, stuffed animals and things like coloring books, for their xmas gift bags. Another woman in the park, Debbie, sewed lovely little bags with straps to hold all the treats.
The preschool teacher, Claudia, got most of her little ones to dress in red and white, and we were quite amazed how patient and well-behaved they were.

First we all had snacks and cake, then they lined up to have a go at the piñata. What a hoot. There is a special song that goes with the piñata attack, and one after another of the little ones had a whack. It resisted quite a while amidst much laughter.

Then the gift bags were given out, completing what for many of the kids might be their first Christmas memory.
It was over in a couple of hours, we were exhausted, and drove home for afternoon naps.

We are floored!

2011-12-16T10:24:00.003-06:00

Once we pick our floor, we better be sure as it is what we will be living with.
Walls can be painted, covered with fabric, but ....
The typical floor in this part of the world is ceramic tile. We went through some drama choosing the tiles for our palapa three years ago. (After looking at many, found one we liked, ordered it, the wrong one came, went looking again in a rush, found another tile, drove to the warehouse about an hour away, brought it back in our truck, had it installed, and now are only moderately happy with it -- oh well.)

With another opportunity to choose flooring, we were trying some thinking outside the box. Several friends here have pulled carpets from their rvs and replaced them with laminate. I like laminate. I have installed it several times over many years. As laminate is made with an absorbent base, is not recommended for kitchens and bathrooms. Some of what I read on line, cautioned about its use in humid conditions like new concrete, particularly in this climate.
We looked at solid bamboo flooring, but it was pricey, and meant to be nailed to a subfloor. I couldn’t see how that would work for us.
Then one afternoon, we were in another floor design place and saw these displays of travertine. Wow! This is the stuff that is used in deluxe places like hotels, and up-scale malls, and museums.
It turns our that there is a type of travertine that is mined from a quarry near Puebla (Mx) that had some lovely subtle colors and we thought would be a nice shift from our ‘outside’ palapa area to our ‘inside’ casita.
With our two and a half rooms being only 32 sq. M (345 sq. ft), it was something we decided we could afford.

Like many other aspects of this renovation, once again we were fortunate that it has gone smoothly. They had the material in stock and could start as soon as we were ready. Two guys have been here for the last three days and this morning the floor is going to get final polishing and sealing.
Then paint, then electrical, then furniture, then...

As the dust settles

2011-12-13T21:51:00.005-06:00

At last we brought out the brooms for a proper cleaning. It has been over a month that we have lived in this construction zone. Several times a day, I would grab a broom, shovel or rake in an effort to control the detritus.

Building out of cement involves a lot of grit and dust. Most of the materials - gravel, sand and especially cement are dusty. The same for the stucco, floor adhesive and grout which comes in bags of fine powder. Our hallway at the front entrance has been the storage place for the bags and bags of these powders.
I also created my share of dust, in my role as the electric guy. As the floor, walls and roof went up, I was in there with the diamond blade side grinder to cut all the outlets for the conduits, plugs, plug switches and lighting outlets.
I also was busy with the heavy chisel removing the old floor tiles adhesive and grout along the modified line of the hallway. Pounding a chisel was slow and brutal work, chipping away as though I was working on a rock pile. Still it seemed a bit meditative, swinging away for as long as my hands could take it, resting and going again.
Each pour of cement seemed to include a lot of chipping away where the edges and corners were not quite right. The forms (wood framework for cement pours) are heavily recycled boards of many sizes, and not always a good fit. It seems it is easier / cheaper to chip away the spillover areas than to spend money on good lumber.

Some of the last pieces our albanils installed were glass block windows in the bedroom. Once again Lucio and Gilberto mixed more emulsion of white cement and their part was nearly done.

For the whole month we had some plastic sheets hanging between our kitchen and the work zone to create a little separation between the building area and our living area. These come down yesterday, and today the last bits of cleaning will be done. For now.

Raise High the Roof Beams, Albañils

2011-12-04T22:31:00.006-06:00

The masons who are putting up our casita are called “albañils” in Spanish. I think the old adage which in other parts has been used to refer to Italians, Portuguese and other nationality’s tradesmen, can be used to refer to a typical Mexican, that “he is born with a trowel in his hand!”
Much of Mexico is made of cement blocks, and what isn’t made of cement is made of our other palapa materials -- wood poles and ceramic tile. Very little except doors and furniture is made of lumber. As we have travelled through Mexico it is noteworthy to go through any small region where there are buildings made of boards.

The roof of our casita will be made of cement beams and cement blocks like the rest of the exterior. The cements roofs are assembled in an ingenious method and will be very strong, I’m sure.

Once the walls are up, cement beams are laid across the span of the rooms. These beams are made in the shape of an upside down “T”. They are set to a precise distance apart into which are placed the roof blocks. The roof blocks are shaped with ledges that fit between the beams, dropping into place, side by side, forming a continuous flat interior, ready for stucco.
The roof raising was not a job for the old and weak like me, as the beams weighed about 100 lbs and the huge blocks close to 50 lbs each. It added up to a lot of brute muscle work.

Then more forms are assembled around the upper parameter, and filled with rebar and concrete. The topside is then covered with a steel mesh and covered with a couple more inches of poured concrete, making a solid roof.
When all the forms were fixed in position, my ceiling electrical conduits in place our crew was ready to mix and pour.

This got going about 3 p.m.. Once again we had the motorized cement mixer on hand, making a combination of old methods and the new. Several batches were mixed in the machine, poured into a pool on the ground, then shoveled into pails and lifted hand to hand up a ramp to the roof where it was poured and trowelled.
Dusk arrived at 5:30, and the mixing and pouring went on.
I strung up a few lights from the palapa rafters, and the five guys kept going until the pour was done. With the cleanup of tools and equipment, the guys sat down at 9 p.m. to well earned pizzas and beer.

Playing with blocks

2011-11-24T21:58:00.003-06:00

The bricks and blocks are going up.
As soon as the floor was set, the truckloads of blocks and more cement arrived. It seemed to be going almost too fast. I had drawn my sketches where the walls, doors and windows would go, but I wasn’t getting my “mulling it over” time.
Fortunately, I still have my councillors, our neighbors, Bob & Dale to talk things through with, and clarify a few ideas. The plumbing was an early fait accompli as the drain pipes were set into the concrete poured floor.
I like to design kinetically, so when the floor was established, I came in with some boards and big felt markers to show where the walls of the dividing section -- half bath and closets would fit.

Then came the decisions for the location of the electrical plugs and switches. With a little experience from last time, I was able to incorporate the conduits into channels inside the block walls, rather than drilling through the walls and ceiling later, and thus avoid a maze of conduits along the outer walls and roof. Already I have cut 19 plug outlets running around the perimeter of the rooms (you can never have too many plugs), and several switch places, and run the wires to the location of the sub-panel.
Each couple of hours I walk through the rooms, monitoring the walls going up and marking the openings for the 8 windows and one sliding door.
Even tonight, after our workers had gone, I realized that another light and switch was required, so will be threaded in tomorrow morning before they pour the wall headers.

I am pleased to say, that my guys, Lucio and Paulito are doing a pretty good job. They put in full days from 7 am to dusk, and are easy to talk to - as well as I can with my Spanish building terms, and otherwise they talk cheerily in native Mayan.
The best news is that so far the walls seem to be going up straight.

The Machine Age

2011-11-24T21:51:00.004-06:00

In our five years here in PaaMul and before that our travel up and down the west coast of Mexico, we have had opportunity to observe many building sites. Actually it is hard to miss them if you are traveling through a village or here in the PaaMul park, because of the tradition and practice of mixing concrete on the ground, right out front, on the road or street. First comes the piles of gravel and sand, then the bags of cement and stacks of re-bar.
Then come the workers with their short handled shovels who portion out the ingredients in a pile and adding water, start to mix it all by hand. This works fine when making mortar, which in only needed in small quantities and are transported onto the work-site in pails, but for mixing up larger batches of concrete, even if they are mixing a large batch of sand, gravel and cement, there is only so large a mix-patch you can handle with short shovels, so it takes a while, mixing and pouring over and over again and makes for lumpy, patchy surfaces.

Well much to our surprise, two pieces of motorized equipment showed up at our build. The first was a gasoline riven thumper to tamp down the calica fill that is the base for the floor. This replaced the hand tamper and water hose technique that went on for days when we first were building the other side of our palapa floor a couple of years ago. The thumper hopped around our casita base for several hours, but it compacted very well, I think.

The bigger deal was the arrival of a motorized cement mixer. The first one any of us had seen in PaaMul and attracted a lot of attention. With a crew of four to keep the mixer going, running in and out with the wheelbarrows, and another guy “screeding” the pour, we got the whole floor done in one day. And to top it off, the floor was very level and quite smooth. The modern techniques didn’t go as far as “floating” the surface to get a finished surface such as we would have in our basements or garages up north, but at least is was quite level, and will be quite easy to lay a finished floor.
Yes these motorized tools went faster, and did a better job, but it sure was noisy for a couple of days.

The 3rd Little Piggy...

2011-11-13T10:59:00.006-06:00

“The first little piggy built his house of straw. The second little piggy built his house of wood, and the third little piggy build his house of bricks...” Well you probably remember what happened. “The big bad wolf...etc.”

From that old fairy tale, let me take you through a brief history of Paa Mul. PM started out as tent camping on the beach, which evolved to a trailer park, which evolved to people building palapas for shade next to their trailers, which evolved to building bigger palapas and parking the rvs under them, which evolved to adding patios and outside kitchens which evolved to building part of the structure with cement blocks, and then to building mostly out of block. These are still all under the classic PM palapa.

This may be obscure minutia to most of you readers but bear with me.
Paa Mul is technically a “trailer park” and up to the recent past, all of PM palapas included rvs. Some of the older trailers have been here for 20 or more years and like trailer parks anywhere and especially here, these old trailers were not standing up well to the years of tropical weather. Some of these trailers have been modified and upgraded with stucco exteriors, more substantial floors, new doors and windows, etc. But underneath, they were still flimsy rvs.
A couple of years ago, PM palapa construction went through a phase of “faux” trailers, in which the trailer part of the building was permitted to be built on a steel beam frame, off the ground, with an old axle under the frame, and the rooms built from lumber and sheetrock. Quite complicated and expensive.
Then last winter a few palapas were being built from the ground up with all rooms of cement block. This is basic tropical construction -- very sturdy and inexpensive.
Last spring, we applied for a renovation permit from the office. For unclear reasons, they brought a halt to these cement block non-trailer structures.

Over the summer we found “new/old” trailer and brought it down to be our permanent home here. But as often is said here in Paamul, “Just wait, things will change”.
When we here arrived a couple of weeks ago, we saw that the all-block building had started again. This time our visit to the office was greeted with positive response and our all-brick casita construction is a go.
I brought out my plans, got a quote from our Mayan builder, David, and we are under way. We have moved the trailer across the road to another lot and will live there for the next month or so. The foundations have been dug and this morning as I sat in the loft and wrote this, there was a crew of 4 mixing concrete to pour the footings.

This “casita” will essentially replace the footprint of the trailer, with two rooms and a half bath adding up to approximately 12 x 34 feet and 8 feet tall. Being all cement and stucco, it will nicely compliment our existing rooms -- the kitchen, living, dining, bathroom and bodega.

In the interest of full disclosure, our Mexican home will be made of straw (the palapa roof), wood (the palapa posts and beams), but mainly of bricks (and tile). So I say, bring on the big bad wolf (hurricane), let him/her huff and puff and our home should stand.

Its Ancient History

2011-10-29T08:24:00.009-05:00

Almost everyone who travels into Mexico will become aware of the ancient cultures that once populated this part of the world and the cities they built. Over the last decade of traveling in Mexico we have visited several of these ancient sites, and walked on stones that were laid so many centuries ago.

The indigenous people of Mexico domesticated of corn about 9000 years ago, and went on to build large, complex societies.
Much of this Mesoamerica legacy stands in the remains of pyramids scattered through the country and down into Central America. According to one source, there are 4000 separate sites of ancient ruins, most of which have not been uncovered. These cities, each flourished for many centuries, and for various reasons, expired, and were abandoned. The jungle then grew back around them and over them, and they mostly disappeared.

We stopped at the RV Park in Cholula and walked across the city to the site of The Great Pyramid of Cholula, also known as Tlachihualtepetl. It is the largest archaeological site of a pyramid (temple) in the Americas. The pyramid stands 55 metres (180 ft) above the surrounding plain and in its final form it measured 400 by 400 metres (1,300 by 1,300 ft).

We got a very good guide, Proferio, a retired biology teacher, who spoke excellent, if deliberate English. He first took us through the museum and explained the models, and then on a hike around the site. When the Spanish arrived, they built a church on the top of the pyramid.

A couple of days later we arrived at an rv park we knew near Palenque.
The Palenque ruins date back to 100 BC to its fall around 800 AD. After its decline it was absorbed into the jungle, but has been excavated and restored and is now a famous archaeological site attracting thousands of visitors.

By 2005, the discovered area covered up to 2.5 km² (1 sq mi), but it is estimated that less than 10% of the total area of the city is explored, leaving more than a thousand structures still covered.

As we approached the coast we had an opportunity to stop along the highway near several more sites. We were at a Pemex (gas station) when the attendant spoke some English. We were considering staying there for the night, and the Pemex guy, Abram mentioned that he was soon coming off shift and could take us to visit the nearby ruins a of Kohunlich. We all, including Pippin, squeezed into Don & Pat’s van and spent a lovely afternoon hiking around another remnant of ancient life.
The site was settled by 200 BC, but most of the structures were built in the Early Classic period from about 250 to 600 AD.

Abram showed us a tree that had peeling bark, which the locals call a “tourist tree”. Yes, it is because many of the pink people from the north come down for their holidays and get sunburned.

It is somewhat mind-bending to see these old sites and hear about these ancient history. We have learned that little is clearly known about these ancient cultures. Their populations grew and subsided several times. They were scientifically advanced in many areas, and very spiritual, building great temples wherever they settled. For this they needed to cut down vast forests of trees to burn limestone to make cement which may have caused a breakdown in their water and food supply.
There are few remaining traces of their written history, as when the Spanish arrived in the 1500’s, they destroyed all that they found. Still, their descendants have survived and largely adapted and integrated to modern life. True indigenous people make up a very small proportion of Mexican population. The vast majority is comprised of Mestizoes -- people of mixed heritage. A nice blend to what there is from the old and the new, I think.

SMA / GTO/ DH

2011-10-19T09:05:00.009-05:00

We drove a day and a half from the US border to San Miguel de Allende, one of our favorite stopover points driving through Mexico. This is our 5th visit to SMA, and a great place to take a breather and smell the fresh air.
On some trips we have spent a week or two here where we have taken intensive Spanish language classes,festivals and and once the “Day of The Dead” celebrations, as well as lots of strolling along the bustling streets and markets. If you don’t know, SMA is one of the more popular places for US and Canadian ex-pats to visit and settle. At 6000 feet, it has an “ideal” climate -- never too hot in the summer, and at this latitude, pleasantly warm in the winter. It is a haven for many artists and musicians with an active bilingual cultural life.

Each visit we scour the Artisans Market and pick up a few things for our palapa.

On Sunday we lingered in the main plaza and eavesdropped on a couple of the strolling mariachi bands.

Our regular rv place, La Siesta, is now under re-development, so we are very comfortably parked at the San Ramon Balianerio just a few kms up the road. As well as having a warm swimming pool and a hotel, it is a working farm with fields and animals on the property. It is just enough off the road to be peaceful in the evenings, and fortunately, does not have barking dogs and crowing roosters nearby, which always seem to be in the next yard in city parks.

Yesterday we took a day trip to Guanajuato and Dolores Hidalgo, two other special cities in this area.

Guanajuaoto (GTO) is a Unesco Heritage City, is set neatly in a valley of narrow winding streets, stairways and colorful buildings. It is also known for its university and cultural life.

We took the fanicular up to an overlook place for an amazing vista view. Susan suggested that it looks like looking into a bowl of brightly coloured candy.

In Guanajuato has a unique traffic system where virtually all traffic is diverted to underground tunnels, sort of a subway system, except for vehicles. They are dimly lit, narrow, and usually just one lane next to parked cars. We had a little help from a tourist guide who hopped on the back of the truck, calling out directions, “a la derecha” (right) “derecho” (straight), and “esquierda” (left) and led us to a parking garage near the plaza centro. At the parking garage, Don got out to guide me through the forward and back turning to get us around the tight turns and ramps up to the only available spot on the 5th level. Tunnel driving and parking garages -- just part of the adventure!

We drove back through Delores Hidalgo, which is the centre for the ceramic industry in Mexico. There are dozens of factories and warehouses with huge displays of their products. Once again we found a few items to add colourful Mexican winter home.

No Warranty -- No Recall!

2011-10-12T08:37:00.004-05:00

The gypsy life of living in a “caravan” has now reached five years full time, 80,000 kms, and still going strong...

It was summer, 2006, when we packed up our house in North Vancouver, put a few remaining household possessions and keepsakes into storage and took to the road with our truck and 5th wheel. After that winter in Mexico, we came up to Ontario to visit our kids, and have made Ontario our regular summer home.

Our trusty 06 Chevy Silverado diesel passed a significant mark this summer, as it crossed 160,000 kms (100,000 miles). It has been very reliable, having only needed oil changes and tires. So a couple of weeks ago, I treated her to all new fluids, as in: tranny, differentials, rad, brakes, etc. One of the cooling hoses had a small leak and was replaced, and we should be good to go for many more years. This is our second GM truck, (our first was a 99 GMC 1/2 ton) and I am a great believer in the quality and durability of domestic trucks, especially the GM’s.

As for our Cardinal 5th wheel trailer home, it has served us well. We have adapted to living in 250 sq. ft. A couple of months ago, I was reading an article in the travel section of the Toronto Star where the reporter was bemoaning his experience rv-ing across Canada with his family (which included two teen-agers). I wrote him a letter suggesting that he was missing a few points. I said in part: “Space is relative. We have lived in all sizes of houses, with all kinds of family members. All you need is a little willingness, and, you can accommodate living space to almost any size.
“We have rv-ed, full time, all over North America for 5 years. Just today, sitting under our awning, reading and watching the birds, I asked my wife when she was thinking we'd be moving back to a house. "Not for a while I hope", I was happy to hear.”

This summer I went through a small ledger which I keep a record of our various trips. Driving from Ontario to the Texas/Mexico border is over 3000 kms. On our trips north through the US, we have usually meandered a bit, going along the Gulf Coast states and up the Atlantic. We have been to New Orleans, Charleston, Savannah, and Washington each a couple of times. Our longest drive through the US has been 4600 kms.
Once we cross the border into Mexico, it takes at least 2800 kms to reach our beach home in Paamul. In these five years we have been around much of Mexico - up and down the Pacific coast, the interior, and along the east Gulf coast.
With five years of the north-south, and some trips around Canada, I added up the distances that the Cardinal trailer had traveled and was surprised it added up to 80,000 kms. That is twice around the circumference of the earth! I think that is unusual milage for travel trailers.
So we have decided to give our Cardinal some rest. We have “winterized” it for the first time and put it in storage for our return to Canada in the spring.
We found a second 5th wheel trailer, and now taking it down to Paamul to be installed in our palapa. It is a Prowler, about the same size, a little older but in good shape. So we moved “house” transferring our goods, sorting what we will want to bring that will remain in Mexico and what gets left behind for our summers in Canada. Well, actually, our summer and winter stuff is much the same, shorts and t-shirts with a few pair of jeans and a fleece or two. Which sandals and running shoes are we leaving behind and which go? Tough choices!

I suppose we will continue to drive -- it is a beautiful continent, and there is more we want to explore, but it will be more relaxing to travel without the 12,000 lbs on the hitch. We might put a small camper on the back of the truck, but eventually we will start flying down.
Who knows what the future holds?

As I am finishing this report, we are in Austin Texas, about ready to cross into Mexico. We have met up with Susan’s brother and wife, from BC, and will be showing them our route and our favorite stops along the way. We try to follow the dictum of “Life in the slow lane -- it is not about the destination, but the journey.”

Stormy weather...

2011-05-03T22:17:00.002-05:00

For all the years we have been rving, we have been aware that when Mother Nature gets rowdy, it is often the trailer parks which suffer the worst damage. Hey, that is where we live!
Our place on the beach in Mexico is in an area that hurricanes sometimes visit. When a hurricane is forming it is tracked for days. The last hurricanes in the Yucatan were in 2005, when one battered Cancun, 80 km to the north, and another made land near Chetumal about three hours drive to the south of us. There were some storm surges that affected Paamul, a few of the older, smaller palapas were damaged and some roof repair was required. Hurricanes which form over the ocean are followed for days, and their paths are forecast with enough time for people to batten down the hatches and get in a vehicle and generally avoid them.

However, tornadoes (twisters) are different. I’m no expert on the whole meteorological thing, but from what I see, twisters happen here and there as storms pass over wide inland areas where people live and rvers like us travel. Tornadoes form quickly and within minutes are creating havoc, with their paths having little predicable pattern. However, they are usually small in dimension and (we cross our fingers) they won’t find us.
When we left Texas a week ago as there was some heavy weather in the forecast. As we drove through Arkansas, we heard that there were storms behind us. When we stopped in Nashville we had a few nervous days as it rained hard for periods but the worst passed to the north and the south of us. Then as we headed further east in bright sunshine, we heard the news reports of the massive destruction that has raged through wide swaths of the US southeast.

The next morning we drove from Tennessee into Virginia and we saw first-hand some of the destruction. The news showed pictures of whole flattened neighborhoods and a death toll reaching 340! Ayee!

Sometimes I think we’re the Blessed Irish...
“May the road rise up to meet you.
May the wind always be at your back.
May the sun shine warm upon your face,
and rains fall soft upon your fields...”

Notes from the Road North

2011-04-17T20:34:00.006-05:00

Packing up our winter home is never easy. Each year we have added more stuff to our palapa that needs to be dealt with. Our last week in Paamul was also very hot and humid, so I suggested to Susan that we take it in little bites -- work an hour, then escape to the A/C of the trailer, work another hour, and go for a swim, etc. The swims were particularly refreshing and energizing.

Still we got things together, on schedule and Wed. morning were hitching up the truck. Then a setback. Well, 3 actually, as in bad luck comes in threes...
The first started a couple of days earlier as I was servicing the two batteries that run the 12 volt circuits in the trailer. One of them was way down in water, and when I added more, got all hot and stinky. These are special deep-cycle batteries that work hard for us 12 months a year. The first set I had to replace after two years. I replaced them premium ones and they have now worked for nearly 4 years. So with one battery out, I bypassed it and we are now working on the one left. With less reserve power, it will restrict the time we are able to be dry-camping.
The front of the trailer rests on two jacks that raise and lower it to fit on to the truck hitch. The jacks are driven by a low-geared 12 volt electric motor that always seems to be straining hard to lift its weight. The two jacks are connected by a drive shaft and that morning, one of the jacks decided that it had had enough and snapped off its connecting pin. The one jack still worked, so I brought out our little bottle hydraulic jack, and between the two were able to raise up the front enough to get it hitched.
And the third; well, the bedroom slide is acting wobbly. I help it go in and out, but that too will have to be fixed when we get to an RV service depot NOB.

With consideration to all the fatigue and delay of the pack-up, we drove just 4 hours down the road to a lovely park in Chetumal, where we overlooked the sea and a brisk warm breeze blowing from it.
On many of our trips up and down Mexico, we have overnighted in Pemex (the Mexican national fuel company) truck stops. They are usually free, though sometimes you tip the night watchman, they are always noisy, as they are right on the roadways, with transport trucks coming and going. and usually hot and sticky, because we only have one little 12 volt fan.
This time I set a schedule that would take us from RV Park to RV Park.
So the second night, we made our first visit to a park in Villahermosa. It was handy, just a couple blocks off the highway, much quieter, and much cooler with all our electric fans going.

The next day I got overoptimistic. Going west down Hwy. 150, there is a long stretch of expensive toll road that has always been in very poor shape. Last fall, as we drove down with Joe & Marilyn, he showed us the alternate “Libre” (free) road that runs sort of parallel but through farms, villages and towns. It is a much prettier drive, but slower.

I knew it would be slower, but how much slower, we soon found out. There were just two narrow lanes, filled all kinds of traffic, from transport trucks to old farm vehicles. And there seemed to be more villages than I remembered, each with their many topes (speed bumps) to ease our big trailer over. Then a couple of hours into the route, the traffic came to a complete stop. A few vehicles would go through, and then stop again. Eventually we were at the front. I walked up to see what was going on. It was a protest by local people about injustices. There were plenty of signs and cel phones. “Codeci Demands Justice” and “We Demand the Liberation of Cuauhtemoc”

There were perhaps fifty people milling around. The police came and left, and came back and left again. Assurances that it would be just a while longer dragged on. Fortunately, we had our diesel truck that could idle forever, and we had our books. Four hours later, they pulled back the barricade and the huge lineups started moving. By this time we were well out of range of our destination, and so found a truck stop and settled in as best we could. The afternoon temp had risen to nearly 100F and it barely cooled at night.

The next day we got into the highlands (over 7000 ft.) to Cholula, and settled in to a tidy RV park surrounded by blooming Jacaranda trees -- with Susan’s favorite beautiful purple blossoms. Cholula a suburb of Puebla, and we rested and did some sight seeing.
Puebla is a planned city begun in the 16th century to be the stop-over between Mexico City and Veracruz. Work started with the main plaza and the government buildings and the huge cathedral around the square.

About a block away was the oldest house in Puebla, the “Castle del Dean” which was finished in 1580. Quite different from the frontier cities to the north.

Puebla is the birthplace of Mole Poblano, the unique sauce that I wrote about last month. We got on the local transit bus and it took us racing to Puebla Centro where we walked around and then started asking about where we could get a good Mole for lunch. We ended up at a hotel off the centro, where we had a five course lunch for under 10 dollars. I soaked up all the mole sauce with tortillas. Yum.

From Cholula, we had a short drive to Queretero another city we have long wanted to check out, but with the trailer tethered to the truck, we stayed in the rev park. The next day, we spent our last Mexican night in Matahuela. That park at the Las Palmas Hotel, was another good addition to our travel possibilities. It has a large clean pool that was just the thing after a hot afternoon drive. It also has great wifi, and checking the rv.net forum, I found there was another couple in an rev park a couple of hours north of us who were inquiring about different crossing to the US.

As many of my readers will know, there has been a lot of reports about the trouble and violence in some of the border areas. The general consensus is now to avoid our old route through the congested east side. I responded that we were returning north right up Hwy. 57 (the way we came down last fall) and would be happy to hook up and lead the way. We left Matahuela early and joined up with Randall & Pam a couple of hours later, and had a very easy trip up to the frontier and breezed through the border, getting to US customs by 5 pm.

We love Mexico. We love the Mexican people we meet. WE love the friends that we have made who share our winters. However, some aspects of Mexico’s casual nature and random bureaucracy can be frustrating.
The roads and highways are getting better every year, but navigating the signage and the routing can be challenging and tiring.
Crossing into the US, being given a thorough cavity search (the truck and trailer cavities) by surly US border officials, it was still some relief to be back in the land of English; the land of wide roads and good highway signs; the land of GPS;and the land of 30 amp electric.
Our first night in Texas was spent at the border town of Eagle Pass, inn the RV parking area of a casino. What a culture shock. I have never seen the appeal of casinos, even Las Vegas, but for convenience, we wandered through the casino to the overpriced and overcooked buffet restaurant. To get there we had to go through the maze of the slot machines, through crowds of glassy eyed people in front of blinking lights and ringing bells. It seemed so gloomy, so commercial, so inauthentic, and so unsocial. Of course the casino offered no wifi (the outside world shall not enter the gambling den) and now on our second night out of Mexico, we are at a park just outside of San Antonio, near where we will be getting our trailer serviced, and while they advertise wifi, it is almost non-functional. Hmnn, after enjoying good internet all our trip through Mexico, we feel a little cut off from the big wide world.

Our six months in Mexico are over for another year, and now we have a few weeks to wander through the US. Each trip we see some neat places and meet some good people. WE will never see it all, but we will enjoy the journey.

Mañana Month

2011-03-05T10:28:00.005-06:00

I haven’t been blogging for several weeks, as many days I felt, “mañana...”.
Mañana everyone knows is Spanish for “tomorrow” -- as in, “I’ll do it tomorrow”. Its one of the aphorisms down here that when you ask a a Mexican “When?” and you get the answer “Mañana,” it doesn’t necessarily mean “tomorrow”, but rather, “just not today...”.

A whole bunch of stuff was happening through Feb. and most days were too busy and nights too tired. Ahh, mañana...
Susan’s brother, Rob and wife Cheryl came to visit again for a couple of weeks. They have really taken to this area and once again rented a car for a week and did some exploring.
Of course we did a lot of eating, and one night Rob & Cheryl put together a Mole chicken dish, which was delicious. (Mole is pronounced like olé!)

I didn't get a picture of our plates but it looked something like this pic.
Mole Chicken is a classic Mexican dish, and over many years, I have tried it several times in restaurants and never quite liked it even though I thought I should. Besides spices, most mole contains a lot of dark chocolate, and I like chocolate. However, since that dinner a few weeks ago,I have been converted. I have even had it at taco stands, and Susan made mole chicken at home again. Maybe it is an acquired taste, but I am now all about the Mole. Of course it is not that simple, because there is mole and there is mole. At all the big food stores here there are vats of several kinds of thick, brown or green, suspect looking mole paste. I’m not competent with my culinary Spanish to make informed choices. Some of it is labeled with “dulce” which means sweet, which we chose to avoid. The one we tried the first time was labeled with “anjoli” which we call Angelina Jolie. Then we found out that “anjoli” means “sesame seeds”.

Music Update --
Our band went on hiatus when Carlos returned to Spain, and Mike’s family when for a trip to Guatamala, but Jim and I soldiered on with rehearsing a few new tunes for another Saturday Night Live. This time I brought out a Chris Smither song, “Don’t Call Me Stranger”, and a Valentine‘s dedication to Susan of Leonard Cohen’s “I’m Your Man”.

It was another lovely night with several of our previous performers plus contributions from our neighbor, Dot, with a poem about gossip in Paamul,

and Susan recited the classic “Albert and the Lion”. Our featured set was from Kevin Shipman, who worked for years as a successful musician.

Fitting a square peg into a round hole...

For the past weeks, I have been slowly building a screen room in our loft. We love sleeping up there in the fresh air, but it was a big nuisance getting tangled in the mosquito net hanging over the bed. So I would lie there thinking about how to enlage the space. The new room takes up about half the loft. Others who have build screen rooms said that the downside was looking up to a screen that collected dirt and dust above your head. So I designed it to have a short solid wall along one side, which then becomes a solid section of ceiling going up on an angle under the roof beams. Then the balance of the ceiling and the other three walls are screen. As the palapa is build with poles, sticks and grass, its structure is not square or straight. So every piece of the framework had to be carefully measured and fitted one by one. We chose to coat the plywood sheets, frame and trim pieces with varnish. Two coats of varnish on every piece after it was measured and cut took a lot of brushing and waiting for drying. So what I concieved to be a simple framework structure, went to go on and on. It is virtually done, with just a few pieces of trim to install, but we are sleeping in the new space -- quite grand!

Hey-- I’m with the band...

2011-01-31T21:13:00.003-06:00

When some folks get to talking about gettin’ old, as in being retired and not having much ‘regular’ stuff to do, they might say it‘s a good time to tap into some dreams of their youth. To revisit their childhood, to get down to some fun stuff, to go and play.
Of course it is important to find a good yard to play in, where you can find some good playmates.
Such a place is our winter home here in Paamul.
I wrote in this blog last winter about the joy of rekindling my old folk singing roots. We had a “guitar /song group” that met once a week. Our group, Joe, Mike R., Jim and I have been joined by a couple of others, Kahish and sometimes Richard and others.
There are a couple of others in PM who are working on their music : Mike M. and Carlos. Mike, who with his wife Veronique, have a boutique vineyard and winery in Quebec, has taken up the Fender electric guitar, and Carlos, a massage therapist, who comes to Paamul from Spain is a drummer.
You know when you throw a pebble in a pond and it makes ripples? Well, if you want to make some bigger ripples, you got to get some rock!

Rock on!!!
Jim, who started in our guitar group a couple of years ago, decided to take up the bass. He has always wanted to be in a rock band, so this year, asked me to join him, Mike and Carlos and see what we could put together. We only had Carlos for a month, so we had to work quickly. We had access to a couple of amps and one mic and began to make some noise.
Once we started, we seemed to click. First we thought we might only work on a few tunes, but it seemed to be going well and we added a few more.
We rehearsed a few different places in the park and attracted a few listeners. Then we were invited to play at a party at Lester’s house. Our debut went pretty well, with our 10 song repertoire and we thought we should do it again. So I came up with the idea of an all music evening in our back yard -- Saturday Night Live!

I set up a lighted stage area on our patio and put out the word. It was a great evening as about 40 people brought their chairs and drinks. This time we had our guitar/ song group join in with a few tunes each, ending with “the band” .

We have been throwing around a few names for our group but nothing has stuck.

One more time!
There is a popular bar in Playa del Carmen called Bad Boys. It is right on the beach, and two nights a week, it has a live rock ‘n’ roll house band, “The Nasty Bastards” The “Bastards” are a 6 man group who do straight ahead rock cover tunes. It‘s their tradition to finish the evening with guest appearances, usually vocalists who join the band to sing a number from the band’s playbook. We thought we might show up as a group and give it our shot.
What a blast! The place was packed - drinking, dancing and enjoying the big sound system. As I was listening to the “Bastards” performing, I feared we were way out-classed. However, we were on the list and couldn’t stop now. Besides, a couple dozen of our Paamulians had come along to see us.
After the band’s break, we were called up and shown where to plug in, and before we could take a breath, we were off. When the MC asked us our name, we jokingly said it was “To Be Determined” He added a “Yet”, then shortened it to “YTBD”
We knew we could only play a few tunes, so we started of with Dion’s “The Wanderer”, then “Love Potion #9”, and “Buddy Holly’s “That’ll Be The Day”. When the guy in charge gave us the nod for one more, we jumped to Chuck Berry’s “Johnny B Goode” Mike was shredding on the lead guitar, Carlos was hopping on the drums, Jim was driving a wonderful big bass sound, and yours truly thrashed out the rythm guitar and vocal.
Yes, it seemed that we did okay. I thought it was our best. Several strangers in the audience give us props and our friends were most complimentary. I just wished I could have been out front to hear it too.
As our group sauntered along 5th Avenue back to the parking lot, I will admit to feeling a little high. No doubt this was helped by the triple chocolate Blizzard I was eating from the local DQ!

Two-wheel Tune-up.

2011-01-08T09:18:00.003-06:00

Susan and I have old bikes for riding around Paamul. I bought mine at a yard sale about 20 years ago - a real solid Kuwahara mountain bike - no shocks, but strong enough to last for years more. I was riding through Guelph Lake Park a couple of years ago, a very popular biking place, and another rider commented as he overtook me “Wow, a classic”. I took it as a compliment.
Anyway, I have hauled our bikes south and north for years, bouncing around on a bike rack, adding dirt and other road detritus to their patina.
(I’ve always liked the word “patina”. While it properly refers to tarnish on bronze and other metals, or the wear and weathering of lovely things like wooden furniture, I often use the exalted “patina” to glorify an old pair of work jeans, paint splatters on my shoes or the state of my t-shirts from my careless eating habits. But I digress.)
After several seasons of wintering first on the Pacific coast and then on this Caribbean, the coastal salt air has added a lot of rust. As some gears were not used regularly, some metal parts had gotten jammed up good. Maybe this was the time to give my “Classic K” a little service.
I had thought about a bike tune-up last summer up in Canada. My main sprocket gear shifter did not budge at all, and the rear shifter was sticky. Several bike shops quoted me a “Spring Tune-up Special” of $75. (reg. price $90.) with parts extra. That seemed steep for my old machine, as I had only paid $60 for it in the first place. Still not having all my gears did limit its capabilities around the Ontario hills.
When I unpacked the bike this fall, I found that one tire would not hold air for long, and with the other issues I lifted it up into the truck and took it into town.
I knew this little bike shop near the tennis park, and took it there. I communicated that the rear tire wouldn’t hold air -- new tube please. No problem. Quanto? (How much?) $25 (pesos -- the Mexican symbol for pesos is the same as our dollar sign, very confusing).
Then I pointed out that the cables running from the handle bars to the gear shifters were badly rusted. Change them? Si, $40. So two guys went to work on my bike, installed the new tube, and then sprayed penetrating fluid and other oils on the shifters. The main sprocket shifter, which hadn’t moved in more than a year, was frozen, requiring a new shifter. How much? $90. Okay. So they put on the new shifter, got all the gears adjusted and working well, give it an overall spray and wipe-down with silicone, and I’m good to go.
Altogether, it took close to 45 minutes. Time to pay up?
Quanto? Noventa. Ninety? For everything? Si.
As we were adding repairs to my bike, they were giving me the running total, not the individual costs, as I had assumed.
In the end, I gave the guy a hundred with many thanks. A hundred pesos is somewhere just over 8 dollars Canadian. A good job, a good deal, and I’m a good little boy riding my bike again.

Happy New Year in rhyme...

2011-01-01T10:57:00.007-06:00

Last night, as we were enjoying New Years Eve dinner with our neighbors, Bob and Dot, we of course, got to talking about the year past and the year ahead. Then Dot pulled out a sheet of paper and shared the poem below.
I suppose it is a little personal, but I would like to share it, firstly because it is so sweeeeet and secondly, because it expresses a bit more of what I try to portray of our life down here.
Regular readers of this blog will know that we met Bob and Dot our first year here in Paamull, and after we both decided to build palapas, chose to build them side by side and share in a lot of the planning, building and finishing. We have our back yards and patios conjoined and Susan and Dot do our gardening together. Bob and I designed and built our kitchen cabinets together. We are always sharing rides in to town for building supplies and groceries.
As Paamul is an ex-pat community far from our northern homes, I observe that it is quite usual for this sharing and caring with our fellow Paamulians.
However, I have to say that Bob and Dot are special. Dot has a habit of bringing a some newly minted verses to celebrate birthdays and anniversaries that we share. Indulge us here in which which Susan and I would like to “pay forward” our best wishes for a Good New Year to you.

New Year’s Eve 2010

I thought I’d write a poem inspired by our way
of living together, harmonious every day
It’s quite amazing isn’t it, the way we work it out?
The sharing and the borrowing and never once a shout.

Our individual quirks are just accepted as okay
In fact I’ve grown quite fond of yours, those funny little ways.
And mine, of course, are minimal and normal by all counts
Unless you note that thing I do, that snippy little trounce.

But that’s enough of harping on the things that could annoy
I really meant to talk about the things that bring me joy.
Like asking for an onion when I’m desperate for one
Or sitting sipping beverages at the setting of the sun.

Or even just concurring that so-and-so’s an ass
Then gossiping about him, with you it seems not crass.
Admiring Glen’s pajamas & his arctic robe as well,
And Susan’s recitations -- now those are really swell.

I guess I’d sum it up by simply saying this,
You are truly very special, and when summer comes we miss
Your lovely smiling faces but it brings us peace to know
That in the fall you’ll join us when harvest moon’s aglow.

Long winded though I am, there’s something more I need to say
This evening‘s very special cause tomorrow’s New Year’s Day
A day when we look forward to good things that are our due
And when we do, the list is topped by who else but you two.

Happy New Year.

Navidad 2010 ...Old traditions and New

2010-12-28T19:39:00.013-06:00

About the time I spent my first Christmas with Susan and her young kids, I was introduced to Frank Capra’s movie “It’s A Wonderful Life”. Susan recalls phoning me at my studio downtown and urging me to come home to watch it on TV. From that day on, the Yuletide has included a viewing of “Wonderful Life”. Interestingly I was not alone in discovering the old b&w film around then.
When the film was made in 1946, it received mixed reviews and did not even return its budget at the box office. While it did get 5 Oscar nominations, it was shut out by the year’s big winner, another sentimental classic, “The Best Years of our Lives”
That his film had this renaissance came as a welcome surprise to Frank Capra and others involved with it. "It's the damnedest thing I've ever seen," Capra told the Wall Street Journal in 1984. "The film has a life of its own now and I can look at it like I had nothing to do with it. I'm like a parent whose kid grows up to be president. I'm proud… but it's the kid who did the work.
Anyway in our house, “Wonderful Life” became our annual staple. For several years it played numerous times leading up to Dec. 25, so much so that Michael memorized the bulk of the dialogue. Our Mike, who has earned degrees in theater and voice teaching does a great Jimmy Stewart and the other characters too.
Right on schedule, “Wonderful Life” showed up on the Dec 24 TV menu. For a while, as baby Amelia was going to sleep, we played it with the sound down, and Mike did the voice-overs.

Overnight, Santa found his way to our little grass shack and filled all our stockings. Every good little girl and not so little person got little toys and candies. Mike & ReBecca got a taste of Mexico via pineapple lollipops that come with spicy chili powder (!); Susan got a nice selection of diabetic sweets and cookies (our local Chedruai was well stocked in these.) I missed getting the traditional Terry’s chocolate orange but filled my belly with many other sweets during morning coffee (only at Xmas.) I was lucky enough to get my annual year-end magazine -- this year Susan found an English language GQ with “Men of the Year”.

Pippin was recruited to be an elf but did not look too thrilled about that.

It is never too early to start with media awareness, don’t you think? Amelia first enjoys some quality video with her mom.

A little later, she goes through the magazine with her dad. “Yes, that is Stephen Colbert, one of GQ’s Men of the Year. Can you say ‘truthiness?’...Yes, I know they should be called Persons of the Year, and they will be when you grow up.”

We (Susan) cooked an 18lb turkey with all the trimmings. It was so nice to sit down with the start of our third generation. This picture was taken just before we sat down and popped our xmas crackers and put on our funny hats. Months ago when we were still up north, Susan made our Xmas plum pudding. Then a couple of days ago, we sought out some real New Zealand butter and she prepared the hard sauce. Even though we were predictably stuffed, the hot pudding was brought flaming to the table to be topped with the brandy-soaket hard sauce. (Hmnn, booze...It’s only once a year!)
Living with a toddler’s energy is certainly part of the “new”. We had dinner around 5 and then after we ate and did a basic clean up it was quiet time again. Normally we would be playing some boisterous board games -- well, maybe next time. On the other hand, we grandparents are getting older every year, and early quiet times and bed times are more and more welcome.

And a child came from the north...

2010-12-24T17:58:00.008-06:00

And we unwrapped her swaddling (Toronto) clothes and place her in shorts and a t-shirt.

We have one grandchild and she is visiting with her mom & dad for Christmas. What a lovely focus to all our attention.

At just 1+ year, she gives real meaning to the word toddler as she is walking around like a drunken sailor ( her dad’s words), and so her movements are shadowed by an adult at all times.

As a perfect little girl, she is quite gentle and understands the words “pat, pat” as in don’t grab the xmas tree or the dog.

She has been to the beach several times and just loves the feeling of the sand between her toes and running through her fingers. Watching her delight in these discoveries is wonderful.

Perhaps I am biased but I believe Amelia is overflowing in charm and is totally irresistable.

Tomorrow will be xmas morning and we are preparing stockings for everyone. Of course there will be more pictures to record the event, and the images will be there to remind her of that first xmas in Mexico when she is older and able to process and store her memories. I guess that is what photos are for.
I know I can’t remember events when I was very young and then only the ones that have a black and white photo to go along with it.

24 and counting...

2010-12-13T11:53:00.005-06:00

Susan & I just celebrated our 24th anniversary of the day of our wonderful wedding. We were able to share it with our friends Ken & Shirley who were visiting us from our old home town of North Vancouver. The afternoon was warm and calm and so we headed into the town of Playa for a stroll along 5th Avenue and a sunset walk on the wide white beach. As we strolled along, we happened onto a wedding that had just taken place in front of a beach-side hotel. The young couple was now enjoying their reception in the adjacent restaurant. Ken suggested that Susan & I introduce ourselves and give them our good wishes and share our good fortune for that portentous date, Dec 6. Rather than bother them we stepped over to the little wedding arbour that was still on the sand and added our good vibes vicariously.

As an anniversary treat, Ken & Shirley took us to dinner at one of the neatest restaurants any of us had ever been to. It is set underground in a cenote.
For those who may not know, cenotes form the water drainage system through much of the Yucatan penninsula. There are no surface rivers anywhere in this large area, as it the land is made up of porous rock, mostly limestone. Over the centuries, the rainwater seeping into the rock formed cavities and underground waterways that created cisterns of water for this population and underground drainage to the sea.
A cenote can range from a little sinkhole that might swallow up a fridge or a WV to vast caverns. Several cenotes in this area have been developed into commercial swimming pools, with some of the larger ones including snorkeling and even scuba diving.

The Alux Restaurant is mainly a series of dry caves that form a scattered collection of imaginatively decorated rooms connected by passwageways, all artfully lit with coloured lights. Stalactites and stalagmites abound.
We were seated near a grotto with a small small waterfall that added even more atmosphere.
The service and the meal were superb. Ken and Shirley, who have traveled a lot and have frequented many fine dining places were impressed.

Our waiter, Vicente, created our finale, a flaming fruit dessert.
Muchas gracias to Ken & Shirley for this memorable night.

Being a Tourist!

2010-12-12T20:06:00.011-06:00

I’m sure we have all heard and most of us have said, that when we travel, we like to mix with the real people, the locals, the natives. That we don’t want to go just where the tourists go. That we don’t want to do just what the tourists do.
I betcha it is even more said/heard among RVers, because we are more likely to be adventurers and independent.
I know I have said to many people how much I like to visit the smaller towns and move among the locals and that this or that place was “too touristy”
When we go to places such as historic sites or buildings, Susan and I tend to stay clear of tour groups and guides. We have gone many places and wandered around, largely in some ignorance of the place’s history, pretending, at some level, that we were discovering the place for ourselves.
My excuse is that I would likely soon forget much of the information a guide might dispense. Furthermore, I do like to wander around, unscheduled, gathering my own impressions, and even speculating in the dark.

As this is our 10th year of spending some or most of the winter down here in Mexico, I have come to think of ourselves as “not tourists”. While we still travel on the FMM (tourist) visas, we are in Mexico for most of six months a year. We have invested in our palapa which is an asset we are committed to, and hopefully will enjoy for years to come.
I savour the difference between us and those visitors who come here to Mexico for a week or two. When we are out and about and we happen to be talking to these shorter term visitors, I sometimes mention that we spend our whole winters here, and that we drive down and back. It is a way to inviting them to join us, or at least consider retiring to beautiful Mexico.

So it was with some excitement and mixed feelings that we signed on last week to do a very touristy thing, a “Swim with the Dolphins”
Dolphins are renowned as one of the sweetest, most intelligent life forms on this earth. Being able to interact with them in the wild is rare. (Some years ago, Susan, who is almost a fish herself, was swimming a little off shore on a beach in Maui. As usual, I had a short dip and had retreated to dry land with a book. When I glanced up, I saw a bunch of black fins cutting through the water right towards Susan. In some alarm, ran into the water. They didn’t seem like large fins, and in fact were a pod of dolphins which gracefully swam close to her. They circled around and checked her out and then swam away. Lovely for Susan!)

Swimming with the Dolphins is quite an operation in tropical zones. Here in the Mayan Riviera, there are several places that feature this activity. Just a few kms down the highway, is a fairly big development, Puerto Aventuras (Hotels, Marina, restaurants, etc.) that has a well established program, called Dolphin Discovery. We have gone there several times to walk around, and watch the dolphin shows which run almost every hour. The people are obviously having fun and the dolphins too, seem to to be enjoying themselves. There are about 6 dolphin pools spread around, each one with one or two pair of dolphins. There are trainers who each work with a pair, and at peak times, two trainers each with two dolphins, will be working in the same large water pool, each with a group of people doing different exercises with them. I have watched them closely many times and am continually amazed at how well the dolphins know what to do and where to swim to in the pool to do it. They never seem to get lost or mixed up with the other dolphins, the other trainers, or the other group of people. The trainers use a little whistle and small hand gestures to instruct the dolphins and the dolphins are rewarded with some tasty fish.
We had friends, Ken and Shirley visiting from Vancouver BC, who wanted to give this a go. As a treat, they persuaded us to join them. And what a treat it was. We made some inquiries and picked a day and a time that was not busy. Perhaps ‘cause it was early in the season, it turned out we were the only four people going out that day for the mid day (12:30) slot, so we were a small group to ourselves. We signed up for the Royal swim, which gave us all the full range of exercises to enjoy. Our trainer, Ramon, was energetic and entertaining throughout.
Here is a rundown on some of the things we did.

First we touched their smooth skin as they slowly swam past upright, and then on their backs, closely examining their parts. Our dolphins were two males, Roman and Merlin
We were shown how to handle them without covering their blowholes or eyes.

We each got to swim out a bit and hold one in our arms for a moment.

As this was all being photographed by a staff photographer, every photo-op was covered, especially the kiss, both on the cheek and on the lips. My kissing dolphin, Merlin, had a real thing for me and we lip planted several times. The trainer thought he liked my beard!

We each did handshakes (fin-shakes), held a bar for a jump over, and were spun around in a circle like a clock.

The two show-stopper drills are the fin ride and the foot push.
In the fin ride, we swam out quite a way, holding still in the water in the shape of a “T”, the two dolphins would come up from behind, right under our hands, then cupping firmly over their dorsal fins, we were pulled along picking up speed back to the starting spot where they slid away, leaving us laughing and gasping .

The capper was the “foot push”. Again we were sent to a far spot in the pool, this time lying on our stomachs in the water with our toes down and our arms in front. The two dolphins came up from behind, each placing a nose in the middle of a foot, and driving us forward picking up speed, lifted us up and half out of the water and drove us back to the starting spot where once again, they released us and we settled gently into the water. This was done with total accuracy of position and coordination between the two dolphins, the water, and the funny pink human, screaming for joy on the surface. I had seen it done many times and it sometimes brought tears to my eyes. Experiencing it in the pool was a peak experience that I’ll remember forever.

The session ended with some clapping and splashing, a demonstration of their amazing speed and then coordinated jumps through the air. They even waved goodbye as we left the pool.

At some level,I feared that we were exploiting the dolphins in captivity, away from the wild. But it seems that they are being treated and handled well, fed well, and especially engaged in challenging exercises that utilize their impressive intelligence. They are beautiful graceful animals, and if they can sense our emotions, they are experiencing a lot of our respect and affection and awe.

Patio’s progress...

2010-11-27T20:50:00.004-06:00

The palapa set-up would all be done by now, but with our neighbors and building buddies Bob & Dot, we launched into installation of a patio across the back of our two palapas. We had built a dirt (calica) ledge there from the beginning and now it was time to finish it off. In our can-do spirit, Bob and I rolled up our sleeves and got to work. First the existing surface needed to be shoveled, raked, and dragged with a long board to bring it into a level contour. Then we drove my Chevy to the gravel pit down the road, and brought back two loads of pulvo (fine sand-like gravel.) This had to be trucked by wheelbarrow around from the front to the back and dumped, with more raking, leveling and packing.

The patio bricks were bought from an outlet in town, and delivery was scheduled for 2 days hence. We chose a rectangular shape (20 cm x 40 cm x 5 cm thick) By our measurement, we needed about 60 M2 to run right across. This added up to close to 10,000 lbs of bricks, more than my truck would like to carry. Even when the three pallets were delivered, we still had to wheelbarrow them 10 at a time around the back. As I knew we were going to be doing this project, I had watched a few programs about this on the DIY channel and it seemed simple enough.

This, unfortunately was not the case as the bricks were a rustic quality and they varied in thickness one to another, and each so one needed careful bedding. This was only accomplished by lots of crawling on our knees and back breaking bending over with a trowel as though we were archeologists examining an ancient ruin. On the second day we were able to bring in a local worker for a few hours and it went quicker with the three of us. Rafael had said he would be available to work the Sunday and Monday, but he was a no-show. I had totally exhausted myself and came down with a cold so I wasn’t much good for a few days. Still, with an hour here and a couple of hours there, we have the bulk of the patio installed.

We still have some of the finicky edges and a few loose bricks to reset, then add the final coat of beach sand to fill the little cracks, but it is looking great.

Fall Awakening...

2010-11-27T09:38:00.001-06:00

As another example of the seasons being upside down, we have been rousing our winter home from its summer hibernation (?).
Most of the unpacking happened in the first days, and almost everything was in good order. Being so far away in Canada all summer, we could only imagine what was gong on in our absence. In fact we had some intruders -- mice had gotten in through a vent that I failed to screen off, and chewed up a few things. Nothing serious.
Many of the mechanicals -- water and electrical systems do not do well in this salt air and humid environment. Hot water tanks rarely last 4 or 5 years, just rusting away. Almost every palapa here has its own water pressure systems. These are common through much of Mexico, where low or unreliable water supply is banked in these cisterns (tanacas) on the roofs and then gravity-fed or pumped through the homes. Our tenaca sits in our upper part of the palapa on top of our bano. It is filled by the park’s low pressure cenote water and the metal parts - pumps and valves can build up with salts in the cenote water and seize up. We have been lucky with this so far. Our little pump keeps on pumping. Other metal parts, door knobs, sinks, and taps, etc, all deteriorate quickly. Once again, we oil what we think of to oil. Some people here regularly coat their appliances with car wax. Lights, lamps and electical cord all oxidize if not protected. The small window air conditioner that we had running all summer to keep the storage in the bodega dry and cool is still working, but the radiator grill has deteriorated quite a bit.
I was especially delighted that our (new last winter) kitchen cabinets and drawers opened and closed perfectly. Delighted because of my concern that the humidity could have affected the wood or worse, rusted the hinges and drawer slides. I am hoping that our careful construction and painting, as well as a thorough oiling did the trick, and will continue.
Summer weather had a harsh effect on the upper balcony and railings and they were in need of fresh varnish in less than two years.
Meanwhile the jungle that we originally carved back to create our garden, had re-encroached, and we had several loads of growth to extricate to bring it back into shape. Then the gardeners-in-chief, Susan and Dot, determined that new and different plants were needed (like bringing coals to Newcastle) and so several new palms, flowering shrubs and a whole bunch of little cactuses have been added. The garden will always be a work in progress, which is great because plants grow so willingly in this warm and humid climate.

La Vida Loca, continues...

2010-11-12T19:32:00.003-06:00

A couple of weeks ago, we once again drove across the Mexican frontier to make our way to our winter home. Virtually without exception, everyone I have mentioned this trip to, our friends in Canada, and people we meet along the way, has suggested we were crazy. “Everybody” knows that Mexico is an out-of-control lawless anarchy. So I’d like to offer some of my thoughts.

Why are we living The Crazy Life?
Mexico and the “drug war” have been running rampant in the news lately. I’m sure it was on every TV network and newspaper a couple of months ago when the Canadian Gov’t recently issued a Travel Warning for driving into Mexico. I read the actual bulletin but it was very general so I wrote to the Canadian Gov’t for clarification and data supporting their declaration. I received an brief confirmation but it was completely lacking in any detail. I also read the (longer) US Gov’t Travel Warning issued prior to the Canadian one, and it seems that one was a digest version of the other. By the way, there is also a official travel warning for traveling in Europe.

Ten years ago, we attended a seminar in North Vancouver, presented by Bill & Dorothy Bell, titled “RVing in Mexico”. They showed pictures and talked about the beautiful country and its friendly people. At the end, I asked the question, “What about the banditos?” Their reply was that after many years of traveling all over Mexico, they had never had a problem and nor had anyone else they had met had a problem. Instead they talked about the great friendliness and willingness to help that is the Mexican culture. So even back then, I was thinking about “banditos”. Where I got the idea, old movies movies, tv shows, I don’t know.
Now a decade later, after we have driven all around Mexico, and have experienced unmatched hospitality, we still feel of the scare.
I think it all adds up to a kind of “urban myth” or in this case “national myth”-- a “story” that is passed around, over and over, until it takes on the currency of truth. Over and over, as we are told how dangerous it is, it becomes emotionally wearing.

I am not disputing the existence of “the drug war” which has been going on in Mexico, especially in the northern border states. We hear about shootouts in the streets, attacks on homes and police stations. The vast majority of the war is intertribal, between rival gangs for control of lucrative trade routes. It is about big money, big competition, big risks, in that big lucrative subculture. It is very much like the violence and lawlessness of the US prohibition/ bootlegging years.
I firmly believe, as do many serious thinkers on the subject, that if we could get our heads around decriminalization and regulation, this would take the big money out of the equation, much of the war would fizzle.

How has this war touched us tourists? As we clearly have a vested interest, I have been following this closely. By my count, there has been but one incident of car jacking involving rv’ers, about a year ago, when two rigs were stolen. No one was hurt, the rigs were recovered a couple of days later, but the trauma was, of course, very real. Do carjackings happen elsewhere. Of course. Myth or reality, it has been widely reported in the southern US sunbelt states. Last year there was an elderly couple traveling in their RV in BC (Canada) that were abducted, disappeared, and are presumed dead.

Each year there are more than 22 million tourists visiting Mexico. The all-inclusive resorts along the coasts are popular for their all you can eat and drink excess. The Cancun college break is famous and some of those kids are on missions to get a little drunk and disorderly. I discount them, but somehow trouble which can happen under these circumstances, or willful acts of stupidity make the news.
I needn’t go into a long debate here, except to say that I have read thoroughly on the matter. I believe that a couple of isolated incidences are given a disproportional emphasis, compared to similar crimes involving strangers (tourists) in Canada or the US.

However, this growth of paranoia has had a great effect on RV tourism. From many reports, the numbers of RV’s from Canada and the US are decreasing. Even the group caravans are diminished.
Still in this past week, three more rigs arrived here in Paamul, bringing our numbers to about 15 with more on the way. Each of us safely traveled the 3000 kms from Texas to the Caribbean coast. Each of these last three traveled on their own with no escorts or convoy.

It was particularly delightful to see Peter & Patsy, from near Pentiction, BC. We first met them many years ago when we spent time in Lo de Marcos on Mexico’s west coast. Peter and Patsy are both in their 80’s and once again drove their Type C RV, towing their ancient VW Rabbit.

Bill and Dorothy Bell, longtime residents of our old city of North Vancouver, BC, now live full time in Mexico. They are committed to promoting RV travel in Mexico and have a web site that is loaded with reference material, including charting all of the working RV parks. In their recent trip around Mexico, they produced a bulletin titled, “Traveling safe in Mexico” It is quite a comprehensive guide and adds another knowledgeable perspective.
I’ll post the link here (I’m not sure it will be clickable inside this blog):
http://www.prlog.org/10315115-traveling-safe-in-mexico.html
Their web site is “On the Road In” listed in the Blogs I follow on the right column of this page and they have link to this bulletin on their cover page.

Thanks everyone for reading my “ideas locas”.

The long and winding, and bumpy road...

2010-11-07T10:08:00.007-06:00

This fall, we were in communication with fellow Paamullians, Joe & Marilyn (we traveled up to the US with them last spring), who were leaving their motor home back in Texas, and bringing down a truck and trailer. When we got to their place in Hondo Texas, and saw the old Ford truck, Joe admitted that it that had been in storage for seven years and wasn’t running too well. “From time to time, it just stops, but then it goes again...” So we started out with Joe in the lead, in case of “just stopping”, then us (fingers crossed), then Marilyn following with their mini van.

FELIZ VIAJE -- HAPPY TRIP
We had a lot of kilometers ahead, and even though Mexican roads are getting better all the time, breakdowns are not uncommon. Mostly it is trailers like ours, which were not built for the many rough miles we have taken it. For the record, this is the fifth trip we have made with this Cardinal from Canada to Mexico, we have now made only one complete round trip (north last spring and south this fall) without any incident. Over the years we have had to replace two broken springs, and several tires. We also discovered cracks in the frame and both sides and had them re-enforced with welding in additional plates of steel.
After the second broken spring, we added an extra leaf to each spring, and then installed a Trail-Aire system for added suspension and another air bag on the hitch. As full-timers, we travel pretty heavily loaded, but it now seems to be rolling along quite well. Even so, I feel every crack in the pavement and wonder if something will break again. And it is not just Mexican roads, with their famous topes (speed bumps) and pot holes that frighten me. Memorable (in the negative sense) Canadian highways include a long stretch of #1 from Swift Current, Sask, to near Regina and some brutal stretches around Montreal. Even the big freeways in the US can rattle your teeth, with mile after mile of those breaks between the concrete sections.
Actually we did have one freakish incident this trip. We were traveling on a busy freeway coming through Kentucky, when just ahead of us I saw some “sticks” bouncing around ahead of us. My immediate thought was that they were probably some tree prunings, and with no way to avoid them we headed on through. Then “bang”, a sound as loud as a gunshot, shook the truck, and I guessed that they were more than sticks. We rolled to a stop, amidst several other cars that had pulled over and checked out the vehicles. What I can guess was pieces of heavy steel cable had escaped on to the hiway, and one of them bounced off our bumper, under a front tire and whacked up on the passenger door. It left quite a dent, but fortunately, their was no apparent damage to tires or running gear under the truck and trailer. Like the fickle finger of fate just knocked me on my knoggin.
So Joe’s truck: First day out, I heard over our walkie talkie, “Its stalling, no... there it goes again..” and from then on, other than generously leaving a trail of black smoke got us all the way.

Crossing the border, etc.--
As everyone has heard, there a the “drug war” going on along the Northern border states. Some, like us, are traveling in small groups for that reason. I personally think it is vastly overblown, as to the danger to tourist travelers. However, as our timings concurred, and we enjoy the company of Joe & Marilyn, we chose to travel with them.
The drive down was smooth as ever. In fact, we all thought that the police, both, the local and federales, as well as the army security stops, were exceptionally friendly this trip. We were speculating, that the word had gone out that tourists are to be treated well.
Our only blip was a "security check" by some local cops about 1/2 hour from the border. They saw us with our walkie talkies and our cameras, and had an animated discussion between them. As always, we were patient and cooperative, and after a few minutes, one fellow returned to my window giving me a (face saving) scolding for our “infraction” which I didn’t understand, but could have been about a real or imaginary yield sign, sent us on our way. Some might say, “old Mexican habits...”

Strawberries and cream --
Along Hwy. 57, just before the turnoff to Dolores Hidalgo and San Miguel, there is a section where there are about 30 or 40 “Fresas con Crema” stands. A very refreshing and tasty stop along the way.

Snowbirds -- take off, eh?

2010-10-27T08:41:00.003-05:00

It is snowbird season again, and we are on our way south.
The week we left it was near freezing, and so it was time to be saying our goodbyes to our family and wonderful friends in Ontario.

We stopped this trip for three nights in Austin, Tx. One morning, I noticed this Monarch butterfly on some flowers next to our trailer. It was also making its way south to Mexico for the winter season.
I haven’t been blogging all summer (after all this Palapa Life is a record of our winters in our “little grass shack”), but here are a few notes to fill in some space between last spring and now.

Medical alert update...

2010-10-27T08:38:00.001-05:00

Some readers may remember that during our trip north last spring, Susan had a breakdown in her right eye. We scooted back to Canada and were seen at the Ivey Eye clinic in London, Ont where it was confirmed that she had a detached retina. It was operated on, and with a band around the eye, some laser welding, and a gas bubble inserted, it set about healing. Then in July, just as we were celebrating its improved vision, it detached again. Immediately back to the Ivey clinic another operation, more welding and this time silicone oil was inserted. It is projected to stay there until spring when it will be removed. Many weeks of eyedrops and headaches later, they pronounced her better than expected under the circumstances and she was given the green light to travel once again.

Amazing fall colours...

2010-10-27T08:37:00.002-05:00

We had a beautiful display of fall colours. All those years of living in Vancouver, we rarely saw much in the way of fall colours on the trees. The change of seasons, usually was accompanied with days of rain which turned the dying leaves to mush. Where we live in southern Ontario, with its rolling hills, and fields broken up by mature stands of trees is perfect for a bright display of nature’s fall show.

Oh baby, baby, baby...Oh...

2010-10-27T07:46:00.003-05:00

Our precious grand baby, Amelia, turned one year old this late summer, and she had a big water-park party. There were hordes of little kids there with their mummies and daddies, as well as her 4 doting grandparents.

She is totally amazing, happy and the centre of her universe. We commissioned our friend Colette to create this mirror for her.

Notice to our West Coast friends & relatives

2010-10-27T07:44:00.001-05:00

This summer we became official Guelphites or Guelphadelphians, or ... After a whole bunch of looking around (thanks to our patient agent, Ann) we bought a house in Guelph. We had been “home-free” for four years (if you don’t count our palapa in Mexico) and we we decided to invest in a place that would be there for us when we wanted a regular street address again.
So what is Guelph? And why?
Guelph is close to a perfect little city, about 120,000, with a big University, lots of small industry, robust farming lands all around, with rolling hills, rivers and lakes. It has one Walmart, one Home Depot and two Canadian Tire stores. I estimate if you drive through Guelph in any direction, it is about 6 Tim Hortons wide.
It is so gosh-darn pretty in the summer, and if we are able to carry on with our north/south scitzo life, we will be enjoying Southern Ontario summers (and avoiding winters) for years to come.

Music in the air...

2010-10-27T07:33:00.007-05:00

It was a summer of many music festivals. Guelph has an active and visible music community.

Every few weekends, there is an public event with music added, or a small one day music festival, such as the Sunshine Festival or Fresh Water Jam.

On the big Festival side, 3 day with thousands in attendance, we took in Mariposa and Hillside.
The Mariposa Festival up in Orillia (once again took our trailer up to camp at Wayne & Alice’s). It was Mariposa’s 50th anniversary and featured several Canadian classics such as Murray McLaughlin, Quartette, both Ian and Sylvia (they sang 4SWs together) and Gordon Lightfoot.

Oscar Brand ("Something to sing about, this land of ours") who is now 90 led an afternoon workshop to very warm response.
My personal highlight, new to me, but a returning favorite at Mariposa, was an American singer songwriter, Chris Smither. We bought two of his CDs and have been playing them a lot.

Once again we rode our bikes over to the perennially popular Hillside Festival, which is held right in our own Guelph Lake Park. It is a hugely popular event, always sold out, and features many younger singer songwriters of “today” such as Sarah Harmer, The Good Lovlies, Patrick Watson, and other college radio artists.
Where have all the old hippies gone? But I did see many young parents with their toddlers wearing one of the new festival accessories -- baby sized ear muffs (sound dappeners).

Then just last week, I wrapped up my music festival summer with a visit to the Austin (Texas) Stringband Festival. What a surprising delight! A charming little gathering, all acoustic instruments. And yes hippies, Texas style. Saturday night closed with the duo of Jeff Muldaur and Jim Kweskin. (Imagine: Susan hadn’t heard of the Jim Kweskin Jug Band!) It was great to see them sounding so good after all these years.

Susan got a new bike.

2010-10-27T07:30:00.002-05:00

Guelph Lake Park is a great place to bike. And there are hundreds of kms. of bike trails in the country side around us.

Summer 2010 - Trailer Life - Summer style...

2010-10-27T07:23:00.004-05:00

We enjoyed another summer at Guelph Lake. The sun shone, the grass grew, the birds sang. GL is a huge park, about 1400 acres with several beaches and lots of hiking trails. The camping spots are large are widely spread out in several sections throughout the park. It can get busy on weekends, especially holidays, but it is wonderfully quiet during the week.
Our own spot is the size of a city lot with four large trees for shade and bird feeders. The birds are a rainbow from yellow finches, blue birds and blue jays, (red) cardinals, (orange) oriels, hummingbirds and more. The birds compete for seeds with red, grey and black squirrels and chipmunks.
This summer I built a shed -- a proper from-the-ground-up shed. It will be our storage for much of the stuff we accumulate and spills out of our trailer.

Sunday, April 25 - The season are upside down.

2010-04-27T22:52:00.000-05:00

We’re back in Canada, but maybe it’s too soon. The snow is gone, but jeez, its cold. The low tonight is going to be 2C (35F), with the high tomorrow of 9C (48F).
Spending the last six months on the Caribbean, and then now coming north it is hard to grasp that this is spring. Our internal seasonal clocks are skewed by leaving the warm weather and heading into the cool. We often find ourselves thinking and saying, “Now this fall...” when if fact it is spring.
We will be putting away our fans and for a few weeks at least, will be running heaters. If it is anything like last year, I think we came north too soon.

Saturday, April 23 - Minnie Driver rules!

2010-04-27T22:51:00.005-05:00

Rain, and then torrential rain pelted us as we started out this morning. Today we needed to get out of Nashville, drive through Louisville, Cincinnati and Dayton before reaching our night stop.
In good weather, it takes all my concentration to keep up with the traffic, read the signs with their on-raps and off-ramps “This Lane Must Exit”, “This Lane Ends in 500 feet”, as well as construction lane closures and other surprises. That's where Minnie is so great. Set our destination, and she tell us, “In 1 kilometer / mile, keep left...” “In 1.2 miles turn right”, etc.
Okay, the name came from Susan’s brother Don, who named their GPS, Minnie Driver - so perfect we adopted it.
We’ve had a GPS since we started full-timing 4 years ago, and it has been a trusted servant ever since. (We tried to give the condescending schoolteacher woman’s voice a few other names, “Cecily”, and “Agnes” but they never fitted as well as Minnie.)
Today she was a star. Got us here safe and sound.

Friday, April 23 - Long Days

2010-04-27T22:50:00.002-05:00

Arrived in Nashville after two very long days on the freeways. Nearly 1100 miles in two days. We usually try to avoid the freeways, as they are mile after mile of just blacktop. We usually look for routes that take us down the “red roads”. These are the highways that are two-lane and go through the towns and the farming communities. This trip was just haulin’ -- I would join the caravans of transport trucks, and when I could, set the cruise control for 69 MPH. My little Chevy D’Max/Allison pulled our rolling home right along. Good truck!

Monday April 19 - Medical Alert:

2010-04-27T22:49:00.002-05:00

On the trip, Susan developed a big blotch in her right eye. As we got to the US border, it seemed to get worse and it became quite a worry. So at our usual stop in San Benito, Texas, the first thing is to find an eye doctor.
A couple of calls brought us an appointment for 8 am the following morning. The ophthalmologist diagnosed a retinal tear. This would involve surgery by an retinal specialist. We then were sent to another office of the same medical to consult with the surgeon. He confirmed the diagnosis, and proscribed surgery. That's the bad news. The better news is that this ailment has a 2 week window from the onset. We called back to Susan’s eye doctor in Guelph Ontario, where she had her cataracts done last summer. We sent copies of the diagnosis, and now have an appointment with a retinal specialist in London, Ont. for Tuesday morning.
Hence, we are scooting back to Canada this trip, rather than taking our usual leisurely sight-seeing pace.
After just two more days in the RGV, for a little rest, a little shopping and an oil change, we hit the road.

Sunday April 18th - On the road again.

2010-04-27T22:44:00.003-05:00

Another popular subject of discussion in Mexico, is the choice of which roads to take. As in what ore the road conditions, the towns and topes you encounter on each route, the distances, and the tolls. Mexico has (generally) a fine toll road system. These are four-lane not-so-free-ways. Depending on where you enter and which routes you take, it can equal or surpass the cost of fuel. Most people think that is a fair price to pay for the better, quicker roads. The “libres” on the other hand, go through the towns and smaller cities, where there are bottlenecks of traffic as well as the dreaded topes (speed bumps). With heavy rvs it is necessary to cross these topes carefully. I thought we had hit the limit on the way down when through one small town we had to cross 24 topes. But this trip, through another small town, I counted over 40!
There are other advantages to travel the side roads. At these topes, there are often vendors of food and drink. One morning, I bought two bottles of fresh squeezed pineapple juice, a bottle of coconut milk, a torta de pollo (bbq chicken on a bun), and a bag of cookies. All with barely losing momentum.
These side roads are also much more scenic, and slow going.
In all, we traveled four longish days to get up to the US. We usually take more time, stopping on the way for a night or two, but traveling together kept us on a schedule.

Friday, April 16 - Traveling Companions

2010-04-27T22:40:00.001-05:00

A couple of weeks ago we got talking with another couple who were planning on driving north about this time and so we decided to drive together. Joe & Marilyn have been up and down this road many times, and will be good company. They are also full-timers, spending their winters in Paamul and their summers doing a circuit of the US visiting kids and grand-kids.

The background to this is that there have been a few stories going around on the e-mail grapevine, and RV discussion forums about potential dangers on the roads up north near the border. The US news has been covering the “escalation” in the violence between competing factions of the Mexican drug trade. According to reports, many of the gangs have been fighting it out, and a few innocent people have been caught in the crossfire. The snowbirds who spend their winters in the grapefruit belt, the US border region, from Texas to Arizona, hear a lot about it on the news. The battle reports reach us too, and so all us travelers are particularly cautious.
I am one of the less worried ones, I think, and I try to keep it all in perspective. There are hundreds, possibly thousands of Canadians and Americans RVers like ourselves, as well as those who drive their vehicles down to spend the winters in their palapas and condos all through Mexico. I read a report that there are an 120 thousand North American (gringo) visitors in Mexico at any one time.
Without going into details and interpretations, it is often reported that the dangers are increasing. I think a lot of it is pulp journalism, and this country as a whole is no worse than almost anywhere else.

Our last night in Paamul, we were invited to a farewell dinner with our neighbors. A lovely meal, and we were joined by two other couples, who like our hosts are Americans, have built new palapas, and are planning to live here mostly full time. As the conversation went to the safety issue, it was the first time I have ever heard the emphatic phrase (and at a dinner table) “I sure wish I had my guns!”. I was speechless. It is reported that most American RVers travel with firearms in their vehicles. It is completely prohibited to carry any guns or ammo into Mexico. Of course, this prohibition is the same for Canada. So it is a cultural shock for me to hear it first hand.

Somewhat related, I noticed that there were many, I thought more than usual, friendly waves from the people on the streets of the towns, and along the road as we passed through on this trip. Most every traveler will attest that Mexicans are remarkably friendly and joyful. With our heightened anxiety this trip, it was particularly nice to see warmth and acceptance.

Thursday, Apr. 15 - Living large, living small

2010-04-27T22:36:00.002-05:00

We are finally packing up our winter home and going to head north. As we have grown into our palapa, it is turning out to quite an ordeal or sorting and repacking for the trailer life.
The palapa, including the loft, is about 1200 sq. feet. As it has a full kitchen, fridge, stove and all the new cupboards, as well as a baño (bathroom), and a bodega, (storage room) with a washer and dryer, we have gotten quite used to all the space. I am also going to miss the comfy outdoor living room couch and chairs, where I sit every morning to read my e-mails, and on-line newspapers. This is also a great place to read or just sit and look out on the back garden, jungle, birds and critters.
Now our daily life has to be condensed into about 280 sq feet. So I have pulled out all our storage crates and re-selected that which we absolutely need. The same editing for the trailer closets and cupboards. This is a real example of the axiom “your stuff always expands to fill the available space”, except now in reverse, as we need to contract. Not so easy.
After our unusually cool winter, we have been enjoying warmer spring weather. So much so, we have not been in any hurry to leave. Susan has said a few times that she would like to see what it is like to spend the summer here as well!

Snowbirds exodus

2010-04-10T10:23:00.000-05:00

Just watched two more rigs head out this morning, and that now leaves only a few rv’s here in the park that will be soon migrating north.
After a unusually cool winter, Susan and I are enjoying balmy warm days. As I write this at 7:30 am, it is already 80F with a slight breeze. Perfect temp for me. Susan has already gone down to the beach for a snorkel.
I have been very lazy, doing very little work (mañana, eh?) After a too busy winter I’m reading a couple of good books and playing guitar. And somehow, we are still gathering just enough players to get a few games of volleyball every afternoon.
It is time for us to start sorting and packing, as we are planning to head our within a week. Susan said again yesterday, that she wishes we could stay longer. Me too. Of course we also want to get back north to see the kids and grand kid. Oh, life is full of tough decisions.

Paamul survey

2010-04-10T10:14:00.001-05:00

Just ‘cause I’m curious about these things, I did an informal survey of our park. Paamul is unique and special (that’s what we all say) in that it is quite large for an rv park in Mexico. There are currently 185 full service spaces, plus room for another dozen tenters or overnighters. In addition, the park is adding about two dozen more new spaces at the north end on the bluff overlooking the water.
Out of the 185, I counted 51 open full service spaces for transient rental. Several of these are booked year after year by repeat visitors for the winter months only. That makes 134 spots that are occupied on a permanent basis by people who have built palapas (like us). In my survey I noticed “For Sale” signs on 28 palapas. Few of these are empty, as the owners continue to come down, but are eventually planning to move on. Of the open spots there are two new palapas starting construction, which will leave 49.
In the new north end section, I understand several have already been reserved for palapas but there should be some additional open spaces for seasonal rental.
The photo here shows a section of North Jungle Street, where we and others build in the last 2 or 3 years.

Spring critters

2010-04-03T09:54:00.001-05:00

We are regularly surprised and fascinated by the beautiful critters that come by to visit. Most are friendly, benign and quiet. There is a flock of birds that come by every morning and can get quite demanding. Our neighbor Bob, with whom we share our back yard was very regular in putting out food on and about a big rock we set out there. Bob bought some cat food kibble that was favoured by iguanas. Now that Bob and Dot have gone back home, the pickings have become a little slimmer. We try to keep it up but we’ll be gone in a couple of weeks so it is time to start the weaning.

Its a mesa!

2010-03-25T18:38:00.000-05:00

Another popular stop on the guided tour of our place is our dining table. When we shopped around last winter, we didn’t find anything we liked, and ended up using a plastic patio table. My intention was to build one (another “why not?” project).
One day this past summer as we wandered through a used furniture store up in Guelph, I found an old oak dining table, somewhat similar to the one we disposed of when we went home-free three years ago. I knew that they come apart for transport and convinced Susan we could do something with it. It was in rough shape, but the price was right. It also had a cheesy scroll pattern around the perimeter.

Heck, we can paint it, and the edge pattern, well, you can see that Susan had some fun with it. If you have seen some of the painted Mayan carvings, they look a bit like this pattern. Go figure.

Cabinets are in, knob-less.

2010-03-25T15:27:00.001-05:00

To come back to the saga of our kitchen, the cabinets now have doors. After many discussions and trying several colours, we went with this glossy red. A bit bright, but if not here in Mexico, where? After many days of filling, sanding, and painting, they were ready for hinges. But not yet ready for handles or knobs. To this point we have tried out about a dozen different kinds.
Since we have gone this far, carefully being all hand-made, we think that some regular knob won’t quite do. We (Susan) will likely be creating them from Fimo resin. We’ve looked around but can’t find Fimo anywhere here. So there’s a project for the summer and the fall. Like mañana, eh?

Building a library.

2010-03-16T23:24:00.000-05:00

There is a Mayan village, Chompon, down here, that has been adopted by people in Paamul. It is about an hour down the highway, and a couple of kilometers inland in to the jungle. About 600 people live there, and it has a public school with six classrooms.
For several years, some people have been donating supplies to the school and this year, with funds raised here in Paamul, we are building a library.
It took a while to go through some official hoops, but led by Cindy, and our hardworking neighbour, Dale, plans were drawn up, a location was chosen and work has begun.
So far Dale and his volunteers have made about five trips to the village with work crews of us old gringos. First we cleared the area, then marked out the foundation, built some forms, then mixed and poured a foundation. Then the uneven terrain was filled with rocks and calica (relleno or fill) and tamped down.
Then we built more forms around the perimeter, and yesterday, we poured a concrete floor slab over the whole thing.
It sounds simple when I write it out, but here are some of the complications we ran into.
First of all, the building supplies: cement blocks, loads of gravel, sand and calica were delivered to the east side of the school where the library was first intended to go, and had to all be carted by wheelbarrows to other west side. Good thing we had lots of men, as this is heavy work for old guy’s back and muscles.
The terrain, like all of the Yucatan, is uneven stretches of limestone with a few inches of dirt here and there. To mark out the site, we were drilling holes and driving in pieces of re-bar. Then trying to set the forms along these lines, was a jigsaw of boards and cement blocks and rocks to precariously hold them in place long enough for the base concrete to set.
To fill the site, we carried loads of rocks, and then countless wheelbarrows of calica, which was tamped down with the motorized tamper. The Mayan way, which was used building our palapa, it to use lots of water and a manual tamper. In the interest of time, Dale rented a motorized tamper which turned out to have the personality of a bucking horse. I ran it for a while, and found it really needed a firm grip to control it. Another of our guys, Bill, was at the reins for a while when he got too near the edge and it bucked on him jumping onto his foot, then tossing him over on to the rocks. Battered and bruised, he took off his shoe where he found his big toe mashed. He was taken off to the local clinic, where they gave him some pain killers, and removed the hanging toe nail, and bandaged him up real nice. Nothing broken but big ouch!
For the big pour of the slab yesterday, Dale rented a motorized mixer, and this time we had four hired local guys to help us out. Even though the motor died half way through, and took almost an hour to get going again, we managed to finish the pour before 4 pm, and tired and dirty but satisfied, we headed home.
Today the forms were removed and we will now hire some local tradesmen to put up the cement block walls. I understand the finishing will happen in the fall, when we all get back. One of our guys, Bill, who got his toe mashed, already had a big donation from the Ontario teachers Assn., for a god supply of library books. It will be nice to get them on to the shelves.

Vive Fiesta!

2010-03-12T07:18:00.002-06:00

The Phil & Heidi Fiesta last Friday was a good example of this special winter community. To my mind Paamul is big enough and yet small enough.
Paamul is big enough to have all kinds of different activities, all kinds of subgroups. At the peak of winter, PM fills all of its 200 rv sites. There are the Paamulians of the North side of the park, and South side, the Beach fronters and the Jungle street folks. We mix it up on the beach, at the sports, walking our dogs. The restaurant is a popular meeting place, especially during the weekly or bi weekly karaoke nights. Most of the major holidays are observed with special menus and entertainment at the restaurant. There are several daily Happy Hour groups (and a weekly AA group).
I’ve previously mentioned the music and exercise groups. I hear tell about poker and other regular card games around. And yoga and bible study.
Then there are the divers. Paamul has a popular dive shop, with several dive masters and a loaded boat going out twice a day.

And PM is small enough for most of us to get together for special occasions.
The Thanksgiving potluck (US November dates) is held at our local church when it is a good time to meet our returning neighbors and friends.
The other mega-night is the Phil & Heidi Party, which recognizes their two birthdays and their wedding anniversary which all occur with a couple days in early March. P&H have been here for 12 years and have been involved in a lot of the goings on here. Heidi is a natural green thumb spreading her plants throughout the park. She also coordinates regular art shows. Phil is an unmistakable presence if not only because he is so tall, and vocal (loud) and old, but still playing horseshoes and volleyball. He is also the chief crab wrangler -- collecting and keeping the collection of hermit crabs run in the biweekly crab races.

The Phil & Heidi Party is a good time to celebrate the nearing end of the winter, maybe seeing some people for the last time.

The Sounds of Musica!

2010-03-07T22:09:00.001-06:00

The hills (PM beach community) have been alive with the sounds of music.
When we first got here three years ago, I hooked up with a group of guitar players meeting once a week to share some songs and guitar licks. We were meeting for an hour or two at Kevin’s palapa. Kevin had been a working musician back in the day and had recorded and charted some tunes with a group. Kevin’s proficiency in finger picking is awesome. He tried to teach us “Travis picking” but I never cracked the code on that.
However, playing and singing with others re-ignited my strumming persona from my folk-singing youth. Back then I had been a busy fish in a small pond when it came to leading singalongs of the early 60’s traditional tunes. But I got tired of the repeats of “Tom Dooley” and gave it up.
The Paamul guitar group and the internet changed all that. I was now going to several web sites, downloading all kinds of lyrics and building a an all-new songbook.

Then last year we moved our group over to Butch’s palapa. Butch had been a working musician for most of his life, playing in various country bands throughout the bars of Southern Ontario. He favors Waylon, Willie and the boys, and it is a gas to strum in rhythm along with his country classics. This group, usually four or five - including Joe and Mike, have been meeting twice a week, playing and singing (sometimes saangin’).
Then it became time to step it up. One of our guys, Jim, is a fledgling bass guitar player. Jim and I got it into our minds to form a band (a first for both of us). We decided to work on a few songs that we could learn well enough to perform in public. The idea was to make our debut at a big annual party here in the park, Phil & Heidi’s fiesta. I also asked another neighbor, Sue-Ellen to join me for some harmonies.

Well Friday was it. The fiesta was on and we were on the program. Our short five song set went by quite well it seemed -- no major mistakes at least, and we had fun. Susan says we did all right. So now the world looks different -- or maybe I’ve taken to wearing rose coloured glasses like Elton John.
Everywhere I turn, I am sponging up the guitar singer thing. Watching the Olympics closing ceremonies, there was good old Neil Young all alone putting out a simple, haunting “Long may you Run”. A few minutes later, I had captured the lyrics off the net. And with the Idol contestants playing with guitars, I am sitting with pen and paper at hand in case a good tune shows up. Who knows, I may soon turn the corner into the sounds of the 21st century.

Deportes (Sports)

2010-03-03T21:48:00.003-06:00

In case you were worried about us, life here is not all about working and watching TV or lying in the sun. Yesterday and today were lovely days for getting out there and working up a sweat.
This is especially meant for my blog readers from the cold north.

A typical sports menu here in Paamul:
7 a.m, horseshoes, where there are always a bunch of guys pichin’ the ‘shoes. Some day I might join in but not yet.
First thing in the morning, there are also groups doing yoga, arobics, and qi gong.

Two or three times a week, around 8:15 we go into town for tennis. There are two public sports parks “Unidad Deportiva” in Playa with tennis courts. Usually we get on right away and play for a couple of hours until it gets too hot.

Susan is not a tennis player but joins the dozens of morning walkers, some even without dogs. She often checks out the water, to see the wave action and then returns for a snorkel trip out to the reef.

The most regular sport here in the afternoon is volleyball ,which happens every day at 3. We have two man- made courts, each with a modest coat of sand which eventually packs down until we dig it up and or add more sand. There are usually enough players to make up three, and sometimes four teams. It’s a good work-out and can be hard on my arthritic joints. With the help of a couple anti-inflamatories I try not to miss playing.

Then every other Tuesday morning, we v’ballers convoy about 15 minutes south to another beach, Xpu-Ha, where they have a nice wide beach of soft sand. We set up our portable net and ropes, and play, swim, play, eat, and play some more. Yesterday we had 8 matches, ending aroud 3 p.m. I really enjoy it, though I’m too short to spike. I can set pretty well, but am struggling with the bump. (volleyball talk).
So that leaves but a little time in the day for working, eating, reading and napping. Oh, yes and music.

Young Glory!!!

2010-02-23T08:18:00.000-06:00

Susan is a big figure skating fan. For years she has followed all the main competitions going at least as far back as Toller Cranston. (you know we saw his house in San Miguel de Allende, where he lives now and does his art?) The Kurt Browning years were transcendent, and we lived and died with Sale & Peltier, and their drama at the Salt Lake Olympics.
So last night we stayed up ‘til near midnight to catch the Free Dance finals where our couple, Tessa Virtue & Scott Moir had a chance ( they were 2nd after the compulsory dance, and had a narrow lead after the original )
How wonderful! It was magic! It was perfection! The young elfin couple, who had skated together since they were 7 and 9 years old twirled and glided like feathers on a breeze.
Their scores were a resounding first, and we were clapping and cheering as though we were there.
Some of you know that I was a pro photographer for our years in Vancouver, where I covered many events. Just capturing a few images off our tv screen, brought me right back to the feeling that I was there.
Yes, our hockey teams have a chance, and both our men’s and ladies’ curling teams are leading the round robins, but Susan says we can relax now. It may not get any better than this.

Paamulians go for Gold...

2010-02-17T08:46:00.001-06:00

The Yucatan got into the Olympic spirit Monday as the Paamul Olympics joined the Games of Vancouver 2010.
Our IOC organizing committee, Dale, Sue, Ron, Sandy, Dave and Brenda put in many hours devising and designing the afternoon of competition and fun. In addition there were another dozen volunteer IOC officials who kept scores, and tried to keep the order.
In all there were 80 players divided into 8 “countries”, along with several cheer leading squads. Each team had a t-shirt colour and a came up with a fictitious country name such as Rango Tango (orange), Thongo (white), Turtleonia (green), ROOF - Republic of old Farts (pink), Principality of Merlot (red), Blue Paradise (blue), Terra Nova (yellow), and our team the Pirates of Neverland (black).
As well each team added to their costumes, designed a flag, and brought an anthem or cheer.
The Games began with the arrival of the torch, carried by Richard, one of the oldest residents of Paamul, who then led us on a parade around the park, and then to the events:

1. Snow Plowing Relay Race (grabbing a handful of sand from your bucket, racing back and passing it hand to hand, then back to try filling your wine bottle)
2. Harpoon throw (with those spongy swimming noodles)
3. X Country skiing (in tandem groups of 5 strapped to long 2x4 boards)
4. Snowball Toss (a snowbird rv park classic - golf balls on a string tossed at the ‘ladder’ - they always fly off)
5. Hockey shot (another snowbird classic - washers toss)
6 Curling (with bumpy coconuts)
7. Icicle Melt (a team effort to run a frozen balloon on a string through all your team’s clothing, top to bottom, and all the way out again)
8. Aerials (throwing and catching small balloons filled with water, oops- splash)

All afternoon the park was ringing with chants and cheers as team spirit, fueled with a little of the other spirits swept through our participants and fans. The competitions were mostly on the silly side -- I have spent many hours on a curling rink growing up in Saskatchewan, but was dismayed when my rock (triangular coconut) did not reach the rings. Well, we had no sweepers, eh.
Can you imagine trying to get distance with those flimsy curved swimming floats in the Harpoon Toss? Even the “classics” like the golf ball toss and washers take way more luck than skill, I’m convinced. ie. I scored no points on those.

The Icicle Melt brought our team closer, as we ended up tied together running a single string through all our shirts and shorts -- just following the rules, ya know?
The cross country skiing was a challenge, but a little planning and good team coordination with our coach calling out the ‘left’, “right” our Pirates easily prevailed in our heat. A couple of our members who had never played washers before tossed in 5’s adding big points to oour score. I think we won the Harpoon Toss and placed in a couple others too. Which brings us to the Finale and Awards.

We gathered back at the Centre for BBQ and more fellowship as the Ceremonies. Somehow each team got a congeniality award, as in best song, flag, costume, cheer, most enthusiastic, most obnoxious, etc. All good fun.

And now for the real hardware, the medals for total team scores:
    Bronze: Rango Tango
    Silver: Principality of Merlot
    and GOLD to THE PIRATES OF NEVERLAND
    Hey, that was us!
    “We never give up! We never lose! We never grow up! We’re the Pirates of Never, Never, Neverland!” “-- Arrgh, Argrh, Arrrgrh!!!”

We're in the movies...

2010-02-14T09:55:00.004-06:00

This little film was made about a year ago. It shows a fair picture of our winter home. Yes it is a lovely beach, a good pool, restaurant, and they didn't include our well-regarded dive shop.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5mTDCJHYmO8&feature=related

If the above link doesn't go through, go to YouTube and search for:
Paamul Rv Park
www.youtube.com

Measure twice, cut once...

2010-02-08T23:50:00.001-06:00

I have chosen to build the doors for the cabinets and drawers. A bunch more work, but -- in for a penny...etc.

It actually came down to style. We spent a morning touring several of our neighbors’ kitchens to get a few ideas and inspiration. Then I was reading out Ikea catalogue and realized that what we wanted was different to anything we had seen. So a few sketches and after more visits to our local lumber yards, I built a sample and we were off.
Once again learning on the go, especially about careful measuring, and accurate cutting. Measure twice, etc.
My little cordless circular saw did great service, but the key tools came borrowed from our handyman neighbors, Bob, Guy, Dale and Don. It could not have happened without their contributions of clamps and straight edges, sanders and especially Guy’s new chop saw. Adding the thin strips of border each of the 23 doors could only happen by being able to cut the precise lengths on each of the strips of wood. Yay, chop saw.
Susan has been away for a week, in Ontario visiting the kids and new granddaughter. Most of the mess will be cleared up for her return tomorrow. We hope.

January gone...

2010-01-31T23:05:00.000-06:00

Somehow the month slipped away with no more posting. A lot going on, some relaxing, some fun, but I’ll start with a work report.
Have now built all our kitchen cabinets, adding three more over the stove. They each have recessed lighting under their lower lips.
And I built drawers, two banks of drawers, one on each side of the sink. This was the first time I had ever done drawers. Had to learn how they all went together. Only three of the seven drawers are cutlery-sized, the other four are quite large, so I went with heavy duty all-metal sliders. And I learned how they had to be built within tight tolerances for the slides to work -- like within a 1/16 of an inch side to side. With a lot of measuring, and a little shimming, they work!
We're not done yet, as we haven’t designed / chosen / built or ordered to be built the cabinet doors and drawer fronts. We have spoken to a local cabinet maker (Marcos, the guy who last year built and installed our doors). I’m sure he would give it a dandy final look, but somehow I am reluctant to give up, having brought the project this far myself.

But no parkas...

2010-01-18T19:38:00.000-06:00

For our recent visitors, my sister and her husband from Alberta, the weather was just right. They were more afraid of it being TOO hot. So the sub-60F (15C) mornings were fine for them. They are not drawn into the water either, though we did find one lovely afternoon for a stroll and a brief dip into the sea along Yan Ten. And it was good weather for sight-seeing without getting wilted.
Even on 5th Ave, most people were in jackets.
They chose two major outings - a day at Xcaret, and a bus tour to Chichen Itza.
Xcaret is just a couple kilometers from Paamul, so we dropped them off and they took a taxi home. They loved it, lots to see, lots to read about, lots to eat ( they indulged a bit at the buffet, and while they are small eaters, they sampled almost everything). The highlight for them, as it was for us last year, was the evening show. It is a two hour musical extravaganza with a cast of hundreds depicting the whole history of the country and its culture.
The bus tour to Chichen Itza worked out well too. I dropped them off at a pickup point in Playacar at 8:20 and they rode in a big comfortable bus. The price included an entertaining commentary along the ride, a stop for a buffet lunch, with some dance entertainment, guided tour of the famous Mayan ruin, and a stop at a cenote on the way back. Return to Playa was about 7:30.
Just in time for a late dinner at one of our favorite Mexican eateries, El Fogon.

Winter, here too...

2010-01-18T19:32:00.000-06:00

In the two weeks since I wrote about perfect weather, the cold that has been drifting down the Atlantic coast reached us and settled in for a spell. We were in long pants and sweaters for days on end. When the sun was out, we went for walks, or moved our chairs out into the yard and absorbed the rays.
It was reassuring some to know that we were not alone in this, that we were not singled out for this chill.
From last week’s news:
“...travelers emerging from Miami airport were hit with 2.2C temperatures, beating an 82-year-old record on the 10th consecutive day of startling lows in South Florida.”
And in other parts of Mexico -
“The state-run National Meteorology Service (SMN) has forecast that temperatures would be as low as minus 8 degrees Celsius in the northern states of Durango and Chihuahua....Freezing weather has killed at least 22 people across the nation since last week, including deaths caused by hypothermia and gas poisoning.”

Have some madera... (my dear)

2010-01-04T08:29:00.000-06:00

I am building more cabinets, and thought I would add some more detail of our local supply of wood/ lumber (in Spanish: MADERA).

There are at least a half dozen lumber marts in Playa. Each one has a variety of dimension lumber and plywood -- each with slightly different variety and qualities. I think the prices are comparable to those up north. Following are some examples: (I’ve converted to Canadian dollars, for US discount another 5%)
Dimension lumber: Mexican lumber seem amazing for their quality and variety. I remember looking through piles of lumber in Canadian lumber stores to find anything that was straight and not full of knots.
In these madera stores, the main lumber supply is pino (Mexican pine). Their “prime” quality in very clear, with very few if any knots.
The boards start out coarsely cut to full dimension. ie, a 1x6 is fully 1” x 6”. They are then run through two planers -- the first to straighten any irregularities along the edges, then through a planer to smooth the flat sides. Then, if you buy a board, they will run it through a table saw to any width or variety of widths. Today, I bought a 1x6, and had it cut down to 4 narrow pieces, of different widths - more trim pieces for more cabinets. All the planing and cutting is included in the price of the lumber.
These prime dimension lumber boards seem to all come about 8 1/4 feet. 1x6 $4.75; 1x10 $7.20; 2x4 $5.20; 2x6 $9.60.

Plywood: There are at least as many choices in plywood with construction grades and fine finishes as I remember from our Canadian lumber stores.
(plywood comes in 4’ x 8’ but are in mm thicknesses just like Canada) These are good G1S sanded paint grade.
6mm $14.80; 12mm $22.40; 15mm $25.15; 18mm $32.80

Did you want to know all this?
Some wood I guess. Others woodn’t.

Some like it Hot.

2010-01-03T10:24:00.000-06:00

What makes perfect winter weather? This past week and the beginning of this new year the days and nights have been great. The days drift into the low 80’s (27+C) and the nights dip into the high 60’s (20C). We have been sleeping in the loft and with a light breeze, it is like sleeping on a cloud. This morning it was 68F and it felt cool. I remember when 68 / 20C was promoted as an ideal room temp. Not warm enough for me.
Yeah, temperature is quite subjective, but very real.
I grew up on a small farm on the Canadian prairies. Up to my teenage years, in the winter we got to town with horses. Even when snowplows cleared the roads, and block heaters helped get the cars running, winter existence was dealing with the cold. Though I came from hardy nordic stock on both sides of my family, I have often wondered what happened to me. I have never liked the cold.
A couple of years ago, I was speculating with Susan about our future and how we might find somewhere nice to settle, like in a winterized cabin on a lake in Southern Ontario. Near enough to a town for our essentials, etc. Susan’s response was clear. “I’m not living through winter in Canada.” Perfect answer. Now we live the winters in Mexico, how great.

My Top Ten of 2009

2009-12-29T20:32:00.004-06:00

As this is a season of lists of Highlights, Best of’s, I have compiled this list of memorable events for the last 12 months. In no particular order:

• Snorkeling in the Caribbean, beautiful water, pretty fish, turtles, coral -- saw my first squids this week. Yes, squids are pretty in the water.
• Palapa Life: We have gone from being homeless (home-free) to building a new home from scratch out here on the edge of the continent. (For more step-by-step detail than you may ever want to know, go back through the archive of this blog) This leads to:
• Sharing our palapa life -- Now that we have a Mexican home we can have visitors. Last winter, Glen’s sister Gail and Walter, our daughter Juliet, Gerald and Martina; and already this fall, Cathie and Howard, and Susan’s brother Rob and Cheryl.
• Managing to stay active - Playing tennis and biking with friends in Guelph, On. Our team, Rockwood 1, won the inter rural league for the season. Also playing tennis and volleyball with friends in Paamul. I am a late bloomer in volleyball but am determined to master the “bump”.
• Roger Federer - won the French Open (career Grand Slam), won Wimbledon (most Grand Slam singles titles ever), regained #1 ranking. I am a fan, Roger is my man, and this is my list.
• Health (getting older): Susan had both eyes “done” (cataracts) We both got new glasses and see the world much better. On the less positive, in the work up to the surgery, Susan was diagnosed with type II diabetes. She has become a model patient in her dietary regime, as well as her exercise, biking and swimming. She is looking great, her numbers are good, but suffers from arthritis too.
• Getting together with the Myrfield clan (my mom’s side) for a reunion at Sproat Lake BC. About 70 uncles, cousins and young’uns spent a lovely weekend catching up and re-bonding. It was especially inspiring to be with our family elder, (eldest) Uncle Willard, still going strong. Thanks to Lyle and Cheryl and all who did so much work.
While out west, we spent some time with Susan’s family and her mom, now 95 and slowing down.
• Anniversary: 30 years with Susan. We passed 3 decades of making our life together. Mmnnn, good.
• Anniversary 2: Also for me: 20 years without alcohol. Been there, done that, struggled, gave it up. This is better.
• The birth of our first Grandchild, Amelia. We were delighted to be on hand at the hospital in Toronto to welcome her, August 29. We had many visits before our fall departure and a few on skype during the winter. Can’t wait for spring to see them all again.

Holiday Spirit

2009-12-20T22:45:00.002-06:00

This morning the temp was in the 60’s (high 60’s) and with a breeze I distinctly felt something like wind chill. So I have been in long pants the whole day.
While I worked on getting more lighting up around the place, Susan cheerily put up our tree. Yes it came out of a box (the box said 6 feet), but it was the first “tree” larger than the 6 inch miniatures we have enjoyed inside the RV for the last six years.
We ran extension speakers from the tv out into the palapa and have been listening to Channel 940 - Traditional Seasonal music all afternoon.
Now where do I set up a chimney for Santa?

Tinker, Tailor, Cabinet Maker

2009-12-20T22:43:00.004-06:00

I have always tinkered, even tailored a bit, but this was the first time I set about to build kitchen cabinets.
Once again, the tres amigos were in action with ideas and support. Dale was way ahead, having taken measurements home to BC and in his fully equipped shop, prebuilt some upper sections and had them installed quickly. Dale also brought down a little table saw which we installed behind Bob and Dot’s. While I was busy for a week or two with my “sticks” project, Bob launched in to fabricating shelves and drawers for their lower cabinets. I managed to get some lower shelves installed and we have added a temporary store bought drawer unit.
But the upper cabinets beckoned and along with Bob we had "shop class" for several days. We had fun consulting and comparing our styles and plans. And commenting, encouraging and adapting our work as it went along.
My project will not make it into the pages of Fine Woodworking, unlike Susan’s brother, Richard’s work. However I am pleased with the results made with my little cordless Ryobi skil saw and drill set.
With 3 upper units painted in two colours and installed, it is still a work in progress, but we have most of the plates, bowls, mugs and glasses on display. Still not sure about doors.

Getting old together.

2009-12-14T20:16:00.005-06:00

I turned 63 my last birthday. Pippin has just turned 9. So if we apply the commonly used multiplier of dog years = 7 human years, we are the same age. However, he is a shih tzu, and like many small breeds, may likely live many more years than typical big dogs.
Certainly he seems young, but is older and wiser too. We have finally gotten him to be a “home” dog. When we go out walking, he is not a natural heeler. Instead, he wants to explore in all directions. When we travel, we keep him on short or long leashes. This winter, we gave up on the leash and he is accepting his place sitting on the doormat and watching the world go by. He has developed quite a vocabulary for expressing his needs and I am happy to take him for walks when asks.
He also has specific words for, “its time to feed me”, “my water bowl is empty”, “can I come too?”, and when we do leave him and then return, we are greeted by a long chorus of, “where have you been and why were you gone so long?” followed by the best expression ever, mostly in body language, “I’m so glad to see you, and everything is wonderful!”
Yes, we are a little dotty. And everything reminds us of our dog. On the way into Playa a couple of days ago, I shot this cloud through the windshield. It IS the spirit of Pippin.

More converts.

2009-12-13T21:13:00.004-06:00

We have just had our first guests of the season. Susan’s brother Rob and his wife Cheryl were here for 12 days. It was their first trip outside of Canada and the US. They went quite native in a short time. Cheryl turned golden brown and Rob sort of mahogany.
It has been glorious weather, if a little warm. They slept in the newly set up guest loft under a net with a fan. Of course, the beach and the Caribbean were enjoyed virtually every day. A couple of times they went for a second, late afternoon cooling dip. Rob and Susan are of the water baby species and would go out for long swims. Cheryl discovered she could float in the salty sea.
We showed them around town and to a couple of our favorite eateries. Of course, tortillas, aracherra and papayas were in regular rotation at our table as well as daily doses of avocado.
They also rented a car for a week, and headed out several places on their own, including a overnight trip to visit three of the main Mayan ruins and a night in the small Mexican city of Valladolid.
The third photo represents a cultural leap. Rob and Cheryl brought back this sea fan from the beach one morning. It was a beauty, and sort of looked like the maple leaf. Since we will be absent during the 2010 Olympics, I am sending this out as a “Go Canada!”

Critters

2009-12-05T23:23:00.006-06:00

We have a regular parade of four legged friends through our house and back yard.
The prettiest is this little gray fox, who comes by a couple of times a day. She is usually on her own, but sometimes is joined by the male. She is only the size of a cat, very timid, and when we throw out bread crusts, retreats to the jungle, then trots out and sometimes passes within ten feet of where we are standing, loading up her jaws with two or three pieces and heading back out of sight. We keep Pippin under control and while he is curious, is okay to wait on the palapa step.

The most plentiful are the little geckos, from the smallest, barely an inch to perhaps 5 inches long. They climb about our walls and ceiling and are busy catching flies and bugs. They also chirp quite a bit. One morning, we opened our fridge and found this little guy nestled in our egg tray.

My other favorite are the iguanas. I have photographed many and even have one as my laptop screen saver. I admire their wise, inscrutable expressions. They do look like they have been here for thousands of years, and we are the green horns.
There are a couple dozen iguanas resident on and in the rocks that make up the boat dock down at the beach. Others scavenge around the park. Their only sins are eating flower petals and leaving their poop. They are sometimes tamed by regular feeding, but are wary of dogs. There has been one climbing around our place recently, and when, a couple days ago, he came down the stairs from the loft, Pippin gave pursuit. The little lizard got his windmill legs in motion and was well ahead before we stopped Pippin. P remained on smell alert for several hours. I think it may have been the first creature he has successfully chased away.

Sticks and more sticks.

2009-11-22T22:48:00.003-06:00

Giles (pronounced: heelays), are sticks of about 3 to 5 cm thick (+/- 1.5”), 3 to 4 meters long and are sold in bundles of 10 for 95 pesos.

Giles are one of the essential building materials in Mayan style construction. They are part of what makes up the thatched roofs of all palapas, from the smallest beach umbrellas to large meeting halls. After the post and pole framework goes up, a lattice of these sticks are added and on these, the grass is attached.
Giles are also used to make decorative fences and walls.
This is what we have been up to this week. Ever since we built the loft, we have been planning to add a low wall all around it.
I first brought home 3 truckloads, 18 bundles to this point. Then we set up a painting station where Susan has gone through a gallon and a half of varnish. I have been measuring and sorting, then cutting them to length, getting 3 pieces out of each. I’m drilling a small hole in each end and screwing them to the framework around the loft. As the sticks are quite small, I have calculated that the job will take close to 600 pieces, so that will be over a thousand holes drilled and screws driven. At this point I am half way through the install.
It has also been warm and humid with very little breeze. I don’t remember when or when I have sweated so much that it is running into my eyes and dripping off my nose.

The two photos are Susan at the staining, and part of a new 1 meter wall. In the background, you can see the sticks used in the roof construction. So far it looks promisingly great, I think.

The eyebrows have it.

2009-11-19T18:37:00.006-06:00

7:30 pm, temp a perfect 76, with a slight breeze.
Had to set the scene this way, as it is just so fine sitting here out on the couch after another long and busy day.
We (our neighbours Bob and Dot) and us have had a crew here for about a week, adding what they call “an eyebrow” to the back of our palapas. Our rear was quite open to the back yard, and as this is angled towards the direction of the prevailing winds, any rain shower that came along, was blowing into our palapas. We were regularly pushing all the furniture, gathering up the pillows and stacking them away from the edge. Then sweeping out the rain puddles that settled inside.
Once again, we take inspiration from neighbours who have added this eyebrow to the back of theirs. Back up north, this would be built of wood and roofing, and be called an awning over the rear patio. (Around rv’s, awning mean the roll-down and roll up fabric contraptions on the side or the rv)
This addition is a section of typical palapa roofing -- poles, framework interleaved with grass. It runs side to side across the back, about 25 feet wide, and is about 12 feet deep.
While it cuts out some exposure to the sky, it provides a sense of enclosure, that makes the rear palapa living area more of a room.
I’m still not clear how to refer to being here on the green patio couch -- am I outside (outside the rv) or inside (inside the palapa living area). Now with the eyebrow, it feels more inside, and cozy.

Going down (Six Feet) again...

2009-11-10T07:58:00.004-06:00

Several years ago we were visiting our kids, Michael and ReBecca, when they recommended a TV show. It just happened to be showing a review of the first several episodes that weekend and we had a look. We were immediately taken in by the family drama of the Fishers.
For five seasons, from 2001 to 2005, we became devoted to watching the HBO series, Six Feet Under. Even as we were traveling around, we made a point of being somewhere where we could put up our dish and catch the weekly episode. Without a doubt, one of the best dramas ever (yes, better than The Sopranos)
If you have been a fan, you know what I mean. If you want to have a look, the Movie Channel is rerunning the series every weeknight, (11pm eastern)
In this time zone, it airs at 10 pm, and has become my nightcap, replacing The Daily Show and The Colbert Report.
I am a fan of Jon and Stephen and have enjoyed their irony and wit. Lately though, much of their grist comes from the mess that is the US Health Reform debate and the rampant polarization in the American politicians and populous. Rationality has gone out the window, in favor of hateful diatribes. The humour is strained like the feeling you get when someone tells a really tasteless joke -- just not funny, but sad and embarrassing.
Back to Six Feet, you can catch up to the current story line at the the tv data base site
http://thetvdb.com/?tab=series&id=75450&lid=7
Wikipedia has an good summary of the show, where I found this quote, "Six Feet Under has frequently been described by critics as one of the greatest television series of all time. The series is noted for its exploration of mortality and death in western society."
We are currently in the middle of season two, so there is a lot of good story still to come.

Ida - anti climactic.

2009-11-08T17:37:00.003-06:00

3 pm Sunday, and all's well. Even though Ida grew to Category 2, it remained well off shore.
I kept an eye open off and on through the night, and it remained weirdly calm. This morning we were all bringing our furniture and furnishings out of safety storage, and we are back to normal.
Oh well... I got back to electrical and cabinet building. Then on to the regular 3 pm volleyball match.

Here come the rains...

2009-11-07T15:36:00.005-06:00

It is about 4 pm Saturday, and Ida is moving more away from land and is projected to pass between the Yucatan and Cuba.
Everyone is storm-proofing their palapas. All left is to bring in our couches and big chairs. Then the two satellite dishes.
It has been raining heavily off and on with more to come. There is a lot of standing water in the park already. Fortunately they just added three truckloads of gravel to our street. I'll try and get some photos in the early am.

Stormy weather...

2009-11-06T22:26:00.002-06:00

In the next couple of days we will be here to experience first hand a named storm that is coming this way.
“Ida” started out a couple of days ago as a Tropical Depressions was up to a category 1 Hurricane, but it is now back to a Tropical Depression. After crossing parts of Nicaragua and Honduras, it is back out to sea, but still only with 35 mph winds and is projected to pass on the other side of Cozumel (Paamul in on the mainland opposite Cozumel) with 45 mph winds.
There are discussions here in camp, and our Paamul daily e-mail newsletter has distributed some information and advice for preparation. We will be bringing in our loose chairs, tables, and other outdoor items, probably tomorrow night. At this point, no one I have heard plans to evacuate.
Tonight, all is calm, perhaps the proverbial calm before the storm.
I’ll add more as it develops.

Back on the Beach.

2009-11-03T08:10:00.002-06:00

When pulled in Saturday afternoon, the senior gate man, Sixto, greeted us with “Welcome home”. And home is what it feels like, seeing our many neighbours and friends who are part of this winter community.
We carefully backed our trailer in, and have been sorting and cleaning to restore the living conditions.
Our back yard garden thrived over the summer and will have to be trimmed back again. We are working slowly, as we are adjusting to the heat and humidity.
This morning is gloriously pleasant, air temp 81, as I’m sitting outside in a light breeze and Susan has gone for an early snorkel swim. The Caribbean water is a balmy 82.
Now back to my list of things to do.

Travels with Charlie...

2009-11-02T22:21:00.001-06:00

Years ago, when I was still in my teens, I read Steinbeck’s Travels With Charley, a documentary of he and his dog, outfitting a camper-truck and crossing the continent. That book along with other wander-writers like Kerouak, planted seeds of the wanderlust which in some way, I’m sure, contributed to our current lifestyle, that of full-time RVing.
I am joined in this adventure by my wife Susan, who along with our dog, Pippin, have been up and down and across this continent for many years.
But I am truly blessed to also share it with Charlie... Charles Dickens that is. How did he get on board, you may wonder?
Susan, in her previous life, was a thespian and besides gracing stages all over Canada, was a reader of books for broadcast on the CBC. She has a wonderful voice and a great command of various British accents.
When we began our long RV trips, we fell into passing the miles by her sitting beside me reading to me aloud. In a short while, she recommended we try Dickens.
Wow. So many rich characters, and so many engrossing moral explorations, so many pages. Our sharing Dickens has become one of my favourite parts of our travels. The miles and hours fly by. One year, as we were approaching Canada and our home town, we spent an extra night on the road in order to finish Nickelbey or Copperfield, I don’t remember. (Susan just told me it was A Tale of Two Cities.)
We have dipped into other authors but return to Dickens as the standard of pure enjoyment. We are now on Little Dorrit, and as we are reach our beach destination, it will be put back on the shelf, to be continued next spring on our way back north, when once again, Charlie will rejoin us. Wish you could too.

Everything AND the kitchen sink (taps).

2009-11-02T22:15:00.002-06:00

(This was written a couple of days ago as we stopped in San Miguel de Allende, but I didn’t get on line to post it.)
This trip has been unique for all the stuff we have packed along. Our palapa life is still a work in progress, so we spent time during the summer, collecting stuff to bring down. The Yucatan of Mexico had a lot of home furnishing shops but nothing to compare with the goods available in our weekly Canadian Tire flier. Irresistible deals each week, and we kept stocking up -- tools, kitchen appliances and new taps, a dehumidifier, fans, a compressor, weed whipper, lighting, and most recently, Christmas decor.
About midsummer, patio chairs came on sale at a local shopping centre, and we bought a set (non-folding) that I would have to figure out how to pack. I managed to build a little platform on our rear bumper and bound them on.
We were also on the lookout for a good table. At our Guelph recycle depot, we found a solid oak pedestal leaf table, similar to the one we had and sold 3 years ago when we cleared out our house. As solid wood, it should handle the Caribbean humidity, and it was built to be to disassembled. In its various parts it was stored about the trailer, mainly in the rear storage box, where the 2 satellite dishes used to ride. And those big dishes? They took up residence in our soon-to-be hot tub, which is riding on our couch. (What? A hot tub? More on this later.)
In Texas, we toured the discount outlets for bedding and pillows for a new folding guest bed.
We are driving down through Mexico this fall with fellow Canadians and palapa neighbors, Dale & Sue Urquhart. Here in San Miguel de Allende, we have gone out together to scour the artisan shops for Mexican style decor, lighting and ceramics.
Our trailer is stuffed -- three more days and we can begin to unload.

Notes from Half Way

2009-10-22T22:22:00.005-05:00

It is hard to believe we are only about half way to our destination. This is our seventh winter trip with an RV but this trip the miles seemed to go slowly. It could have been the weather -- we were dragging a cold front all the way to Texas. Each night we stopped we had our furnace and an electric heater going and still we had to dress in layers. This trailer is well built, I think, but with single pane glass and the many venting windows, it's not quite winter rated.
When we stopped in Little Rock, the park was adjacent to a bicycle path along the Arkansas River. Susan had been biking almost every day up in Ontario, so we unhooked our 2-wheelers and went out. It was a beautiful path and we managed to put on about 10 miles, but it was still quite cool, and we were both wearing jackets, and me a toque. We were quite a sight as we met and were passed by serious bikers in their spandex and aerodynamic helmets. We must go back there in a warmer shorts and t-thirt season.
We made our first two day stop in Austin, and took an afternoon to check out some shops, including a good 2nd hand bookstore that gives good value on trade ins. Susan is a high volume consumer of books and we are carrying 3 boxes with us, trading and resupplying where she can.
In the evening we went out again to join the small crowd to watch the bats come out. The Congress Bridge in downtown Austin, is home to a huge bat colony. Every evening at sundown, millions of these tiny bats swarm out to do their evening hunting. They are a popular tourist attraction and very ecologically correct as they eat tons of insects.
We are now at our regular rest stop in San Benito in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas. The area had many (about 50) rv parks and is the ultimate destination for many snowbirds. This is our 5th time through here, and while it is familiar, and a mecca for shopping, it is not our cup of tea. Comparing it to Ontario, and many of the other parts of the US we have traveled through, the “Valley” seems quite shabby. It does not seem very prosperous, even though there are miles of irrigated farmland all around. And if you take out the big box stores and malls, it appears very dilapidated, even slummy. I think the winter Texans around here mostly are here to enjoy each others company and live a low impact retirement.
Most people here have a very limited experience of Mexico, having only made day trips to one of the service towns across the border. Or they hear the news about the narco violence that unfortunately happens in a few bigger Mexican border cities. I have been following some discussion forums that address this subject, and there seems to be a broad consensus that the simplest solution would be decriminalization. Gone would be the huge profit motives on the criminal side, and much of the huge expense of the (losing) drug war. Many wise people, including conservatives agree that the costs of the “war” is too high, education and rehabilitation more effective, and the moral high ground of prohibition is a losing cause.
'Nuff for now. In a day or two we cross over and down.

A special Thanksgiving.

2009-10-13T08:00:00.003-05:00

The highlight of our summer was the birth of our first grandchild.
Amelia Margaret Joy Armstrong arrived August 29.
Susan and I were delighted to be at the hospital to welcome her. The delivery went smoothly and quick, mother ReBecca and father Michael did well too. So for this month we have been in and out of Toronto visiting the little darling. She is doing what most newborns do, feeding and sleeping and fussing on her own schedule. And now, at 6 weeks, is smiling and gurgling. Yesterday we were all together along with our daughter Juliet and her husband Bill, for Thanksgiving dinner. It was just wonderful but sad too, as it will be spring before we see them all again.
Oh yes, here are the requisite baby pictures.

The frost is on the pumpkins.

2009-10-12T23:10:00.003-05:00

Sorry, I have let ‘Palapa Life’ fall into a coma, dormant, hibernating, I guess. Summer has slipped by and finally I'm back.
This morning, there is frost, and we are anxious to return to our home on the beach.
Today’s forecast high for Guelph is 7C (44F) with lows this week under freezing with snow flurries expected in a few days. Checking the weather for the Mayan Riviera, this week it will be around 32C (90F) with lows around 25C (77F). Perfect! My apologies to my nordic and Saskatchewan forefathers. I never liked the cold -- never will.

We have been in Guelph, Ontario, enjoying these last five months, this thing called Summer of 2009, which was, hmnn... elusive.
This was our third summer in southern Ontario and while we are becoming fond of the place, the people, and the things to do, mother nature gave us the cold shoulder for much of it. There was a lot of rain, drizzles and overcast. We are parked at Guelph Lake Conservation Park which is large and green and tranquil. It has great hiking and biking trails and for Susan it is great swimming, except this year it was late getting warm enough, and this fall it got frigid weeks ago.
My tennis was often bothered by the wet, with many cancellations and postponements. However, I got a lot of play, social and competitive, and was able to contribute to our club’s winning in league play.

At last we are into final days.

Our Caribbean Beach Home...

2009-03-22T17:14:00.007-05:00

This is now the street we live on. We are #179 Jungle North. Ours is the reddish one with two windows on the front.
When we first got here a year and a half ago, the yellow palapa next to ours (far side) was the only one being built. By that spring, there were three more under construction. This has been a busy and noisy winter as our street now has 14 new palapas. The last three available lots on our block will be starting construction this summer.
Of course we are not finished. Hmnnn... We will be adding some more landscaping and garden planting out front.

Our (close to) beach front House... From our front steps we are a 1 1/2 minute walk to the Caribbean water. I counted it out, 160 steps -- about 400 feet. Just far enough to be sheltered from the salt and sand that blows and close enough to hear the waves lapping on the shore.

Our jungle view -- as you may have gathered from previous postings, we back on to the jungle. Our back yard is a mostly clean pallet of gravel, that we put in after we cleared the swamp that was there when we started. We saved a few larger trees, and then tried to build some garden around them. Along with our neighbors Bob and Dot with whom we share our sections of the back yard, we (Susan and Dot) have added about 75 different plants, many from other gardeners in PaaMul and some from the very economical nurseries around here. Things grow well here in the tropics and we hope it will thrive. Fortunately, our neighbors, Doug and Darla, who live here full time, and are avid gardeners, have agreed to add some water to help our plants through the dry season.

The Inside Scoop.

2009-03-22T17:06:00.007-05:00

Several people who have read this blog and then come to visit, have said that it is more than they imagined. Perhaps they are being polite and complimentary, but I have a hard time finding angles to photograph that represent the whole thing.
Here are three pics to represent some of our palapa interior.
The lounge and kitchen still need lighting and cabinets.
The baño is a composite photo to show the wide view.
The loft shows our guest quarters for the moment.

Colours... For followers of this blog, you may remember some of our tribulations about choosing colours of tiles and grout. The same happened for our paint colours. We had a few ideas, a bunch of paint chips and still, it wasn’t until we tried our fifth colour that we settled on this interior colour. Amarillo Neapolitano is the boldest of the lot and when we add some wall hangings it will be done for now. Good thing about paint - you can always change your mind.

A palapa is an odd kind of thing. Essentially it is a grass shelter (a big grass shelter - ours covers about 1000 sq. feet, plus loft and balcony.)
It is partly a spiffy tropical home with tile floor and counters, full kitchen and bath, living and dining areas, storage room, laundry, sleeping loft and balcony. It seems out of place to me that someone parked a trailer in our house! So maybe, it is really just a partly walled covered parking garage. Most of the palapa owners here have integrated their trailers as part of the permanent fixtures, and many have taken steps to blend them into the over-all appearance, with paint, wood or stucco coverings. As we are full-time rv’ers and will be taking our trailer with us when we leave, it is just a trailer parked in a grass palapa for the winter.
And certainly much more than just a trailer.

Hurry HARD!!!

2009-03-15T22:24:00.003-05:00

“You can’t take the country out of the boy” the saying goes. Even here on the Caribbean sea.
I grew up in a small town in Saskatchewan. Winter evenings were spent either at Stotski’s pool hall or more usually at the village social center, our little curling rink. Almost all students from grade 7 to 12 were involved in curling, and then in our senior school years, we were drafted to teams for the two big bonspiels, the farmer’s and the town- spiels.
In grade 12 I was chosen to play for our Buchanan High School team along with Russell Shukin, Alex Kozlow, and Jimmy Shushetski. As I remember, we did okay in the regionals in Yorkton that year, but did not advance to the Provincials.

I have only played a few games in the many intervening years, but I have maintained my belief that curling is one of the most skillful, strategic and exciting games of all. So once again this year, I followed first the Scotties, the Canadian Women’s Curling Championship and, just finishing tonight, the Tim Horton’s Briar Canadian Men’s Curling Championship. Many of the games went down to the classic last rock. In the semifinal, Manitoba's Jeff Stoughton made a double raise and stick with his last rock to defeat Ontario's Glenn Howard. Wow! Tonight's final was an easy win for Alberta’s Kevin Martin’s team which set a record of two straight years without a loss in the round robins and the play-offs.
Back in my day, the Saskatchewan team of the Ernie Richardson, a farmer, along with his farming brother and two cousins dominated Canadian and world curling. To this day, Ernie’s is the only team to win four world titles. We all tried to emulate their flamboyant (for its time) style, chin tucked broom sliding, and noisy wapp-wapping of the narrow corn brooms.
Nowadays, the big-name teams are playing almost year-round, with mind-boggling precision, and those funny little brushes. If you have the time and patience to learn to play, or to follow the curling game, it will impress you with the chess-like complexity and the athletics.
And you can yell until you are hoarse, “Hurry! Hurry hard!”

Exodus...

2009-03-15T21:28:00.003-05:00

The march of March has begun. The snowbirds are now leaving for the north, or talking about departure dates and routes.
Of the 180 sites here about 30 are occupied through the summer. The rest of us are seasonals.
Our neighbours Bob & Dot crept away at dawn yesterday, anxious to get back to BC. After a full winter of building their palapa, they are returning to more construction work, continuing with the cottage they are building in Gibsons. Then they will be preparing their boat for the sea. For several years, they have been living most of their summers on their live-aboard boat. Nice life balance, I think -- winters on the Caribbean beach, summers on the waters of the BC coastline.
Our own departure will be in about 10 days. After the exhausting months of the construction, and a couple of enjoyable visits, we are enjoying this period of relative calm.

I touched a monkey...

2009-03-11T17:19:00.003-05:00

... last night, and I liked it!
I was musing with Susan and Juliet, that I had never touched a monkey. That evening we went into town and I met my first. Lolita, a white-tufted-ear marmoset dutifully posed for three photos and earned 100 pesos for her handler.
So small, so fragile, sooo cute!

Another fish in the sea...

2009-03-11T17:10:00.009-05:00

Our daughter, Juliet, escaped the Great White North for a 10 day visit. Again it was low key and relaxing, mixed in with a few outings. The big discovery is that Juliet takes right after her mum --like a fish to water, literally. I am not a great water person (higher up the evolutionary scale, I insist.)
Juliet donned mask and snorkel for the first time, and away she went, steaming around the reefs in search of her genetic ancestors, the pretty little fishes. It was a first for Susan, as she always has been the first in the water and the last out, until now.
They explored our own beach, Yan Ten, Yal Ku, and then for her birthday, Xel-Ha, where after a full nine hours, they could have swum some more.

Back on land, we spent a morning at the Coba ruins, this time covering the whole site with the help of rickety rental bicycles. (recommended.) Juliet climbed the great pyramid, Nohoc Mul, tallest in the Yucatan. (Susan and I had done the climb last year,) and spent time reading the many signs and crawling over smaller ruins.
My own favorite photo was this one of the tree bark. Very reminiscent of the Tony Onley print that we have in storage in Canada.

Carnival touched down in Playa in a small town way, with a week of street markets and stage entertainment. Very loud, colourful, and exuberant. On the stage we saw one of the most bizarre costumed performances I have ever witnessed - wild dancers led by a geriatric couple in fat costume who were the king and queen of something... ¡Aplauso, aplauso!

Fresh Air Food...and Drink.

2009-02-24T10:23:00.007-06:00

In the two weeks Gail & Walter were here, we ate all our meals out in the fresh air.
Our now functional palapa eating area is where we had our breakfasts, and most of our lunches, dinners and snacks. The TV has become a lonely old friend.
After eating, we would retire to our comfy couches and chairs and settle in for more chat and reading time. I consumed two novels these last two weeks, a real measure of relaxing for me.

Taking it to the Street...
It is a common fear of travelers to Mexico that they will, or might likely at least, catch the dreaded Montezuma’s Revenge, Tourista, or more precisely, traveler's diarrhea.
We decided years ago on our first trip deep into Mexico, that we would not deprive ourselves of the tasty local Baja specialty, fish tacos. We held out until the second day, then indulged and became addicted, eating them virtually every day for the rest of the trip.
Since that time, 8 years ago, we have continued to enjoy the local street food, sometimes at open air eateries, but often from the sidewalk vendors. They prepare and dispense a wide variety of flavorful food, with regional variations -- usually tacos, but also barbeced-whole-fish-on-a-stick (Guayabitos), variations of Mexican corn-on-the-cob with all the trimmings. On one trio to Guadalajara, I tried our over a dozen new, different edibles and drinkables, my favorite being a slightly fermented corn brew, tejuino, nutritious and refreshing.
There are few things I don’t care for, such as chicheron -- deep-fried or even worse, stewed pig skin. A lot of street food can be fatty and starchy. To make the popular empanada take a circle of corn dough, fill it with meat or cheese, deep fry it, and then add some salsa and thick creme. Can you say “myocardial infarction?”
A Mexican style sandwich, “torta”, usually starts with a fresh bun, slathered with mayonnaise, which is grilled before adding a variety of fillings, always ending up very tasty. Even the lowly hot-dog is a flavor treat mexican style. When we were in Catamaco last spring, we treated ourselves to several of these hand-made delights with about six condiments over the weiner, all for 7 pesos: about 50c US.
Here around the city of Playa, there are portable lunch stands on many corners, busy with the local workers and passersby. I have my favorites that serve salbutes, and panuchos. In the evenings, many little restaurants feature pastor, pork and/or chicken barbecued-on-a-spit. Even right here where our PaaMul road joins the highway there are two busy taco stands, that have a wide variety of familiar and mysterious fillings including chiles rellenos.
Our neighbors Bob and Dot have a rule never to eat at any food stand that is not permanently bolted down. Maybe I am just lucky, or have slowly insulated my internal systems, but in these 7 years, I have had exactly one instance of overnight purging. (Susan’s number is three.)
So when our Canadian visitors came here for their first trip, we were a bit wary on their account. We have heard the stories of the dreaded ailments that really put a damper on a holiday.
However, they were game to try the local food, and every second day or so, we stopped somewhere for lunch or dinner. (I think food just tastes better in the open air and it is a bonus if you have your feet in the sand.)
We tried a couple of “nice” restaurants, but our favorite was the the busy and economical El Fogon. (See photo from previous post) My prairie-dog brother-in-law even out-hotted me in the spicy salsa too! “Hotter, hotter...!”
The punch line is, we got an e-mail that they are home, safe and sound, full of good memories, and as far as we know, no bugs. Yay!

Open for business... of relaxing.

2009-02-14T11:48:00.006-06:00

Now that we were on our own, we scurried around getting the palapa in some semblance of order for our first visitors -- my sister Gail and her hubby, Walter from Regina, Sask. This was their first trip to the warmer climes of Mexico and we wanted the visit to be enjoyable.
We got a coat of sealer on the stucco, installed a few more lights, and switches. The waterworks had a couple of annoyingly slow leaks around the tenaco and pump and these were brought under control. Saturday afternoon, before they arrived, I gathered up all the tools and parts which were spread out over two tables and every available flat surface, and secluded them in the bodega. Suddenly we had living space.
The couple of weeks at the end of January were unseasonably cold and windy here -- bringing out our long sleeves and often jackets. One afternoon as I was working up on the roof, I even dug out my toque! (I don’t like getting my ears cold) and survived the ridicule.
This week though, nature has reverted to its pleasant self.
We have our outdoor kitchen functional, and have been enjoying our morning toast and fruit plates, afternoon snacks and evening barbecues outside on the palapa deck.
Monday we had a reconnaissance mission to the tourist shopping zones in Playa. It was our first trip down to 5th Ave. this winter, and it was lots of fun. We had a nice fish lunch right on the beach.
To get the full experience of Mexico, eating out at the smaller restaurants is a must. Nothing quite like sharing a plate of chorizos, chuletas, cebollas, quesadillos, tacos, and all the sauces with the ambiance of the other diners, roving singers, and the passing parade of pedestrians and traffic next to your open-air table. The blurry photo posted here is to record that the prairie boy Walter, out-hotted the rest of us on the hot sauces. Says they aid digestion and cleanse the bugs which might be around our food. So far so good for everyone.

And finally we are giving ourselves some beach time. We have been collecting shells and getting wet in the waves. Gail and Walter are trying out the mechanics of snorkeling and this week we will try out Akumal and Yal-ku, a couple of the prime snorkeling spots around here.
Yesterday we toured the Tulum ruins. We hadn’t been there since 1990, when we first spent a week in the Yucatan. I could see that tourism in this area had grown immensely, taking account of the crowds around the site. Still it is awe-inspiring walking on paths among the many stone buildings where the original inhabitants had walked more than a thousand years ago. We also share the paths with dozens of gray and wrinkled iguanas that probably have lived here all along. Oh the stories they must share with their grandparents and baby iguanas.

Peace!

2009-02-01T10:25:00.004-06:00

The work crews finally left. The digging and drilling, mixing, tiling, grouting is finally over. A bunch of the tiles had to be cut by the electric grinder, as we had all the floor tiles set on a 45 degree bias. Of all the jobs on the site, the noisiest and dustiest were the blocks and tiles being cut by the grinder. Not unlike getting your teeth drilled by the dentist -- not as painful perhaps, but unrelenting, day after day.
I used this same grinder to cut the spaces for our electrical outlets. Usually the breeze would carry the dust away.
My most gruesome task was modifying the underside of the bano counter. The style of counter they build here is a concrete slab of 3 inches with a thick layer of adhesive and the tiles on top. The tap we bought was to stand beside the sink. While I had left a hole for the tap, the apparatus had threads for a two inch counter. I had to lie on my back in a close space, grinding above me. I would take a deep breath, grind for about 30 seconds, and then bolt out of the room for air. When I was done, I looked like a ghost, my face and hair thick with gray dust. More clean up...

On the quieter side, we have installed the living area furniture. Mmm, the couch and seats are wonderfully comfy. They are a resin rattan with weatherproof fabric that is made for patio use. Now I just need to take some time to sit in them.

There's electricity in the air

2009-01-26T06:42:00.001-06:00

Our utilities, electric, water and gas, have been an integral part of the build; integral in the design of course, but also integral in the walls and ceilings with the lines running through or inside the concrete block walls. In my drawings, I tried to anticipate where every light switch and plug should be, and where every water outlet and drain worked best.
This is one of those situations where a lifetime of assumptions that things simply work because they do, has to meet the reality of it being designed and built it to work that way. Flick a switch and a light goes on. Hit the button on your computer on and it springs into service (usually). Step into an elevator and the doors close and open somewhere else.
Not that we are building a skyscraper here, but each light has to find its way back to a switch in another location.
Fortunately, we can run many of the wire legs in stiff plastic conduits along the outside walls and on the concrete roof of the bodega/baño. Then they go down to the appointed outlets inside the block walls through flexible plastic conduits.
Mexican wire is all single strand and so I am running multiple wires throughout. We only have 30 amps to work with and so I am dividing up the three main items, the water pump, the air conditioner, and the washing machine in different 15 amp circuits. Some of the conduits get very crowded.
It sounds simple when I think of it, and even as I write about it, but the final result is a sort of maze.
Fortunately, I have my building buddies Bob and Dale to help. We all visit each others’ sites and talk things through. Those guys have more experience than I and have been very helpful. My cousin Gerald was down here visiting and spent a couple of afternoons on the job as well.
I was pleased that I had gotten most services where I wanted them but still missed a couple.
I had to bang new openings for the bathroom fan and a couple more plugs, and was feeling quite done when I realized that I hadn’t created the passage for the dryer vent. Another 4” hole in the wall, along with the dust and detritus.

Grouting

2009-01-26T06:10:00.002-06:00

The final stage in the tiling floors and walls and counters, is the boquilla (grout). Once again there are several places to shop, with different brands, and colours - but not very many.
We had a range of ideas of what would look best in the different rooms, counters and walls. We ended up buying a couple bags, about $7/ea., to try out and again we had help from our neighbors who had some left over grout.
I set out a work table with mixing cups and remnants of tiles and made some samples. One choice was easy Mostaza (mustard) looked best for the bathroom walls and counter, holding the yellow, red and blue tiles together.
For the main floor tiles, we were hoping to introduce some green, but nothing we tried looked right. We tries some red, but again, no. I mixed this red with various proportions of green to make browns and this looked better. So I was dispatched into town to bring home something that was between “this and that”. I found Caoba (mahogany) that hit the mark, and just in time as it went on that day.
For the kitchen counter, I was back to my mixing board and came up with an olive that was 1 part green with 2 parts mustard.
We think it turned out well, but I think that is part relief because another stage of construction, another mess is over.

Tile Tales

2009-01-19T16:41:00.009-06:00

Tiles are going in this week. Yay! Suddenly, the whole look is taking shape. A long time coming, and a lot of rough water under the bridge.

Perhaps the most difficult part of the building is the selection of the tiles we are using in the palapa. They are so permanent.
Some basics first.
The whole floor is being laid with ceramic tiles. For us that is about 60 square metres (650 sq feet). The bathroom walls are getting tile, another 18 M2. The bathroom counter and the kitchen counter are both covered in tile. Then there are the decorative tiles added to the mix.
There are numerous tile stores in Playa, as well as three places that sell the rustic hand-painted Mexican televera tiles. There is also a large televera tile store in Cancun as well as a selection at the Home Depot.
We started looking months ago. We were advised that if you find something you like, you should get it as there seems to be an unreliable supply. Of the five main tile stores in town, a couple have crates of tile stacked around the store or stored in the back. The others have single tiles in racks, or on display boards. Often the lighting is poor, so it is difficult to know exactly what you are seeing. It seems that our eyes too, become programmed to be seeing some, and missing others. Like when you buy a brown jacket or a blue car, and suddenly you are seeing brown jackets and blue cars that weren’t there before.
We checked them all out and then on the second go round, we found a floor tile we liked. We paid a deposit, and were told it would be here in 2 weeks. Close to a month later, the tile arrived from the warehouse in Mexico City, but when we went to pick it up, something was wrong. It didn’t seem right.
We checked it against the sample and sure enough, they had sent the wrong colour. Aiyee! After some debate, we got our deposit back and started again. Over and over, we made the rounds of the tile stores. Now we were restricted to finding some thing that was in stock. We even bought a couple of single boxes to take home and look at on site. Finally we settled on a tile and it was delivered just in time.
The bathroom is another story.
The baño all started with the sink. Hand-painted sinks widely available throughout Mexico. Very bright and colourful, they are all made in Delores Hidalgo, in the Mexican interior.
At Joben, the televera store in Cancun, we found another style of these sinks, finer detail in the painting, and in the style that sit on top of the counter. We found one we liked, and then proceeded to look for tiles that would go with it.
We eventually started carrying the sink around with us, holding it up to various tiles to see the match. Besides the wall tiles, there is an opportunity to add some colour with trim. For these we were back to the televera shops. Choices, choices.
Suddenly the guys were ready to install. A couple of quick trips into Playa and away we went. They need a few more of the decorative colour, so I scoot into town first thing in the morning. Oops, they ran short of the solid blue. Another quick round-trip. And then it was time to get the tiles for the kitchen counter and backsplash.
In four days last week, we made seven trips into Playa and Cancun, to many tiles stores and including a warehouse in Puerto Moreleos, and I think, I hope, we are set.
And now it is time to choose the grout -- more colour choices, and only days to decide.

Details, details

2009-01-11T19:41:00.010-06:00

Now that the new year has kicked in, our crew has been making progress daily with a bunch of smaller details.
But first, when our guys show up around 8 am, each day starts with the morning ritual desayuno cómico (breakfast comedy). They gather in a circle and bring out their food, and talk and laugh. I think it is a great way to get the day going. It is common knowledge that this indigenous population is warm and friendly, and easily given to laughter.
Then they amble over and carry on with the long list of finishing touches. The stucco is almost complete, and Susan and I put on a coat of sealer in the bodega. It is a milky white solution, not very opaque, and looks like a very bad coat of paint.

My oddly designed windows turned out to be a bit of a challenge getting the glass blocks to sit in balanced rows. I had purchased a bag of plastic spacers. I brought them out and as we all looked them over, it became apparent that my windows with the glass blocks all offsetting on the previous row would not work with the square corner spacers. So it was back to the basic methods of setting each row slowly, one block at a time, using pencil lines and two levels, adding the white cement, then adding some more, tapping the block this way and that, until each was in the desired position. It seemed to take a while, but the final result is very good.
I finalized the drawing of our kitchen. The meseta (little table/ counter) is also made of a concrete slab hung along the wall and supported at the ends by concrete blocks. I illustrated my basic idea with a few stacks of blocks and some construction boards. That is Susan feeling out the new space.

Tonight as the day faded, I took this pic of the front windows - a couple of eyes looking out on the world.

New Years Express

2008-12-31T19:29:00.008-06:00

It was as if the cavalry had arrived to save the day! Jose, Marcel and several others of David’s main crew were sent over from another site to get our palapa moving.
The rest of the walls were quickly finished, and forms had to be built for the concrete that will go around the corners and for the headers above the wall and the doors.
The next day reinforced concrete beams were placed over the bodega and bano, and special ‘hanging’ roof blocks were placed between the beams. A new set of forms were then added around the rooms and another mix of concrete was prepared.
As always, the concrete is a blend of gravel, sand, cement and water mixed up with shovels on the ground in front of the site.
At this point I need to check that all my water, electric and gas lines are in place and will extend through the roof, including several outlets for lights in the middle of the ceiling. Most of the other service lines are set to run down the perimeter blocks which make up the walls.
Steel mesh is added and then 3 inches of concrete is brought up pail by pail for the finished roof.
This all started Sunday after lunch and today, New Years Eve, the stucco coats were already going up.
Susan is wondering if these concrete block rooms will be strong enough for hurricane bunkers. Not sure how they all connect. If they ever started to crack and come down, I wouldn’t want to be under the rubble. At that point there would be nowhere else to go.
Yahoo!
Feliz Año Nuevo.

Steps Ahead and Back...

2008-12-28T07:16:00.006-06:00

Many of the workers put in some hours on the 24th and were back to work on the 26th.
Yesterday though, the 27th, seemed to be a day of setbacks and restarts. Our palapa building collective, Bob, Dale and I were feeling frustrated.

First, what do we know about palapa building? Certainly the skills these guys put to use raising the poles, and thatching the roofs, is a marvel to me.
However, when it comes to the finer details of the inner structure, chaos creeps in. We have talked to many other people in the park who have been through getting their palapa built and they all have cautionary stories. I have come to accept that there will be communication breakdowns. I even allow for a margin for error in the results. Yet there are hopes and expectations that the builders will be able to satisfy our wishes, but...
We do know what a straight line is, be it vertical or horizontal. We know what arrangement of steps make for comfortable ascension and descent. We know that doors and windows have a requirement for square corners.
So when problems arise, we have to access the circumstances and decide whether it is a valid compromise or a no-go.

Maybe it is the distractions of the Season, but their have been a bunch of problems these last few days.
At a Dale's site, one whole side of a foundation had to be removed and rebuilt. As I have some spanish language, I am brought in as translator. He was also having problems with his stairs. Because I was able to get a dandy set of stairs built with my calculations and directions, my stairs are seen as a standard.
Dot’s kitchen is coming together with a lovely tile design but the sink install cracked a few, plus they had water lines being blocked, etc.
At my place, my patience with our mason finally came to an end. Besides going very slow, our guy seems to have reached his limit of skills in getting measurements level and square. The location of the water, gas and electric lines seemed a puzzle to him.
The designs for our two rooms are not just plain rectangles, and my windows have some offset details, but it does not seem that difficult to me.
I enjoy drawing detailed floor plans and elevations too, so I have an idea what it should look like. Then for each window, I drew large bold sketches on cardboard, with each measurement in detail. I saw how much difficulty our guy was having, as I repeatedly went over the plans. As he were still floundering, I would mark the placement of the each course of blocks on the preceding layer.
In critical areas, I started measuring and cutting the blocks myself, setting them in place with numbers marked on them. For long periods, I was not willing to leave the site for more that a few minutes.
This morning, when I went to mark the height for the bodega door, I discovered that one side of the door veered wildly inside the vertical, losing 2 centimeters in just a meter. It will now need hours of noisy, dusty grinding to get it straight. Same for some edges of the windows.
You can see in the pics, I am not too happy.
When David, the contractor came round, we had a reckoning, and I am promised a new crew on Monday. Big relief, I hope.

A Tale of Two Turkeys

2008-12-27T21:55:00.005-06:00

The Holidays found us feasting on turkeys. On the Eve, at out neighbors Bob & Dot where we joined some of their visiting family for a Mexican smoked turkey -- Mmmn, good. They had their stove newly hooked up, and were able to set out their table over the not-yet-tiled floor.
Then on the 25th we joined Merv & Doris with friends for another huge bird.
Somehow I managed to eat a lot but not too much, always a trick for me.
Doris had a beautiful ceramic Holiday tree with exquisite detail.
At our “house”, amidst all the shopping for our new palapa, we still put out our traditional stockings for a few fun things, candies and nuts. Pippin always gets one too, and is most curious about the possibilities within each. He scored some treats and a new favorite toy, a squeaky bunny that he wants to bring with him whenever he goes.

Holiday Greetings

2008-12-22T06:09:00.003-06:00

Christmas lights bring a bit of spirit wherever we are. There are a few pretty displays here in PaaMul. Our own little offering, is a multicolored chandelier looks over our entrance. I made several attempts to get a decent hand-held time exposure, yielding this one that looks a bit like musical notes.

We had our traditional Christmas carol sing here at the church in the park. There were at least 60 people there, singing along a cappella to all the favorite seasonal songs. I found myself sitting next to Bill and before long we were the bass section, adding our harmonies to the tunes. “Not bad for a Jewish guy”, said Bill, “lots of years in choruses.” Like riding a bicycle. Choral singing was one of Susan and my favorite things for many years in Vancouver, but the serious singing season is through the fall, winter and spring, and we have been on the go for the last many winters.

A dozen of the carolers were children. Kind of fun to have a bunch of kids living in the park. There is the family from Calgary with two high school girls, and two younger boys. The oldest, Keltie plays volleyball with us old-timers, her sister Sabie did too, until she gave it up to protect her hands. Sabie plays concert harp, and goes up to live for periods in Calgary for her music studies. Sabie played beautifully at the gathering, especially while we all sampled the homemade cookies.

Tres Amigos

2008-12-20T22:11:00.001-06:00

Our palapa builders collective, Bob, Dale and I, got Xmas presents from our favorite salesman, Juan Carlos, at our favorite supply store, Unicorn where we buy most of our plumbing and electrical stuff.
With our matching little tool boxes, Susan suggested a photo -- the three big guys with their little tools boxes for their little tools.
“the boys are ready”

Welcome to The View

2008-12-20T09:41:00.000-06:00

At the end of the upwards climb is the balcony. Up there, we are about 20 feet above ground, looking down on the world.
Our balcony is at the back and looks out north-westerly over the Yucatan jungle as far as the eye can see.

As we are on the third road back from the beach, our water view is limited. Palapas on the front have lovely water views, but also have to contend with the constant salt and sand that drifts in. The middle rows of palapas have only views of other palapas and people going by.

The whole Yucatan is quite flat, and thickly covered by greenery, so I guess for the Mayans who built their monumental pyramids many years ago, it was a way of getting above it all,(and closer to the Gods)
Even at our humble abode, climbing just those few stairs to the balcony, seems to lift us from the world - especially from the on-going construction below.

The balcony was built at the beginning, with the roof, accessible only by ladder.
The loft was added a bit later, still by ladder, then the stairs, and finally the varnishing.

The last photo is of sunrise this morning at 6 am.
Welcome to our view.

We’re climbing a stairway to..

2008-12-20T09:35:00.000-06:00

More about our beautiful stairs.
They are now all done, fully sanded, and covered with two coats of spar varnish. It has been hard to let them stand there for two days as the varnish cured.
Susan has already requested the the stairs and loft are no-shoes zones. Ayee -- my feet are pretty grubby, no better than my sandals. Will it come to special slippers -- I hope not, as we often say, it is only a grass shack!

So here is a couple of pics starting with their origins as logs, and their resting place as our stairs to the loft and the 4 steps up to the balcony.

The loft looks so huge with nothing in it yet. This will be sleeping quarters for us and/or for guests. Our neighbors, Bob & Dot, have put two single beds and a futon couch /bed up on theirs as they have their daughter, hubby and two kids sleeping up on theirs.
Several PaaMulians who have trailers, regularly sleep in their lofts. The night air cools pleasantly each night, more so than in the trailer. The trailer seems to collect the heat of the day, from our cooking, boiling water for coffee and tea, the heat from our bodies and then release it back into the air through the wee hours.
I look forward to having a bed and a hammock up in the loft for afternoon naps and pleasant airy nights.

What, No Socks?

2008-12-16T20:30:00.000-06:00

I love socks. I love putting on a pair of clean cotton socks. For many years, I would usually wear at least two pair a day, starting the morning with a fresh pair, and if I have done some sweating during the day, I would put on a clean pair to play tennis in the afternoon, and of course a clean dry pair is great after tennis.
Each laundry would include a pile of my socks, and when I mated them up and carefully folded them, I would spend a moment looking at my full sock drawer. Who needs a lot of money, when you have a drawer full of socks.

Suddenly that has changed. Our last two laundry trips had just one pair of my socks.
I have gone native, wearing only my rubber sandals, just like the workers around our palapa. Somehow climbing around the rubble that is a construction site, is fine if you keep an eye on where you are stepping, and not relying on your shoes to be taking care of your feet.
Secondly, I have hardly gotten away for tennis, I’m having too much fun building our grass shack.

Elevations begin...

2008-12-14T21:16:00.000-06:00

We now have Santos building the walls which go up 8 feet around the perimeter and the palapa rooms. We have already gone up 5 courses of cement blocks, and soon will be roughing in the electrical and plumbing lines.
I am now onsite almost all the time, as there are little changes and interpretations of my sketches to be made. It is also a good opportunity to use my developing Spanish language skills. I am specializing in the descriptive adjectives -- a little wider (un poco más ancho), from here to there (de aquí a allí), over and under (sobre y debajo). Mostly I try to encourage them, “Muy bueno”, “Buen trabajo”, “Me gusto mucho” (Very good, good work, I like it.)

The loft floor was quickly assembled, but then I redesigned the stairs to make best use of our space. This has proven a little complex as the builders have a improvisational style for building “escaleras” and each installation is unique to the architecture and location of the stairs. I laboured over good detailed drawings of the vertical and the horizontal views, and Daniel and Jesus “Chucho” are using it as a guide.

The top deck is pino, nice BC pine 2 x 12s running full 14 feet. (Once again I am in Imperial measurements) that will take stain and varnish very well. The local wood, sapote, is very dark, very hard, and very heavy. The 4x4’s that run under the stair treads are hand-cut (with a chain saw) are at least twice as heavy as treated 4x4s up north. The treads themselves are 9 inch logs cut in half, with a light outer ring around the dark red core, making one of the more beautiful details of the palapa design.
Everything is then bolted together with ready rod. The crew worked late on Saturday, and then returned Sunday morning, asking, “is it all right to work today?” “Si bueno” and by early afternoon the stairs were in. “Me gusto mucho” ( “I like them very much.” Which literally translates appropriately, “It pleases me very much”)
We now have an upstairs!

On this foundation we shall build...

2008-12-09T07:25:00.000-06:00

This week the “plataforma” went in. What is it and what do we call it exactly? It runs the full length of the palapa on one side of the trailer and across the back, about two feet off the ground. Is it the patio, the deck, but it is still inside the palapa so what to distinguish it from the outside patio/deck? With the workers, we call it the “plataforma”
It starts with digging a trench all around the edges for a poured concrete base. Then three rows of cement block are added. This is filled with “relleño” (fill). The fill is thoroughly watered and tamped down.
At this point we mark out our sewer lines for the kitchen, bathroom and laundry, and dig those in and cover them up. We also ran two culverts across the width, to carry water, electric and gas services from one side to the other. Once again, I enjoyed the help of my neighbors Bob and Dale.
After more tamping and leveling, the wire mesh is laid, forms are added around the perimeter, and then 3 to 4 inches of concrete is poured.

At the same time, the varnish crew moved through, spraying a clear marine lacquer on the underside of the grass roof, the poles and posts. So that is why the trailer is shrouded in tarpaulins.
While the crews were spraying, and pouring concrete, we tore ourselves away for an afternoon at the beach. Ahhhh...
At this point, some of the worst of living in a construction site is over. We no longer step out onto dirt. Time now it is time to mark out the walls for the outside rooms.

Why are we here...

2008-11-30T23:00:00.000-06:00

Over the last several years of rv’ing in Mexico, I have sent out periodic newsletters, relating many of our experiences with some explanation why we like returning to Mexico.
And now we are committed even further, building our winter station here on the Caribbean coast.

For those who have not been to Mexico, I am sure you have many impressions from media reports and other second hand sources.
Some of you have traveled to a resort for an all-inclusive holiday, as we did about 20 years ago, or visited border towns near California, Arizona or Texas. For 8 years, my folks wintered in Yuma and when we visited them we would cross over for a couple of hours to San Luis or Algadones.
I would suggest thad neither of these types of visits gives a very real or positive impression of Mexico and Mexicans. “Hey mister, want to buy a .... good price”

Along the way, I have surfed the web for all kinds of relevant information and am always interested in other’s experiences. I have become a regular reader of a blog by Jonna, who is an rv’er with her partner Mimi, 3 dogs and a cat. They also have two homes that they have renovated - one in Akumal, a beach community about 12 kms south of here. The second is a newly renovated house in the city of Merida, a colonial city 3 hours drive from here. We have been interested in spending some time in Merida, but so far, have only passed by on our way here.

Recently Jonna wrote two postings detailing her reasons for traveling to and living in mexico. Couldn’t have said it better myself. Check them out at:
im-riding-around-other-day-and-thinking
my-reasons-for-living-in-mexico