Mimi and I have been suffering a bit of malaise. I love that word, it just sounds like how we feel. Kind of tired, achey, a tinge of a sore throat. We've been sleeping a lot, which when you consider that we are both world class sleepers to begin with means we are really sleeping a lot. Our main problem is keeping Tita from sleeping when we are not so she won't jump on our heads and bite our faces when we are. You know? She loves to sneak off and sleep during the day and we are always asking each other where she is so we can go and wake her up. Sometimes you have to dig down under the covers to find her.

I should finish talking about the house renovation. The other problem that came up last week (when the tail of Dolly came through and dumped tons of rain) is that the street in front of the house couldn't drain fast enough and water came in the front door. That's probably what caused the cave in of the hall floor although the jackhammer no doubt contributed. I had actually called and asked them a couple weeks ago how the street was draining because my friend Theresa had posted pics of her street under water.

The solution is to raise the first section of the hall so that you step up to come into the house. That section will also slope 5cm towards the door. Then, you will step down to go into the rest of the hall. The garage floor will also slope towards the street. It sounds good, I'm glad they are dealing with it now and not later when the floor is in.

This is also part of the answer to the lowering of the backyard. Henry wants it to be a step down from the terrace so that water will not come into the terrace floor. The workers were in the process of lowering the yard when they decided the sour orange was going to die and cut it down. It turns out that Henry had been there Monday afternoon and Benjamin had been there on Tuesday and sometime in between they cut down the tree. He said they leave them a cell phone for calling if they have questions but they didn't call.

When it rains here, it is like a fire hose overhead and while the limestone drains quickly it often just can't keep up with the rain. I'm happy that Henry has spent so much time and planning on drainage. We have a lot of drains from every part of the roof and terraces and they go into a very deep well that was already there. I think we have a good chance of avoiding some common problems of the rainy season here.

They have finished chipping the back wall down to the momposteria, taking off several colors of paint and stucco. It looks nice, I'm really happy to have the wall not look brand new and stuccoed. I think it fits well with the natural look of the pool.

I also got to talk to them a little more about the pond. I couldn't see what they were doing, it looked like it would be much too shallow and that the rocks in the middle would cause dead spots with no current. Henry did have some good ideas about it and he showed me what he intends to do with the rocks inside and on the edges, including a waterfall. It sounds good.

They have started laying the tiles in the kitchen. The blue is the same as in the pattern in the living room and entry hall.

We also looked at the design for the kitchen cabinets and I'm very pleased with those. We got the price too and it's doable.

Mimi had the idea to use a part of the metal design from the old kitchen door for the rails on the stairs. You can see it on the left in the above picture. I think it will look really nice. We couldn't keep this old door where it was and have decided to hang it on the wall of the upstairs terrace. We should get the cost for the rest of the metal work tomorrow.

We also got a quote for renovating the old doors and building the new ones. It's also doable but all of these things are coming up at once now. I have started worrying about money again. The sorry state of the US dollar and horrible exchange rate I will get doesn't help any.

We made one excursion to find the aquatic gardens in an old quarry here in the city. It's a gorgeous place and full of blooming water lilies. Now I know who to talk to when I need some lilies for my pond.

Other than that, we've gone nowhere and seen no one, we've been living on top ramen and cereal.

There were people I wanted to see but neither of us felt up to socializing and now we are leaving to return to Akumal on Tuesday. It's the malaise.

After not a lot of sleep last night, we arrived early for our meeting with the architects. This first picture is the garage floor showing where it fell into the cave. They were jackhammering out the hole for a water cistern and that added a lot of stress and probably caused it to open up.

First thing he told us is that it is not uncommon for them to find caves under these old houses, the Yucatan is riddled with them including in the city. He then pointed out the lighter layer above the hole, he says that is a very thick limestone layer and is very strong. If we hadn't broken through it with the jackhammer we would not have known the cave was there.

You may have to click the first pic to make it larger to see the detail.

The dark band above that is dirt and above that is cement and a layer of old pasta tiles and then the concrete of the garage floor.

Then he told us they had found momposteria columns in the cave supporting the floor above. It's the same thing the walls are made of, chunks of limestone and cement, and shows that the builders did know the cave was there. You can see one of the columns in the second picture.

Heather wins the prize for wondering about this in the previous comments. What's the prize? How about our new tour of Merida underground?

This next picture shows a close up of another of the columns. There are several back in the cave under the office and garage.

Mimi took these pictures today. She really got down inside there. Yes, Rachel, I thought it was awesome of her too. Kathe, she didn't go far back into them, just enough to get the flash in there a bit. It was clear that the masons or maybe even one of the architects had also been in there and looked around.

There are shelves in there (pic at right) that are very similar to ones we've seen diving in cenotes here, cenotes are just caves with water from underground rivers in them. It was damp in this one but that could have been from the recent rains that came in the front door - which is a whole 'nother story.

So, what is the solution you ask? The plan is to build a perimeter wall inside the hole, using the same techniques used for the columns when the house was built. It will be made of momposteria, chunks of rock and cement. Then the opening under the cistern will be filled with rock taken from the back. Then rebar and concrete flooring will go over that and then the cistern will sit on that floor. They are confident this will hold the weight of the water in the cistern and the Jeep parked on top of that.

What about the weight of the house? That was my next question. They tell me that the wall that is load bearing runs the width of the house and that it is supported by the original columns and by solid rock on either end, the cave is not that wide. I agree that the lenghwise wall is not load bearing as that is the one we moved when they made the hallway slightly smaller and enlarged the garage. Mimi also said the end of the cave she could see did not go near the sides of the house. So, it sounds good. What the hell!

As for the spot in the hallway where the floor collapsed into the cave, they are going to break it out more to see the extent and then fill it with rock and concrete.

One plus, with the bottom of the wood door frames exposed we could see some termite damage so while everything is open before the floor goes in, they are going to call in the termite guy to spray and put some kind of poison barrier in there against termites. The only place that has wood are the old door frames and I want to keep them so this will help. Everything else is built of stone and seems in good shape.

So, the saga of Jonna and Mimi's cave is about to end. We both wished there was some way to keep it and use it for something but it is in a bad place for that. I suggested a large fish pond in the garage but no one seemed to think that a good idea. Mimi said we could use it as a root cellar but then, what roots and in the garage? It's the Colorado winters making her say that. She did say that it was very cool in there. Mainly, I still wish it had been in the backyard and we could have used it for a pool or a pond. More house updates to come, this is too long already.

We finally made it back to Merida, a couple days later than planned but stuff happens.

We were running late and grabbed some fish tacos while getting gas in Tulum, I have this general rule not to eat unrefrigerated foods in the summer but I broke it. I dumped a bunch of salsas and mayo on the tacos.

So, we both had a bit of stomach problems this morning. Mostly we laid around and took Treda the wonder drug. About noon we went off to see the house.

That was the first shock. See where that guy in red is in the picture? My sour orange tree used to be right there. They had saved it through all this debris and jackhammering and it was still green and healthy but a bit ragged looking. Well, they just cut it down! The workers apparently decided it would die and wanted it out of the way. After all this time??? I was really sick about it and called the architect to ask about it. He seemed shocked too so I guess someone will catch it over it but that won't bring back my tree. It's gone, and I'm going on because there is no sense in berating people for something they can't change.

The bigger overall problem is quite a huge one. This is the biggest problem we've had in the entire renovation and I still don't know what all the ramifications will be. When they were digging the cistern in the garage they hit a very large cave!

It's huge and it goes under several rooms of the house. In fact, the big rains last week caused water to come in from the street and part of the hall floor collapsed into the cave.

Why couldn't this SOB have been in the back yard and saved me all those weeks of jackhammer and compressor rental? Mimi got down in it with her pocket light and could see the extent of it. I don't know how they can put a water tank on top of a hole and I am now worried about the whole front of the house. This sucks.

We are meeting the architect at the house tomorrow morning to find out what he suggests. Wish us luck that this won't break the bank.

House update. I never got around to posting new pics of the house from our last trip over to Merida. Since I'm sitting around tonight waiting on Dolly, I got them organized.

I didn't take a lot of pictures. Frankly, it didn't look a lot different. That's the depressing part. The whole process has slowed down because the estimated time for using the compressor and jackhammer went from 1 week to 3 weeks and counting. The house sits on a solid limestone rock, about a foot under the surface. They can't even get a pick into it, it's all one big hunk. As long as they are hacking up chunks of rock and debris they can't do any more on the downstairs. Everything has to be hauled out the front door, that's the only entrance to the property. The dust is incredible and the piles of rock accumulate everywhere until there is enough for a large truckload. The truck has to come in the middle of the night due to restrictions in the centro.

I've put some of these latest pics starting here.

What I did do while we were there is spend some time with the cabinet maker, Terrence. He's a great guy and I enjoyed just talking with him and hanging out. He had me when he said that cabinets in kitchens were not very useful but there could never be too many drawers. Yes! We also agree that plain fronts are best and that the beauty comes from the wood. I think we have a good plan and he is drawing it up now and coming up with a price, that part is a little scary. We also went to a great, upscale hardware store and I bought some pull outs for pantry items and cleaning supplies that he will build in.

I also bought a wine cooler! I know, ¡qué naco! Here's my plan though. I eat a lot of fruit and fruit ripens so fast here that you have about a day before it is over the hill. I plan to use this glass fronted, adjustable temperatured, interior lit, wine cooler as a fruit cooler. It will be right at eye level. Instead of standing in front of the refrigerator with the door open while I open bins and decide which fruit I want, I can turn the light on and look through the door. I can also set it so it is about 65f and let the fruit ripen but not go bad in a day. Yeah, I might keep a bottle or two of Chard in there as well, after all I am from California.

Remember the wonderful hood from last time? Well, there was a counter and sink under it this time.

Only one thing, the counter was about right, maybe a little low, except the floor hadn't been installed yet. Mimi then noticed that the sink was about 4" deep, not good in your main kitchen sink.

We pointed this out to the architect when we met him there. Sometimes you just have to love Mexican culture and just ride with it.

The counter is fine but the workers put it in without permission and it has to be removed.

OK. Will it be higher next time?

No. It will be the same height as now but with an allowance for the floor being added.

OK. (long pause) Since it is being redone, can I have a slope and drain board on the right side of the sink? and... can the sink be a lot deeper?

Of course.

I'm tempted to say "Damn! I'm good!" but I should probably wait to see what the results are.

This is just as the rain arrived.

*edited to add that it now appears that Dolly may slide by us to the north, not the south. This prediction stuff is pretty loose, it changes hourly and you can make yourself nuts watching the forecasts too much. What we have had so far (11:30pm) are bands of rain and some wind but nothing very strong. It seems that our friend Wayne on Isla Mujeres - an island north of Cancun - is getting a lot more action than we are. We wish him well out there on that sand spit! Hold on Wayne!

Jaime called earlier to tell us that the governor of the state has closed the road between Tulum and Felipe Carrillo Puerto which is way south of us. Does anyone really know what is going on? I doubt it. They have also shut down all liquor sales in the state as of 5pm this afternoon. I'll bet that either that is being ignored in the hotels and resorts or there are some really unhappy tourists out there.

Well Hello Dolly!! Here she comes...

OMG!!! Right now at Chedraui in the bargain bin only $20p. They r sort
of good although I haven't been out of SF long enough to forget the
taste and smell of real freshly baked ones. These are from Kentucky -
how real can that be? Still it was a taste of home.

Well, that was fun. I can see posting pics on the fly with the iPhone. I promise to try it when I'm out and about, maybe just pics of places I'm going and people I see. Hmmmm... this could get really boring really fast, I'll have to watch that.

On a whole 'nother subject. I've been collecting pictures of tropical fruits I'm loving and thinking for awhile that I should do a post on them. The variety is amazing, the look and taste and smell of them is wonderful. I now buy any fruit I see that I haven't tried yet.

It's one small area of food that I am very adventurous with - my friend at Mexico Cooks! told me once that I was not an adventurous eater and she is really right. Except now, check it out Cristina, I'm an adventurous fruit eater!!

I also took the pic at left with the iPhone, so far I'm really happy with the camera on it. In that picture are some of my current favorites: 2 Pitaya on top, a Mamey on the left bottom and a red mango on the right.

Let's start with Mangoes. There are about 4 varieties that are in season now. Sorry but I'm not good with the names plus I think they change depending on where you are. The red one is not as sweet as the yellows but I like it a lot. I believe it is called Paraiso here.

We park under a giant tree of these over in Mérida. I posted a while back that they were banging on the RV so much that we had to cut them.

The trees can get enormous. I remember driving for miles through huge orchards of them on the west coast of Mexico. At first I thought they were avocados, they have a similar leaf and get about the same size.

Once I learned how to cut them without taking off my fingers I started eating at least 2 a day and that doesn't count the ones I make into smoothies or tropical hoo-has. The info on cutting them easily came on another blog I love, La Gringa down in Honduras. It was actually a commenter on this post that gave the simple directions that work for me.

An alternative to peeling a mango is to stand the mango on end, determine where the seed is, and slice as close to the seed as possible. Score the slice across and lengthwise down to the peel in 1" cubes. Turn the skin inside out and slice off the cubes.

The recipe for papaya milkshake on there is really good too!

Another big tree at the RV park in Mérida is the Caimito. They are small, rather hard, baseball sized fruit. They don't look like much from the outside but when you cut them open they are the most luscious white and purple and creamy with small dark seeds.

They were in season a few months ago, towards the end of the dry season. The leaves had started to shrivel and fall from lack of rain. The fruit stayed hard but turned a dark purple-brown and was easier to find on the almost bare tree. We had to really look to stay ahead of the grackles and other birds that pecked right through the hard surface.

It's worth it though, the taste is creamy and smooth and sweet. The way I ate them was to just cut them in half and get a spoon. I'd pull out the seeds and eat the rest of the middle. I'd read that they could be bitter towards the edge, the purple part, but these were sweet throughout.

Mamey, a wonderful taste. I've tried to decide how to describe the taste and finally decided it is a cross between a really sweet yam and a peach. They are a little stringy sometimes and those I throw into the blender. They are really good in anything blended from ice cream to cocktails. You can eat them with a spoon straight from the shell though, especially if you get one that is perfectly ripe and not stringy. They are still in season here but I've noticed that the quality is starting to decline and more of them have bad spots than at the beginning of the season around March.

I was told at a produce stand that they don't ripen well on the tree so they are picked hard. She said to choose a hard one with no green on the stem end, take it home and leave it out for a day or two until it has the feel of a just barely ripe avocado. I've followed her advice and it works for me.

There are so many types of bananas here and they are all good. I don't have a picture of the cooking banana, platano macho, because I rarely buy them. Mimi doesn't like them and I get my fill eating out. They are included as a side dish at many restaurants and you can even get a complete serving of just fried platano and rice.

The sweet or eating bananas come in various sizes and colors.

Above is the Platano Morado, a large, red and sweet banana.

In this picture the most common banana seen in the north is at the right, called Platano Roatan here although the sign I saw on these said they were from Chiapas. Perhaps the variety is usually grown in Honduras or maybe it is just a generic term for this common variety.

The small ones to the left, really not much larger than my thumb, are Dominicos. They are incredibly sweet. Ones I don't have pictures of that are slightly larger than the Dominicos are the Manzanas that have a little bit of an apple taste. I don't know the name of the small red bananas, they are only occasionally in the stores. It may be that they aren't yet in season.

Pitaya is a fabulous fruit, it is refreshing and a little citrusy with the crunch of a gazillion small seeds. You can cut it in half and use a spoon or peel off the skin and the whole inside pops out. Just eat the seeds, they have no flavor but they crunch nicely. They are in season now and there are vendors on all the busy street corners selling huge bags for very little. They come from a cactus looking vine that also has a wonderfully smelling night blooming flower. A cold Pitaya straight from the refrigerator on a hot day is a slice of heaven.

The last 2 fruits I have pics of are sort of related, Rambutin and Lychee. They are both in the markets now and have been for a couple months.

That's a Rambutin at the top and some Lychee at the bottom. You peel off the sort of leathery skin and there is a sweet but refreshing white meat inside with a couple of easy to pull out seeds. The Rambutin has those incredible spikey looking things on it but they are soft and pliable.

A final pic I found on the net of a pile of Rambutin. Beautiful aren't they?

Now that I can post pics from my iPhone I can get some better shots of the piles of fruit in the markets.

Now it's getting better!! I can send pics I took with the iPhone.
This is the fearless kitty on our drive back to Akumal the other day.

This is a test post from my phone. I don't know how often I'd actally
do this as typing isn't yet easy for me. It's cool though and I can
imagine times it would be perfect.

Sent from my iPhone

Sorry I haven't posted but, you know... I have this new toy, this iPhone and I have to read about it and try stuff and look at it all the time and well, I didn't think I could make that whole process very interesting for you internet.

So, when I found a new blog that I love I asked if I could post a part of his description of Mérida. I thought it matched my perception so well and that it helped to answer the eternal question I get from friends up north, "why Mérida?"

So, with full props to Paul and his wonderful blog Hammock Musings from Mérida:

Let's begin with a rough sketch of Mérida. Mérida is not a fully Spanish city; heavy doses of French and Carribean and Mayan are mixed in. Everywhere there is a languid air. In the daytime there is tropical heat with no one rushing anywhere. Siesta hours seem prudent. Large and small plazas are scattered liberally, providing shade and benches to rest upon. Sidewalk cafes are a way of life. In the evening a romantic air replaces the heat. It expresses itself in the music and the cafes and the horse drawn carriages and the S-shaped Victorian love-seat benches dotting the many plazas. This isn't just a romance for couples; it's also a romance of life. The streets are alive with families and couples. Music and dancing is everywhere. Conversation abounds, Mayan words mingle with Spanish words. The food is unique and special. The people are very friendly. Prices are low. Within several hours, there is an abundance of varied attractions.

Mérida's charms are everywhere evident. When you want to do nothing, Mérida has special space for you. If you want a little activity, Mérida is ready for you. Constant activity? Day trips and overnight trips are nearly limitless. Frenzied activity? How about Carnival time climaxing on Fat Tuesday?

Check out his blog, link above and in my blog roll once I remember how to change it, for some wonderful tidbits on life in this city we have both fallen in love with.

I did it! I got an iPhone and so far I love it. Here's what I posted on a local forum about the purchase.

I went down to the Telcel office (Gran Plaza mall) in Merida on release day, Friday July 11th. I had thought about going when they opened at 10am but other things came up and I finally got there about 1:30pm. They had one on display with a couple of Telcel employees explaining it and they had a separate line for people wanting one. I got in it and was about 5 back, the line stayed at about 5 -10 the whole time I was there.

I had to apply for an account with Telcel as my previous phone was an Amigo pre-pay. That required a local address, a Telmex land line and a couple references. I don't have a land line anymore so the guy said to just put in a friend's number. I put my friend Theresa's landline in there and called her and she said it was fine.

They didn't give me the phone that day and I didn't see anyone else leave with one either while I was there. What I got was a promise that they would check my credit and let me know if I was approved. They did accept my US AMEX card and they didn't say anything about it expiring this month, that had me worried. I have the new one coming down with a friend from the US but it won't be here for another week or so. They said no to the US Visa, only Mexican Visa or Mastercard.

As it turned out I was over at my friend's house this morning and they called! She gave me the phone - how lucky was that - and they wanted a fax of my last AMEX statement. I printed it from the internet and faxed it to them.

Because my Spanish sucks on the phone, I thought once they got it I was done and I went back to the office and stood in the regular line for about a half hour only to find out they weren't done yet and they would call me. Luckily, when they called Theresa she'd given them Mimi's Amigo number from the coast so they called on that about an hour after I got back home.

Back I went and stood in the line again for about 45 minutes and then I got the meathead of all Telcel. Everyone else I'd dealt with was nice and very sharp but this guy was slow, didn't seem to know what he was doing, stared at his computer screen for over an hour only occasionally pushing a key and asked every other agent that walked by him something and they all said 'Sí' but nothing happened. Finally, he gave me a paper to go and pay at the cashier, the iPhone 16g cost me $2159 pesos (including the 15% IVA tax) or about $210 US, and then I watched him stare at his screen for another half hour before he printed a bunch of papers and had me sign my name about 27 times including on the pages that were my copy. I asked why I had to sign my own copies and he just said it was required.

He didn't seem to know how to transfer my numbers from my old chip and they had given me a new number even though I'd been promised my old number. At that point, I just wanted out of that freezing Telcel office and away from meathead so I didn't push it.

I've been playing with it for hours, the maps are great with good street level of Merida plus GPS tracking, the phone voice quality is wonderful, it syncs beautifully with iTunes and I have a bunch of music and pictures on it, I've been texting and sending emails and have it set to pick up my gmail and push my me.com mail, it defaults quickly to my wireless network when I get close enough, the 3G is really fast... I love it.

With this plan, I can call to any southern MX state (Yucatan, Quintana Roo, Campeche, Chiapas) for only minutes, it's an additional long distance rate for other areas. I haven't tried routing with the GPS and although I browsed a bunch of programs on the App Store I haven't downloaded any yet. My account there works from my sat connection but I haven't tried it yet from the 3G telcel connection, I've heard there is some problem buying from the iTunes store from Mexico but that could be with a MX credit card. My account with them is from the US and when I'm on the sat connection I have a US IP number. I'll try it tomorrow over 3G.

I had none of the activation problems (that I know of, maybe that is what took meathead so long) that they are having in the US and some other countries. I was able to connect to me.com and to the app store without a problem as well. Really, it's been smooth and there seem to be plenty of iPhones available, although there also seems to be a lot of interest and from what I saw when they had the special line on Friday, a lot of people buying them.

Telcel may be bad but I got the iPhone cheaper than I would have in the US from ATT and I think my plan is cheaper as well. There's a VOIP application that I will probably load that works for international calls when you are connected to broadband wifi and for pretty cheap.

I love new shiny toys. Did I mention how gorgeous it is and how nice it feels, the touch screen is a joy although it will take some practice to get more accurate typing with it.


photo credits to CNET, if they'd put their credit nearer the pic I wouldn't have cut it off

Hmmm. Where could Jonna be? Here is a hint, see if  you can figure it out.

Yesterday was July 11 th. Something happened all over the world yesterday. Do you know what?

Are you a gadget freak like my honey?

I'll bet some of you, know where she is. Those of you who can't figure it out, stay tuned.

Good news! Tita is negative for Feline Leukemia and Feline HIV which are endemic in feral cats down here. This is really, really, good news and I've been worrying about this test for weeks.

On the other hand, she was a holy friggin terror at the vet. They had to tape her claws and it took 4 people to hold her down to take a blood test. The whole time she was screaming like a possessed banshee, really it was something from Exorcist. No one could believe how hard she fought, how loud she screamed and how she just never gave up trying to bite or scratch poor Dr. Nelson.

Now we are off to look at kitchen faucets. I'll have a house update soon.

I just had to add some more kitteh cuteness pictures. The first 2 I took through the screen door so they are odd looking but I loved her in the candle pot and with her tongue out at Cuba.






Here are some more of her in her cardboard shanty, uh oh! I think she stopped at the bar in front, she looks a little drunk.





Oh No! She's driving!



She is a good Yucateca and loves laying around in the hammock.







This is my favorite.

OK, all together now... ACKKKKKKK!!!!!

That's it, we can continue.

That's our first scorpion, he's about 4” long and 'they' say the black ones are better than the yellow ones and the big ones better than the small ones. So, we should be pleased that it was a huge, black chingaso that was inside a towel Mimi was folding that we'd been using to catch the rain that came in under the doors. I guess he came in too. We beat him to death with a squeegie, but only after I yelled for Mimi to get the camera. See how I think of you before my own safety?

Now we can return to our regularly scheduled cute kitten programming.

Please ignore my dirty Crocs, what can I say except it is hot, my feet get dirty walking around barefoot because shoes make my feet sweat so then the shoes get dirty. Got all that?

Tita is wearing her folklorico skirt, showing her national pride.

Here we have her emerging from her cardboard shanty behind the beer store.

¡Pobrecita!

But, have faith, she is 100% Pura de Vaca and she will walk right by that Coronita because she knows there is Media Crema up in the sky to reward her.

Anyone in Playa know a good printer, large format photos? I have some pics that I need to have scanned and re-printed as the sun is damaging them. I'm hoping to get them beefed up a bit and then printed on good paper and framed with the UV protecting glass. Anyway, they are 3'x2' so I'm looking for a professional printer.

If not Playa, how about in Cancun?

If not Cancun, Merida?


I'd love to not drive them any farther than I have to but I will, they are here in Akumal.