I know, I know. I've been missing again for awhile. I'm fine though, doing a whole lot better in fact and I'm proving it by this first picture of me standing up by a small pyramid at the ruins of Sayil. Yes, I hiked all over the site and climbed the hills and the breathing was easy-peasy.

Thanks for all of your concern, I will keep you updated if things change but right now I'm just thrilled that I am so much better.

Lordy! Lordy! I can even walk up the 3 flights to my condo in Akumal, with arms full of groceries and talk the whole way up! Plus, while I am breathing hard at the top I can still talk and walk and it isn't taking anywhere near as long to breathe normally afterwards.

Our friends Betsy and Diane have been here for a week and we've been going non-stop. It's their first trip here and first trip to Mexico and we want them to see everything and love it all. We spent 4 days in Merida and a day at Uxmal, plus some of the smaller Mayan ruins on the Puuc route, like Sayil above.

We didn't take our internet dish to Merida and while I had my laptop I never took the time to stop at a wireless site and use it. Amazing for me, I rarely go a day without being online. I was having fun though and let me tell you internet, you are a lot easier to kick than cigarettes. I'm still doing that too though, so far my teeth are holding up to the near constant nicorette chewing. Hey, at least I don't spit... gum is a definite improvement over chewing tobacco.

I even climbed the rickety ladders up to the 2nd floor of our house. The above is the view of the Cathedral from my bathroom through the scaffolding and all. We may have to put the roof terrace back in the plans as the view from one more floor up will be a whole lot better. Not to mention a lot less trashy than having people come into your bathroom to see the "view".

The next one is of Betsy and Diane sitting in the entrance to the master bedroom, I'm standing in the private garden off the bedroom taking the picture.

In the pic at left, our wonderful architect, Henry Ponce, is standing at the top of just one of the rickety ladders I climbed to get up there. He's standing on what we are calling "Mimi's Grill Terrace". It will also be the terrace and entry for the guest bedroom, also called 'Country's Room', at the left. On the right, will be the Mimester's barbeque station with even a sink that may or may not have hot water.

My pantry is still present and has not been shrunk or filled with mechanical things. I must stay vigilant but I think they have accepted that this gringa is obsessed with storage. I was thrilled with the laundry room upstairs. It has room for a washer and dryer, lots of counter tops, a sink and a bunch of shelves. It will also be a linen closet... this rings warning bells for Mimi and many of my friends.

In a past life I referred to myself as a 'sheet whore', sounds awful but it really only meant that I was a sucker for 500 thread count egyptian cotton. Only the complete lack of any storage in our small RV has kept me under control. Believe me, the day I had to get rid of all but 2 sets of sheets was traumatic. Some lucky souls in Marin got incredible deals on very expensive sheets at our giant garage sale.

We also attended the antique sale and chili cookoff of the Merida English Library where I got that gorgeous table for a song and where we consumed a dozen or more different types of chili in the interests of supporting the library. It was a lot of fun.

We did a lot of other stuff too but I didn't take the camera. Sometimes it is just a pain to carry around. One spectacular event was a large fair of women's handcrafts* and cooking from the southern states of Mexico. The states of Yucatan, Quintana Roo, Campeche, Chiapas, Oaxaca and Veracruz were represented by many booths full of great hand made items, food, and a wonderful plant sale. It was held at the large convention center and celebrated Women's Day.

We attended a jam-packed opening of Casa Frederick Catherwood including a show of paintings by Malena Peon who is a descendant of the man, Simon Peon, who invited John Stephens to Merida to see the startling cities in the jungle. The permanent exhibit of Catherwoods paintings of Chichen Itza and other Mayan cities in the 1800's is spectacular.

We spent an afternoon in the huge mercado which was a first time experience for Diane and Betsy and a whole lot of walking.

I'm having a lot of fun enjoying the many options in Merida to do interesting things, listen to wonderful music, eat great food. Diane's first statement when she saw our new house was "Jonna is never going to leave the house". I think she knows me pretty well and that would be true except that it is so easy to go to so many other interesting things that I do believe I'll get out more than expected.

*The actual name of the event in Spanish was 1ra Feria Artesanal y Gastronomica de Mujeres del Medio Rural. I'm never happy with translating artesania or artesanal into English as 'crafts' or 'handcrafts', it just doesn't sound right to me but I can't come up with other words.