Messy Mamey

The mamey zapote tree is quite active these days.  The tree is full of fruit, and one has been taste tested.  They are good this year!  I tasted one that wasn't quite ripe, and after all that description of flavors described in this previous post, I thought it tasted like the almond flavor they put in Chinese cookies. If we can figure out how to get the ripe ones down from the very top of the tree without them smashing on the concrete, I will be happy to share with the people I know who really like this fruit. 

The time has come for mamey tree to shed its winter leaves and rapidly grow the summer set.  This photo was taken a few days ago and since then the tree has lost almost all the leaves you see lingering here.

This is where the leaves have gone.

These photos are only a couple days' collection of leaves, as Pablo has been ritually sweeping them up daily for a couple weeks now.  Finally he threw down the broom and decided to wait for it to finish!

It is hard to capture what I wanted to in the photo below, but I think you can get the idea.  The tree is going to produce five times as much fruit next year by the looks of all the babies on the limbs. 

As trees go, this would have to rate up near the top of hassle trees. It seems to make several varieties of messes in the entire patio area.  But, there is something that draws me to this tree.  I love to watch the bizarre changes it goes through during the course of a year.  It is the cat's escape route to the other side.What's more, it's my meditation tree.

Mierda! It's Hot in Mérida!

It is nearly 8pm, I just got out of the pool, showered and I feel refreshed and comfortable.  We started our EVENING SWIMS again.  From Mon thru Fri at 6pm we open the gates. If you have read previous blogs, you know it's not a large or grand pool, it is the only pool around.  The morning exerciser(s) come back in the evening just to cool down the body temp, and others come to move around a bit and then relax.  Our evening hour is more laid back than the morning hour, at 8am, when we really walk around in circles a lot, and everyone has his/her own exercise agenda.  Oh yeah, I am happy to have the evening swims again. 

The Mérida summer heat has set in for real. The outside temperature is still 96.8°.  The fans are blasting hot air.  We are using the big guns, the helicopter fans.  Big loud round fans with names like CYCLONE, etc. They are noisy but move plenty of air.  Unfortunately they don't cool the air they just move around the hot stuff.  But at least it's air.  When the humidity is high and the air is so thick it's practically liquid, it's refreshing to have dry air blowing on you. When you are sweating profusely the fan cools you as it dries the dripping perspiration. Maybe it doesn't sound that appealing, but it sure feels great.

You change your drinking habits when it is this hot because you are always thirsty.  Never leave home without a bottle of drinking water; in my case I don't leave the kitchen without at least a big cup of ice water.  I make six trays of ice twice a day because I like my beverages cold.  That idiosyncracy is left over from my living on a boat for three months without refrigeration, just an empty cooler longing for ice, in the tropics, crossing the equator. Since then, 1990, I admit to being a little anal about having ice in the freezer.  I am willing to maintain a big zip bag of it and I am generous with it.  All I care about is I feel like a new person chugging an ice cold Coke.  Oh, I mean water.  Speaking of ice, ten minutes ago I filled a glass with ice and water.  I sucked up the water in two gulps and the ice is almost gone.  Ten minutes.  After a couple weeks I will be bored with water and move on to iced tea, try this year's new flavors of Tang, make fresh lemonade, and who knows what.  This year the Tang flavors are from all the countries in the world cup....El Mundial, which is coming up soon.  I've already tasted the surprisingly refreshing plum flavor from Argentina, and something wickedly (too) sweet from Brazil. 

If you are planning to EAT on a day like today, you have to plan for that early.  I finally understand why in Fiji (the first place I exprienced this) the women cooked dinner early in the morning, right after serving breakfast.  By mid-day it is too bloody hot to be considering using a hot stove. On the days I decide to cook, I often opt for the crock pot because it causes the least external heat... so we eat lots of Wodarski stews.  They could be anything.  Other days I prepare food that we can eat later, but cold, like potato salad and roasted chicken.  Of course because we are human we also occasionally do use the stove when it is 100° during the hottest part of the evening.  Tonight Pablo made us dinner so he's recuperating with the helicopter fan on high for a spell.  Like I said, I am still refreshed from the pool!

Deciding late in the day to prepare dinner is no problem in this climate.  A package of meat will thaw in less than an hour at room temp, but you have to stay on top of that one, because no one wants ecoli.  Another issue is salt.  We lose a lot of salt when we sweat.  Remember the days people who sweat a lot took salt pills?  When you find you are craving salted nuts or chips, eat'em because you need'em.  We like to use sea salt because I have convinced myself it is actually GOOD for me. 

By evening, it seems that everything you touch feels cuddly warm.  Not that you are looking for CUDDLY warm, au contraire!  The bed seems to generate its own heat at night after a long hot day.  Therefore
this is the time of year it is more comfortable to sleep in the hammock, as the air flow helps you reach a comfortable temperature allowing you to sleep.  There is a short period of time just before dawn when I want a sheet, and just after dawn I wake up when Buster pulls my hair to let me know I am late serving breakfast in the cat world.  At that time, around 6:30ish, it is already at least 80°.  So by the time we get into the pool at 8am, it's starting to warm up for the day.  The pool is maintaining an 85°F average, and I swear that morning swim, using the term loosely, is the best way to start the day.  I am such a wuss when the air is cold and the pool isn't mid80s that I am happy for the heat.

Idiomasyncracies: Gente and People

Some idiomasyncracies are funny while others, like this one, are meant to be informative.  These are questions Spanish language learners/practicers ask me, and they are concepts that can be confusing.

In the Spanish dictionary gente means: people; persons in general; folk; nation; those who comprise a community; family. A good example of its usage would be, "Es buena gente."  In English, "he's good people" or "he's good folk", etc. 

In this phrase, "La gente de Chiapas es muy pobre," I am simply saying "the people of Chiapas are very poor."  You'll notice that "la gente" is a singular word and even though it is used in a plural concept its verb is third person singular.  "Me cae bien la gente del Yucatán."  "I like Yucatecan people."  The noun and verb remain in singular form.

La gente can be pluralized.  Las gentes is a correct way of saying "the peoples"....as in many groups of different categories of people.  So you CAN say "Las gentes de Chiapas son muy pobres,"  because the truth of the matter is there are scores of indigenous groups who speak unique languages and live with unique customs in Chiapas, and they represent a large percentage of the abject poverty of the state .  Should you choose the second phrase with las gentes, you will be understood to be talking about more than one group.  If you say, "Me gustan las gentes de Mérida," "I like the peoples of Mérida," the response will be big eyes, because that is a very large, all inclusive GUSTO.

The confusion enters when translating to our word 'people'.  It is a plural word. It always indicates a body of persons sharing a common thread and automatically takes a third person plural verb form.  "People are broke."

'The people" denotes the mass or ordinary persons, i.e. the populace.  It too requires the third person plural verb accompaniment. 'Peoples' is an acceptable plural form of people, but it's only used in the plural (peoples) to refer to two or more groups considered to be political or cultural entities:  "The Mayan peoples' history,"  for example.

The lesson then would be that a singular noun in Spanish must be accompanied by a singular verb and singular adjectives.  Even if the noun indicates a group, that group becomes a singular item.    On the other hand, the English word 'people' is already in plural form and thus requires plural accompaniments.  This is just another example of how we look at things a little differently, and another reason it is so confusing to learn another language. 

¡Ojalá le gustó a la gente este artículo!
I tried to download a video but the procedure has changed, so I am not sure if this is going to work for you or not.  You should be able to just click below to hear the song.   If you can handle Latino rap or whatever this is, the lyrics are great.  Unfortunately they are sung so fast you don't understand a thing. The point is, it is a song about all kinds of GENTE.  They played this video for six months, once an hour, on a tv station we watch.  After a few months I'd gotten the lyrics and actually liked this song  Funny.  

Wild Song about lots of GENTE

A Time To Swim

Buenos Días.  The day has finally come!  The weather has begun to warm up.  At 10pm last night it was 34°C (94°F).  Now that is a beautiful evening!  The low overnight was expected to reach 24°C (74°F).  Right now, at 7:50 am on April 23, 2010, I am going to get into the pool with Mike for morning exercise....first time in months.  The pool temp was 86°F yesterday afternoon.  Right now it is registering 83°C and the air temp is 26°C (77°F)....a little cool for me, but it is time to take the morning plunge. 

Sitting on a stool outside the pool drinking coffee and smoking cigarettes is not exactly morning exercise, but that was mine all winter, keeping Mike company as he froze his buns off in the pool. He is waiting for me now, so off I go into the refreshing wet.,

(Happy Birthday Lee Majors, you dirty old man)(My mind remembers odd things. What can I say.)

Cute Cat Pics: A Post for Cat Lovers

I find I have to label the cat photo postings, because some people really like them and others skip them all together. Especially the DOG people!  I can understand.  It's just so hard to NOT take photos of the kitties, they are my family and we spend a lot of time together. We study each other.  I think Moka and Mokito are ahead of the race to understanding and WORKING other people!  Mokito is a professional scammer.  He has all the guys in the house trained, has them convinced we do not feed him ever, and he actually sits and howls outside their doors for them to let him into their rooms, or harrasses them in the kitchen until they give him some of what they are cooking. 

Mokito into the catnip the cats received from Aunt Cherie.

They all love it. Buster is pretending not to care, but he has already had his time rolling about in the new stash.

Buster sends a personal thanks. He doesn't allow too many photos taken.

Moka and Lorenza like to cuddle, mostly Lorenza. And she often likes to cuddle Moka right out of the spot she was comfortably sleeping in.

This character! Paint on his foot from walking on Pablo's painting. Stickers stuck to him everywhere. Dirty after rolling in dirt.  Sitting spread eagle. Thinking about where trouble may lurk so he can find it.

These two are often found snuggled up. Lorenza's a momma's girl. They SHOULD be comfortable on the new 440 count sheets Jay/Cherie brought in a care package!

I reinforced and restructured their cat scratch and climb juguete. It's ugly but sturdy and they like it. Weasel, who doesn't even live here, spends most nights curled up where you see Lorenza now.

Busmo says "here's five  four", he's hangin' in the shade with the gargoyle.

Sak Boox is in training as assistant supervisor.

And lastly, Mokito THE ANGELITO on his BED.

Ant Rant: The Ant Invasion

Lorenza, in the box, and I, Moka, have nothing to do with this post. We just want to let Aunt Cherie know that every single part of our care package means a lot to us. We take turns using this cool box.

Friday morning after drinking my coffee I went up to the kitchen sink to wash the few dirty dishes. The usual routine. The housekeeper was here the day before so the kitchen was sparkly clean. There were no crumbs on the counter, a miracle in itself in a house where five young single guys use the kitchen. Not to be discriminatory, but most of the men I have known don’t notice details like crumbs on the counter.


Before I could wash one single coffee cup, little black ants were crawling up my legs. It was my mistake for forgetting my flip flops, so I ran to grab them after a quick rinse in the shower. Those little buggers bite, and their bites last a long time itching and blistering. I had one of those “Oh no I am going to be eaten alive” moments that linger from learning adventures gone by.

We have heavy duty ant killer, H24 Polvo Para Hormigas but we can’t use it in too many places because it’s so toxic. There are too many humans and animals about the house. I am aware of spraying areas with vinegar water to disorient the ants, but I can only handle so much vinegar smell. So I use talcum powder. Ants don’t seem to like it.

I looked at the floor and saw two Corn Pops and one dead palmetto roach. I know the male person who eats corn pops and the cats hunt down those giant roaches and bring them in to play with! Luckily they play to the death. Those three items were enough ant food for the zillions of ants I saw prancing around the kitchen floor. So I whipped out my talcum powder and ‘empanizado’d (a term meaning breaded, but after a shower when I cover myself in talcum powder, I say I am recently empanizado’d. A local thing, sorry.) The entire kitchen floor. The talc only confuses them, but it gives me a chance to sweep them up without them eating me alive first. The down side of this ant treatment is it leaves the floor extremely slippery, and I have to sweep it up several times.

After confusing, moving and then killing the kitchen ants, I headed over to the cat feeding station. Someone treated them the night before to some fresh fish and there were bones scattered about among crunchies that had been pulverized by teeny tiny red ants. There were trillions more ants just trailing along like they owned the cat station. In the cat station I use a spritzer of Fabuloso to clean the mess six cats plus the uninvited ones leave over night. Fabuloso also kills the ants. I don’t give those miniature red ants a chance to bite me, so I can’t say if they do bite. Then I throw talcum powder in the doorway to head them off in another direction.

It was a beautiful day and I decided after ant duty I’d head out to the pool, thinking there wouldn’t be ants there. There used to be! But I recently changed the plants in the planters that surround the pool. I had something in them before that it turned out ants loved. They look like this now and the ants could care less about them.

My last few outings to the pool have been ant free, so much so I was thinking how pleased my friend Mike would be when he comes over to swim. But not last Friday. I washed them all away with chemicalized water. However it was luckily the last ant detail of the day. They must have been very thirsty because they were heading for any wet spot and investigating the entire outdoor area. We haven’t had a drop of rain in months, and the ants have gotten out of hand.

We also have the giant biting red ants, but I don’t see them too often. We have the carpenter ants, the leaf cutters, from the prehistoric monsters to the newest alien versions. You live in the tropics, you deal with ants. By the time I got around to writing this blog post though, we have had some rain. And that means some respite from the ant problem. I still have to stay on my toes to keep it under control, but the rainy days seem to be helping a little. Only a little. There are other ants who like to come inside when it rains to see what goodies they can find on the floor. It really never ends. I just talcumed my bedroom floor.

Today my concern though is really mosquitoes, which are out in force after 24 hours of light rain. I have Mexican incense lit next to me; Raid Mosquito Killer Coils is the name if you want to find them at the store. Lavender scented. That’s it, that’s my ANT RANT.

Ball Park Treats

The Pizza Hut guy. Hot and freshly made on site.

This is the pizza. Looks kind of gross, doesn't it? It was pretty good actually.

Kibis and Piedras. Kibis are mashed fried garbanzo balls. Piedras are little balls of masa with hamburger or something inside.  Both are served with a little shredded cabbage and habanero salsa. 

This kid has what appear to be apples on his stick.  They didn't look like apples up close though, unless half of them are covered in chile.  How old is this kid, about 7?

Tortas. In my opinion the most common food eaten here, your basic ham and cheese sandwich on "francés" (white bread bolillo).

A cooler full of chicken wings. Not appetizing, will skip these.

Cotton Candy. A staple at any Yucatecan gathering.

Fresh fruit.  Jicama and mango. Very impressive.

The lady in front of me bought one. She had some syrup poured over it, and I see it has a spearmint garnish. Hah, unless that is a hot chile!

Elotes and Esquites.  Corn, on the cob or off the cob. Served with medium cream and limón. 

Nestle Ice Cream Treats. 

Of course, the CHICLET salesman.

The guy behind us caught a foul ball.

That should about cover food at the ball game!