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.

On the Road at Last!!

We finally got to leave home the day after Christmas. Saying goodbye to the family and heading south towards our winter home in PaaMul, Mx. Overnighted in Santa Fe, Tx with Pauline and Chuck then on down to the RGV for 2 days over the weekend. Had some difficulty getting our permits...only because we got to the Aduana office at Los Indios about 8 minutes after 5pm! They were out the door! So we stayed until Monday, met a neat couple headed down to Panama to house sit for a year!
Left out of First Colony RV resort at 8:30 Monday, Dec 29th and made it as far as right outside Tampico for the night. Staying at a big Pemex. We cause quite a lot of stares in this big MH, but it sure is comfortable. Roads have improved somewhat since last Spring. We still cannot seem to get everything to work right at the same time. The Motosat is temperamental and Direct TV is unavailable. Going to watch Mary's history DVD she gave us for Christmas. 8pm and we are ready for bed!! Pop does a wonderful job of driving this rig but I know it is tiring...must watch the road every second. We should be on the emerald coast at the De Alba RV park that we stayed at last year by tomorrow afternoon. Probably early evening. We need to walk on the beach! Life is good.