Thursday, 22 February 2018: Celestun

Pilates class at Marie Francois' house.  She lives about  kilometer farther down Calle 12.  Sandra really does a good job.  It was stinking hot.  Carol says the weather is more like late March than late February.  

Next stop was a trip to the market and then home to begin the prep work for tomorrow's party.  Main tasks for today were to chop vegetables and make the cookie dough.   

When we were at Sam's last week, Justin found some truffles that he wanted to try.  Since things come in larger quantities there, I said we would have those truffles as the dessert for our party.  Good thing we wanted to try them first because when we opened the package, we found ourselves looking at a packet of truffle soup.  Ingenious problem-solvers that we are, we poured the delicious goo onto a tray, sprinkled it with sea salt and topped it with pecans before placing the tray into the freezer -- wa-la -- delicious chocolate truffle bark.  Yummy save, wouldn't you agree?

Justin groomed Gemma and then went swimming while I went to salsa class.  Two exercise classes in the same day!  What was I thinking?

Ric came over for dinner of leftovers and then Justin went in search of a haircut but no success.

Monday, 19 February 2018: Celestun

Presidents Day weekend  -- oh, how I love three day weekends!

Justin and Ric went on a canoe/poling trip in the mangroves this morning while I baked apple strudel bread and invited Carol over for coffee. 

We received a note from Bijan indicating we could stay. We said thanks and that we'd leave on 2 March by 8am. I am so done. Now that we have a date, I am thinking of "lasts". Last weekend was probably our last trip to Merida. Justin and I will probably go with Ric to see flamingoes one last time. I made cinnamon chicken for dinner tonight to start working out way through the frig and freezer. Aholi was here for massages today and this was her last time. She is going to Acapulco to see her mother and will not be back until after 2 March. Oh my goodness I'll miss her. Both Justin and I asked her to come back to the states with us!

We got Ric settled at the Hotel Gutierez. We are not going to have him here in the middle of this saga. Ric said he wasn't comfortable walking back to town in the dark so we got Jonathan to take him back to town after dinner. We've got lots of provisions to work our way through. 

Saturday, 17 February 2018: Celestun

Breakfast at home of salmon, cream cheese, capers and onions. It was a slow day for all of us.  Justin wrote to Steve to share our business plan. Ric over-extended on a trip to the beach. The wind and waves were up and he wasn't used to the currents.  That was pretty scary for him.  

Chili verde for last night dinner as we began to work our way through the freezer.  

While we were waiting at the airport to pick up Ric, we received a message from Bijan indicating he no longer wanted us to be at Casa Maria. WTF!  Thinking that the timing couldn't have been worse, we didn't share this info with Ric right away.  (We had invited John and Mary Leinard for spring break.  They had already told us they wouldn't be able to visit but I'd also extended and invitation to Steve Ellis who is in Puerta Vallarte right now.  Steve's visit was pretty much planned; how do I get that Genie back in the bottle?)  We contacted Steve O'Malley to see if he knew what was driving this pronouncement -- he indicated he did not. He did however chime in that "it is his prerogative."  That statement sent off an alarm for me and I tried to ignore it.  We then asked Bijan for clarification on why he needed us to leave. We were in no way going to hinder the close. No response yet meant that we were still sitting on pins and needles.  Enough of this!

Friday, 16 February 2018: Merida and Celestun

We joined the 9:30 walking tour that started in the social in Merida. I had wanted to do this for a while and today was the perfect opportunity to do so since Ric was with us too. We met a girl from Philadelphia. We talked about traveling with dogs first (Gemma was on the tour with us.) and that led to talks of travel in general, retirement, and our vagabond lifestyle. She and her husband will be doing something similar within a few months after she sells her real estate company. 

We had a late check out after brunch at La Chaya Maya and before a quick stop at the grocery store. We need to work through all the food in the freezer and pantry but we still needed to pick up lettuce and spinach for salads. 

Back in Celestun the first thing we noticed was that the "For Sale" sign was no longer on the fence. We showed Ric around the property at Casa Maria before we walked down the beach to Los Palamos for dinner. Ric had lobster and was pleased. The price still makes me smile...guess that "new" hasn't worn off.

Thursday, 15 February 2018: Merida

Slow morning ... thankfully.  This is one of my favorite times of day.  No alarm clock... another cup of coffee.  Justin reads to me from the news or about the Packers.  We crush (too much) candy and we make plans.  Some come to fruition, others are dreams.  Today, we talked to Steve Marcoe.  Steve has a passion for multi-hulled boats.  He envisions a cooperative where folks like us would buy in, with a guaranteed buy-out and then have full use of his many boats.  The one that most caught Justin's eye is in Maine now but Steve wants it farther south (South Carolina or the Bahamas?)  More urgently though, Steve has a boat in Rockport (he picked it up after Harvey) that needs to be in Charleston for Race Week in mid-April.  Justin wants to see if we can get something going with Steve and it seems especially appealing to us right now in the throws of disappointment of Casa Maria.  After a long talk with Steve, we were both jazzed and ready to climb aboard.

Breakfast at La Chaya Maya.  Just because it was so good, we knew we wanted to go back.  Our next stop was the Merida version of Akihabara. Justin needed a new battery for his cell phone so we headed to the electronics district and the Plaza de la Tecnologia. It was so much like in Tokyo, there was even a food court and a kids play area on the top floor.  Unlike Japan, there was a touch and go moment when the guy disappeared with Justin's phone abn we wondered/worried.  There would be no cause for alarm in Japan at all.  New battery installed and we were on our way after only about an hour and a half.  

Next stop -- the airport to pick up Ric. I was panicking about where to meet him (international terminal? Outside customs and immigrations? ...) until we saw just how small the airport was.  No  cause for worries here.  And you gotta love Ric. He arrived not only with two pounds of Ron's two-year cheddar but also with cheese curds! What a guy!

Back in the lush gardens at Hotel Reforma, the guys enjoyed a cervaza out by the pool before music at La Cantina Negrita.   Tonight's musical selection was Cuban jazz.  It was, well, strained.

We saw a guy on in the club whose t-shirt read "Make tacos great again".   I had to ask -- it was just too tempting.  He said it was from a restaurant called Cuatro Tacos in Cancun.   Too funny!

 This was the first stop in our progressive dinner. We stopped to pickup Gemma on our way to stop #2 for music and beverages and where Ric had cochinita pibil panuchos. He said they were quite good. 

For stop #3, we went to Coyote Maya for more music, more beverages and where Justin and I split a hamburgesa.  All in all, a great evening!

Wednesday, 14 February 2018: Yucatan

Happy Valentine's Day!

We had reservation for brunch at Hacienda Santa Rosa de Lima.  We packed our backpacks and set out today toward the south for the historic setting.  In the late 1800's, the henequen hacienda was a sisal producing giant with over 90 people working almost 3,500 hectares of land .  Today, a Starwood hotel called us to dine and explore the luscious grounds. 

We started with traditional Yucatan Soup de Lima

After a fabulous, relaxing respite ...  sally forth onto Merida.  Ric comes in tomorrow and we will be at the airport to meet him.  We checked into our room at the Hotel Reforma (18th century colonial style oasis right in the hustle and bustle of the centro) and made our commitment for Lent.  It is the season after all. 

As it became time to think about dinner I realized we might have some difficulty as we didn't have reservations anywhere, and it was, afterall, still Valentine's Day.  We had wanted to go to Pancho's when Kim and Brian were here so we tried there first but no luck.  Plan B: The Hotel Caribe in La Parque Hidalgo just a few blocks from our hotel.  The setting is a quaint little park; there is a Starbucks there and this is often where we walk Gemma in the morning.  Our dinner was one to remember ... unfortunately.  Our food was great. Unfortunately I had what is probably the worse margarita I've had in my entire life. It was terrible. You'd think in Mexico you'd be ok, right? It was so bad I had to have another thinking this must be an anomaly. But no. The second was terribly too.  Do I need to start drinking beer?

Tuesday, 13 February 2018: Merida and Celestun

Tom flew out this morning and we had a message from Alonso.  Bijan is not honoring the deal he made with us.  It is over.  We had breakfast at the Hotel Zar and had a long chat with Steve while we sat on the patio outside.  Can we make a partnership work?  Do we have common goals?  I want to think that he is trying and that he is sincere; bottom line, I don't trust him.  

We followed a different route out of the city and found the Superama grocery store we'd been searching for on our last few visits.  It is on the northern end of Paseo Montejo.  They had a nice cheese selection and a great bakery section.  Thankfully, we found it again.  After a quick stop at Sam's, we were on the road back home.  We were both emotionally exhausted.

Monday, 12 February 2018: Merida

On the road to Merida to meet with Alanso. We didn't have an appointment so we were prepared to have to wait if necessary. After a short hour wait and talking to Alanso for just a moment we learned that he'd been told we had a problem with the money. WTF! I can see how Bijan didn't get a "clear confirmation" from us but how did he get a question of finances? Anyway, Alanso felt stuck in the middle and we were frustrated, disappointed, disgruntled and close to pissed. We figured it was a 90% chance that the deal could still go if it were up to Alanso but still at 50/50 on whether if not Bijan would do the ethical thing. We were first and it was, after all, he who made the offer to us! Alanso assured us he'd contact Bijan... now we wait. 

We checked in at Hotel Zar. I found it interesting that the paperwork I had to sign for Gemma prohibited me from leaving her in the room by herself. What good is that? If it is too hot to leave her in the car, I need to be able to leave her in the hotel. (I am shaking my head.)

Risking it all, we left Gemma in the hotel to meet Tom at La Negrita.  We do quite like this (not so) little cantina.  The group was a Parisian Swing a la Django Rhienheart. We looked for this music all over France and we found it in Merida! And we certainly found great mojitos that are served in huge Mason jars.  Might I have another, please?

Later, on to La Chaya Maya for dinner. The key here is to go to the Centro location rather than the Casona location. Even though Casona is like an old hacienda and Centro is a basic storefront, I'd certainly recommend better food and better service. Our entire experience was excellent (except for guacamole -- too much mayonnaise or a similar extended). How can you mess up guacamole?

Sunday, 11 February 2018: Celestun

When we visited Peter on Friday, we learned that Steve would come to Casa Maria on Saturday at 2:00pm. It was a long morning waiting for that visit. Tom and Yadira left about noon; the shopping and sights in Merida called to Yadira before she headed back to Huehuetoca just north of Mexico City. 

When we talked to Steve, he told us he'd be at Playa Maya so at noon we were there to meet with him to see if we can still find a way to buy Casa Maria.  While his girlfriend Gabby and son Patrick swam in the pool, Steve was cordial with us.  We talked about his experiences putting in "thousands" of pools and other similar construction experiences.  He told us several times that money is of no concern.  He also told us that we should write up our business plan proposal.  Do we really want to go into a partnership with him?   I had homework to do when we got home since Steve told us that he'd pay us for all the things we had purchased for Casa Maria.  I have pretty good notes since I have been tracking all of our expenses in a Wally app throughout our journey.  It will be interesting to review all that data later.  

We spent time on the beach in late afternoon watching the shorebirds feast.

Friday, 9 February 2018: Celestun

Yadira made breakfast this morning. We had huevos tacos with homemade salsa, fresh fruit and drama. We couldn't find the top to the blender go she used the mojete for all the work. We also had fried hot dogs; I had forgotten that hotdogs were a "thing" here in Mexico. I don't understand it and I'll be happy to forget it again. She also made a papaya water drink. I made biscuits to round out our feast. 

Justin and I headed to talk to Peter before we all got back in the car to go to the lighthouse and salt flats in El Palmar. It is only 25km but crappy roads. As it turned out we only made it part of the way there before throwing in the towel and returning to Xixim for a walk along the beach and beverages before dinner and an early evening. 

Thursday, 8 February 2018: Yucatan

Melissa, Abraham's niece, comes to clean on Thursdays.  I got her started before we headed to Uxmal. Approximately 20,000 people called Uxmal home in 850 AD or so. This particular ruin is in great condition and the buildings are said be excellent representations of the Pu'uc Maya architectural style. Since these Mayas used precisely cut stones rather than plaster, the ruins weather time quite well.

We all climbed around on the ruins before heading to The Choco Story. There are similar museums in Brussels and in Prague but here we are in Uxmal to learn the story of chocolate from the Mayans to the world.  

Great displays and awesome candies to purchase rounded out the setting which is inside a botanical garden. 

Back home we had hamburgesas from a street vendor in the square. I knew I was happy to have a break from fish. That was the most we'd seen Yadira smile all day.