¡Feliz Navidad!

Happy holidays to everyone, no matter what you celebrate, it is an important time of the year.

Well, for most anyway.

Us, not so much.

I do love getting all those wonderful pictures of snow and ice and frozen trees. So, I thought I'd post some pics of the flora around us.

Ahhhh! The colors of Christmas!

It's a wonderful 82°F right now, the sun is shining, there is a small breeze, football is on TV.

We are alternating between sitting outside and coming in to watch football.

We returned to Mérida on Thursday night. We were happy to return, the beach is wonderful but the crowds are beginning to arrive. It is much nicer to be in a city with lots of people than in a small town with a lot of people, especially when they are all celebrating something or spending their one week of vacation getting as drunk as possible.

Not that Mérida has escaped the party fervor, in one ride downtown last night we saw 3 accidents with an ambulance at all of them. We also saw quite a few weavers and wanderers that couldn't quite figure out where their lane ended.

It was a relief to get back to our island of peace and tranquility on the edge of the city.

We went down to the main square to see the artesania fair that closed yesterday. We walked through all the booths but didn't buy much. Mimi got some new ropes for our hammock and we got a couple of small paintings of birds, a Mot-Mot and Flamingos, on hand made paper. Most of the things on sale were things we've seen often. I was tempted by a bird feeder made from a coconut shell in the shape of a hummingbird. I think it might just have been because I'd not seen one before.

All of the flags in and around the Plaza Grande were at half-mast in commemoration of the massacre at Acteal 10 years ago in Chiapas. A horrible event, the reality of what and who and how are lost in the rhetoric of politics. What is fact is that 45 Tzotzil Maya, most of the population of the village of Acteal including pregnant women and children, were slaughtered on December 22, 1997. I don't know if this event was commemorated in all of México or just here in the south, in the land of the Maya.

We drove up and down the main avenues Friday night, looking at the incredible lights and decorations. Paseo Montejo, the big glorietas along it and the Prolongación are ablaze with huge water and light shows. I love the exuberance of all the decorations for Christmas, especially all the lights. Fireworks are a big part of celebrating here so they are going off all night as well. Poor Hombre! The vet said to give him a little rum in milk when he got really nervous from the fireworks. Haven't tried that yet, I think it will be his New Year's toast.