Xcacel

This afternoon we visited Xcacel, a beach area about 20kms south of PA.  An environmental group runs a turtle sanctuary there and in the summer months they wait for female sea turtles to crawl out of the sea and lay their eggs in the sand.  No such luck today; David went snorkeling but did not see too much to get excited about. 

As you can see from the clouds, the weather has not yet cleared but it is warmer.

Malcolm wasted no time getting in a snooze....



Cold Front Arrives in Paradise

This week has been absolute turmoil; a cold front arrived on Tuesday and then to add insult to injury, we lost the decent internet connection that we were using!!

Temperatures plummeted to 14C on Tuesday night/early Wednesday morning.  It doesn't sound all that bad but it really does feel cold.  I wore a fleece jacket when we went out for supper on Tuesday evening and then had to dig out a blanket for the bed.  It has steadily improved since then but we have been shutting the patio doors by around 7 or 8pm each evening (they usually stay open throughout the night) and I have even had to close the windows in our bedroom each night.

Despite the colder weather, yesterday was very calm so we took the boat out along the coast.  Milka joined us this time so we showed her some of the wonderful houses on the other side of the marina - you get a great view of their back yards from the water.

Our internet problems have finally been solved following the installation of an antenna that picks up a radio frequency from a local internet provider.  It has been installed upstairs on the roof and we have added a wireless router.  Everything is working great, including the magicJack phone system, and I can blog again including uploading photos (yahoo!!).

Roof Area Complete

Today has been cloudy so we headed into Playa for a few items including some plants for our roof area.  The decking where the jacuzzi tub was located has been repaired, we have had some privacy fencing installed and the plants were the last pieces on our list.  They were very reasonably priced at 100 pesos each (~$8).

Feliz Ano Nuevo!

Yesterday we headed out to Paamul - a beach community just a few kms north of us.  For those of you who remember our February blog, this is the place where most of the accommodation consists of RVs with palapas built over them to provide additional living space.  A large portion of the 'locals' appear to be North American and for those coming down for the winter, appear to tow their RV for the period that they will be here, leaving just the palapa structure when they leave.

We had lunch at the local restaurant and then hung out on the beach for the afternoon.  The sea is quite warm and it was relatively quiet so there was lots of time for a relaxing swim.  David checked out the local reef with Malcolm's snorkel gear and gave it the thumbs up.

Numerous iguanas hang out on the boat ramp & you can just about see an RV in the background with a palapa over the top.

 

For New Year's Eve we headed into Playa del Carmen for dinner, then hit the cinema to watch the latest Mission Impossible movie and back to Quinta Avenida to our favorite coffee shop ah cacao.  We had already been warned that New Year's Eve is a low key affair here; there were lots of people eating at restaurants well after midnight with tables spilling out further onto the sidewalk than usual.  We found other locals on the beach with coolers of champagne and other drinks, just sitting in groups chatting or taking in the music from the beachfront hotels and condo complexes.  There were a few fireworks at midnight but nothing of any great extent and we got home around 1.30am.

Have you noticed how our photos always seem to involve food?

More Pictures from our Boat Trip

I thought I would just add these extra pictures that I obtained from David's camera - he is a much better photographer than me!

The 3ft turtle that Malcolm did not see..

... not really obvious, eh?



Finally.... a Great Day for the Boat

Boxing Day was pretty much a non-event here; everyone was back to work as normal and the weather had picked up.  David & Milka, friends of ours from the UK, had arrived late afternoon on Christmas Day and we managed to catch up with them by around 6pm.  David likes to scuba dive and he wasted no time with two dives on Boxing Day and another two yesterday.  Milka & I hung out on the beach and around the pool while he was out on Monday and yesterday the water was calm so we decided we should get out on the boat while the conditions were so good.  Milka is a land-lover so it was just the three of us - we took a trip along the coast just south of us and then headed north past Paamul to the bay where Malcolm had his turtle encounter in February.  It was a little busy with other snorkel trips but literally within minutes of Malcolm & David getting into the water, David was swimming with a turtle (Malcolm missed it altogether - we are not entirely sure what he was looking at).

Captain Malc and 1st mate David

    

Feliz Navidad

For today's photo I wanted to try and capture the spirit of Christmas and the festive season in the Caribe...

This is a line of dark beer that is produced just for the festive season each year (and hence the '2011' label around the neck).  It is very good, not quite as dark as the Negra Modelo that we usually have stocked in the fridge, but definitely a wise choice.

We ate our Christmas dinner last night at a local restaurant at the marina; it is partly owned by an American and therefore they always host both Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners each year.  We had freshly baked bread, turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing/dressing, carrots, beans and gravy plus a side dish of cranberry sauce and yams.  The main meal was 'all you can eat' although the serving on the plate was more than enough for each of us and then we had the choice of anything on the dessert menu - I had cranberry cheesecake and Malcolm had chocolate fudge cake with ice cream.  A great deal for 200 pesos (~$16).

An excellent Christmas dinner!

We got home around 9pm and called in to the building next door - there are some Canadians who live there - Cheryl & Kevin - and it was Kevin's birthday yesterday so we stopped by for a drink.  Kevin works for the Fairmont group of hotels and they have lived here full-time for the last two years.  Cheryl's brother and a friend have been visiting from New Brunswick for the past week so we had some good conversation with all of them.

I had to go out for a good walk this morning as I was still feeling full from last night!

Feliz Navidad to all our family and friends wherever in the world you may be.

El Senor Meade 2 - El Senor Cucaracha 0

For those of you who have read out blog from last February, you may recall the clash between Malcolm and El Senor Cucaracha that Malcolm won with the assistance of a can of Raid.

In this episode of Friday Night Fight Club I am pleased to advise that Malcolm went fist to fist, or rather foot to body in his latest attempt to control the cucaracha kingdom.  I heard a loud noise coming from the laundry room upstairs and then with a big grin on his face when he appeared at the bottom of the stairs I can tell you that he emerged triumphant!! 

R.I.P. El Senor Cucaracha



Weather Woes

This week we have been hampered by the weather to a certain extent.  Our painting efforts on the roof turned out well with good coverage so we had just a small amount to finish up on Tuesday.  It then started to rain so we decided to take a trip into Cancun to go to the Home Depot. 

 It takes us about 75 minutes to drive into Cancun so we don't normally go unless we have something specific to buy and it usually includes a trip to Home Depot and Costco as they are not available in Playa.  As it turned out, we managed to obtain almost everything on our list in Home Depot.  The Durango was completely full after loading a patio table and four chairs plus two sunloungers (plus miscellaneous but much smaller items). 

Today started out nice so we thought that we should put the (no-name) boat into the water and spend the afternoon exploring.  On the note of the boat's name, I have to say a big gracias to everyone who submitted suggestions - just over 20 in total.  I am leaving the final decision to Malcolm.

Unfortunately, by the time we headed we out the sea was quite choppy with some big swells almost as soon as we left the marina and we ended up returning shortly thereafter.  It is now moored in the marina rather than hauling it back out on the trailer so we will see if the conditions improve over the next few days.  It is difficult to tell if the seas are 'normal' for the area or just being affected by the winter weather. 

The temperatures have actually been good - this week the overnight lows have been around 25C and highs during the day around 28-29C - our challenges have been more with the heavy rain showers and the high winds which come and go at all sorts of times during the day.  Damn these winter months!!

Seven Steps to Simple Jacuzzi Removal

We have a jacuzzi tub on our roof top that was installed by the builder (selling feature??) but not required by us.  As we are about to repaint the roof top area, we thought it was the right time to dispose of the tub accordingly.  Just in case anyone has the same dilemma in the future, here are the appropriate steps:

1.  Enlist the help of Carmelino (building maintenance guy, no ingles spoken) and his son, Fredi (limited English ability) - approximately 10 minutes Mexican time.
2.  Watch as Carmelino's eyes light up when it is agreed (via sign language) that he is welcome to take the tub for his own use.  Fredi advises us that his young children will like it.
3.  Decide on a strategy - the roof top is 4 floors up and the general agreement (lots of sign language) is to lower it over the side of the building as opposed to taking it down the stairs.
4.  Find a rope long enough for the task a.k.a. the garden hose.
5.  Secure the tub with a few good 'half hitch' knots.
6.  With two men lifting the tub over the wall, make sure the third holds onto the 'rope' real tight; lower over the side of the building and hope like hell that nothing falls too quickly (or off completely).
7.  Breathe a sign of relief in both English and Spanish.  Gracias amigos!!

Fredi managed to explain that Carmelino likes working with Malcolm because "it's always fun".

Once all the excitement was over we got down to work and painted the roof top area. In what appears to be a typical day, it started to rain part the way through (remember the litter boxes?..now I'm running downstairs real quick...) but everything looks fine in spite of that short interruption.  Unfortunately, we ran out of paint after the first coat and will now have to wait until Monday before the store opens again.  Manana... 

Marina Walk

Curious to find out how mum and newborn were doing, we took a walk around the marina today.  We are glad to report that things in the dolphin nursery are going well, although the third expectant mother is still hanging in there.  I did shoot a quick video to show both swimming around however it was (and still is as I write this) quite blustery today and hence the background noise on the video.
  The baby is about 16 hours old  at the time of the video.

It was feeding time at the manatee enclosure with lettuce on the menu, which I believe is pretty much the same day in day out (makes my meal planning look really exciting....).

Walking back we came across a fishing boat that had just returned from this morning's excursion.  The fish that you see in the picture was being filleted dockside; the fillet from only one side of the fish weighed in at 4kg. 

As a side note, my bruised ego from the bike 'spill' is still hurting although I think it's on the mend.  As I am still struggling to sit down comfortably, needless to say going out on the bike has been out of the question....

New Addition to the Family

No need to panic - this is not an addition to the Meade family but rather the Puerto Aventuras family.  We had a dolphin born at the facility here within the last 90 minutes of writing this.  We spent some time watching the mum teach the newborn how to swim and breathe which is quite unbelievable literally within minutes of being born.  Another baby was born yesterday and there is a third expectant mother who could possibly give birth tomorrow.  There are three nursery areas set up with extra lighting and the Dolphin Discovery program staff are watching 24/7, recording each time that the babies come up for air.  I will watch local announcements to see if any photos are available.

La Pesca Restaurante

It was lunch time when we had completed everything on our list.  We had picked up some items at the Mega grocery store and directly across the road was a restaurant that we had both been talking about trying for the past couple of years.  It is a fish restaurant (do you think the name might have given it away?) and bearing in mind that neither of us are big fish eaters, we decided it was time to try something different.  The owner greeted us and recommended snapper caught fresh this morning.  He showed it to us whole and advised that the fish would be enough for us to share, served with rice and steamed vegetables.  We chose garlic and chilis for the seasoning - not overly spicy but  very tasty.

Ours was the one in the middle

...cooked fresh in a kitchen before our eyes

Delicious!!

We were so glad that we were talked into this - it was quite a mild taste and the spices were perfect.  We will definitely return.



Official Retirees

This morning we headed back into Playa to continue our visa process.  We had appointments already arranged which meant we were called on time.  After handing over some scary looking photos and having to give fingerprints the old-fashioned way with ink, we were finally sent on our way with an FM3 each, meaning we are now living as retirees in Mexico and can stay here until November 30 2012 when it has to be renewed again.  Not that I'm suggesting we'll be here for that length of time...

It took a while to get this ink off our hands!

The 'official' announcement we had picked up the FM3s.

While we were in Playa we had some other items to purchase.  On the way to find various stores I could not help but take this picture of some young guy pulling his hand-made furniture along a busy road:

No complaints about our truck ever again!!