Navidad 2010 ...Old traditions and New

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...

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...

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!

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...

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...

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...

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...

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?

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...

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...

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...

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.