Oh Internet! I miss you so much when I don't have access to you. It's scary how disoriented I get after a week of not being able to go online whenever I want.

After Mahahual, we went to Calderitas, near Chetumal down by the Belize border, to clean up and see our friend Kathe and decompress. My first request was to set up the sat dish so I'd have access all the time. I can't believe how much better I felt once I could get online whenever I wanted.

Since we were last here, Kathe has almost completed her house and it is gorgeous. The wood especially, is deep and rich and I had major cabinet, door and furniture envy.

She got a lot of the wood however, when hurricane Dean blew down the trees on her property. That's not such a great way to acquire furniture.

This is the view from her deck, the missing jungle is now covered in grass and I find it beautiful.

I don't think Kathe likes it as much though, she liked the privacy and dense jungle and trees. I'm more partial to open vistas and the view of the water.

Many of the trees that blew down though were rare hardwoods and she had the trunks cut and milled for furniture, doors and decks. The results are stunning.

She is off the grid with a complete solar setup for electric. The house has one unit on the right and one on the left, mirror halves. They are simple but exquisitely finished. For now, she will rent out one and live in the other.

Eventually there will be an entire compound here called Maricasa with other options for lodging and living. It's a grand plan and I'm thrilled to see this first part completed. It's been a long and painful road to get this far. You may remember last year, Kathe's partner Colleen died after an accident working on the land. That Kathe has gone on and completed this vision that they had together is a tribute to both of them.

While we were in Calderitas at the RV park there, a birding caravan came through. Among them were a couple in a green Lazy Daze, much like our Tortuga. Plus, I've been reading the travel logs of the leaders of the caravan, Bert and Shari Frenz, for several years.

It was great to meet Mike and Kay, fellow Lazy Dazers from our Yahoo group, and I wish we had been able to spend more time with the whole group. One thing that was kind of cool, one of the rigs had a water pump problem and they had replaced it and still not solved the problem. Mimi went over and messed around with it - probably to the dismay of the guys - she fixed it! Heh! I love stuff like that.

On Thursday, we headed back to Mérida. It felt like we were going home. Quite an odd feeling for fulltime RVers who have their home on their backs all the time.