Sunday, 19 January 2020: Merida

With Lolita on the roof applying the sealer and Ivan and Jonathan working on the septic system, we loaded Chahook in the car and headed to Mérida. It was a sad goodbye but Abraham was stoic; I cried.  Our plan was solid but, no cigar.  While we were in Merida, we made a dozen more phone calls phone and visited a few more places but we totally struck out in finding even temporary placement for Chahook.  Seems we need to have an appointment at the shelter and that wasn’t available until mid February.  Aargh!  We bought a bag of dog food and headed to our hotel, Merida Garden.  Chahook is known to get car sick so, as we cleaned that up, we could only hope that she’d behave in the hotel.  And, of course, we were hoping that Patricia and Miguel would be ok with her.  She IS 

a bit larger than Gemma!

Muebles Puerta del Sur oon Av. Correa racho turned out to be the the mother load of all blue and white dishes in Merida.  And, pots for plants too.  I will definitely want to come back here.  Chahook waited patiently in the car while we shopped.

 

After getting Chahook settled we were bound for Boston’s for what turned out to be the last game of the season for the Packers.  In a win or go home situation like it is in the playoffs, it makes for a long plane ride back to Green Bay. But hey!  We made it to the playoffs!  First time in a few years!  Best season ever for a new Packer Head coach!  All is good.

Friday, 17 January 2020: Casa Colibri

Pilates was a beast today.  Perhaps Sandra thinks we have to work extra hard since we are headed into the weekend.  “Friday” used to be my favorite word; now my fav is when she says “cancel.”  Whew!

Dinner at Katherine’s this evening.  She insists that she is not a cook but eight of us were treated to drinks, appetizers and a great homemade chicken with broccoli over rice.  Brownies for dessert rounded out a perfect meal with great friends.

Thursday, 16 January 2020: Casa Colibri

Back to Merida yesterday as Justin had a dental appointment at 12:30. He had his last crown glued on top of his implants and a cleaning.  We are done there for a while.  Meanwhile, Erich and I putzed around a little bit before we met Justin and we all had a grand late lunch.

Erich left very early this morning (yes, we called an Uber for him too).  Justin and I spent way too much time roaming around through neighborhoods and looking at houses in Merida.  Why I can;t really tell you, but it was fun to look.  After errands Justin and I headed back to Celestun just the two of us -- trying to make it home before dark.  

Thankfully we really like the life we are building together.  As much as Justin totally enjoyed the boys being her (of course, I did too), most of the time it is just the two of us.  We never seem to run out of things to talk about and of course, we are adding stories to the mix almost every day.

Sunday, 12 January 2020: Merida

Late last week the boys went fishing with Jonathan and Ivan.  Jonathan is the master ceviche maker so we were all treated to the delicacy.  He used the fish they had just caught as well as some pulpo Aholi had given us.  Yumm-o!

Back to Merida for the game.  And, oh, What a win!  This was the wild card round.   Now for the real deal.

We've been staying at Casa Carmita when we come to Merida.  Patricia and Miguel have opened another location, Merida Garden.  We stayed there with the boys while they've been visiting.  I prefer the orignal locaiton more i think but it sure is nice to have an option.  
Jordan leaves about 8:00am in the morning.  Since he has to be there two hours before the flight, we've called an Uber for him.  We will wave goodbye from the hotel.  Does that make us bad people?  Well, if it does, so be it.  

Thursday, 9 January 2020: Isla Areana

Time to be out on the water in a boat!  They picked us up on our beach.  Carole joined us;  unfortunately she slipped as she was getting on the boat but she is such a trouper.  

We had planned to go for four hours (for $2200),  We went for the extended time (six hours for $2600 which allowed us to go south to Campeche to Isla Arena to the crocodile habitat and have an early lunch, to the nearby museum, into the mangroves, and then swimming from a sandbar.  After swimming, the task was to get back up in the boat.  That was a sight.  I ended up woth some bruises under my arms, but thankfully the only damage was to my pride.  Even more thankfully, Jordan, Erich and Justin are forgiving.  Carole and I were laughing too hard.  

Tamales for dinner.  I think Jordan and Erich have been pleased with what they've been eating... and drinking.  

Wednesday, 8 January 2020: Casa Colibri

Erich and Jordan arrived on Monday.  Jordan will be here for a week and Erich for a few days longer.  We spent the night at Casa Carmita so they had a little taste of Merida (and La Negrita).  

 

Yesterday we went to Dzibilchaltun , a Mayan ruin about ten miles to the east of Merida.  This site has been occupied for thousands of years and has a fabulous cenote.  We didn't take advantage of swimming but it was great just to take it all in.  This is probably the only ruin the boys will visit during this trip and since Justin and I hadn't been here yet, it was a perfect day trip.  

Returned to Celestun yesterday in time for sunset margaritas at Poseidon.

 Today, Erich was fishing by 7:30.  All the boys explored a bit in town and even did a driving tour to see flamingoes.  By mid afternoon they were fishing again.  Justin arranged a boat trip for tomorrow.  Erich brought all kinds of fishing gear and he added to his collection  when we made a stop at Decathalon in Merida.  Fishing rods, reels and all sorts of lures and lines are spread out all over the bar in the kitchen.  

We all went to El Palmar for dinner where we met an interesting couple from Colorado. We invited them over later in the week.

Justin is beaming to have his sons here.  

Iran.  Impeachment?  Brexit?  We haven’t had a debate in a while. One must be coming soon. 

Saturday, 4 January 2020: Casa Colibri

Justin continues to work on plants.  He's created quite the indoor space in our new grande cocina.  He’s also placing the door pulls on our cabinets.  We will have only a few pulls.  The rest of the cabinets will be sleek and simple.  

Justin and I did more painting today than we’ve ever done at Casa Colibri.  We touched up the yellow in the kitchen and did one more coat on the masetas that form part of the insides of the kitchen cabinets.  While I don’t paint, I do mask and scrape and take out and replace switch plates etc.  Today I also cleaned and applied sealer to the granite.  While these aren’t necessarily “fun” chores, I am so glad to get them finished.  Jordan and Erich will be here soon so we are taking advantage of the motivation to get things all neat and tidy before they arrive.

The Houston Texans barely beat the Buffalo Bills in the wild card round today --  22-19 in overtime.  Wonder, could the Packers just maybe meet the Texans in the Super Bowl?

The bougainvillea outside continues to make me smile!

Thursday, 1 January 2020: Casa Colibri.

Happy New Year!!!

Black eyed peas and greens were definitely on the menu for today.  Last year I hadn’t provisioned adequately and we were without black eyed peas until later in January when Mimi brought them.  This year, we were right on time.

Justin is from a climate where swimming on New Year’s Day isn’t often within the scope of what sane people even consider.  We went swimming today.  Ok, admittedly, mine was more of a quick splash about rather than a swim, but I was in the water nonetheless.  

We read Dave Barry’s year-end piece. I love Dave Barry.  I started reading his pieces when I was in Japan.  He still has that same sharp wit.