Week two

Week Two in Yucatan

I said when i landed in Merida that it felt like I was home and that continues to be so. There are two places other than Canada where I feel at home that is Mexico and France.
I connect with the people in both places as well. Very different cultures but both so much part of my life!

View from the beach looking in!

Walking towards our home on calle 54

It is hard to believe that a wash cut; a pedicure and waxing my eyebrows upper lip; only cost me 20$. It is worth going weekly just to get your colour varnish changed as the pedicure alone is only 6$. The next on my list is a massage. I think I will have one weekly this trip. So I am behind on that one!

I woke up early today and thought I would go for a nice walk on the beach and a swim in the ocean but once Dara awoke and headed to the shower all my thoughts of what I wanted to do disappeared and I found myself in the shower and then it came to me what I really wanted to do. Ah well a walk along the beach can still happen and it did! I really enjoyed the supper low tide giving us the extra beach to walk along. Dara accompanied me without putting his big toe in the water! The quiet and peacefulness of the morning was such a delight! Went as far as the Hum's place and back which is just over 2K. It was warming up quickly. I think I should do this every morning before my breakfast! Get walking before spending time on the internet. I must try and do this early as once 9am hits it is too hot for a walk along the beach.

The seaweed was incredible. Yet a few days later it is all gone!

Here are the finds along the beach! Who knew red peppers grew in the sand!
It took me awhile to get the heron to fly off he kept running away! Can't seem to upload videos. My one minute videos are too large! Hello get wit the program!

It isn't just the expat community we spend time with it is also some locals. That's what I look for here.

High Tea in Merida: Every month someone hosts the International Woman's club in their home; from 5pm to 7pm.

The house beside the big one was where we were!

The December one includes the spouses. It was to be held at the publish author Joanna Gracht ( https://writingfrommerida.wordpress.com/2016/12/19/los-alebrijes-a-new-restaurant-in-merida/) but it had to move to her daughter in laws home Jeanette De Rosado. It really was nice to see some familiar faces and a few new ones.

Our friend Valerie Pickles was in attendance and informed us of her good news (for her not the rest of us) that she had sold her lovely bed and breakfast spot ( http://www.thepickledonionyucatan.com/) We loved going there in Santa Elena whenever we or our guests went to visit Uxmal. She will have a huge adjustment to make not having that to occupy her time. She has purchased a beach house in Celestun and hopes to rent a small place in Merida so that she can take advantage of the cultural life it offers.

The other big thing that happened as a result of attending this lovely evening I received an order for one of my sun hats and a bag made by the lovely Coop ladies of Chixculub; only to have that order increased to 15 pieces the following day!

My friend that ordered the bags

I couldn't wait to tell Carmita the news as soon as I got to the foodbank. This month for the first time I had the honour of checking each family in. It wasn't as easy as it sounds. I had to try and remember those families who were missing at the Xmas party so as to give them their hamper and tell the four families that they no longer qualify to receive assistance. I didn't catch them all. It is so humbling to provide food to the really needy families.

Next on our list this week was The Barlovento Children's Christmas party for the "special needs" kids of the area. The school they attend has 180 kids and this year for the first time the area restaurants have decided to share in the hosting of a party. 20 kids are chosen for each location and donations come in for the kids from the community. Seeing the excited faces as Santa's helpers handed out their gifts. For many of these kids this is all they will get! One family we saw were also at the event we attended in Chicxulub last week.

Followed by being invited into Carmita's family home for a beautiful Veracruz fish dinner. Silly me forgot to bring a phone for pictures. (So did Dara).

For those who aren't familiar with this dish, It closely resembled this photo.

We were accompanied by a few other Canadians: Sharon and Kaye; a couple from Kamloops Linda and Larry (aka Lord and Lady Kamloops as David has christened them). It was a lovely way to spend a Sunday afternoon. They had set up tables in there front terrace where Carmita, her husband Milo and one of her daughters Mali sat with us speaking Spanish and English. The other daughter had to take care of her little one. It was so nice to spend time with locals, especially this very giving family.

For a desert the daughter had made a lemon pie with raspberry coulis. It was almost like a key lime pie but not quite. Apparently they make pies and sell them so I know where we will be going to buy our next desert! (We have our caretakers birthday happening this Thursday so I think we'll get her something there).

It is a shame that all attending aren't fluent in Spanish so we were back in forth with the languages. Carmita has come along way but needs lessons. Dara hopes to get her here for that soon.

With the drop in oil prices there have been so many people affected by it here in Mexico. This family is one of them. Her husband, Milo had to take a 35% cut in an already low salary. How can they make ends meet? The sale of 15 bags will certainly help. Let's hope for a big sale at the Muelle market on Thursday.

We ventured into Progreso to find lights and a few things for our boxwood tree. I couldn't believe how much it had been picked over since the sale started on Saturday. I got 4 meters of lovely cotton for 3$. Yes you read that right. I tried to find a circular piece for my round table. No luck. It is starting to feel a bit like Christmas!

When I travel I alway take the three Inuit decorations I have representing my three kids. I've had them for over 20 years. I also brought along my new yearly Swarovski snowflake and the lovely hand made crossstitch 'partridge in a pear tree ', by Lauren, that Dara had on his wish list!

Look how small our 'tree' is. It is a boxwood and will keep it going for awhile!