A Time To Rant

A time to live, a time to die, a time to rant, a time to sigh.

Things are pretty difficult right now in México. The entire country has been closed off from the world for an undetermined amount of time, at an undetermined level of security. The Yucatán insists there have been NO CONFIRMED cases of the AH1N1, or Human Flu. Yet we remain sequestered. The Mexican people are being punished.

The only event I can compare how this flu is affecting us in México is 9/11, in so far as it feels like we are under a terrorist attack. Life is practically at a standstill…very little traffic – pedestrian or vehicular, few flights, no ships, no tourists, no sports, and mandated closures. Schools have been closed for a week and won’t reopen until next Monday, the 11th of May. All sporting events will go another week with no spectators allowed. Officials are worried about gearing up to normal life again because it may be too soon to tell how widespread this influenza is. Mexico is reporting no new deaths in the past five days, but many other countries are reporting increases in flu cases.

I was shocked to see the US has nearly 380 confirmed cases in 36 states, yet México has only 840 cases confirmed in 4 states (out of 32). How could that possibly be? The influenza was first discovered in México. If it has been here longer, how could it possibly spread faster in the US than here? As the days quietly pass, the less sense it all makes.

The streets of Progreso were quiet.

Friday we got cabin fever and drove to Progreso for fresh fish. We were the only patrons in the restaurant. Pablo swallowed an habanero chile seed which made him cough. The waiters all flinched and started watching us closely to make sure we weren’t sick. Paranoia is rampant.

The Chinese sent México an airplane full of cotton balls, alcohol and hygiene supplies, as if to say…….Cleanse yourself, people! Although it was a nice gesture, it went over like a lead balloon. Now China is simply sending all the Mexicans home!

Excerpt from Yahoo News 2pm, 5 May 2009: China, Argentina and Cuba are among the nations banning regular flights to and from Mexico, marooning passengers at both ends. Mexico and China both sent chartered flights to each other's countries to collect their citizens, with the chartered Mexican plane hopscotching China Tuesday to retrieve stranded residents. Argentina also chartered a flight to bring Argentines home.

My friend in Isla Mujeres said there are approximately 50 tourists on the entire island. I’m not surprised after last week’s closures of large hotels, restaurants and bars in Cancún and along the Mayan Riviera that sent tourists scurrying home. Those who stayed behind were advised they would be quarantined IN MEXICO if they got sick here. That was enough to send some people running. (What some people don’t know is that we actually have GOOD medical care available.)

Another friend was planning to cruise to the Yucatán on Carnival Cruise Lines. She called to get information before booking and was advised that all cruises to Mexico were cancelled UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE. Tourism is down 70%. It was low before we got the flu because of the world’s economic crises.

I have no confidence in the tests or the statistics. If it takes two weeks to get a blood test back, then too many patients have been dismissed prematurely. I don’t want to see this become a level 6 pandemic. I want it to go away. I want time to stop and back up and AH1N1 just disappear. I want a lot of things…..like beachfront property for free and a pot of gold!

Is there a worldwide movement to send all ‘nationals’ back to their ‘nations’? A pharmaceutical company takeover? A political act to shift focus from the world’s financial crisis? Biological warfare? A media event? Or just a pesky pandemic?

A Week of Sundays

The Van Gogh Jigsaw Puzzle



On Sundays, most of Mérida seems like a ghost town. The families that go to church in the morning are likely hidden in their patios in the afternoons. Lots of people head to the beaches. There is almost no traffic. No one is out walking around.

That almost describes Mérida this week. The difference is that the people are all hiding in their patios, and no one is at the beach.There is practically no one outside. The schools closed down on Tuesday. Immediately following were NATIONWIDE closings of museums, movies, parks, archeological sites, gathering places of all kinds, swimming pools, etc. Sporting events will be held but without spectators. Cruise ships to México were rerouted to other ports. This list keeps growing.

I read today that restaurants and hotels that accommodate more than 80 people in Cancún closed. That would explain the mass exodus of 40,000 tourists from Cancún yesterday and today.

The Mexican TV stations and news people call it "el psicosis de la influenza". The media loves to sensationalize. When they first reported this there were 69 deaths in México and 3,000 suspected cases. Now the stats are down to 12 confirmed and 68 suspected deaths in México. The officials are playing it down now. There are NO confirmed cases anywhere in the Yucatán. And personally, I doubt there will be any confirmed cases reported here. The public would panic if we confirm its existence here. I have a good friend who came down with the flu last week and this week is in the hospital with pneumonia. The tests for swine flu came back negative, I was told. Some coincidence, though, isn't it?

The Yucatán is shut down until at least May 6th. Recent news flashes on the radio and TV hint they are considering extending that date to May 11th. The death toll rises as I write this. This is my third attempt at a post on this flu pandemic. Yesterday there were changes before I could finish one post and I just gave up.

The good news is that almost everyone we know here is healthy. We really don't mind having to stay at home in this city. It is built for us to live in our own little worlds. I personally have tons of projects started, other ideas occurring to me at random, the pool...where I pass a good amount of time on these hot days. Pablo and I like to play board games and we have a jigsaw puzzle spread out on the table. We are eating well, taking vitamins, and going with an anti-psychotic flow, hoping life returns to normal one day soon. Not that we would know normal if it hit us in the head....

The 2nd Annual Bloggers' Meet and Greet

Theresa is my neighbor and friend. She comes over almost every day to exercise in the swimming pool. Early last year she told me about her blog WHAT DO I DO ALL DAY?. I started to read her blog regularly, check out and follow several of her links, and even was inspired to create my own blogs. I’d been trying to keep up with my family and friends by email since I moved, but it got to be difficult and repetitive. I figured it would be more fun and effective if I created a blog to post information and photos of my new life in Mérida. That way, if folks were interested, they could read my stories and later, email correspondences would be easier to handle.

Last year Theresa went to a bloggers’ meeting in Isla Mujeres. She had a great time and enjoyed meeting other Yucatecan bloggers. She decided to organize this year’s event in Mérida. A few months ago another aquatic exerciser, Mikey, started Adventures of Merida Mikey. The three of us discuss blogging in the pool, and we talked about the bloggers’ meet and greet while it was in Theresa’s planning stages. She invited us to participate.

The first event was a cocktail party on Thursday, April 16, at the home of Blah Blah Blah Ginger. Jonna and Mimi showed off their beautiful home by sponsoring our first event. At the party I met a few new folks, but spent more time photographing and petting the animals. Out in the patio I had good conversations with Wayne of Isla Mujeres Gringo In Paradise and Mikey. Mike is a close Mérida friend, and Wayne seemed familiar, like I already knew him. I talked to the hostesses but just barely, probably about Akumal and animals. I enjoyed talking to Nancy and Paul from Countdown to Mexico but I don’t remember what I was jabbering about. I drank too much, ended up in a discussion with Heather in Paradise about dog poop, and as a result I imagine I made a lousy impression.

Photos from Jonna & Mimi's cocktail party, April 16, 2009.

Next , on Friday at my house, speakers gave presentations. Wayne, Theresa, Ellen of YUCATANLIVING, and Paul of Hammock Musings from Mérida spoke about using digital photography, making money, finding focus and inspiration for our blogs. Sixteen people attended. I learned quite a bit, not only about blogging, but about bloggers. It was interesting, fun, and I managed to meet a few more of the participants. I also learned how to link these folks up on this blog, causing the delay in posting. It took a while to figure all this out and put into action.

Presentations on Friday, April 17, 2009 at my house, Ko'ox Báab.



After meeting 20+ bloggers, it struck me that I had not read everyone’s blogs. I know I spend plenty of time on the computer, but if I try to read 30 blogs a day, I will never get anything else done. I might have to schedule actual blogging time so I don’t get carried away .

After the presentations we all went to the Las Ruinas bar and restaurant, chatting and sucking up a few beers, enjoying botana of various pickled vegetables and pigs’ innards, etc. What a great place Theresa found!

I was tired from the day’s activities and skipped the walking tour of the Centro, but Pablo and I met up with the group at Los Cumbancheros restaurant. Pablo and I enjoyed dancing to the live Cuban music, and some of the others joined us on the dance floor. The food wasn’t great but the band was terrific.

Saturday I had to work, so I missed the breakfast at the Hotel El Castellano. It was a long hot day at home with swim classes from 8am until 5pm. We were wiped out and decided to crash in the hammocks early…never going anywhere that night.

Sunday’s plan was to meet in the Centro and walk around again. I thought about going, but it’s the only day I can relax with Pablo. I could only attend so many functions. Later I found out Sunday’s plans changed to a farewell breakfast. I may have given the impression I wasn’t interested in people by missing Saturday’s events. That’s not true, and I would like to say to Dodwells Head South, YOLISTO, DEBI IN MERIDA and TOM'S BLOG, Livin' The Lisa Loca, Not The News - Life in Mérida, and anyone else I didn’t get a chance to chat with, that I enjoyed our blogger weekend. It was a pleasure to meet everyone. It is interesting to meet other expats and learn why they decided to live in México, hear about their journeys, their special places, etc. It was a great learning experience that I would enjoy participating in again next time.

We are going to link up all our blogs on a site called Mexico in English. When we get that organized, I will update.

Curtain Sew-a-thon

My current sewing machine.

At the age of ten, I was allowed to sign up for Singer sewing lessons at a department store in Toledo. I wanted to take ballet and be a Girl Scout, but my Mom said, "I've already been through all that with your brothers, and they always lost interest halfway through...so NO!"

She never learned how to sew and wanted me to have skills. I made my first dress in teh fifth grade, and I continued to make many of my own clothes throughout high school. Oh, she sent me to charm school too, but its results, as you may know, are questionable.

Since then, however, I have only sewn by hand. I´ve repaired thick sailcloth while underway at sea on our South Pacific Adventures. I´ve made all kinds of curtains with needle and thread. But when I had to make ten pair for the "cuartos" we built off on the Periférico that are almost ready for habitation, I decided to break out the old machine.

I bought one of the old Singer machines that has been motorized. It is a very popular machine in these parts, but most of the locals use the basic foot pedal. My machine hadn't been used since Lynne came from Alaska and made me curtains, back in October of 2007. I called in a home service mechanic, and 140 pesos (ten bucks) and an hour later I was ready to roll.

I went down to Parisina, one of many mind-boggling fabric stores in el centro to seek out fabric. I dove into the giant pile of remnants on the floor, which all happened to be the size I needed for panels. I was pushed around and whacked in the head with purses, knocked to the floor a couple of times. But I knew that would happen so I went prepared mentally. I got them back by smiling and laughing as if they were all accidental hits, and before I knew it the same women were helping me find matches to the fabrics I had in hand. All in all it was not a bad fabric store experience, and I had enough fabric to make ten sets PLUS new curtains upstairs and in my office.

New sheer curtains in upstairs guest room.

Of course I can do no project without the help of the commando. You can see how helpful they are. One more project finished, now we wait for the workers on the construction project who have a mysterious FLU to finish the last details, and voilá! We will be slum lords!

Guest Room Renovated

It has been nearly two years since my Mérida home found and captivated me. I remember walking through this massive all-white house taking tons of photos; my head swimming with ideas. When I returned to Kona to close out my house and affairs, I spent those three months with gel pens in hand dreaming about how I'd work with color in the new place.


I was starving for color. In Hawaii both men and women wear bright and often flowery clothing, but their homes are typically boring beige, white, or some other neutral shade. Inside and out. Our house in Kona was barely yellow outside and icy ice blue inside. The house was small and wouldn't have handled midnight blue, orange or gold walls.

By the time the albaniles handed me swatches of paint options I went completely wild. In my state of overwhelm, I had the upstairs guest room painted bright aqua. I think I forgot to actually go upstairs with the swatches, because the aqua clashed with the sage green tiles in the bathroom. It was fun for a while, but it eventually was too much to look at. I posted photos of the guest room back in Nov'08, if you'd like to compare the changes it underwent this past week.

Last week I painted the room white. It is now the ONLY room inside or outside the house that is white. And it seems larger, fresh, and refreshing. Here is what you see when you walk in the door.

I decided the cubby hole of a closet could remain aqua as a memorial to the room, and it alone in the corner is enough aqua for anyone. You can see why it took four coats of paint to cover.

The new curtains I made are quite sheer but I liked the fabric. If we need privacy or to avoid the sun, we'll have to use the venetian blinds.

And although it took a year and a half, I finally replaced the medicine cabinet that had no mirror. My sister-in-law felt that was the only thing the room was missing.

The Mermaid

This year my birthday fell on Easter Sunday. It brought back memories of Catholic Mass, which we attended daily at St. Hedwig's Elementary School in Toledo, Ohio. We kids got bored going to church every day, so we'd read the indexes in prayer books and find other ways to occupy our minds. I noticed then that my birthday would not fall on Easter Sunday until I was 45 years old. I could not imagine ever being 45 years old. Well, in 1998 my birthday fell on Easter. And 11 years later, on my birthday, Easter Sunday 2009, I realize I'd be quite happy celebrating my 45th birthday, but instead.....


I have learned that I like to celebrate my birthday for about a week before the actual date. I used to have panic attacks right before my birthday. I am not sure what that was about, I guess just the getting old factor and not having achieved all I want to do with my life. Now that I have accepted this aging process, I don't panic, instead I like to do things for ME....buy something I have been thinking about, go somewhere I have wanted to go, etc. I have trouble with the concept of putting ME first........but around my birthday I am pretty bold about it.


By the time my birthday arrives, I am done celebrating. The pre-birthday anxiety is gone and I can relax. Sunday I was doing just that. Relaxing in the hammock watching a little morning TV. The doorbell rang and my three women friends here, Jill, Theresa and Julia surprised me with a drop in visit. They sang to me and brought me a beautiful mermaid piñata. I have never had a piñata before. I don't plan to destroy it with a bat, instead I want to hang it on the wall.


The mermaid piñata.

Backing up a bit, on Friday Pablo and I went out to accomplish two things: obtain pool chemicals and have lunch. Everyone was out of pool chemicals, but we shopped our way through several places to find that out. I bought a jigsaw puzzle, new pants, picture frames, a raft to float in the pool, a little bambu fountain to zen up my office, another fan to keep the hot air circulating, etc. We looked for a place to have lunch all along the way. It was Good Friday and everything was closed. Everyone had gone to the beach. We then decided seafood sounded good and headed up to Progreso.


I know better than to go to Progreso on a holiday weekend. But we were just cruisin' so we went for it. It took us 20 minutes to get there, and 45 minutes to get through town traffic to Eladio's Restaurant on the waterfront.

Cars cruisin' the malecón and thousands of people enjoying the beach. (By Sunday there were over 100,000 visitors there!)

By the time we got to Eladio's, most of the lunch crowd was leaving. It was 4pm. We enjoyed a couple of tequilas, delicious fresh shrimp and octopus. It was at least 10° cooler at the beach, and we ate our lunch watching people play in the water. While at the restaurant, we bought a pile of pirated movies so we would have entertainment for the weekend. They sell movies that are currently showing at theaters, however they are pirated and you never know about the quality. Sometimes the recordings are bad, made in theaters with people's heads in the forefront, or the movies are in Russian with Spanish subtitles. But at $1.50 US each, it is worth the gamble.


On Sunday, after chatting with my visitors, Pablo got the new grill going. We decided to have carne asada and bbq'd vegetables poolside. He treated me like a queen all day. He got the fire going, seasoned and cooked the food, and brought me tequila and Coca Cola. I was in the swimming pool most of the afternoon. Pablo and I had lunch IN the pool. It was a very relaxing day. Later we watched two movies and went for a little drive around the ghost town Mérida.

All in all it was a good week and weekend. I allowed myself many liberties, including an occasional shot of tequila. This week I am seriously down to the grind, writing in the morning and working on repainting the upstairs room in the afternoon and sewing curtains in the evening. I have ten sets of curtains to make for the rooms out at the property, which should be completed this week (mañana). I have a function here on Friday. Our students are back this week, and life is back to normal.

This is the new keg style bbq. It reminds me of the giant kegger bbq we had on the sail trip from Hawaii to Samoa, Tonga and Fiji that our friend Homer made especially for the trip. We not only prepared some great meals on that grill, but we made lots of friends at anchorages. Above, I took the photo too late to show our beautiful grilled meat and veggies so all you see are a few overcooked tortillas.

Easter dinner in the pool....the only way to beat the heat.

Miscellaneous Ramblings

It is the second week of April. I've been concentrating on the book project, but I forgot to post any news or items of interest here. I promised no more cat photos, but I am indulging myself since my birthday is Sunday. Mokito is sitting behind the basil bush in the ground cover that looks great thanks to Pablo's diligent watering and constant care of the entire patio area. He is so cute I can't stop photographing him.


I was inspired to do some gardening on Sunday. It was still very hot this past weekend, and I spent three hours in the pool. As I read my book, drank my Gatorade, etc, I felt cooled off enough to plant some flower seeds, the new jasmine plant, prune the papaya tree out front, and generally do more work in the yard than I usually enjoy or tolerate. (Gardening is NOT my thing!) When sweat rolled into my eyes I decided to jump back into the pool.

Here is what is new.

Yep! Another kitty. I have a sinking feeling this is the fourth kitten from the litter that Momcat had....the ones we took out to the property. He is desperately seeking residence here. He made friends with Mokito, who loves everyone. Of course Moka wanted no part of him in her pride, but he is sweet talking even her into accepting him. He is a talker. Not a screamer like Sak Boox, but sort of an out loud purrer. Above he is wondering if he can come in to eat or if he should hit the high road.

Here he is wondering if he needs to scurry up the tree and vacate the premises. He is very cute. I imagine we will have him fixed and take him in, since we sent away his mom and siblings. We haven't named him because we are trying to avoid adopting another cat. I have to admit if I were a cat, I would want to weasel my way into this cathouse too. Even when it is over 100° outside, the cats find places to stay cool. They particularly like to sit poolside. Maybe we'll name him Weasel.

There are lots of flowers blooming in the patio. I wish I could remember the name of this mini tree, but I am brain dead and energyless today. They say it's the cold. Last week they said it was the heat. The real problem is that I am getting old. I have this love/hate relationship with my birthdays. I generally get stressed out about having one, but I always want to celebrate it anyhow. We didn't make plans to go anywhere for my birthday since it falls on Easter. The local people all head to the beaches and ruins and cenotes over Easter week, so if we go somewhere it will be after the holiday.

This is how I work at the computer. I have to set up chairs next to me for the cats. Moka prefers sleeping on top of the printer because she can attack it if it acts up. The others stay away from the desk and keyboard if I keep them close by and pet them enough. People who think cats are not loving must have weird cats. My cats require lovin' every day. They demand it. I work in some head scratching and sweet talking to allow me to take little mind breaks while struggling to think through this enormous project of writing a book. I think I have a name for it, and the project seems to be leading me in a specific direction now, which I see as a good sign.

Sak Boox drinks more water than any cat I've ever seen. They all drink from the swimming pool, and though we thought it wasn't good for them with chemicals and all, it sounds better than any standing water they might find in the bush. What Sak Boox prefers is to drink straight from the faucet or the 5 gallon jug spout. She will position herself and tell me, "I am ready!" Although I prefer to NOT allow cats on the kitchen counter, I usually let her come up and have a drink.

There are other things going on. The construction at the property is almost finished. I will post on it once we have it done. We have the bloggers Meet and Greet next week, and I look forward to meeting the other bloggers. An old friend of mine will be in Cancún next week and I would like to visit him and his family. I have known Lothar since I was about 12 years old. He is one of my oldest friends. Unfortunately, of all the cool places there are around here, the place I least enjoy driving to is Cancún. The toll road is hypnotizing as well as expensive, not to mention four hours of driving with nothing to see but road. So I am working that in my brain.

My pool exercisers are back. Once we topped the 100° mark last week, interest was peaked again. Now they are talking about evening swims in addition to morning swims. If we have the hot summer they are threatening, we will all have to live in the pool. The weather is confused right now. I may be brain dead today because of dehydration....again. Last week I was suckin' down all the liquid in sight, and this week I am not thirsty again. It was only 68° this morning. How's that for extremes? Anyhow, when it is cool outside we don't feel the thirst sensation but we still need to drink three times our weight in liquid every day.

This is all the rambling I will subject you to today. Mostly I wanted to say hi, I am still here plugging away, stumbling through life. Happy Easter to all of you from the Conejita de Pascua (the little easter bunny...me)!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am searching for my brain cells and when I locate them will post a bitchin' story. Adios.

I tried four times to separate the paragraphs, so if they are still all stuck together, it must be a sign that this really was meant to be just a ramble!