Educating the young on conservation

As part of the 10th Anniversary of the designation of the reef off Puerto Morelos as a protected park, celebrations included a display of all the life of the reef (except fish - this was about the coral). As part of this display, there were art tables set up for all the kids, based on ages, for them to create "reef art" which they could take with them to remind them about how important this natural wonder is. Also, there was a play and puppet show, involving kids on stage at the end, performed by a wonderful actress in what looked like Jack in the Beanstock clothes. Sure wish my Spanish had improved enough to get the gist of the play. The kids were transfixed and delighted!!

Last night, also in the square, a huge stage was set up and a concert was held, with 2 huge screens displaying a constant power point type colour display of all the fish, coral, beaches and reef. There were 3 bands, starting at 9 pm, and we stayed long enough to hear the first 2. Great music, the first band a hip hop/Mexican rap style band with a strong environmental message. Next was a "Herb Alpert and the Tijuanas" style band - 10 or 12 guys, all dressed in matching orange suits, all with horns of every variety - loud, great dance music, doing synchronized steps all the while. My pics in the dark are terrible, so no decent visuals.....:-(

Conservation in Puerto Morelos

Arriving at the bookstore Saturday morning we found the town square a hive of activity! One of the beauties of the store being on the square is that you get to take in whatever is going on, and also both see the beach and enjoy the soft breeze off the sea. UNAM is the beachfront University here which is a marine biology centre, with the main focus being the preservation of the reef right off our shores. This is the 10th anniversary of the reef being designated an environmentally protected park. Yesterday there was an official ceremony in the square, and today there were white tents set up to display all the various forms of coral and see life that depends on the reef being preserved and kept healthy. On these tables were every form of shell and coral found on the reef, and the focus was on educating the children of the community on the necessity of protecting the reef.

Pool and beach

November 28. We have been in Puerto Morelos one month today! Then pool has had its first layer of cement, and then the next day the first layer of blocks - it is all taking what seems like forever, but has only been a week in total. Juan and Abel are here at 7:30 every morning and leave when it starts to get dark, around 5 - 5:30, and only take a 20 minute break to eat their lunch. Mexicans (and especially Mayans) are incredibly hard workers. We have found we can totally trust them and can leave the house to go do shopping or run errands while they are here.



Friday, we decided we needed some beach time, so went to one of our favourite public beach areas, had a nice swim, took some lunch and had a couple of margaritas from the great little beach bar. It just opened this year (last January, when we were here before) and they also serve some good food and have a barby going on Sundays. It was good to be by the water and away from the constant noise and dust of the construction at home.

Medical Scare in Mexico!

Now that we know all is well :-) Miki wanted you to know she had a first class medical scare here in Mexico. The day after we arrived, she started bleeding vaginally - this is a woman who went through menopause when she was 50 with not one symptom and has not had a period since then. We went to a local male doctor who prescribed a hormone shot. Whatever it was he prescribed was impossible to find, so we went to another male Dr. at the American hospital. He did a very painful internal and prescribed Premarin to be inserted vaginally for 30 days.

Not much had changed after 10 days, so we called the American hospital again and asked for an appointment with a gynecologist, preferably a woman. Got an appointment the SAME DAY with a great gal, Dr. Duran. She did a pap smear, an ultrasound and an internal complete with speculum with a camera attached. She told M she should have a D & C and biopsy of the uterus to check for the Big C - Cancer.

Next day she had blood work done and the 3rd day, Friday, she was in the hospital from 7 am until 4 pm. Had the procedure, slept off and on for a few hours and was then sent home. We were told we would hear the results by the following Wednesday, as the biopsy was being couriered to Dr. Duran's friend in Mexico City, the best pathologist in Mexico.



Ah, manana, as the saying goes down here - on Wed we were told there had been a holiday in Mexico City on the Monday, and the courier delivery had been delayed, so now it would be Friday. Friday came and Dr. Duran said it would now be Monday. Sigh. Most of the time we are very relaxed about the manana factor down here, but waiting for this result was very stressful.

Miki rested for a few days after the procedure and has felt fine since then. The bleeding has stopped and all we needed was an answer at which point we would decide whether we would have to come back to Canada or deal with whatever might come down here. A friend of ours here has a nasty form of melanoma and has a great oncologist, so gave us his name just in case.

Monday Dr. Duran called - NO CANCER!!!!!!!!! All tissue was healthy and there were no abnormalities at all in either the uterus or cervix. She was in the clear!!! But, we met with her the next morning and she was adamant with Miki that she needed to lose weight, as the extra weight was what had caused an excess of hormones to build up, causing the bleeding. She gave her a hormone shot, which she is to have once a month for 3 months, and will see her again in February, at which point she is to have lost 3 kilos.

As we are both overweight, it was a wake up call all round, so we are dieting, trying to exercise every day, and in fact joined Curves in Canada just before we left, as there is one here in Cancun as well, so we look forward to doing that 3 times a week. The medical care (once we got to Dr. Duran) was fast, efficient, and inexpensive. The bill for all the Dr. appointments, hospital stay, anesthesiologist (sp?), lab work, surgery, nurses, medication, ultrasound, pap smear, and of course biopsy, was $1,650. Can you imagine what that would have cost in the U.S.????

We are so very grateful for the love and support that friends and family sent during this time, and are delighted that our stay in Mexico will continue as we work on our little casa, visit with friends both from Canada and our local friends. Life is good, and as our friend Les reminded us from a song from Tim McGraw:

"I was in my early forties, (well, 60s in Miki's case)
"With a lot of life before me,
"An' a moment came that stopped me on a dime.
"I spent most of the next days,
"Looking at the x-rays,
"An' talking 'bout the options an' talkin’ ‘bout sweet time."
I asked him when it sank in,
That this might really be the real end?
How’s it hit you when you get that kind of news?
Man whatcha do?
An' he said: "I went sky diving, I went rocky mountain climbing,
"I went two point seven seconds on a bull named Fu Man Chu.
"And I loved deeper and I spoke sweeter,
"And I gave forgiveness I'd been denying."
An' he said: "Some day, I hope you get the chance,
"To live like you were dyin'."
He said "I was finally the husband,
"That most the time I wasn’t.
"An' I became a friend a friend would like to have.
"And all of a sudden goin' fishin’,
"Wasn’t such an imposition,
"And I went three times that year I lost my Dad.
"Well, I finally read the Good Book,
"And I took a good long hard look,
"At what I'd do if I could do it all again,
"And then:
"I went sky diving, I went rocky mountain climbing,
"I went two point seven seconds on a bull named Fu Man Chu.
"And I loved deeper and I spoke sweeter,
"And I gave forgiveness I'd been denying."
An' he said: "Some day, I hope you get the chance,
"To live like you were dyin'."
Like tomorrow was a gift,
And you got eternity,
To think about what you’d do with it.
An' what did you do with it?
An' what can I do with it?
An' what would I do with it?
"Sky diving, I went rocky mountain climbing,
"I went two point seven seconds on a bull named Fu Man Chu.
"And then I loved deeper and I spoke sweeter,
"And I watched Blue Eagle as it was flyin'."
An' he said: "Some day, I hope you get the chance,
"To live like you were dyin'."

Painting!!!!

Where is my son the painter when I need him........or dear Martin.....................???? The front of the house is almost done, with Miki working on the metal window bars while I do the blue. We will switch jobs when we get to the back of the house. I HATE painting, as anyone who knows me can verify, but our little house is looking pretty nice. Final pics to come.

Mexican fun

One day in Cancun, we spotted another furniture vendor. This little man was riding a bicycle , pulling a tiny wagon behind him. loaded with all the hand made furniture he had made. These fellows set up at a corner, just as our carpenter did in Puerto Morelos, and sell their wares. Amazing!!!

This shot is Miki working hard helping out our friends Rob and Joanne at the Alma Libre Bookstore. For those of you who have explored their website, you will know it is an awesome store, and is a wealth of information for tourists, locals, and all who have contact either in Puerto Morelos or online.

Just had to show you what a hand made hack saw looks like - it is made from a length of rebar with a blade attached - very simple, very efficient.

Ah, Mexico!

In many ways, Mexico is still a third world country - the daily wage is somewhere between 8 and 10 dollars a day, and many people in our neighbourhood live what we would think of as fairly primitive lives back in Canada. But the Yucatan and the Mayan people have much to teach us - a history that goes back thousands of years, a belief in family that is unshakable, and an artistry that is unparalled. The carving on this exquisite door and the relief on this water feature are samples of the kind of beauty that is everywhere.

Now that Halloween (Day of the Dead) is passed, there is a full bore push for Christmas. Houses are already decorated, stores are full of decorations, and Canadian Douglas Firs are for sale everywhere - these are in a local grocery store. In the same store, these kids televisions are for sale too, with all sorts of suggestions that they would make good Christmas presents. Vanessa would love the pink princess set and Jonah would love the car tv, don't you think......?????

Grey Cup in Mexico!!

Sunday, Nov. 23 and it is Grey Cup fever! Well, ok, as Lions fans, it is more a slight flush, as we have agreed to cheer for Calgary as the western team in the final. Nevertheless, any excuse for a party in Mexico, so we took the bus to Playa del Carmen (sadly, no one had the game on in Puerto Morelos). Met Rob and Joanne at PG's Sandbox, a pub owned by a former Calgarian, so most of the screens had the game on. Drank margaritas, ate great food and cheered on the Stamps to victory! Almost all the ex pats who showed up were Calgary fans, so it was a fine tribute!

the pool continues

Nov 22 - 26. Well, one 8 hour day of a pick and an axe changed to 4 workers and a "jack hammer" - that oversized drill on the right of the first pic. Certainly speeded things up, and as of today they have started laying rebar on the bottom of the now fully dug out pool bed. It has been hard slogging in hot weather, but it is starting to look like we really will have a pool soon!! The ground is about a foot of soil and then from there down it is limestone, hard, very difficult rock to excavate.

The pool!

November 21 - first day of pool construction. Rauol, who did the walls around our courtyards last spring, is doing this job for us as well, and has contracted plumber Gavino to do the piping and pump part. Friday Rauol's Dad, Albierto, spent 8 hours starting to dig the whole for the pool. The ground in this area is all hard limstone - brutal, heavy work both breaking it up and then shovelling it out. You can see how far he got after a full day of work. Today they are using what they call a jack hammer - we might call it a large drill, but hopefully it will be faster than slogging at in manually.

Painting!

November 17 - 21 Our friend Rudy helped us paint all the back and front courtyard walls white - going to look great behind all the plants we plan on putting in! Then I started on the house - that little doorway took 5 hours to paint, what with having to paint around all the bars, which are going to be repainted white. We love our Azul blue colour and it looks especially nice with the bright white.

Weather has cooled off a little this week - down to 16 - 18 at night and up to 24 or 25 during the day. We had about an hour of rain late afternoon yesterday, which is always refreshing. We were at the bookstore yesterday and everyone was wearing fleeces and coats....good grief!

Tropical rain control

This past week we got a local worker, Ruben, to install some 3 inch pipe to handle the major rains that happen when we are not here. As you can see from the first picture, the houses are built with a little cement spout, and the rain just pours out of there during tropical rain. Now that our courtyards, both front and back, are walled, that rain has nowhere to go and has been digging a trench in the front.

So Ruben put in plastic pipe which is cemented into the trough, then comes down, goes along the wall, and feeds out to the road in the front. I am putting holes in the length of pipe that goes along the ground, as I am putting a flower bed there. In the back, the pipe was once again inserted into the roof trough, brought along the width of the house, and comes down to end just before the drain that goes to the sewer. I want to capture the rain we get during this season, and you will see the pipe stops about 2 feet above the drain, so I can put my rain barrel there and use that water for plants as well. Water is a precious commodity here, so don't want to waste any!!!