Let's Go To The Fair!

November means many things in the state of Yucatan.  It's the end of hurricane season which saw Category 1 Ida slip between us and Cuba, heading north to the States as a rather benign tropical storm.  It also means the end of oppressive heat and humidity and the start of Norte (storms from the north) season and cooler weather.  And it means the nearly month-long state fair at  Xmatkuil (pronounced Eesh-ma-quill) is here.
In honor of Indra's birthday, we headed down there this morning to see what was new and to do some Christmas shopping for our unsuspecting relatives.
This is the front entrance....

The admission price went from 10 pesos last year ( about 85 cents) to 12 pesos this year (about 97 cents) but we sucked it up and didn't give the ticket agent any sob stories about being Senior Citizens living on a fixed income, etc.

Once inside we were introduced to the fair's theme, sort of a winter wonderland thing...

"o.k" we thought, "It's 82 degrees out, but we can roll with that.  We soon found out that this winter theme was being promoted throughout the fair grounds and imagine our surprise when we ran across this...

A crowd of school children witnessing their classmates engaged in a....SNOW BALL FIGHT!!!

Much tamer than I remembered from my childhood.  I mean we didn't have protective headgear and goggles or a net to prevent ice missiles from hitting us smack in the face, but these kids were having the time of their lives.  And it's probably one of the only times they will see snow in their lifetimes.

And next door....

A snow hill where one can ride down on these tubes...

It was early in the day (shortly after noon) by Mexican standards, so the big crowds would not arrive for several hours yet.  Good for wandering around, but bad for photo ops.  We did, however, find Santa!  And we had a kid to sit in his lap!

I don't know how Santa could come all the way from the North Pole and wear that heavy suit, but I had the feeling that the snow wasn't the only thing melting.

Even the landscaping had the winter/Christmas thing going on...

Like most state fairs, this one also featured the farming and agriculture aspect including these really fine tractors which appealed to me, I being raised on an orchard in Washington State....

Among the tractors was a small pen holding what looked to be a wild pig.  What he was doing there, we don't know, but he was so cute we took a picture...

Speaking of livestock, they always have a good selection over in the beef barn.

 

Here is a very nice looking Brahma Bull...

And even though she was trying to sleep, I cowed this one into letting me take her picture too...wait a minute...that's a bull.

For three years now we have been unsuccessful in locating the poultry barn.  We asked these chicks, but they didn't seem to know anything either...

We concluded that perhaps the poultry barn does not exists.

We did, however come across some adorable little piglets snoozing in their pen..

The area schools bring busloads of children to the fair, all dressed in their uniforms, being overseen by harried-looking adults whom we did not envy...

As the day wound down, so did we.  But before we left I took these pictures of some very interesting hand-made furniture that was for sale.  Quite unlike stuff you see at Levitz...

So that was our day at the fair and we'll go back next year as we never know what we will see then.

More later,

Larry

Hurricane Ida

We were feeling pretty smug that with the end of November in sight we would escape the effects of any hurricanes this year.   Well, we just ended four days straight of downpours that we can attribute to the outer system of hurricane Ida.  According to recent reports from the National Hurricane Center U.S., the tropical storm will gradually increase its speed in the coming days, which alerted the population of Yucatan, Quintana Roo, and Campeche which are now under Yellow Alert.  That means to basically be on alert for the Red Alert (how many times can I use "alert" in a sentence?) and to expect high winds and rain.

Ida moved to 15 miles per hour north and is expected to turn toward the northwest "with a gradual increase your speed in the coming days", the statement of the U.S. agency, based in Miami.

Its winds have accelerated and now reach 95 mph, with gusts up faster. It is expected to gain more strength and could become a hurricane on Sunday when Ida reaches the Yucatan Peninsula.

Here's how she looks today:

Here is a shot of Cancun today and the ADO luxury buses that we take when we go there:

We'll keep you posted.

More later,

Larry

"Why Can't We All Just Get Alawn?"

This is one of those "the way things work around here" stories.  As we came to the end of another rainy season, we faced a rebirth of the jungle in our back yard.  Everything turns green and grows like weeds which is, in fact, what they are.

Indra was keeping her eyes open for someone to stop by and offer to weed out the place and, sure enough, day-before-yesterday a group of four from Merida stopped by the fence looking for work and were hired.  Negotiated price: $2500 pesos ($191.00).  And to work they went.

Indra then negotiated an new job:  prune our two big trees of some offending branches.  Another $500 pesos ($38.00) which included a very large, extremely low hanging monster.  No power saws, just machetes which they took turns swinging...

Then there were some branches that were coming very close to growing into the guest bedroom.  No ladder needed....

So, with the back yard squared away for the next  few months, the hombres were preparing to leave out the front gate when one of them suggested we hire them to install a lawn.  This has been one of those thing we have needed, but have kept putting off.  Being all sand in the front, there is an inordinate amount that gets tracked into the house not to mention the heat of the sun being reflected off of it on a daily basis.  They brought out some samples...

And Lex the Coon Hound immediately gave his seal of approval...

Measurements were taken after which the price quoted came to $3500 pesos ($267.00) materials and labor, work to commence the next day.  As they were preparing to leave, it was made known to us that the clutch in their truck had given out.  So they off-loaded all their equipment and stored it in our back yard.  Later that evening a tow truck stopped by and hauled their truck off.  We started wondering if the next day's deal was off but then reasoned that since we had all their tools, lawnmower, weed whackers and so forth in our back yard, they were sure to show.

Sure enough at 11:00 a.m. the next day (only an hour past the appointed time which isn't bad here), the work began.

The grass strips were placed with gaps of about three inches between them which were then filled-in with black soil, the idea being that since this type of grass is also a ground cover, the spaces will be filled in.  Takes about 4 weeks.  You have to be careful that red soil is not used as it is mostly clay and will harden into something unusable.  Anyway, the effect from above looks like a maze...

Thelma Lou the Coon Hound checking out the progress...

We were stoked to finally have some green in the right place for a change when in became appearent that a sand walkway just wouldn't do.  No problem, negotiation time.  For $400 pesos worth of cement block ($31.00) and $600 pesos for labor ($46.00) the job could be done.  Blocks were purchased at the supply place about a mile up the street.

And when finished.....

I included prices in pesos and dollars because I have found that people north of the border are naturally curious as to whether or not one can actually get things done for less here.  One can.  And also this is a perfect illustration that when opportunities present themselves here, it's best to grab them.  Gotta go water the lawn.

More later,

Larry

A Small Beauty

Sometimes the beauty here comes in small packages...like this little butterfly Indra spotted this afternoon.  I grabbed him and he was nice enough to pose for some close-ups....

A "stop and smell the roses" moment.

More later,

Larry

Cruise Ships and Tourists

When we go out onto the upper deck of our house, we can always see when the cruise ship has arrived.  This happens roughly twice a week and I wondered what they actually see when they visit Progreso.   As I have mentioned before, this is not a resort town in the model of Cancun or Mazatlan, but a fishing town which just happens to have a stretch of beach that caters to the tourists when they arrive on the cruise ships.  So off I went to see first hand what the tourists see.
First of all, the pier where the ships dock is also the port for shipping of goods to and from the Yucatan.  The next major port on the east side of Mexico is in Veracruz.  Due to the wide, limestone shelf, the Progreso pier had to be built five miles into the Gulf to get to a water depth that would accommodate cruise ships and freighters.  Here's a shot from outer space:

I went out to the Progreso cruise terminal located at the end of the pier via Auto Progreso, the same bus company on which I used to commute when working in Merida.

By the way, this is the only way we locals can sneak out onto the pier.  It is pretty heavily guarded..

I wandered through the shopping plaza that is also in the arrival area, and there she was:  The Carnival Line's pride and joy, the "Behemoth of the Seven Seas"...

O.k., I know it says "Fantasy" on it, but it is big.

Now a look at the shopping plaza at the cruise terminal...

By the way, everything here is sold in dollars, not pesos.

I'm not sure what the "Summer Clearance" thing is all about as it is pretty much summer all the time here.

I imagine this is as far as some of these folks go, buying a souvenir and then back on to the safety of the  boat.

So, onto the bus and into town where the shopping is more interesting. 

The main plaza in town converts to a bazaar selling the usual trash and trinkets when the ship is in....like pipes for your smoking pleasure...

And jewelry...

There's even a clown selling balloon animals...or hats...or something....I wonder what this discussion is all about...also, he should watch his placement of the lower balloon...

One thing you're sure to run into is the Cuban cigar salesmen hawking very nice wood and glass boxes of Cuban cigars.  However, these are fakes, made in Honduras.  The Cubans are very selective about who they let sell their cigars.

For us locals, the people watching is great sport.  Here's a good looking group...

I pray she just sat in something wet.  Nice sombrero, though...

One thing I've always wanted to do was ride the touribus that scoots through town while a guide gives valuable information such as who founded the town, when the lighthouse was built and so forth.  So for a mere 20 pesos I decided to take a ride.  The funny part was when the tour guide, Julio, looked at me and said. "But you live here.  Why do you want to go on the bus?"  I explained that I was freelancing for National Geographic, blah, blah.  He just laughed.  I just told him it was for this dog and pony show called my blog, so he wrote down the website so he could see it later.

This is Julio..

The bus...

Julio was right.  There wasn't much new to learn on this trip.  Nevertheless, it was a beautiful day.  Here we are on the malecon or main beach boardwalk..

Passing the "wedding cake" house...

Cool ride.
So, what did I learn?  Not much except that this commerce is necessary to supplement the economy here.  Fishing and tourism each by themselves cannot sustain this town.  Together, they can, but it's still economically touch and go most of the time.

I had a nice conversation with a young man from Atlanta who, when asked what he thought of Progreso replied, "Not much going on here."  "Exactly", I smiled.

More later,

Larry

The Birthday Party

This has a small back-story. Our friend, neighbor and cleaning woman, Debora, always brings her daughter Kimberly with her when she cleans the house. Indra has grown quite fond of Kimberly and last year she was invited to the little girl's birthday party. It was held in a tiny house and it was very crowded. This year, Indra volunteered this house for the festivities.

Thursday night was set as the date, and that day Debra started delivering the party supplies first thing in the morning.

Including Snow White, the pinata...

Later, Kimberly arrived to help decorate and set things up. Indra swung into action.

Let the decorating begin!

We didn't really know how many to expect, but when a pickup truck arrived and dropped off 50 folding chairs and two gigantic steel tables, we had an idea that this fiesta was going to be big.

It's not like in the U.S. where you drop off your child and come back later to pick them up. These children arrived with their moms, dads, siblings, aunts, grandmas, babies, everyone turns out.

We had everything set up in the back, but as it got darker the consensus was to move everything into the front yard where we have better outdoor lighting.

We figured there had to be 40 kids and about as many adults.

Of course there was food. The main dish was a huge pot of spaghetti and a lot of small sandwiches. And a cake!

The last official act of the evening was the Snow White pinata....Here she is posing with the birthday girl, 11 years old.

I was under the impression that the kids would be blindfolded, given a big stick, and start taking whacks at it. Instead, each was given a turn to pummel poor Snow with their fists. This proved to be ineffective and eventually Snow was ripped open and, to the shouts of "Aqui! Aqui!", the candy was thrown to the little ones.

As you can imagine, there was quite a bit of wreckage left over after people headed home. No problem as Debra and her crew took over and picked up everything. And the next day she came over and cleaned the downstairs. A fun and interesting evening.

More later,

Larry

The Morning Walk

Sometimes it's fun to take a camera along on one of our morning walks just to see what pops up.  That's what I did today.  We walked to where the marina opens into the Gulf...

We sat down to watch the fish jumping out of the water, and the fishermen heading out to make a living.  We enjoyed the fact that these boats carried two smaller boats on them...

And all the while we were observing, we were being observed....

These are the dreaded Giant Brain Sucking Lizards of the Yucatan and are quite harmless during the day.  In fact, when approached, they disappear into the rocks.  But at night, if one should find you sleeping, they silently creep up and....o.k., I'm making this part up.  They're harmless.

As are the pelicans.  We found this handsome fellow taking in the sun....

At the end of the road we were offered this nice look at the new Progreso-Chelem bridge which was built to cut the drive time between the two towns by about  30 minutes.

A nice way to spend a Saturday morning.

More later,

Larry