Month: June 2017

We are wrapping up our Chelem house sit today.  We will spend a night in Merida before heading to Mexico City for a couple of days before heading back to the States for some house sits there.  (More on that later as our plans have changed, but we will hit both coasts and the southwest before heading to our nephew’s wedding in Illinois in early September.)

Today we will have to say good-bye to two of the cutest cats ever.  Purrcy, the male, is gregarious, curious and loving.  He is with us in the house wherever we are either to watch, cuddle, lick our water bottles or glasses (he likes cold!), or take our seats when we get up.  He has also slept with us every night.  

Squeak is a bit more selective with her affections.  She kept mostly to the 2nd bedroom, “her” room, but occasionally comes out to see what’s up, maybe let us pet her a bit, before heading back.  However, the last few days, she has come out more — even getting up on the bed with us for a few minutes while Purrcy was there.  I have also been granted some cuddle time with her which is awesome cuz she does this cute reach thing with her paw for your attention.  However, she always heard Bob when he would try to get a photo so no evidence this go round.

We never did venture too far afield, but we had a great meal out in Progreso and returned to Merida for a hair appointment for me.  Mostly we’ve hit doc appointments in Progreso, wandered into Chelem, or hung by the pool.

For our night out in Progreso, we tried an Uber ride which worked well.  We had a patch of wet weather last week, as you’ll see from the window of our restaurant.

We got to see a little different area of Merida for my hair appointment — mostly along Calle 60 which took us from the bus station to the Avenida Paseo Montejo where the salon was located.  The Paseo Montejo is a lovely, broad avenue which is lined with lovely home so/buildings as well as monuments at either end and along the meridian.

While it has been a less active than usual house sit, we have enjoyed our stay.  The house and pool made it feel like we were suppose to be on vacation, and all of the locals we met were very nice.

In the last installment of Beth’s Dog Bite saga, I had my stitches removed on Wednesday.  While the wound doesn’t look pretty yet, it looks much better.  I have been impressed with the kindness and attention to a foreigner.  Everything has been easy to access and stress-free.  I don’t know that this would have been the case for me in the US, and I’m sure that it would not be the case for a foreign visitor.  I hope I’m wrong.

In terms of our usual activity level, Bob and I have been pretty “chill” here in Mexico.  We have gotten out a few times in Chelem and have continued to visit Progreso regularly, usually in association with doc appointments related to my dog bite.  More on all of that a bit later.

Our big trip to date was back into Merida to visit the Gran Museo del Mundo Maya.  To get to Merida, we walked out of the house, down the driveway, and across the street to hail a colectivo to Progreso.  Once there, we walked around the corner from the final stop in Progreso to catch a large bus into Merida.  We were able to get off the bus right next to the museum which is on the outer edges of Merida.  The entire trip (one-way) took a little over an hour and cost about $1.45.  Not a bad deal!

The Mayan Museum is beautiful and interesting.  Most of the posted information is in both English and Spanish, with some in Mayan as well.  There are films that are shown throughout the day but those are only in Spanish.  The museum actually covers prehistoric times in general before focusing on the Mayan history and culture.  I am fairly ignorant regarding ancient history, so a lot of the information was new to me including the news that a huge meteor/asteroid had crashed into Mexico, in the Yucatan, significantly changing the world, and its inhabitants, at that time.



 

We are headed back to Merida on Saturday for a hair appointment for me.  Bob will be doing some exploring while I’m getting worked on.

In Chelem, we have often been lazing the afternoons away either inside with the cats or outside by the pool.  Bob has become proficient in pool care in terms of filtering, checking the chlorine, etc.  He is also in the pool more often, as I have been focused on keeping my wound dry.  He enjoys watching the birds dive for fish as well as the various boats go across the water.  One day when there seemed to be an inordinate level of boat activity, we learned on the local website that it was likely due to the start of sea cucumber season.

We venture into town, about a 30 minute walk, to visit one of the produce stands, hit the pharmacy, or pop into one of the local restaurants.  We have been to El Bullpen twice for their weekly art and wine flight event.  Last night along with our $3.50 flights of white wine, we had dinner and I traded in my used English language books for some of theirs (with the approval of the owner).  It was awesome!  I scored 2 unused, New York Times crossword puzzle books (my favorites) plus a Nathianel Hawthorne novel and a Norman Mailor book.  Give me some books and running shoes, and I’m a happy girl (okay middle-aged woman –but the point is I’m happy).

Last Sunday, we had tried to stop into a bar/restaurant called Lizard Joes.  Our homeowner had told us about it.  It is known for its live music, and is co-owned by Joe King Carrasco, who we have heard of from Austin.  Lizard Joes is only open from Thursday through Monday.  Unfortunately, they had a sign out on Sunday that they were closed, so we stopped at another restaurant that had been recommended by the homeowners –La Terracita. 

The grilled pineapple with tamarind was pretty good.  Tamarind is spicy.  It seems to be on everything here — savory or sweet.

As I said, we continue to get into Progreo, mostly in conjunction with doctor visits.  the doctor who has treated my injury is Dr. Herrera at the Clinico Medico on the square in Progreso.  He speaks English and has treated the wound, wrote the prescriptions for anti-biotics, and stitched up the hole when it wasn’t closing on its own.  He sent me to the health center for the rabies shots.  The health center is just across the bridge from Chelem (45-50 minutes by foot), so we generally walk to those appointments.  We are charged for services at the clinic, but not for those at the health center.

Warning:  Nasty photos ahead.  Turn back now if you aren’t a fan of gore!

There is a lot to be said for dogs whose bark is worse than there bite, but it could have been worse.  I could have been hit by an asteroid!