Creativity Spurt

Crafting and creativity come in spurts for me.  I have tons of beads and shells and things I have collected to use to "make things".  With Pablo painting, me trying to discipline myself certain hours to write as well as relax, and now the holiday season upon us, I decided to break out all my stuff and see what I could come up with. 


On our trip to Honduras last year we found this little clay maker in La Calma, Honduras.  Last year during a creative spurt a couple friends and I painted most of the beads and I made bracelets and keychains using macrame.  This week I sat down to try to replicate one of the wind chimes that Mercedes, the clay kilner, had hanging in her little hut.  This is the result.

The other project I took on was making a mobile.  I used to love to make these mobiles but it has now been years since I have attempted it.  This one below is made from black coral pieces holding sea urchin skeletons and decorated with some painted clay beads from Honduras.  It has a good movement and is hard to show in a photo.  I was hoping to make more of these, but not very many urchin skeletons made it home from Panamá.

Fleur de Sel

Salt: Its preservative powers make it an absolute necessity of life and a virtual synonym for live-giving sources.

Fresh harvested sea salt, le fleur de sel, processed and bottled by my Anonymous Roommate.


On August 14th we introduced our new roommate to Celestún and cruised the salt flats. When we visited the area in March there were extensive salt deposits on the beach which resembled soap bubbles. This time we noticed mountains of harvested salt piled around the flats, but the salt on the beach was not as prominent. While researching the salt flats I found this link about Celestún, which I think is full of great information.

Anonymous roommate was on a mission: to harvest and produce fleur de sel, French for 'flower of salt'. Top of the line sea salt! The clean fresh patch pictured below appealed to her. She took off her shoes to walk in the water and quickly learned about the HEAT generated by the solar evaporation process. She jumped back into her shoes - her feet on fire. The ground was as hot as fresh lava. Maybe THAT was why the water was so red, I thought, it's actually on fire.

Anonymous roommate had researched sea salt and carefully picked out the best area to harvest.

After she burned her feet, Pablo went in to get her fresh near-boiling sea water....

Meanwhile I decided to grab some salt, but I found it more convenient to take it from this big pile.

Look at these chunks of salt! Mikey likes 'em!

Once home, anonymous roommate boiled the sea salt in the sea water for two hours. Once it looked like erupting volcanoes, she scraped the top white crystalline layer and put it on a fine screen in the sun. Dried, crushed and filtered, the final product was bottled for our use at home, and the completion of the process made her very happy.

Before I posted these photos, I wanted to do some research on salt. I found out I knew less about it than I'd thought. We used sea salt in Hawaii, but it was orange because of the clay soil, and very chunky. I learned how popular sea salt is when I came across this blog.

I found out about the extra vitamins and minerals found in freshly harvested sea salt. Regular table salt is so highly processed that nutrients are added back to it, like iodine. Refined salt is bad for us, but evidently we can use all the sea salt we can tolerate and live happily and healthily ever after, never to be burdened by high blood pressure, diabetes, gastritis, or any other ills again! Now that we know, we'll go directly to the source for la flor de sal....like we ever need an excuse to go to Celestún.

On a final note, the water is not red because it is hot like lava. It is red because of its high salt and algae content. On one of our guided tours of the biosphere I was told the water was red because of the red mangrove. I have since learned that this red algae grows in water with the highest salt content. The mangroves, red, black and green, all contribute to this specific algae growth and produce a large amount of tannin, but mangrove itself does not cause red water. While the assumption that the flamingos are colored by the carotene in the water is correct, the tidbit about the red mangrove having anything to do with it is completely false.

Wishing for Water in the Well

I probably shouldn't read my horoscope at all, but definitely not in the morning. Today it said that the planets would cause a disjunct day and due to unexpected occurrences I would not get my work done. My work is writing. I have been writing most of the day, but the average is two paragraphs or half a page of notes before I get distracted and stray off on to another unrelated topic and start writing something else. That is often how my day goes. I am getting used to that.

But then there was this: we had a water overflow problem this weekend and a plumber fixed that yesterday. Today we ran completely out of water. Japay, the water company, sent two guys out at 4pm. They asked if it was maybe the 'flotador' (bobber) in the 'tinaco' (water storage tank) and I said "No, that was repaired just yesterday and the plumber noticed the low pressure."

So one guy walked across the street,assessed the situation, and said, "Well, we are going to have to dig up the street and change the tubería (pipes) as there is probably a leak." Probably? Wouldn't they want to check the actual tinaco and house piping, at least take a little peak, before tearing up the street on a whim? Then they asked if I would be home in an hour so they could return with the equipment they need. I was thinking: Oh great! Jackhammers at the end of the day should please the neighborhood. Well they came back in fifteen minutes with an axe, a mallot and some pipes and tubes. Guy #1 had the street ripped open in a few hacks of the axe and sure as hell, water was geysering up into the sky. I snuck a few photos. When I went back out a few minutes ago, Guy #2 showed me the rotten pipes. They look like they may be from the Mayan Pre-Classic era. New pipes are being installed as I write this.

Look at the monster I created!

The remnants of pipes sitting next to the mallot below are the ancient tubes that were discovered here today.

So they are finished and gone. The water pipes from house to across the street fresh and new. The problem is we still don't feel the water pressure going up the other tubes and into the tinaco. I am going to have to just have faith, hope and keep my fingers crossed on this amazingly rapid and extensive road/water pipe repair and hope that due to the time of day, lack of rain, and high heat, perhaps water pressure is low everywhere right now and with some patience we will back on track in the morning. If not there may be another chapter to add.

If my neighbors are reading this, the guys said tomorrow someone will be by to patch the asphalt on the street and my sidewalk. I am not placing bets on the mañana plan, but I am hopeful.

To top off my day without purpose, I was expecting to spend the afternoon writing and reading, and three students who had abandonned swim class a month or more ago called and wanted to return to classes. Today. The weather held out and perhaps they all just felt like a swim in the 'hood and needed Pablo's great exercises and obstacle courses.

La vida te da sorpresas, sorpresas te da la vida. Wish me luck. Use water sparingly.

Home Improvement: Adding Air Conditioning

The upstairs guest room is officially air conditioned.

I hadn't thought about adding a/c to the house until one day I decided to spend the afternoon up in the guest room, writing. It was the hottest day of the year at 45°C (113°F). The windows and door were open and three fans blared. I tried writing in the hammock, at the table, in a chair, and the bottom line was....it was a fiery fucking furnace in there! The fans simply whiffled my papers around the room while the fans blasted hot air in my face . It was a Thursday afternoon so my 'heat-relief', the swimming pool, was occupied by a class of splashing little boys.

All of a sudden the sky turned black and a mini-cyclone seemed to form in the patio. Winds whipped up the mats, swirled leaves into tornados, people ran to hide under the roof, and then the rains came. It poured and lightning flashed and thunder roared. It was May 28th and the first measurable amount of rain this year. It had been an extremely dry to date, so the rain was welcome relief. The rain didn't cool us off that day, instead the air was heavy and wet after the storm.

Today is June 21st, and we've had three weeks of rainy season pattern weather so far. The rains usually start in July. April through June are typically hot and dry. This year it was rather cool in the mornings and evenings until the rains came. Now it is hot and humid all day and all night. It still cools down enough in the hours before dawn to cover up with a sheet. But when that sun comes up, it gets hot. So much for the weather report.

The guest room is expecting an occupant. Via the coconut wireless a fellow writer looking for a place to retreat found out about the room upstairs, which I'd said I'd like to rent. (The kitties voted to adopt another human too: two more hands to feed and pet them!) Our new friend was all set to jet down here and then I wrote to her about the fiery furnace. She freaked. She lives in Minnesota, and really, folks, Mérida is HOT. Some of us prefer the heat to living in an icy freezer half the year....so we don't complain MUCH. The Yucatán is a pleasant place to live so we learn to work with the extreme weather instead of against it.

In my attempt to work with all the conditions at hand, I bit the bullet and bought an air conditioning unit. The gal who cleans the house knew an installer, and he came out yesterday to give an estimate. "Easy job," he said, "900 pesos total." ($66US) Erick arrived on a motorcycle with a folding ladder stowed on the side and a tool box bungeed to the back. He assessed the situation and began to chisel a hole in the wall.

Within a few hours he was testing the electrical mainswitch and completing the instalation. He did a nice job, worked quickly and efficiently, and we were quite satisfied. The unit operates easily with a remote control switch, and the room cooled down rapidly. We got cold!

Before and after....on the outside looking in.


While I was up on the roof I decided to get a new angle on the patio. It occurred to me I have never taken any photos from outside the gate, so to speak, and you know I am crazy about pictures! So I took some to share.

A look at the upstairs enclosed patio from beyond the solar panels on the roof.

Ok, I should have cleaned up all the fallen cement first, but as you can see, we are working on it. If you notice the air conditioning unit is directly wired to the electric box. There's room to hang a hammock out here or laundry, but there is no shade and it rains!

Looking down at the swimming pool. Inviting, isn't it?

A partial shot of the patio. Scattered about are lots of flowering plants, like jasmine, miniature roses, hibiscus, oleander, succulents, desert rose (hah! Lisa! I remembered!), all sizes and colors. They thrive in the rainy season on their own, and Pablo likes to meditate while watering the plants, so the "garden" always looks really clean and nice.

The Guatemalan papaya (fingers crossed - sweet little papaya like the Hawaiian Strawberry kine'), the basil bush (smells fantastic), and the ground cover are the highlights here. The palms could be happier, there is an unidentified vine taking root...stay tuned for melons or cucumbers.....and we are anticipating a few annual flowers too!

San Pedro Nohpat: Los Cuartos

Breaking ground. Part three of San Pedro Nohpat project.

Pablo asked the engineer about putting up rooms. I thought five would be reasonable, but Pablo got caught up in the moment and ordered ten. That would probably be over-extending the finances a little. But what the hell, ya’ pays ya’ money ya’ takes ya’ chances. As the construction began and started taking shape, several ideas came to mind about how to occupy the rooms. My first thought was that the obreros (albaniles and other construction laborers) would be interested in weekly or monthly rentals. Many of the laborers drive long distances from their pueblos to various job sites. People working around here could use a place to hang their hammock during the work week.

We also fantasized about the entire project being rented out by the government or some big medical corporation. We imagined a small pharmacy, doctors’ offices, a reception bodega, exam rooms. I can’t remember the fantastic rent they were going to pay us as they offered decent medical care for the folks out at San Pedro Nohpat, Kanasín, and other less developed areas. But it was just a dream. It was a fun fantasy though. The kind of fantasy that helps pass the time between “the rooms will be ready a week from Thursday” and five months later, when the rooms are actually ready.

When the guys got together they too cooked up a fantasy. Pablo and Manzana talked about renting the rooms by the hour. I wasn’t too thrilled about that idea. In fact as a legal alien resident here I am not allowed to engage in illegal activities, such as running a bordello. Luckily that idea sounded pretty complicated once they considered the details involved, so the guys scrapped that and kept on thinking.

The rooms were just completed three weeks ago. They are small, accommodating a matrimonial size bed and a few other belongings. If the space is used creatively, as in building up on the walls, I could see it being an efficient little studio. Each unit has a bathroom which is also small, but complete. Shower, shower curtain, sink, toilet, toilet seat cover, and toilet paper. That is pretty complete, right?

If these look familiar, it's because I did a swap. I took my old beds out to the terreno and will be getting two new sturdier frames and fresh firm mattresses this week!

As of today, we have 7 rooms rented out. Three more to go. And two bodegas. We ended up renting them on a monthly basis. The price is unbelievably cheap, but until the road is paved and there are more services out there, I think the priority is to keep them rented out. Our first renter, Don Gilberto, arrived on the exact day we needed to find a new security guard. He and his wife live in the room toward the back of the property with their three young children. Gilberto is our caretaker/vigilador and is doing a great job out there. He has been gracefully showing the bodegas and cuartos and cleaning up the property.

Don Gilberto, caretaker and Licensiado Pablo, project manager.

I answered several of the inquiry calls. That got a little complicated. Giving directions was hard enough, but “What bus do I take to get there?” stumped me.

“Hold on, I’ll ask.” I said. But before I could get to Pablo teaching class IN the swimming pool….the lady said she’d call back and hung up. She called me five times. I never seemed to have the answer she was looking for.

We originally purchased five beds. I thought folks would prefer to sleep in hammocks, but people asked first thing if there was a bed and a bathroom. So we ordered five more beds. The bed winning over the hammock surprised me. The engineer didn’t put hammock hooks in the rooms. He must be a chilango. I won’t speak badly of chilangos (people from Mexico City) because a few of our renters are from DF.

We began this project in October of 2008. Our world has changed a lot in just 7 months. The international financial crisis has negatively affected the real estate business in all of the Yucatán. There are a lot of expats who came here to flip houses. Unfortunately that market is not lucrative right now. I am glad we didn’t jump on that bandwagon and struck out on something unique, original and more useful for everyday folks. We are helping people and they are helping us. Isn’t that what makes the world go round?

The big picture. Project complete...except for adornment. Little by little.

Project San Pedro Nohpat: Terreno

I felt the only way to cover this "story" would be in three separate parts. Welcome to Part One.

This is the raw land before we did anything, well, other than have weeds whacked down.




Pablo has a sizable piece of property, 10 sq. meters by 30 sq. meters, out on the outskirts of town. We wanted to build something on it. The area is being developed slowly, but the city continues to spread its wings outward. After I completed my own house renovations Iwas looking to invest what (little) money I had left. I wanted to buy some financial security. I was working with an international consultant from my US bank, but when I was getting serious about studying the information, options, etc., I never received the packet of info the guy was supposed to send me. I called him and he had disappeared from the employee roster. Omen.

In my research, I came across what I thought was excellent advice, considering the US economy was showing signs of trouble last year. I read "Do not invest in anything you can't touch or step on." That sounded like good advice. So when Pablo suggested we build bodegas on the property, I thought, "Why not?" It's land improvement. We can't go wrong, Even if our little development is premature for the slow growth in the area, there is a shortage of storage space here, and mini bodegas just off the highway just might come in handy.

I have never had money to invest before, so I had cold feet about the mutual funds. Oh, Jim and I had mutual funds once, thanks to the generosity of my brothers when my Mom and Dad died. But we didn't understand what mutual funds were at first, so when my brothers suggested specific funds, we went for them without much additional research. I will say that we had incredible luck with that investment. The funds increased in value considerably. When Jim and I decided to buy our first house, we cashed them in and had enough for a down payment on our piece of the rock in Kona. Here's the lucky part: the day after we closed our mutual funds, the stock market had its first major crash of the new milennium.

The current project is located in San Pedro Nohpat, “a la salida de Cancún” (at the exit to Cancún.) Most locals know where that is with that simple information. On the periférico (the highway that circles the outskirts of Mérida) there is a bridge and glorieta offering the motorist many options. One of those is Cancún. A few kilometers on the highway toward Cancún or Valladolid, between the Hotel Real de Palmas and the Pemex Gasolinera, there is a white road (as of now, unpaved) turning to the right. One and a half blocks back is our construction site, which we lovingly call the “terreno”. It is visible from afar since it is the only completed construction, as well as having the only buildings painted white. Or painted at all.

Looking out to the right from the property, there are some houses constructed, and a few neighbors living in the area. Yes, they are humble abodes.

There are houses built, half of which are occupied. A block away is a dirt bike race track, and of course a beer store. A block back to the highway and the Pemex station, there's a 7-11, and a few cocinas económicas (cheap eats) within walking distance. The cross country truckers park their rigs at Pemex and stay in one of the hotels, or sleep in their cabs. We are also hoping some want to sleep in a room nearby.

Looking straight out from the terreno, the connecting road currently leads to nowhere. Paving is in the plans for this year. Water was piped in to the area two months ago. Yes, we have water and electricity.

The actual colonia of San Pedro Nohpat is a small community, and only a few blocks walk or tricycle ride to the outskirts, or "polígamo". To me the area still a bit of the wild wild west, but it is safer than I imagine our old west was! You can see a factory in the distance, and a slew of partially constructed condos and houses. Hard times have hit México. With no tourism many jobs are affected. With no real estate market and little construction, those jobs are also cut. Mexico is used to living with hard times, but this year has been particularly harsh.

Looking left from the gate, toward the factory and location of the condo developments. You can't see the condos in this shot.

I was somewhat hesitant about the project. I am not used to being in areas like this, let alone have visions of their futures. I don't really have this kind of imagination. What I see is what I see. Luckily Pablo did have a great vision. And after several months of "it will be finished next Thursday", we finally have a finished site. We have our own little community.

Project San Pedro Nohpat: The Bodegas

Welcome to Part Two of Pablo’s and my development and first construction project. This is the property with the beginning of the bodega creation.

The bodegas went up, and things were going smoothly. Pablo talked to the architect/engineer about putting some rooms in since they were already digging and building. After a well and septic tank are in, one starts to think about perhaps a little bigger picture.

The bodegas are well constructed cement buildings. I believe they are 4 x 6 sq. meters. There are four of them. Each has a half-bath. The roll-up doors are handy for storing and they lock securely. A truck can back up to the bodegas for loading and unloading.

So far we have two of four bodegas rented. If you are reading this in the Yucatán and know someone who may need to store belongings, please send this information to them. The price is reasonable, they are well constructed, and we have a 24 hour security guard. I am pleased with the bodegas. By next year they may actually be locales, where you can shop, get laundry done, shoes fixed, who knows? Dirt bike parts? My imagination has been inspired now that I see the buildings!

This is the finished product. I am pleased. We have our own little development. We are land barons. Kings of the Barrio. Call it what you like.


Here I am sitting in the bodega as we get ready to set up phase three....the cuartos.

Kids Helping Kids: PROJECT MÉRIDA

Meet my bro's family: Linda, JASON, LAUREN, and Larry Wodarski.

My family values sports as an important part of a child’s education. My brother Larry lives in Incline Village, Nevada. His 14 year old twins recently read that the kids in the 9th Ward of New Orleans still have no little league, almost four years after Katrina hit. They decided they would like to gift their outgrown, unused, and slightly used baseball equipment to them. They wrote to the Mayor of New Orleans, who expressed his delight and the city’s interest in receiving their donations.

However, when they cleaned out their garage they discovered that in their house alone, they found this much gear:

In our garage we have about 15 soccer jerseys, 5 baseball t-shirts, 14 youth baseball caps, basketballs, soccer balls, baseballs, athletic shoes, a few soccer shorts and socks and we haven't officially started our campaign.

As we discussed their idea, the kids became aware of the shortage (and high cost) of sports equipment in the Yucatán.  When they heard about kids playing soccer in their bare feet using a ball made of duct tape, Lauren and Jason decided they could probably help children in both New Orleans and the Yucatán.

And so they started their project called PROJECT MÉRIDA and engaged their entire village. They have set up collection stations all over town. Their pastor donated storage space for the gear and agreed to accept and hold monetary donations to assist in the shipping of the goods. Here in Mérida I am working with a customs agent to see if we can eliminate duties and lessen border crossing hassles.

Mérida and its surrounding villages have countless children who would appreciate a few baseballs, bats, mitts, soccer balls, and even uniforms. We wrote a letter to the Director of the Department of Deportes, the Department of Education, Cesar Bojorquez, and Governor Ivonne Ortega. Our request was accepted and stamped. Permission granted, but we are now on our own.

Engaging in sports is food for the soul. It’s necessary in a country where child obesity is rampant and rising fast. It teaches camaraderie, sportsmanship, competitiveness and gives kids something healthy to occupy their time other than playing video games.  All kids should have an opportunity to play ball with their old friends while making new ones.