The Palapa Party

We were part of a Holiday Open Palapa Party with neighbors on either side of us. Must of had over 100 Paamulians come by and bring food and libation. Wonderful evening! We really have a truly eclectic, intelligent, warm group of people here in our part of the world. Close to midnight before the last guests went home. We have been asked several times if this is to be a yearly event. Time will tell. We tried to plan it before most of everyone's guests arrived for the Christmas holidays. Lots of friends and family coming and going this year.
Having a problem with the coons raiding the kitchens at night and sometimes in broad daylight. Sorry rascals. We tried to feed them our vegetable scraps and they don't know when to quit! No more scraps! The orioles are feeding on the berries in the back jungle garden. The blue morph butterflies have emerged and are everywhere! On the road to Yanten, they flutter so quickly I have yet to photograph one. They are still taking core samples at Yanten for some hotel org. Don't know what is going on...lots of tongues wagging..just hope it goes away. That is one inhospitable looking area. I feel it should be left alone...but what do I know.
Pop was one of several guys that helped drag Cecil's big boat back off the beach where it landed after it's bow rope broke. Took some manpower to drag that thing out into the southside bay. But they finally got it tied off and secure, I hope. Cec and Bill worked all day long trying to get all it's parts sorted out and attached. The mast is up. He hopes to have it ready to sail soon. Now comes the hard part...learning to sail that thing. I certainly give him E for effort.
We are looking forward to being part of the Park's generous gifts to the community here. Most of the donations start this Friday with a trip to Champon to the school. I can just imagine how the children must look forward to this time of year and the Gringo's Christmas gifts.

Back in Paradise!

We have been back in PaaMul for 2 weeks now. How wonderful it is to be back in our spot of Paradise. The weather is cool most days and there have been several good rain showers. The jungle is so green and pretty. My little jungle garden has grown like topsy. We have repainted furniture and cleaned up the buggy upstairs room to get it ready for incoming family later on. The winter vacationers are coming in and filling up the park. It is good to see so many old friends again. We had Thanksgiving dinner at the church with some 200 people or more. What a feast day that was. We pack Christmas boxes for the children at the Indian school on the 14th. So glad that we can be here to help this year.
We have new animal visitors this year. 2 foxes have discovered the food we sometimes put out at the jungle edge. Mr. Aguti is still around and the raccoons have become a problem. They just walk up on the porch deck and demand food. Too much! We brought down the little Kawasaki mule and it is really wonderful for trips to YanTen beach and just visiting around the park. Life is good down here on this Mayan Riviera.

Water Logged

What a soggy, mushy, mess our place has become. Will it never quit raining ??! All the grandkids ballgames this week have been cancelled, Some were cancelled last week as well. And this is their band concert season in High School. They have placed "ones" across the board and "sweepstakes" band.Both of our 2 grands in town play so we are so proud of them. Grandson Jake has the flu but is feeling better with the Tamiflu. There is no vaccine available in the entire town.
I photographed this bedraggled hawk the other day searching for food ....in our trash can! Not very dignified! He had perched on top of the motorhome and I could hear him scratching around up there.
Ordered Pop's tuxedo today for his "Phantom Ball". I am so proud of him..he is being honored for all his years of working with the Easter Seals program in our town. He loves the kids and has helped with his time and money to help those who need a little extra help along the way. Never wanted any thanks so this is extra special thank you from his peers.
Will start to repack this weekend. supposed to be sunny and turn colder. At least the rain is supposed to get out of here! Yea.

As the worm turns.

As we await the coming of fall from our own driveway, I feel we are just biding our time until we can be on the road again. How strange to be living in our motorhome a stone's throw away from the house that we have lived in for the past almost 20 years. But it has been nice to be able to adjust to this new life. We are beseiged by doctor's appts. and checkups. Is everybody getting older?? Everywhere I look, I think, "Good Lord, the whole world is aging right along with us!" Let us run while we can... back to our own sanctuary in Mexico!
It has rained and rained here, Puddles and lakes are brimming over. Before long, the big v's of geese and ducks will start to fly over..one of my most favorite times of the year. The hunters are already cleaning their rifles and stocking up on shells. The grandson informed us that they are having a "resident" goose hunt on certain days to get rid of some of the "nuisance" geese that infest the parks and lakes. Didn't know there was such a term for one of God's beautiful birds.
Getting tired of all the explosive news (?) on TV. Have stocked up on some of my favorite videos..I love the English Channel's "Midsummer Murders" which are done by the Acorn Productions...as seen on some of the A&E channels here. The English countryside is so lovely and the character actors are wonderful.
Cannot wait to be out of here and on the road! Hurry the Day!

Is August thru' yet??

As usual, time flew by for us after we left PaaMul on the 1st. It was hot and still as we pulled away from the park, I hated to look behind us as we pulled away. The return trip was bone-jarring as the whole of Mexico must be under construction. One bright spot was Catemaco, Veracruz. What a beautiful area! It was cool, lush, and wonderful. Would love to go back. Villas Tepetepan is a great place to stay and the folks there were terrific. On to the border where I discovered my first robbery in all the years we have traveled there. We made 2 military stops between Tampico and the border and on one of those, one young soldado lifted my purse! He must have stuffed it under his flack jacket while his compadres talked politely to me at the doorway. Took our passports and money but my wallet was with me so he did not get any credit cards. I was so angry. Did not discover it until we got to Los Indios and I started looking for my PP and realized the purse was gone. The commandant there was very concerned and took our information and made phone calls. He was a bit mortified that someone in uniform could have taken it in out and out theft of an Americano down there for so long. Now I am in the process of filing for a new PP all over again.
Took the coach down to Alabama to the Tiffin factory for a checkup and to get a quick fix of a few little things. Took us 12 days at the campground to finally get stuff done. Then back home to the driveway and next to the lake. First time that we are at home without a home. The daughter and granchildren are now living in our place and we are camped in the driveway. We are both so glad that we made the move! Love this lifestyle! After a few medical checks, we will probably go back down to Rockport, Tx on the coast and do some fishing for a few weeks before we fly back to Vegas for Pete's annual APRA convention. Then fly back to Corpus and drive the MH back to PaaMul the first part of November, Gypsies are US!

July wonder Daze

July was filled with great fun as all of our young families came in to visit bringing grandchildren! The weather was hot but not so hot as Texas and there was always a seabreeze. We spent days down at the beach at Yanten, swimming here at our hotel pool, snorkeling with the turtles at Akumal and culminating with a trip with Sue and kids to Isla Holbox to swim with the whale sharks. It was a wonderful summer for us. The worst thing is packing up the palapa and going back home. this has become home for us and I really don't want to leave! An I nuts for feeling this way? We have found a little bit of Eden in this place and I don't want to go back to the real world. I would rather stay in this one. We are beginning to talk about building a permanent apartment under the palapa like a few of the folks here have done. At first, I didn't like the idea but it does have merit when you really think about it. Time will tell..maybe next year. Right now, I wish my health were a little better.

Palapa Life is Good!!

We are once again enjoying the good life in our wonderful palapa! We are getting the cabinets installed by Mr. Marcos from Playa who did a fantastic job. Freddie poured concrete runways for the big coach to back down leading into the palapa and they worked just fine. We have to literally wrap this coach around the big poles so he had a slight slope put onto one of the runways and it helped keep the upper canopy frames off of the poles.
It is so hot! It rained all weekend and today it steamed! Felt like a lobster in a pot. Thank goodness for the fans and slight breeze. Some construction still going on. I feel sorry for these good men who have to work in this heat hauling gravel, digging holes, mixing cement, etc. But I have yet to hear one complain. Pop moved some rocks for me and did a number on his back. He laid around for a couple of days and took some muscle relaxers and is doing much better. The flamboyan trees are in full bloom. They are the mimosa looking trees that have huge cascading blooms of fiery red blossums. So beautiful. I hope to get one for the back yard by the jungle. The little aguti comes out each evening for the fruit I leave for him. Lots of big iguanas coming around and chomping any blooming flower they can find. Our boat sprang a leak and have ordered one to replace it. Supposed to come in to Cancun and be delivered to us. Hope it gets here soon.
Life is good. children and grands coming in July. Yippee!!

Rain, Rain in Paradise

We arrived back in PaaMul just in time for the first summer rains! How wonderful. After 2 weeks of consecutive raining in Texas, we come back to Paradise and it is raining here! Only thing is, they need it so badly down here. Life giving rain. It feeds this thirsty jungle and runs in little rivers down the gravel, dusty roads here in the park. The birds are so happy that they sing all day long in spite of the downpour. They fly out for a good soaking then scurry up under the palapa roofs to preen and clean their feathers.

The palapa still is not complete. Dino used the time we were gone to work on someone else's palapa! Go figure. He has been well paid and promised over and over again to complete it before we returned. Hard to maintain faith in somebody who cannot grasp the meaning of completing a project as you promised. Mexico! Manana!
But we plod on ahead and console ourselves that One Fine Day, we will have our own piece of Paradise completed.

May showers

We had doctor's appts. made by the kids for us the first 2 weeks of May, so we drug ourselves out of PaaMul and on a plane to fly back to Texas. In spite of all the swine flu hoopla! Such a crock! We hated to leave. Freddie and his masonry crew are laying the last of the tile in the kitchen and bath and it is so pretty! The palaperos have vanished for a while. Maybe it is because I am not there to cook for them! Ha! They can sure eat but somehow I don't mind. I sometimes wonder if it is the only real meal of the day that they get. And they work so hard..unbelievably hard. Pop backed the BBB under the palapa last Thursday to see if it fit...and it does!! Yippee!! 43 feet of honkin' motorhome and it takes every inch to clear the palapa posts...well, almost. The front left "tree" post lacks about 3 inches clearing the slide out so Sobriano will have to do his magic with that chain saw and make a "niche" to slide out the extension for the LR. No problem. We are also putting a 2nd bano upstairs in our so called "Tarzan" room. I can just see our guests trying to negotiate that catwalk, crawl down the stairs outside, and back into the palapa in the middle of the night to get to the bathroom! My sister would never make it. Dino has promised it would be completed by the time we get back on the 17th. We'll see! Hey..it's Mexico! Will post pics when we get back...they are all on the web album.

Palapa Poop

This is a few days ago, actually last week. The back of the palapa now has a deck area and guano covers the remaining rear section. We now have the first of the concrete work done, which is pouring the foundation for the block walls. It is such hard work...about 2 ft down, you hit limestone rock which has to be jackhammered out. One whole interior wall was too close in and had to be redug. But we sat and had coffee this Sunday morning at the back of what will be our kitchen, watching the beautiful blue lazuli buntings, the orioles and the Yucatan jays. We love it. In less than 6 weeks, we should have the insides done that includes the front bodega (store room), talavera tiled bathroom, and our wonderful kitchen and eating area. The coach is 43 ft. long so it takes up most of the length of the lot. We have about 5 ft out back of the coach but we will have another 10 ft. of wood deck.

To get away for a breathe of fresh air, we went into Puerto Morelos with Rose and Guy (neighbors next door) and had a lovely afternoon..Lunch at the Pelicanos restaurant right on the water, walking the plaza and looking in the little shops. Watched the fishing boats come in and couldn't resist buying this wonderful grouper that they filleted for us on the spot. Ah...dinner Tuesday night when all our company arrives.

Have spent our first week of looking for tile, flooring and getting an idea of what we are dealing with to get this palapa done. Since we never actually built a house, I don't think we could have survived building one. Just this palapa is trying enough!!

My sister, Pauline, and her husband, Chuck, are flying into Cancun tomorrow to visit us for a week. We will pick them up in Playa tomorrow afternoon and bring them on in to stay at the hotel here in PaaMul. It will be so nice to have them here for a while.

Lots of folks have already left out of the park, most of them heading back to Canada. We will wait and get our FM3's in the Valley, we think, instead of here. Too much hassle here. I can't wait to get my paints down here so that I can try to put on canvas the beauty of this place. The flowers are all a riot of blooms and today I found myself just drinking every color of the beautiful hotels and houses in Puerto Morelos. It is a lovely little town. Lots of folks on the beach there today. Ah...Mejico.FYI...someone the other day said that instead of Trailer Trash,we are just Palapa Poop!

The Palapa Bug here in PaaMul

We have decided that we need a palapa if we are to continue to winter in this little bit of Paradise on the yucatan Riviera. Our RV site was the last site available to build on so we made a quick decision to go for it. We are now enjoying the agony and ecstacy of designing and poring over notes and sheets of design papers to make this palapa be our own place in the sun. The palaperos are fabulous builders with eons of erecting these structures in their heritage. They can be works of art. Our back yard fronts onto the jungle that is filled with birds, reptiles and little forest animals. Can't wait to sit on my back porch and drink my morning coffee and listen to the birds. From the 2nd floor deck we may can see Cozumel in the distance. Check the web albm for more pics. Life is good.

Found the Camera!

Kathy had inadvertently packed my camera in her suitcase when she flew back home. And I found my spare one the same day! So all is well again. Met the wonderful lady who is behind the clinic in Playa that is doing such a wonderful job in the barrio community. She has big plans to build her hospital and put in a cardiac clinic. Such a great gal!
Didn't go fishing today as this was cruise day and too many people coming in and out of the beach here. Will wait for tomorrow....man~ana!

Days go by

We have enjoyed our daughters's visits so much. Cindy, Sue and their good friends, Kathy and Anna, came to stay a long weekend with us and just flew back home to La. yesterday. Unfortuately, we had the coldest weather we have had here since we came this year....it was down in the 60's and rained for 3 days. But Sunday turned out warm and beautiful so they got to snorkel and swim and not freeze to death. We enjoyed a day at the park and just stayed in the sun and Pop took us for a ride in the Rubber Duck down to Puerto Adventuras. The water was beautiful! And the reef was so nice just offshore in our little lagoon. But we did have such a good time with the girls. We did Tulum one day and they swam at Xel-Ha on Sat.
One bad thing....I lost my camera again. It was wrapped up in a towel that was left on their back patio at the hotel. I talked with the manager so if it shows up, he will know who to contact. Drat! My fault, for sure.
Life goes on. Doc and Pat are going into Playa today to check in with the Angel Notion....the volunteer group that they are involved with. They have invited us to go along. Don't know if Pop will go, but I would like to.
Looking for Diana and Bill to come in next around the 2nd of Feb. Lots to see and do around here. Hope the palapa going up next door is thru by then. The banging and sawing starts early for the palaperos.

spending time in Paradise

We have settled into our spot here in PaaMul. There is an explosion of palapas being built on either side of us. We have the early morning sounds of workers with drills and jack hammers. Hopefully it won't last long as once they get going, they go up pretty fast. These are big, beautiful palapas with balconies out the back that have ocean views and you can actually see Cozumel and the cruise ships. We have morning walks, bird watching for the beautiful Yucatan jays and orioles, and just slowing down to enjoy what we have here. Dips in the ocean are also nice. The food at the restaurant this year is much improved. Looking forward to our families coming to spend time with us. Life is good.