Christmas At The Mall

Some last minute shopping dictated we go to the Galleria Mall in Merida yesterday. I thought it would be fun to share some shots with you.
This is the "anchor" store, Liverpool. Something like Nordstrom's or Macy's. In other words an expensive but necessary store for finding things totally unavailable elsewhere.

You get the idea...

In the actual mall, the decorations are very tasteful and plentiful...

The mall tree...

From the upper concourse...

Looking down on a well-known, seasonal celebrity...

And even though it was 88 degrees outside, winter recreation was available on the ice rink...

And they even had their version of "Paul Blart: Mall Cop"....

One of the many Christmas displays dotted all over the mall...
The "kicker" to this story is that I was having a great time with the camera while Indra was busy looting the Liverpool store. That is until I was approached by the State Police and was humorlessly told in no uncertain terms that photography was not allowed and I was to cease and desist at once. Too late, muchachos, the damage was done. Enjoy the illegal spoils!

More later,
Larry

Happy Holidays Eveyone!

Here's to a great 2010!

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

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