This was supposed to be posted on 4/17/08 but the Blogger Gods were in a snit.



We're safely back in Akumal, hustling to get stuff done and get packed. Tomorrow we are driving up to Cancun and taking the ferry to Isla Mujeres for the blogger's meet. It should be fun.

Our last day in Mérida, we ran down to the city market, the mercado Lucas de Galvez, to pick up some herbal medicine for friends over in Akumal. I thought I'd share some pictures as I had the camera with me.

This big pink excess is the administrative offices I think, it is across from one of the entrances to the market.


The actual entrance to the bowels of the market is the dark hole to the left of the pink pillars and to the right of Mimi's red head.


Once inside, it is a warren of narrow halls, lots of people, sellers calling out their wares, chaos and order in tandem.


You can buy fruits and vegetables from any of hundreds of stalls.


Or, from sellers who are set up in the narrow aisles.


You can buy shoes, religious objects, fresh fruit smoothies, great tacos and empañadas, all this is in only one section of the market. We stayed in a one block square, there is more across the street.


In other parts of the market you can be overwhelmed by the fish and meat smells, the caged live animals for food and pets, the rows of food stalls. We were looking for a particular herbalist stall so I've no pictures of that block.





We've found the right place. You can get any of these things cured here.







We got the herbs for our friend, said adios to the lovely statue for sale, and headed back to the car. Hope you enjoyed the visit.

Someone in the last couple of weeks said to me "you guys live quite a social life down here don't you?" I immediately said 'No', but then I started to think about it. I'm pretty sure both of us think of ourselves as bordering on hermits, we spend a lot of time traveling and mainly just with each other. We're happy with that, but I wonder if our belief in how we live is really valid. If I use the last couple of months as an example, then we are far from hermits. I actually had to start writing engagements in the calendar so we wouldn't forget somewhere we said we'd go. On top of that, This Is Mexico and that means that things happen spontaneously a lot; you run into friends and end up going to dinner, people drop by and it turns into a whole afternoon, you stop on the road and chat for an hour when you pass a friend's car... you see where I'm going here? We are pretty damn social I guess. Why am I so shocked to figure that out?

Last week we drove back over to Akumal to get ready to go to Isla Mujeres for the Blogger Meet. I tried for the 2 days we were here to upload a post on our fast trip to the big Mercado the day we left. No bloody joy! Blogger would not let me upload more than one picture before it stalled and spun endlessly. I'm stubborn though so I managed to get 5 pics up before we left. I'm going to put that post up now, finally I seem to be able to upload. It's all out of whack on time though, just deal OK?

So, then we went off to Isla and had a fantabulous weekend hanging with the funniest and most creative people I've met in a long, long time. It's intimidating, you know? Most of these kids are young enough to be my kid and some my grandkid and they can write like Hemingway and should really be screenwriters making huge money in LA. It's odd, I adjusted pretty easily to being old (except the vision thing, hate that) and fat (well, not really adjusted but resigned) and yet, I cling stubbornly to my sense of smartness and wittiness and coolness - I'll have to work on getting the ego to let that go too. These are some seriously talented, witty, funny, and incredibly hip/cool people! It's good for me. I consider it yet another milestone in my goal to be the poster child for growing old graciously.

In fact, here is a picture of me about a half hour after we returned from Isla. It's the only nap I've had for weeks, really!


Not that I'm trying to out-Mexico anyone or anything, but I'm really late in posting about the weekend and then the hellaciously busy week that followed. I have an excuse though, I hit the ground running on Monday and had another blogger guest and a 3 day solo trip to Mérida and only internet cafes and major work and drama about our condo in Akumal and ... did I mention that my computer died and I've only got Mimi's to use? and no access to my old email or addresses or pictures? I think I've got the excuse bases covered here, you hear me Wayne?

Happy Birthday Dupre!!


What a long, strange trip it's been.


love, Mom

An Oriole feeding in a tree here at the park. It's amazing the number of birds here, it's truly a beautiful oasis on the edge of the city.

We got a lot done today, made appointments with my doctor, the job boss at the house, the vet. We took Cuba in and got her cast off, she has been more miserable lately -it's really bugging her. She stands in front of us and just holds it out with the most pitiful look on her face. Plus, she is up and down all night and can't get comfortable. Tomorrow we take her back and they are taking some xrays to look again for a break. She's still limping with the cast off, I don't know if that's because it has been immobilized for 2 weeks or if it means it is still damaged. How in the world could she have hurt herself this bad just jumping up on the bed? It's a puzzle.

For years Mimi has been trying to get some good pictures of a Mot Mot. It's a gorgeous bird that often nests in the cenotes or caves with water in the Yucatan. They are also here at the park and today she got about a dozen pics of 4 of them. They are called Clock Birds in English, they pluck some of the feathers on their tails and are known for swinging their tails back and forth like a metronome.

We're leaving Wednesday to return to the beach for several weeks. I'm always a little sad to leave Merida, how attached I've become to this city. It will be nice to see our friends in Akumal though and I'm really excited about seeing my son. I'm a little excited about the new laptop he's bringing too! I got a Mac Powerbook Pro 15". It will run windows XP both in emulation and it will boot into it. That means my programs can be installed on the XP partition and I won't have to use this Mac mail program that I have resisted learning. I think I'll dump the Mac browser Safari as well, I've been using Firefox on Mimi's mac and it works fine. It's just a better browser for me.

This has been an unusual winter and spring, we're now on Norte #40 - these are cold storms that blow through bringing some rain and cooling the temps a lot. It's still warm here, in the high 70's (F) to low 80's but the over 100 degree temps that are normal for this time have not lasted more than a couple days. This is the first time I've paid attention to the weather reports and the storm numbers but I read that a normal winter has about 5 numbered nortes. All the papers say this means that May and June will be records for heat. The nortes have created some beautiful sunsets.

Mangos drumming on the roof! That's been keeping us awake lately. The wind is blowing and we're parked under an enormous mango tree for shade. It's loaded with fruit and when the wind blows the mangos hanging on the ends of the branches start banging into the top of Tortuga. A weird mango rhythm played by the wind. Today I finally agreed that Mimi could go up on the roof and cut the closest mangos. She's doing a lot better and, while she still limps a bit, she's improving.

I'm feeling rather cut off from my virtual world. My laptop is dead, I'm sharing Mimi's Mac but there are problems. I have to access my email with a browser and without my wonderful MailWasher program. I get a ton of spam that I rarely see with MailWasher but now I have to go through and delete each and every one, tedious. I can't post on my favorite forum, Merida Insider, and it's too frustrating to read and not be able to post so I don't read it anymore and I miss it. My list of blogs that I read is not in a usable form and I've been trying to find an RSS reader that I like. I will have to enter every blog by hand though so it will be awhile before I can catch up on most of them. It's all just mildly frustrating. I've dropped off the face of the virtual world and its left a big hole in my normal life.

The good news is that my son Dupre is coming to visit at the end of the month. I'm thrilled to get to see him and just to heap joy on top of joy, he's bringing me a new laptop.

Next week we're going over to Isla Mujeres to meet with a bunch of bloggers from SOB (south of border) and spend a couple days schmoozing and eating and drinking. I'm really looking forward to it. Shoot, it will be my closest connection to the virtual world in awhile and it will be live and in person. We will stay in Akumal after that as it's only another week until Dupre comes and our friend George of Tioga and George is arriving around then as well.

I think it is just as well that I stop visiting the house here for awhile, it's been rather depressing lately. It just gets to be more and more of a mess and things I thought were done are not and other things never seem to start. Hopefully when I get back there will be some positive visible changes.

So, if you've missed me at my usual virtual haunts, now you know why. I'm still here just not as visible. Perhaps that is good.

A few more pics of the older, downstairs part of the house. Not a lot has been done here, mainly it is full of bags of escombro or rock debris.

This first pic shows the original height of the garage door, we are working on getting the historical agency that controls all remodels in the centro to approve opening it back up to the full height. The garage was not original of course, but it was converted from a room early enough that we are grandfathered in with it, currently they will not allow rooms to be converted to garages in the centro. I'd like it the original height to get some light and air in through high windows. Since we also want to open up the front door to its original height, that would allow the two to be the same height.

Looking down the hall from the middle section to the back yard. You can see the bags of escombro and that not a lot has changed. On the left side of this hall is where a narrow and long pond will go. A section of the ceiling will be opened to let in light and air. The pond will be about 18" wide and run the length of that section of hallway. The wall behind it and below the half-buried columns will be rock salvaged from some of the limestone dug up in the yard. I'm hoping to wire orchids to it and have tropical fish in the pond.

The main work that has been done on the first floor is to chip out channels and run electric and plumbing. Here you can see the electric conduit chipped into the rock of the wall and between the beams on the ceiling.

This type of ceiling support is traditional in colonial homes here. The larger cross beams are old railroad ties that I think came over to the Yucatan as ballast on ships. I'm not positive about that, I'll have to look it up again. This kind of ceiling is one way to date a house. We think this one was built around the 1890's.

Some random thoughts I have about building or remodeling a house in Mexico.

One question that always comes up is how are you going to get the money down here to pay for the work. Most ex-pats are bringing money from the US or Canada. I only know about the US, it can be a problem transferring large amounts out of the country. Well, not really a problem but there is paperwork involved, especially since 9/11 and Homeland Security. I've done it a couple of ways but the easiest and cheapest so far has been Monex. Monex is a large, international company that is in the money changing and foreign currency investment business. They have large floating accounts in New York among other world currency centers.

On a friend's advice, I set up an account with them. I can now wire money to them in New York, notify them by email or phone that it is coming and they will follow my instructions on what to do with it. Because I'm sending the money to New York and not out of the country, the paperwork has been minimal so far. I can have them hold the money for a day or more if I think the exchange rate will improve, although I get no interest for that time. I can have them exchange it to pesos and disperse it in various checks to people I have set up with them ahead of time. For instance, today I had a check cut for my architect here in Merida, a deposit made for my condo manager to his bank account in Playa del Carmen and I received the rest in person in cash - all this from one wire transfer and at the exchange rate I saw online. They don't charge me for these services but they are getting a wholesale exchange rate so they make their money that way. I still get a better rate than I've gotten from any bank so I'm happy as well. When you are talking large amounts, even small differences in exchange rates add up quickly.

Another service that I get since I have an account is that I can go into their office and write a check on my US bank and cash it in pesos at that day's rate. The check clears through their account in New York but I get my money immediately.

I'm currently setting up an interest account with them and will transfer a CD that is maturing into that account. It is a peso account that pays 5.34%, they also have dollar accounts that pay a little over 3%. Considering the decline of the dollar these days I'm willing to bet that I will do better in the short term with pesos. This is money that is earmarked for the remodel so it will be short term and I will need it in pesos.

Monex has offices in most major cities of Mexico, I recommend them.

The other thing I did today was go to the Social Security office (IMSS) to sign some paperwork for the workers on my house to receive benefits. This is legally required for all employers but it is not always done, some people don't want to spend the money and bet that they won't get caught. Sometimes they don't but if you are caught there is a significant fine. Aside from that, if a worker is injured working on your property you will be responsible for their medical care. As long as you have registered them with IMSS and paid the social security tax on their wages, they will have full medical coverage and other benefits. Mostly, it is just the right thing to do. I can't stress that enough, these are people who are often risking life and limb to work for very low wages. I think there is no excuse for not ensuring that they get the benefits they are entitled to.

I have heard of contractors or architects that enable their clients in avoiding paying this, in fact they sometimes suggest that it is not necessary. One of the things I really liked about our architect was that he was quite clear that he recommended full compliance. There are benefits to having the employer account in your name not the contractors. If there is a claim and it turns out it wasn't paid, it will be you the owner of the property that they will fine. If it is paid and in your name you have the receipts to prove it. Also, most architects work on a percentage over costs basis, paying this separately keeps it out of that equation.

The cool thing today was that we took in a floppy disk and for the rest of the project it can be paid monthly online. I will only have to go to the office one more time at the completion to close the account. As with most government programs in any country, the paperwork involved is daunting. I pay a small amount monthly for an accounting firm to handle all of it. They file it and tell me how much to pay, I pay it at any bank and get a receipt. I can check online that it is current at any time.

There are a lot of things I find impressive about how things are done in Mexico. IMSS is one of them. The IMSS hospitals are competent in most areas and outstanding in some - Merida being one of those areas with excellent care. Once registered with IMSS, the workers have full medical for themselves and their families. If they are hit by a car on the way to work, it is considered work related. If their wife is pregnant, all of her pre-natal care is covered. Same for the kids including preventative innoculations. In fact, almost anyone can sign up for IMSS and pay their own way for a very reasonable amount. Some foreigners do it although I have a problem with that as the system is trying to protect Mexican workers and citizens and of course, it is stretched thin. Most foreigners can afford independent coverage or self-insurance since medical costs are so reasonable. Many don't see it that way, which is fine with IMSS so far.

Computers! I love them and I hate them. My Sony Vaio is dying, it spends most of its time now putting up the famous 'blue screen of death' and restarting. It does this over and over and over. Well, I do intervene at times. I've checked out all I can and have decided it is a hardware problem, maybe the disk although every chkdsk I run says no bad sectors. If you are reading this then I kept the Vaio up long enough to post, it's a crap shoot now.

My son Dupre is going to be 40 in a few weeks!! If you want to feel really old, having a kid turn 40 will do it. He's also having some relationship problems and I want to see him and have him float in the Caribbean and figure out for myself that he is all right. You know, sometimes you just have to reach out and give the kid a hug. So, the plan is for him to fly down for a few days to visit me, float in the water, get some sun (like there isn't any in LA) and bring me a new laptop!

The other thing I want to show you internet is the state of our puppy Cuba. About a day before Mimi fell and got her arm in a cast, Cuba jumped up on the bed and did something to her front leg. The right front leg, same one as Mimi.

We tried anti-inflammatories and we got an xray that didn't show anything broken (same as Mimi) but she limped heavily and it wasn't getting better. So, back to the vet she went only this time to the vet over here in Merida and she got a cast (same as Mimi). It's kind of funny, the two of them swinging their bum arms around.



She's awfully cute, laying in the sun on the back of the couch. She's been good about leaving the cast alone, we have one of those collars but haven't had to use it.



Things will get better for all of us, soon I hope.