Justin and Paula Travel: February 2019

Wednesday, February 27, 2019

Friday, 1 February 2019: Uxmal

Dellene, Steve and I set out for Uxmal. JUstin and I went last year but I was eager to be the tour guide and go again. I wonder how many of the exact same pictures I took last year. Founded around 700 AD, the ancient Mayan city, even in ruins, is simply majestic. Dellene and I have talked for years about "A and B moments" -- times when our mothers, Ann and Beverly, are smiling knowing that their daughters are carrying on the tradition of friendship and "sisterhood". Today, it was a mega A and B moment since Steve was with us and we were visiting a museum. Mother and Beverly would drag all of us, even kicking and screaming, to museums, to plays, to zoos, to the library, historical homes tours -- anything even remotely cultural so that we could be exposed and knowledgeable. Funny how now we can't wait to go again.

Of course we visited the Chocolate factory that is next door before falling into a great road-side restaurant Steve had eyed on the drive into town. We were tired, hot and hungry and our meal was delish!

After the hour or so drive back to Celestun, we found that Justin was one with his chain saw chopping down trees and working in our yard.

I’d asked Abraham to contact Liverpool about our stove that was supposed to have been delivered the day Dellene and Steve arrived. Since I hadn't heard anything I knew I should follow-up. They said they’d contact us next week for a delivery date.

The water came back on. We've been without city water for the better part of three weeks!!! We had water delivered from the bomberos twice. Now I can wash clothes again.

Dinner at El Lobo and then chocolate shakes! Yummy!

Thursday, 31 January 2019: Merida

Justin’s birthday!

Steve had indicated that he wanted to golf when he was here. In asking, I learned that Allison golfs but she didn't have any leads. So, a couple of weeks ago when we were in Merida at Boston’s for the playoffs I started chatting with the guy next to me at the bar. Turns out Will was the CEO of the Yucatan Country Club. Hello! Hello! We were in. And nobody even had to pay green fees. Justin agreed to go so Dellene and I could play. When we arrived at the gate to the country club I had to call Will to ask his last name.

Steve got to golf and Justin drove the cart. Jusitn was pleased to admire the plants and grounds. They seemed to have had a great time on the course that has been named best in Central and South America.

Dellene and I stopped at The Harbour, a newish mall in Merida and then headed to Paseo Montejo and Rosas y Chocolat to sit outside, sip our mimosa and have breakfast number two -- stuffed French toast.

Back at the country club we had Justin’s birthday dinner with Will before heading back to Celestun.

All in all, a spectacular day.

Wednesday, 30 January 2019: Casa Colibri

A lovely and filling breakfast at Peter’s was soon followed by nap time. That respite was cut short by very annoying machine noises from across the street. Justin went to investigate. When he came back all he would tell me was "go look." So I went to see. OMG! That's when I met Jake and Leslie. They are the Canadian folks now from Playa Maya who built a wall across our beach access. I have mixed feelings here since I don't like it at all when locals come up and steal the sand from the beach. We think they build with that sand and that can't be a good idea. No matter, erosion is bad enough and whether we have rising sea levels and climate change or whatever, it isn't good practice. So we were told that the road is public access but Jake thinks he owns it. hmmm. We have a conundrum. With Jiraldo's help (the Cuban guy from town) Jake put up a fence of posts and barbed wire a couple of months ago but locals tore it down right away. Now, we know that it was Ilsa and her cronies who did the deed as they think they should have access to this federal property. And somehow, we've wound up in the middle of this.

Jiraldo kept telling me “tell you husband I am sorry...I didn’t tell him”’. Why didn’t he just talk to Justin and explain Jakes view?

Carole came over she said she’d had a frustrating day...workers didn’t show up and her bathroom is in disrepair. She’s changing out the tub. She stayed for dinner. We had shrimp and grits. Dellene cleaned all the shrimp and she did a banner job!

Tuesday, 29 January 2019: Casa Colibri

I cooked breakfast for all of us. Dellene had brought parchment paper in her suitcase for me so I was able to make my rolled omelet. Today it was stuffed with spinach, onion, mushrooms and cheese. Sipping our second and third mimosa, we took time to just catch up. You know that took hours and hours. Steve took a walk into town and met Ishmael. Perhaps his biggest goal of this trip was to figure out the fishing here in town. He came home with a plan to go fishing with Ishmael and with a bicycle. We knew he'd find his way around town easily and this sure will help. Now, of course it is an old clunker, but hey, it beats walking.

Aholi came for all of us — what a treat!

Ishmael came in the early afternoon and Steve and Justin went fishing. They didn't catch anything. Steve wasn't too impressed and Justin remembered that he didn't particularly like fishing in the first place. Dellene and I continued to catch-up.

Dinner at El Chivarico of stuffed avocado, ceviche and a whole snapper. And, of course, margaritas -- yummy!!!

Monday, 28 January 2019: Merida

We had quite the storm on Sunday morning. We sat out on the veranda and watched the storm blow in … for a little but. The temperature dropped significantly and the winds were strong enough to blow down an electrical power line; Celestun was set to be without electricity for three days. We'd been without water from the city but we were fine since we could get water delivered by the bomberos. But now, water isn't the problem because you can't flush when you don't have electricity. What made this worse was that I was on my way to Merida to pick up Dellene and Steve. What a welcome!

Dellene's flight got in first and she and I had time to run a few errands and have lunch in the centro at Amaro before going back to the airport to meet Steve's flight. I was prepared for all of us to spend the night in Merida and explore and play for a day or two rather than head back to our house and our village that was in darkness. I had packed the tiniest of over-night bags because I knew Dellene and Steve's luggage would fill our car. Dellene had one medium to large piece of luggage with her clothes and treasures and one huge bag with stuff for me. I'd built an Amazon shopping list over the past month or so and had everything shipped to her house. Three toilet seats, a four-slice toaster, a turkey baster, bird decals and a razor blade scraper, decorations for Aholi's shower, a tea ball and a pair of shoes were among my new goodies. Meanwhile, Steve had a large suitcase, a medium-to-large carry on filled with fishing tackle and a bag with golf clubs. Yes, the car was full. Thankfully Justin called to let me know power had been restored so we were able to head back to the beach.

It was SO, SO nice to have Dellene here. And Steve here too was just an added bonus.

Saturday, 26 January 2019: Casa Colibri

Justin has hosted a party the last Saturday in January for the past twenty or thirty years. This year was no exception.

Our house looked fantastic. With all the renovations and upgrades, we were ready-enough.

Eloisa has been here cleaning for two days after granite installation. I never knew how messy tile removal was!

Tim and Janet introduced us to housekeeper extraordinaire Nancy and she is a godsend. She is from Kinchil and this girl is the real deal with regard to cleaning. She comes on Saturdays from 7 until 3 or 4 and oh, my goodness! Today was her first day so in addition to all the rest of the work, our house looked great!

I'd finished the chili yesterday so it had time to meld and mature. Yummy!!! At home, chocolate chip cookies go with chili so they can accompany the chili verde in Celestun too.

The band arrived and was set up and ready to go by about 7pm so that coincided with our guest arriving. I still had the heated rollers in my hair when Chris and Roger arrived. They had asked what to do about parking -- I told them to get here early and plan to stay late, so they did!

All in all, there were about 50 people. Somewhere in the middle, the electricity went out for the better part of two hours. Ok, we are in Celestun, time to eat. There were mountains of good food and plenty to drink. Thankfully the band stayed around so we could all enjoy the music after the electricity came back on.