Saturday, 2 April 2022: Chicago to Green Bay

Our flight out of Mexico City to Chicago had been delayed (what a surprise).  It was almost 3am when we reached our hotel in Chicago.  Ric picked us up around noon and that was right on time for us.  

                                       Gemma at the airport in Mexico City            Gemma at our hotel in Chicago 

When we were settled in our hotel, I shot off a text to Dr. Laura to let her know Gemma had arrived safely.  She wrote back  "Who wouldn't want to be Gemma?"  How sweet was that?

What is this white stuff to greet us?  Ok, it wasn’t a blizzard but it sure was more than a dusting!  Not surprisingly I was a wreck in the car.  

After the obligatory breakfast at Capital Cafe and a stop at REI, we were on our way to Sheboygan where we got to see Erich and his new girlfriend Mandi.  Mandi is a patent attorney and she’s a great cook.  She sent us home with a huge shank of lamb she’d prepared the day before.  She said we wouldn’t want to cook as soon as we walked in the door and she was right.  

Back home in Green Bay Ric told me “the house was clean” and while I would have described it differently, it was good to be back.  

Friday, 1 April 2022: Merida to Chicago

No happy dance to start this day.  Today was day two of airport and finding our way to Chicago.  Our initial flight had been for 15 March but we were not comfortable leaving in the middle of Santos' work so we pushed out until 30 March.

On Wednesday we left Celestun around noon.  Our first stop was Plaza de la Tecnologica, but there was no battery available for Justin’s phone.  Then we went to Petco for one last ditch effort to try to see if we could get a carrier for Gemma. No luck.

Our next stop was the airport for Covid tests; thankfully we were both negative.  We could have waited until the next morning but we needed one thing behind us.

    

We found a fun little Italian place before we settled in at Hotel Posada Maya.  We’d chosen the hotel because it was so close to the airport and because we didn’t need appointments for our Covid tests.  It is truly a Mexican hotel but we did have a nice swim.  Luis came to pick up our rental car.  He said he’d had three different Uber’s cancel on him so he was running quite late.

Our flight on Thursday wasn’t until mid afternoon so we had plenty of time for a leisurely breakfast and a second or third cup of coffee.  Gemma decided to roll in a patch of poo when Justin let her out for a run.  That meant an emergency bath and he got back to grooming her.   Thankfully, we had plenty of time.

At the airport, we learned that it was the hottest day of the year and it was too hot for Gemma to fly!!!  After all sorts of negotiations and expletives, with booking on a really early flight on Friday with a horribly long layover in Mexico City, we got all of crap and the carrier back in a taxi and this time we headed back to our old friend, Hotel Los Aluxes.  

Now you may think we might have had a nice relaxing afternoon.  Oh no.  In the middle of the airport fiasco we received a text from Peter letting us know that our HSBC debit card had expired and he had no access to our account.  Well that bites since we depend on him as our operations manager while we are gone.  After stashing our stuff at Hotel Aluxes we looked for a cab to take us to the bank but we ended up walking the 12-15 minutes in the hot, hot, hot.  The gods were smiling since Justin was able to get a new card right away, but we hit the wall when we asked them to hold the card so Abraham could pick it up in a couple of days.  Their argument of bank policy and our security held, but knowing that the alternative was to leave the card at the desk at the hotel didn’t seem to concern them at all.  Abraham to the rescue.  He got a car-taxi and came from Celestun to meet us in Merida last night to get the card to take to Peter.  I never even would have dreamed to ask him but when he offered, I was quick to say “thank you!”

We had a lovely dinner at Sabina on Parque Santa Ana, about two blocks from our hotel.  The chef is from Mexico City and the waitress’ name is Lily.  They have some fresh takes on Mayan favorites that make for interesting flavor combinations.  We will be sure to go back there in the fall.  

           

We slept fast as we were to catch our taxi at 4:15.  We forgot to ask if that was Mexican time or real time.  The taxi never showed.  The good folks at the desk jumped through hoops to order another.  Finally at the airport, through check in and security we learned that our 7:30 am flight had been delayed until 10:55.  Yes, I cried.  We had checked Gemma through only to Mexico City.  Our plan was to get her, check on her, take her for a walk, hold her and just be with her during what would have been merely an 8+ hour layover.  Then, according to our plan, we would have checked her in this time to Chicago.  With this new delay, it broke up the wait time, but that wait time was still too long.  We thought about getting Gemma and visiting with her in Merida but then we’d need to start the whole check in process for her all over again.  Yes, we will drive next year.  

All this and it still wasn’t yet 11am.  I think I remember a few days when I was still in my jammies at 11am. Not today.  Was this really all April Fools?

 

Monday, 28 March 2022: Casa Colibri

 

If was 12’ this morning in Green Bay!  We are heading back to what?

Santos is winding down as he is finishing the kitchen floor.  Ivan hasn’t shown up lately so some of the plumbing remains to be completed but we press on.  

                 

Denise shared a great video prepared by Google from her photos she took while visiting.  I told her it would be a great PR piece.

Laura came earlier this week to give Gemma her vet check and gave all the rest of the dogs their shots.  It is still funny to me that our vet makes house calls.

  

Wednesday, 23 March 2022: Celestun

We bid farewell to Daniel today. He was a very pleasant guest. Maybe he’ll come back one day.   Hector is our go to guy for transport to and from Merida.  He's very reasonable and most importantly, reliable!

We go swimming each day.  It is magnificent!  We also have a huge plate of fruit for dessert each evening. It will be months before we see this deliciousness in Wisconsin. 

Tuesday, 22 March 2022: Celestún

 

Santos continues his work each day.  They are getting down to the fiddly details and he’s ready to be finished.  He’s been delayed a bit because he has had to wait for Ivan.  Yes, the wiring needs to be run and the plumbing lines need to be run before the concrete is poured. That has been quite a mess.  Evaristo came to install windows today.  He'd said it was going to be several more weeks so we were pleasantly surprised!

We are drawing down in the frig and pantry.  Denise referred to these dining options as “PCS meals.”  The definition is self-explanatory and fitting.  We are providing lunch for workers but I’m buying more out now than preparing it myself.  I dropped my wallet a few days ago when I was shopping for vegetables in the market.  That certainly got my heart rate going.  Alberto, one of my favorite produce vendors, and all his coworkers started scurrying to help me find the wallet … right there where I dropped it when I’d reached up for pineapple.  This is my Mexico.  

Today is Bethania’s third birthday.  It is also Magui’s son’s birthday.  Aholi asked me for the recipe for banana bread. She said she wanted to try to make it. I’d made one for Bethania’s first birthday and they seemed to really enjoy it so in addition to giving her the recipe, I made the cake for her too.  

Friday, 11 March 2022: Celestún

Daniel had already arrived at Casa Colibri when we returned from Mexico City with Denise.  He’s a yoga instructor from Switzerland.  He’s pleasant and an easy and interesting conversationalist.  

Work continues on the family suite.  I’m glad we are back; I was a bit anxious about being in Mexico City with all this going on.  Ivan didn’t get the plumbing lines in before Santos poured concrete so there is a bit of extra work that must be done.  Justin is not happy.  Santos is not happy and Ivan is not around.  Grrr!

      

  

We bid farewell to Denise this afternoon.  She was a delightful guest... and she was so easy... she entertained herself, was game for whatever was going and she laughed.  She seemed to enjoy herself and she talked about coming back.  I hope she was serious.  During her visit we went to see flamingoes, we went to the beach at least once each day, I cooked a few times and we went out a few times.  She had quality down time and we certainly had time to catch up and visit.   

Tuesday, 8 March 2022: Merida then home to Celestún

 After breakfast at our hotel, we dropped Denise off at the zocalo and we headed to our lawyer’s office.  We needed to get Mexican wills finalized; since we own property in Mexico, we must have Mexican wills.  Ok, one more cog in the Mexican bureaucratical wheel.  We picked up Denise after she’d wandered on her own for a while and after quick stops at the grocery store and Costco we were on our way home.  

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, Abraham had been in charge of everything — not just the usual day to day things and the animals, but also the workers and the work going on.  And, he had Gemma!  We’d left money with Peter to pay Santos and his team but Abraham was left to over see the work and to provide lunches.  And all this still without water!  I was pretty bent and twisted and it sure didn’t help much.

Also, back at the ranch, we’d heard from Daniel, a Swiss friend of Robin and Jen.   Daniel was traveling in Mexico and asked if we had room for him for three weeks.  Add that we were planning to leave on the 14th, and with Denise walking in the door, we said “sure.”

Monday, 7 March 2022: Mexico City to Merida

 

Early departure for the airport as it was time to bid farewell to the big enchilada.  I’ll come back one day but for now there are too many other places I need to go first...many of them in Mexico.

Luis was at the airport to deliver our rental car so that went without a hitch.  Check in at our hotel was not so easy because they couldn’t find our bag we’d left there in safe keeping for our return.  Charger cords were probably the most important thing in the bag.  Apparently, the good folks at the desk knew the plan, but the ladies who clean didn’t know our plan to return in a week.  I guess they get nervous after about three days and start to move things.  Jesus explained this to us when he returned our bag.  Justin recognized Jesus from Hotel Los Aluxes and from the Spanish restaurant, Bikiyak.  He works at all our favorite haunts.  

A refreshing swim and a beverage allowed me to calm down and allowed them time to find our treasures and then it was time to go back to the airport to pick up Denise Leach.  She will be here just for a few days. We are sure to have a grand time.  Denise and I worked together in Japan and we figured we hadn’t seen each other since maybe April of 2014 when Justin and I moved to Germany.  She retired two years ago. She gave up her Texas drivers license when she moved to Florida — traitor that she is.  

Sunday, 6 March 2022: Mexico City

We started our day with a walk to the thieves market.  Not exactly the souks, but these local markets do sprawl on for a day or two.  We were only browsing since we were limited to carry-ons for our flight but it sure was fun to people watch too.  

We walked through the wedding dress district to get to the market.  That went on for blocks and blocks.  And then we realized we were in the quinceanera district and then the christening dress district - my oh my!

Next stop: the National Cathedral.  Magnificent building.  Like Maximilian and Carlota’s castle, parts were not open due to Covid, but we got the gist of it all.  

It was quite warm today. Justin wore shorts; I had on a skirt and top.  Wonder what the weather is in Green Bay?

Saturday, 5 March 2022: Mexico City

 

We took it a bit slower these last few days in Mexico City.  We explored in our new neighborhood, the Centro, Historic Center of Mexico City.  We roamed into churches and museums and into buildings that just caught our eye.  We went back to Belles Artes but found that we could not access it due to demonstrations, etc.  Justin was jonesing for ramen so we had a ramen and okonomiyaki experience in Mexico City.

      

   

We went back to Zinco for a second night.  We had a fabulous charterie board and I had another sangringa but the fusion jazz didn’t do a thing for either of us so we bid farewell to Yanko and wound our way back to our hotel.

Back on the home front, there is no news about Aaron Rogers.  No news about Devante Adams.  We do know that the Packers will play in London next season.... should be go?  Oh yeah, hell yeah.   

Russia is targeting nuclear plants in Ukraine — good lord.