Friday's International Holiday

Tomorrow marks the beginning of the COPA MUNDIAL, The World Cup Soccer Championship in South Africa....and I think it's an unwritten international holiday.  The opening ceremonies begin at 7:00am Mérida time (CST), and Mexico plays in the first game against South Africa team Bahana Bahana at 9:00am.

The South Africans and Mexico have a rivalry from Mundiales past, and from the news I read on the home site of the CUP, Bahana Bahana doesn't look as strong as Mexico. The word on the blogs is, Mexico is coming in with a powerful young team this year.  In my house there are four Mexican guys, three of which I doubt will be "feeling well enough" to work tomorrow.  Pablo was advised in advance that he'd better show up on Friday. I picture the scene around here with two or three TVs blasting the games and lots of screaming, and consuming of cerveza for the next month. It is sure an emotional game for its fans. 

I have never watched a World Cup Soccer meet, I don't know the rules of futbol soccer, I don't know the star players, or the rivalries; I am totally soccer illerate - until tomorrow.  When we have watched an occasional soccer game on TV, I've usually pick up a book to read instead.  Up until now I have been soccer stupid.  I plan to learn about the game during this coming month of soccer innundation on TV.  After all, I have introduced Pablo to American Football, and he has endured three seasons of up to 5 games a week of games televised  locally with me, so it's only fair that I learn the rules of Mexico's favorite game.

Opening ceremonies are always fantastic, and I plan to watch them early tomorrow morning.  I was very disappointed to miss so much of the Winter Olympics.  They showed the opening ceremonies on an obscure channel at a strange time of night.  Maybe since Mexico doesn't participate (much or at all?) in the winter sports they are not too keen to televise many of the games.  I am hoping to make up for lost opening ceremonies with tomorrow's celebration. 

Let the games begin!  Oh, that is the opening of the Olympics, I guess I don't know what they scream to start the soccer matches.  I can't wait to hear the sound of the announcement of Mexico's first "GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLnonononononononoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!

Mokito

Mokito posed for these photos two weeks ago. He set himself up for a photo shoot.  He is so photogenic. Personally I think the photos are calendar-worthy. Again, my small small world, the gods must have beencrazy when they created me....and Mokito!

It's Weather and Cat Time...the other news sucks.

I read the news today, oh boy.......things are looking rather bleak all over the world. All of a sudden there are serious disputes between several countries, the economical outlook was miserable, the list goes on. I had trouble finding any good news online.

Weekend headlines were "Temible Temporada de Cyclones", or Scary Hurrican Season approaching...and "El Turismo, En Picada", or Tourism down to 52%", a 20% drop in three years. I won't go into opinions and details. There are so many reasons tourism is down, and I know it is not just in Mérida!

About the hurricanes, I have been tuned in to Accuweather, keeping up with Joe Bastardi's latest words of wisdom, have my NOAA and NWS hurricane sites bookmarked. The first rainstorm was an eye opener, and I have a few house repairs to tend to before the waters heat up any more and the REAL rains begin. June is here, and though hurricanes usually don't develop in our area early in the season, anything is possible. I have seen enough disaster sites, and lived long enough in the tropics that I am prepared for days without conveniences. It is known I am a weather freak and always watching everyone's weather, not just ours.

Weatherwise, the past week was odd. The first Eastern Pacific storm formed, named Agatha.  It was stationary over the coasts of Southern Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras for days.  It never moved westward as is the norm for these storms.  It spewed torrential downpours and caused serious floods, and then barreled its way northeast.  FYI, we have driven the route that is flooded out, and it seems to be an annual thing....those mountains are ferocious and when it rains it pours.  This particular storm tho' was a tropical storm and it did not dissipate over the mountains as usually does such a storm. Instead it slammed everyone from the Pacific Coast to the Caribbean Coast.  As of yesterday this big blob of thunderstorms had a slight chance of reforming into the first Atlantic storm of the season, Alex, as it sat offshore from Belize and southern Quintana Roo, Mexico.  Today  the storm has seemed to dissipate some, but we are having strange cloudiness here in Mérida.

The weather maps show nothing of interest, some cloudiness, but something is up.  The cats were all acting strange all morning.  Mokito gets upset when it rains on his parade. He was whining today with the look of someone who just lost his job.  All the cats sat and conversed some before taking off to the other side for a morning adventure. 

Mike and I were in the pool between 8-9am.  Iggie, we have named the iguana from previous post, came out and inspected the situation.  He has never come out at 8am before.  He decided to take what little sun he could get sitting on the western wall of the patio. 

Mike told me his dog was barking like crazy this morning, and Mike couldn't figure out what was up with him.  The animals are saying something is up, the weather experts not even predicting any rain.  I am interested to see if noticing the change in local animal behavior had value or if my world has become too small, where I am studying the daily habits of feral animals who I THINK ARE MY FRIENDS....what I am getting at is I might just be crazy.

Here are some updating photos.  Nothing spectacular.  Just a WE ARE HERE AND ALIVE AND WELL kind of post.  I have been lax at blogging and emailing friends or family.  I lost so many email addresses when I got hacked I cannot even communicate with friends when I want to, so if by chance you read this and still think I have an email kona967...and love me and want to write to me...I am NOT lost and begging money in England....write to me here in Merida and update me on your email addresses and local news...  I am looking for WALTER ENGLE in particular. He is due some of my rants......good rants...and am afraid I may have to resort to SNAIL MAIL.  Heaven forbid.

Pablo chillin' at the beach in Chelem on Sunday.

Lin at Progreso after some delicious coco shrimp and a shot of tequila.

The coco shrimp plate. Delicious! Not sure what the sweet dipping sauce was, I am not a big dipper.

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"You cover my eyes, I'll cover yours." Mokito and Busmo 

Haven't had many hibiscus flowers . Here is evidence that the plant is happier.

First gardenia(?) this season. Buddha and Busmo wanted to be in the photo.

The kitties are going to celebrate their birthdays next week, on June 9th.  They will turn two years old.  There are photos of the newborns, and here is Sak Boox curled up in the very basket(?) she was born.


I have been having a lot of trouble witht this post, as if the internet connection is coming and going. So that is it. No clever ending. Just some recent photos of us. And not all of us. I lost several photos I posted and I am frustrated.  Time to tend the farm. I will be back.

My Iguana Friend

I have been getting more serious about concentrating on the book I am currently trying to write.  That means I take my notes and books out to the pool.  My iguana friend, the big guy, visits me every day.  He hangs out just above me on the wall.  I talk to him.  He looks at me.  He stays for a while and then moves on.  I have started cutting bananas and throwing them up on the pool roof for him. He has great white spikes and dark stripes.  His legs look so powerful, especially those big feet he has.  

Last Saturday the sky was blue, I was in the pool having the usual staredown with the iguana. Then he moved along and I kept on working.  I turned around and he had come down our wall and into the patio. He climbed a dead palm tree we use as a cat scratcher. I slowly made my way to the shallow end of the pool, just a few feet away from him. He may have been after some ripe HOT chiles on the bush below him. You can see him holding on to this tree stump.

Then the sky clouded up like, immediately, and I covered the pool and just got everything put away when the heavy downpour started.  The iguana ran behind the pool, through the patio, ate a fallen mamey on his way, and as the patio flooded he took his escape up the mamey tree.  I may write more on the subject if there are any interesting developments. 

After the Rains

These are yesterday's beautiful desert roses.

This is the stinky sludge leftover in the carport. 

The Diario del Yucatán reports we had up to 90 mm of rain (3.5 inches) in that one or two hour downpour.  The entire city flooded.  The centro was a disorganized mess; the buses moved a lot of water, making the waves that entered the houses practically surfable.  My friend told me Garcia Generes was inundated like he'd never seen before.  He watched guys pushing stalled cars, but the cars were floating and going with the current instead of the intended direction.

For a good story about the rain, check out this post:   Where's Noah When You Need Him?

I may have been wondering if the friends on the corner took in water due to waves generated by the cross streets.   But they have pretty good protectors....and their boat may have held tight.....However, there are other folks whose houses were on my mind when the rains came.  I am not sure if you read my post about architects, but the gist of it was that I don't have much confidence in a couple of the TRENDY ones about town. 

I have a friend whose house has a roofless dining room.  Not a cupula or light colored glass, just a big 6x6 ft square (I am guessing and probably exaggerating the size) hole in the ceiling/roof.  The idea was to allow air flow through the house, since it is long, narrow and has no windows except for the two small rooms facing the street and the kitchen facing the patio. A good number of the houses in the centro are attached at the walls. They were built a foot thick to keep out Merida's intense heat.    I ask myself, did the architect forget about the tropical rains when he designed the roofless dining room? Or was he new in town and not know about the three month rainy season?  The floor in that room is gravel with tiles laid on top....but could it withstand four inches of rain in an hour?  I have this picture in my mind of water oozing out in all directions, but maybe I got that picture from the oozing I saw at my own house!  Then I remembered all the fruit trees in her patio....picturing piles of guavas on the ground and leaves of all kinds everywhere. We got lucky with the leaves:  the mamey dropped the last of its leaves last week. Our back patio doesn't look too war torn. The good news about my friend's house is that her street didn't flood, so at least she didn't have to fight water coming in from the front.

There is a wet weather front west of us in the Gulf of Mexico, and some instability on the Caribbean side of the peninsula.  They are predicting 50% chance of rain every day for the rest of the week.  For Saturday night the projected "heat index" is 56°C.  132.8°F.  I am hoping that is a misprint. 

I am constantly amazed how life can change from one day to the next.  This was just a rainstorm, with no major damage done, but for me it was a wake up call for the upcoming hurricane season and a reminder about how quirky life can be.  Mother Nature is on a rampage it seems, so it is time to beef up the hurricane kit. 

Surprise Tropical Downpour

In the morning I took some photos of the patio.  The new desert roses caught my eye.

I photographed the growth of the succulent garden. It is coming along nicely, no?  This garden is roofed and has a reasonably clean YELLOW pasta tile floor.

Today started off like any Mérida day with  a bright blue sky in the morning. I was in the mood to photograph flowers in the gardens and cats and stuff.  In the early afternoon I noticed some stormy clouds in the distance as I was hanging laundry upstairs, but they seemed far away.  When I saw the clouds getting heavier and heading our way I managed to get all the dried clothes safely inside and filed away. 

Our tenant Nacho and a few of his friends were hanging out in the pool with the stereo blaring from the bodega's open windows when the rains came.  I got out to the bodega to bring in the speakers but it was too late, they were dripping wet as well as the cds below. I purposely went out and stood in the rain, but that is another story about a promise I made to myself.  I will blog about it one of these days. Anyhow, the group partied in the covered patio area behind the pool until it became unbearable.   The winds were crazy and blew the sheets of rain in every direction.  There was no escaping WET with this storm. 

It clouded up quickly.  The rain started innocently enough, but then the sky broke loose.  It was the strongest rain I have experienced here since my arrival in 2007.  As a weather freak, I got excited and flew upstairs with the camera to see if I could capture the sheets of rain as they fell, with the pool overflowing and the patio filling up like a lagoon.  I did get a few good photos. 

Rain fell in sheets, it rained so hard and so fast and SO MUCH! It-s amazing to watch. I ran around the house and closed the necessary doors.  Today it was ALL THE DOORS.  I even remembered the side door in our bedroom and the wide open window.  And I kept on shooting pictures.

In my excitement of trying to capture the feeling of a tropical downpour on video and in photos, I failed to notice that the patio had flooded higher than ever before.  The kitchen was a lake with the water flowing in under and around the sides of the big iron doors.  We swept most of it back outside and sandbagged the doors with beach towels.  Water was gushing into my bedroom also.  Weasel was sitting on a cushion that was completely soaked, and the water was heading toward the new bed cushion that is on the floor, awaiting its new base....so down went the last of the bath towels and even newspapers to soak up the water.  Water was insistent upon entering the house today.  I imagine I am not the only one who feels this way right now.

A downpour from 2008 looked like a light rain compared to today..I am used to seeing our street flood up to the sidewalk.  There have been some rains that sent little waves into this area, but nothing like this.  I can hear myself telling someone,"OH NO, water doesn-t ever come into the house, the gate blocks most of it and just a few little waves come in. The kitchen is set so far back from the street......"   Yeah, right.

Then we made a big mistake.  Since the pool party was moved inside one of the guys decided to trudge through a foot of water in the street to the beer store. A storm called for more beer.  The mistake was opening the FLOOD GATES.  When we opened that front gate, of course everyone went outside in awe of the high water, cars stalling, guys pushing their motorcycles and bikes, and the waves lapping up against my neighbors' houses.  My friends on the corner endure the joining of the 66th St River with the 75th St River, causing the confused water to pound against their house.  They have some necessarily elaborate rubber rain retainers, and I was wondering if those worked today. 

Opening the gate allowed much more water from the street in, and the already flooded parking area and garden experienced a little tsunami.  For the first time, water rushed into the front living rooms.  The door has a rubber strip on the bottom, but the door was wide open.  Out came the mops and the squeegies and more clean up began. 

After the worst of the rain stopped, the carport looked like this:

The water is subsiding but look at the dirt it left behind. Flood water is ugly, dirty, disgusting stuff.

75th Street River

I liked the effects in this photo and decided to share. The reflections of the holes in the water inside the patio.  The distinct water line where the floor is dry.

After a good hour or more of serious downpour, a softer rain continued for several hours.  The water slowly receded leaving behind just the dirt and trash the flood water carried in.  I walk with slow calculated steps so as to not slip in the remaining puddles.  It was an exciting first storm of the season and I just had to post it.  I hope that it is somewhat coherent since I am writing in the middle of the night.

A Mérida Day in May

The temperature reads 102°F.  It's 3pm.  I'm half in, half out of the swimming pool reading and writing.  On top of the tall cement wall sits a three foot iguana.  We are familiar with each other.  I like to watch him look at the mamey tree.  He turns his head from side to side as if wondering how to get at that fruit.  I think he looks at me with scorn because the branch - THE access branch - was sawed off to raise the wall three years ago. He will have to search the ground for fallen fruit instead. 

I hear him eventually saunter away over the broken glass protectors and flop on to the tin roof next door.  He doesn't move gracefully, but he is a beautiful creature.  He isn't the only iguana around either, but I think he's 'da man'..

I hear a bird making all kinds of racket.  His are odd noises, as if he is imitating other birds, cats fighting, or a rooster crowing.  I can't see him, he's up in the giant Batfruit Tree next door, which is growing a huge new batch of bat fruit seeds.  Sometimes I whistle back at noisy bird and we banter.  Then he laughs at me for being a lousy whistler and he flies away.

I look up into the sky.  Lately a hawk has been hovering over the hood.  He makes several passes swooping low enough to just get a look at his white head.  When the birds have moved on, the plant life wakes up.  The mamey tree has dropped the last of the leaves, the patio is all cleaned up, and now the fruit hits the cement like coconut bombs.  The new bright yellow leaves sprouting from the tips of the empty branches create a beautiful contrast against the bluest sky. 

There is a hot breeze today.  I  set up shop in the shady section of the pool where my body feels cool and the hot winds take my senses down  tropical memory lane. This helps me recreate parts of the past I am attempting to describe in writing. I can hear occasional traffic passing, buses farting, cars honking, brakes screeching, loudspeakers blaring political messages; but it is not a constant or loud noise.  It is just enough activity to remind me that THEY are out there suffering in the heat while I sit here and enjoy my interactions with nature, nurture myself in the cool aquatic medium, and write and rewrite the beginning of the sail story.  I may have written the opening paragraphs fifty times so far, but I feel like I am making great progress. How hopeful and positive is that?  I am am applying what I am relearning in the book ON WRITING WELL by William Zinsser.  It seems to make much more sense to me the second time around.  I have stopped overwhelming myself, and that is a great feat for me.

I don't write this to brag about my life.  I have so much self-doubt at times I think I should be on antidepressants. I suffered writer's block all winter, perhaps because I was also stressed about finances.  The warmer season awakens me, and once I am back on track exercising, feeling healthier and toting a little color, my confidence strengthens, and everything else seem to fall into place.    I think I have gotten real about the writing, am enjoying the intense heat, seeing people enjoy the pool, and life just moving along.  It's just another  Mérida day in May.