Sunday, January 31, 2010

A great Sunday

On our siesta break today, Diane very kindly invited us to lunch, so of course we picked our favourite spot on the beach, the Mother in Law's, and had a lovely leisurely meal, followed by ginger tea at the papapa restaurant behind the Mayan Riviera Properties. Of course, you can't be on the beach without seeing the wonderful frigate birds - I just love them!




Thanks, Diane, for a great lunch!


After work we joined Sharon, Les and friends Sue and Deb, who had just arrived from chilly Ontario, for the Men in Blues at David Lau's, and then went to the Ixchel beach bar for a nightcap, a view of the illusive full moon, and a wander in the ocean before going home.


Ok, just one more frigate bird for the road!



Posted by Picasa

Cancun with the Boyz

Ed and Kevin love to shop....so La Isla on the lagoon in the hotel zone is one of the most unique and amazing shopping spots in Cancun.



We even had a full moon peeking through.....!



The Parques las Palapas is the very first square/gathering place in Cancun, before the city grew to be what it is now - over a million people. One of the special things for kids is they can rent little electric cars - 20 pesos ($2 Canadian) for 10 minutes.

Mexicans love their food - these booths have every traditional dish imaginable and then there are the "junk food" stands with french fries, churros, marquestitas, etc.
For a look at our full album from this fun night, go to the link below:

http://picasaweb.google.com/daffinparksville/LaIslaandParquelasPalapas

Posted by Picasa

Saturday, January 30, 2010

Friday fun!

Friends John and Connie from Iowa came to our casa for lunch and a visit today. We were all neighbours in our RVs in 2008 at Acamaya Reef and they are back every year for some fun in the sun. Iowa is some cold this time of year.
Connie brought us up to date on all their family tales, and we had a great lunch courtesy of Guadalupe's great chicken and ribs!
Then it was off to Cancun with Ed and Kevin. First stop was the wild beaches on the Hotel Zone.
Gorgeous breakers, but not exactly a swimming beach, although there was one brave soul out there. The guys had not seen the Hotel Zone in all its excess, so it was an eye opener for them.

Then we headed downtown for some REAL Mexico.
Posted by Picasa

Sunday, January 24, 2010

Small town hero!

You may remember this smiling face - Meno, the wonderful bartender/host at Yodi's Biergarten here in PM. Always a smile on his face, no matter how busy he is, and makes you feel welcome and cared for.

A couple of weeks ago, there was a house fire right across from the bar. Memo rushed across the street, got the family - Mom, Dad and a few kids - out of the house, hauled the burning mattress out to the road and put out the fire. This was during our chilly (well, 15 is chilly here at night) period and I am sure they were trying to stay warm with candles, but Meno's quick action saved them and prevented the rest of their home from burning.

When he is reminded of this, he just gives you a shy "aw shucks" kind of smile and changes the subject. But a hero he is, and so typical of Mexicans who go out of their way to help other people. Way to go, Meno!!!!!
Posted by Picasa

Rosie & Martin from Ft McMurray

Our oldest dearest friends, Rosie and Martin, are in Tulum for 2 weeks and rented a car to come see us overnight in Puerto Morelos! We relaxed at our casa for a while, caught up on all the news from frigid Alberta, and had some drinks and appies.






Then we went for a great dinner at Las Palmeras, and enjoyed the company, the food and the sound of the waves during dinner.

Finally, we headed to David Lau's to listen to the Men in Blues and do some long overdue dancing. Had an awesome evening and a nice morning with them today and then they were off to Tulum and we head to the bookstore at 4!



Posted by Picasa

Saturday, January 23, 2010

Music in the town square!

Friday night was the first of the 2010 Puerto Morelos Music Festival nights, which will run every second Friday until the end of March. This is a wonderful night of entertainment, as well as a major fundraiser for the community of PM. There are great local entertainers, like Abel, who has an amazing voice, guitarists, local bands and lots of gringo performers, who come here every year and contribute to our wonderful town.



All the concerts are free, but the hat is passed, and there are Festival T-shirts for sale, which are a great hit and are a major part of the fundraising effort.




Local kids did a dance/yoga performance to music - too sweet.



And, of course, the Men in Blue were the final act of the night, getting everyone up and dancing for sure!
Posted by Picasa

New gate and screen door!

We were lucky to have been given (thanks Brenda and JP!!) a lovely screen door which they were unable to use. We contracted with our neighbour to remove our original metal gate across our door, which wouldn't fit once the screen door was installed.






So Ramon removed our gate and welded a new gate which now covers our whole porch, which gives us more porch space as well as a safe place for the catfood bowl when Botas, the dog, is in our yard.





Next, I took Ramon to Playa to buy the wood he needed to build the doorframe. Once the door was installed, Miki stained the raw wood and it looks awesome.















The screen door from inside the house.


























The final product - nice gate, great screen door, and more through air without mosquitos....!!!!!!


Our talented nieghbour and wonderful guy - Ramon! He is a welder, a plumber, an electrician, a builder and a pool guy. What a great neighbour to have 3 doors down - oh, and the whole job, including materials, was $210.

Thursday, January 21, 2010

Yalku snorkelling fun

Spent a lovely day with Yasemin and Omar at Yalku - one of our favourite snorkelling places south of Playa del Carmen. Sunny, warm water, loads of fish, calm water - all perfect for hours of snorkelling.





Then off to our favourite Akumal lunch spot - La Buena Vida - for drinks and a great meal overlooking the beach.




Omar and Yasemin are spending the next 2 nights in Playa del Carmen, so we dropped them off at their resort and enjoyed a tour as well. Silly me didn't think to take pics until we were home....!
Posted by Picasa

Monday, January 18, 2010

Critters and music

One of our more beautiful street cats (of course, the are ALL beautiful in their own way!!) is this handsome one, who is obviously tabby, but has a decidedly siamese face. This day he/she had a large sore on one side of his/her face, so I gave it some extra treats to see if I could get close enough to check it out. A little bit of cooked chicken and smoked salmon disappeared so fast he ended up throwing it up later, poor thing. Anyway, the sore looked like it was healing and didn't look infected. Chi'ik is saying hello at the bottom of the shot. So far he is too small to be a threat to any of the cats, so they either ignore him or play with him, depending on how old they are.






After work on Sunday night, friends Roxanne and Evan from Saskatchewan invited me out for a drink at a little taco place around the corner from the bookstore. Had a nice glass of wine and enjoyed some wonderful live music right on the street. He plays beautiful guitar and she has an amazing voice.


Roxanne and Evan are enjoying their time in Puerto Morelos and also took in the Jungle Market this morning.




Ah, yes, another dog - this street puppy has been adopted by a local Mexican man, and a fellow we see at the store all the time, Joe, from the U.S. had him out for a walk. Very sweet and full of energy. Looks very healthy too, which is a treat.
Posted by Picasa

Jungle Market on Sunday

The Jungle Market is a special place, where Mayan women sell handcrafts, wonderful cooked food, juices, and artwork, and also demonstrate the traditional Mayan dancing. Sandra, who has been instrumental in creating this amazing space, coordinates a show that tells the story of the Mayans integrating with the Spaniards (yes, most of us would call it something more brutal), but which starts with the goddess Ixchel at the pyrimid. The women each brought her a gift, to ensure health and prosperity.



The ribbon dance is incredible. Each woman takes a ribbon and does an elaborate dance, weaving in and out around the pole, ending up where they began. When they were finished, they invited the visitors to come up and do the ribbon dance with them, which many of us enjoyed. Then the entire audience and dancers move in a circle dance to honour all people in the world, and bring all our energies to bear on peace and harmony.



The market is held both inside a large palapa, and outside in the garden, and offers clothing, jewellry, Mayan remedies, artwork, herbs, and wonderful cooked food as well.






The garden at the Market is lovely - even full of people there are quiet places with wonderful vegetation.

To see a larger album of this day, go to the link below and click.
http://picasaweb.google.com/daffinparksville/TheJungleSpaJan2010

Posted by Picasa

Friday, January 15, 2010

social week


AVATAR!!!!! We took Jill and Lisa and went into Cancun to see the amazing Avatar movie - yes, in 3D. I was there begrudginly, not being a sci fi fan, but the special effects were wonderful. Reclining seats, good popcorn, cold drinks - great thing to do for 3 hours in the afternoon - and for half the price of a Canadian movie.




Last night Lauren came for dinner and sadly had to leave today to go back to cold old NY state.


Today we had friends Yasemin and Omar over for lunch and a visit. It has become sunny and hot again - YAY - so we had appies and drinks by the pool and then had our main meal inside, as it was too hot outside.


Our littlest street cat of the 10 we feed, the 5 week old Latte, has a new name, courtesy of friend Lee from Ek Balam. Lee stayed with us for 3 nights last week and watched this delightful kitten leaping around and said he looks just like a coatamundi, with his long striped tail up in the air. So his new name is Chi'ik - (pronounded cheek) which is Mayan for coatamundi. Here he is doing quality control to make sure Miki's water is safe to drink.....! He is the one of our charges who lives in the house, and who sleeps with us every night.





For anyone who reads the blog, you will remember the distressing pics of Botas, our street dog, full of mange, parasites, fleas, worms and terribly underweight. Well, here is is today, after a series of 6 injections for the parasites (thanks, Diane, for doing those), a mange bath every 2 weeks, and daily food and water. Kind of a handsome lad, don`t you think...!!
Posted by Picasa