Dear Mary Lois picked us up at the Clipper on April 29th, and then that night we had a feast at Mike and Brenda's in Sooke to welcome us home. Ah, yes, we miss Mexico - especially the HEAT - but it is lovely to be back by the Pacific Ocean too. 
We were SO glad to see our 2 cats at our house in Parksville, Sitges, posing on the buffet, and Dax, lounging on the window seat. We have now spent over a week with them and they are all over us, so guess they didn't forget us after all.
A lovely farewell dinner with Rob and Joanne, a final feed to the street cats at the Bookstore, and then we drained, covered and packed up our pool and back patio for the summer. All the plants are now at the front to make it easier for Val to water everything while we are away. So sad to leave.....!
Friends from New Jersey, Mark and Sharon, returned to PM just in time for us to get together a couple of times before we leave for Canada. We had drinks and a visit at Excellence, their hotel, and later had dinner and live music from Kathy and her band at David Lau's.
As you can see, we have thoroughly spoiled dear little Fox, who now enjoys lounging in a lawn chair in the living room.
Gosh, only a week today until we fly back to Canada.......how can the 6 months have passed so quickly??? This rather dark evening shot is part of the town square in PM. The night we got back to town from Ek Balam, we had supper with Lee - right out in front of the bookstore, while we worked. 
Miki and Lee enjoying great Portobello Relleno's from Triny's next door!
Good thing it was very quiet - we don't usually eat and work at the same time! We will miss the store and all the wonderful customers we have met this winter, from far and wide.
At our house we are caring for a wild little street cat, who will only let me take pictures through the window........and of course Fox, our friend Sarah's little rescue dog. While Lee was at our house, she looked after them. She and Fox are now fast friends.
At Ek Balam, we had the pleasure of Lee's 2 dogs, Luna, a husky (I know what is a husky doing in Mexico - someone dumped her) and Flaco (which actually means skinny, but as you can see Flaco - also one of Lee's rescues - is a fat healthy boy now). She also has 3 feral cats, 2 black and one grey and white, who are fed every day and are shy but affectionate.
On April 14 we drove to Genesis resort at Ek Balam, while Lee, the owner, had a well deserved break from the 24/7 routine of running the hotel by staying in our casa in Puerto Morelos. 
We stayed until the 19th, then came back to PM to meet Lee, have supper, and enjoy the evening with her as she stayed another night.
Luckily, Lee has Pedro and Letitia, who are her manager, cook, cleaner, gardener and good friends. These 2 are such sunny delightful people, always with a ready smile and willing to help.
Pedro's nephews - Marcus, Modesto and oops - I have forgotten the youngest's name!)are part of the team - the boys do watering of Lee's extensive gardens, clean the pool, and whatever chores Pedro gives them to do. Lovely boys!
We were at home by the pool one afternoon and could hear horns honking from several streets away. Not an unusual sound in Mexico, but still.......! Eventually, we realized there was some procession and it was going up and down every street in our neighbourhood. Grabbed the camera and sure enough, it was one of those glorious 15th Birthday celebrations for a local girl. Families go all out - a fancy dress (often looks like a wedding dress), a huge dinner for all and sundry, and in this case, a fully decorated parade, that was at least a block long. Music, people dressed to the nines - all to celebrate when a girl turns 15. Sometimes these poor families go into debt for years to pull it off, but when you think about how her life might end up - she could be married, have kids, and a hard life in the next couple of years - it is a wonderful thing for her to be honoured in such a way once in her life.
Wednesday night we went for dinner and live blues at Caktuz - the "unplugged" version of their regular Saturday blues show. It was very nice - and we had the best steak in town!
You never know what you are going to see in Puerto Morelos! Some nights we have Mexican wandering minstrels with guitars and harps, some night it is raunchy blues, and some nights we even have Peruvian flute players. This night at the bookstore, the fire juggler was entertaining folks right in the street in front of the store. You may recognize the nose of our little Tracker, Betty.
Tuesday night, March 31st, we had a real treat. A Scottish dancing troup from Burns Lake, BC was in town and are doing a couple of shows, this one in the town square. There are probably 8 or 10 dancers altogether, complete with a wonderful bagpiper, who also did some solo pipe numbers. This is an international dance group who competes even in Scotland. They were great, and the show was well attended by an amazed and delighted audience.
There has always been a pitch black male street cat who drops in for the odd treat at our house, but now we have a very skinny mangy little black and white cat who is obviously very hungry. We shared our leftover fish with her, which is how I was able to get this pic at all - through a screen - as she is so skittish.
We are thoroughly enjoying having Fox as our houseguest for 3 weeks. He is not allowed on the furniture (his Mom's rules) but the one exception we have made is the chaise, which he loves, with us on it or not. 
We took him on a picnic to South Beach, 5 mins south of the town, where he ran himself silly, gave the surf a WIDE berth, and barked at me when I was walking in the water (you could hear the commentary in his little head - "don't go in the water! Look out, there are big waves here! Now you are going to be all wet and salty! Come back out of the water!").
After an hour long walk down the beach, he was done in and slept like a log in the shade. We will enjoy many more beach walks with our little friend!
Took off for a day of beach combing and bird watching in the mangrove. It was a very hot windy day, a strong wind blowing from the south for 2 days, tempered now by a bit of rain overnight. 
Saw a flock of what I think are coots in the mangrove, and took a long walk on a new (to me) beach with rolling surf, something we don't see in Puerto Morelos because of our protective reef.
Starting Sunday, the 29th, we are puppy sitting Fox, a dear little rescue dog our friend Sarah saved from the street. When she found him at 3 months, he was covered in mange, fleas, and had a bloated stomach from starvation. Many vet bills later he is happy, healthy and will be staying at our casa for 3 weeks while Sarah goes off to find herself a livaboard sailboat in Florida. It will be fun to have a little dog in the family for a while - he is very gentle, sweet and friendly- and some day maybe he will grow into those big ears!
March 21. Saturday as part of our retreat to El Balam, we went to see the Balankanche Caves near Chichen Itza. These caves were used by the Mayans as a ceremonial space specifically to honour Chaac, the god of rain. The Yucatan peninsula is very dry, even though it is a tropical jungle, so rain is vitally important both thousands of years ago and today. This cave was discovered in the 1950s, and the ceremonial articles in the cave were left and are there for all to see. You walk from a jungle path down into very hot humid temperatures, and walk almost a kilometer through the caves on a good stone path. The lowest ceiling height is 1.75 meters, and when you finally get to the centre, you are treated to a great display of Mayan art. At the very end of the caves is the underground cenote river. By the time we walked the full lenth and back with the guide, we were both streaming with sweat and happy to drink some cold water! Amazing place!
