Sunday, August 27, 2017

Flamingos and pink water

Xena makes a plan to take over the world, one iguana at a time. Denise plays a game on her iPad and Herman patiently waits while incessant videos are made of the pink flamingos and iguana fight all under the blistering mid-day sun.

Gaming

I have a confession to make: sometimes I play games on my iPad, when I am not studying, knitting, drawing, writing, cooking, gardening, target shooting or reading.

Flamingos

The Yucatan is home to the pink flamingo from March to October, when it stops here to rest and breed. The best place to view the more than 400 species of flamingos is at the UN's designated site the Celestun Bioreserve, but we just went for a drive along the coast to get a break from city life and ended up seeing these beautiful pink birds in the lagoons. All along the emerald route in the Yucatan, the road was built with the Gulf of Mexico on one side and the lagoons on the other side of the road. It reminds me of the Outer Banks, where you are constantly aware that it will only take one really big wave...

The waters of the lagoons are tinted pink from plankton and shrimp, which is also what the flamingos eat.  The flamingo is lovely to see in the wild and is very graceful to watch.

Along the way back, I got some footage of the rows and rows of vacation home built by foreigners ad Mexicans alike that is always available for vacation rentals. Many of these belong to Canadian and US expats who only visit here in the Canadian winter.

Fight to the death (well nearly)

The other afternoon, Xena went out to the backyard for her usual perimeter check, when I suddenly heard the rake falling over followed by scurrying of little claws on the patio tiles. Xena had found another iguana on the ground and was dead set on killing it. I managed to close the door to the house just in time to avoid the iguana from escaping inside. I immediately set out to take some bad video of the imminent stand off from inside the safety of the living room. After several minutes of posturing, incessant barking intermittently broken by my pathetic verbiage to the dog about being careful not to get bitten, the dog was distracted by Herman and his broom and got bitten by the neck by the iguana. She then retaliated by biting the iguana at the back of the neck. Of course I did not get this on tape, because I had to go outside to help Herman save Xena's life. However, they just kind of stayed like that, holding on to each other, exhausted in the mid-day heat. Eventually the iguana played dead and Xena let go and walked away, too tired to do anything more.

To our relief, it ended after about 15 minutes. A very tired Xena had to get some ice therapy to stop hyperventilating and a seriously tired iguana slowly climbed the wall back up to her nest in the rib and block.

Looking forward

Next Friday we will move into our own home in Seyé. The closing date is still in the future, but for now, we will be renting from the owner. We are super excited and scared at the same time.



Saturday, August 19, 2017

Fire and TRX

Celebration of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary.

August 15 is the day when people of the Catholic Church observe the Assumption of the Virgin Mary. In Mexico it is another week filled with parades, non-stop fire crackers fireworks and music. In one town it is also celebrated with the running of bulls.

However, in our small Burrough here in Mérida, it consists of days of fire crackers, fireworks, music, marching bands and parades. (Anytime from 6am right through till 2am.)  The procession starts with the fire cracker/fireworks team up front, followed by a float with a statue of the Virgin Mary, followed by families and finally the Valiant with the sound system playing Mexican traditional music. The families participate by walking behind the band with their crests in the form of embroidered banners, honouring their passed loved ones, dressed in their Sunday best.

It is a loud experience, that somehow comes across as sombre and demands a respectful demeanor from the onlookers. Mexico is such a country of contrasts and I'm a long way from understanding all the customs, but they respect their elders and celebrate life.

In our everyday life here in expat world, we are often astounded by some of the negative comments posted online. On the other side of the coin, no one has posted that they have regretted their decision to move to Mexico. Mostly people wonder why they took so long to make the move. 😉

Working out with the TRX

Herman and I bought the TRX just before we left Canada. We saw many positive reviews of the system but mostly we thought it would be so easy to pack, because it takes up about as much space a a brick when packed away.  TRX works with your own body weight and the angle you lean.

I have to say Herman is getting ripped. He definitely has the beginnings of his abs back. Ok, so he is also on a different diet. I still eat more than I should, SURPRISE! But I like the feeling of  tighter muscles, especially in the triceps area, which is a bitch to shape up when you're over forty!

Of course it works, if you use it. So far we are enjoying working out with it and thought we'd share our abs, back and tricep workout.

In this week's video:

  • Herman shows us how to make a fire the Mexican way
  • We give a blurry synopsis of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary procession, AND
  • We demonstrate the TRX system without the benefit of sponsorship support

All while living the dream.



Friday, August 11, 2017

He's got skills

We experienced some weather again this week, much the same as before, but not as much as we thought we might.

Tropical storm Franklin came through the Yucatan and dropped lots of water on us. The rains were heavy at times, but luckily flooding was kept to a minimum. In other parts of Mexico they were not that lucky. Campeche was hit with extreme flooding, but it wasn't until it moved across the Gulf of Mexico and hit Veracruz that it was upgraded to a hurricane. Mudslides in the mountainous region of Mexico is a serious concern and with an expected foot of rain in those areas, it was a given. This is the first hurricane of the 2017 season and I was relieved that we did not have to tape windows and evacuate. In our drive through Mexico on our way here, it was clear that they experience a lot of storms. All the towns we drove through had evacuation routes clearly marked.

Herman studied architecture when I met him, and after I worked to help him finish his studies, he started out his career in the architectural division of the Public Works Department.  He loved his work there, which included renovation, additions, maintenance and modernization of historical buildings. However his real talent is in design. As a private designer, he had just completed two high end house design projects in Port Elizabeth. This house was later purchased by a Miami investor.





However, when we moved to Canada it soon became evident that being from another country working in that field would not be financially viable to support a young family and he went back to school to start his career in IT. I know that this was a difficult choice for him, especially since he really did not like computers. However, he did what needed to be done. (All immigrants have this in common: do what needs to be done to get 'er done!)

One of the reasons we selected living in Mexico is that the construction here is very similar to that in South Africa. The weather plays a big role in the technology you use in housing and Herman's knowledge is compatible. It is a country that supports the entrepreneurial spirit in any way it can and does not set up barriers by unnecessary bureaucracy. Having said that, they are extremely strict on paying workers insurance as a full time employer.

Since we started thinking about what we want to do here, Herman's interest in designing again was peaked and having been the shoobee-do-wa girl in the background, I have noticed the happiness this brings him. It is amazing to see someone do something they love and then sad to realize how long a person has been unhappy just going through the motions. Honestly, there is no other career that he should have ever considered. Here are a few of the things he has been working on:

A lot of properties in Mérida are historical buildings that are hardly more than rubble behind the exterior walls. Herman took one of these properties and designed what it could potentially look like. This way an interested buyer can envision the potential of  the property.


The second concept is for a property in the forests between Cancun and Tulum for an eco-hostel that would be welcoming the budget traveller and backpackers.


Lastly I am including the initial sketches of what he's planning for our property (not to scale of course).

I hope you enjoyed his creativity with me.

Saturday, August 5, 2017

Cheers

It has been four months since we arrived in Mexico and we decided to have a little celebration. Typical Mexican food included, tomato salsa, tortillas, pork stir-fry, re-fried beans, Mexican tunes and some wine. I realized that I am including more peppers in my meals; we are getting used to hot food. It was an awesome meal. I also reminded myself that I had to look forward and not back; Mexico is my home now. It is the only way to fit in and be happy.

We had a really large rain storm come through the other day with wind speeds of up to 75 mph. Thunder, lightning and lots of rain. We love the storms, reminds us of South Africa in the summer when we were growing up. It's the start of hurricane season, which we know nothing about. But we will probably learn very fast. The rainy season has a lot of rain, but not like monsoons and the humidity is less than what I can remember from the summers in Durban.

It is very hot this week and a tropical storm seems to be in the works for next week. Days feel like 44, with actual temperatures reaching 36 degrees (Celsius of course). Humidity is higher and everything feels a little sticky. Since we don't have a pool right now, we fill buckets with water from the tap and just pour it over our heads - we call it poor boy's swimming. But it is effective. And with a pre-storm breeze, you can cool down. You have to wait at least 4 minutes for the water from the tap to cool sufficiently not to burn...

I love Zumba. Seriously, it is almost as much fun as tennis. I found the creator of Zumba, Beto Perez's show in Utah online and work out on that sometimes and in a moment of craziness I decided to record a few minutes and share it. I probably won't do that again; it is not easy to watch yourself look ridiculous. But seriously, I enjoy this so much that I sometimes laugh out loud!

Friday night we went to the local park where there is a small mid-way during the summer for the kids. Some stall selling fries and candy, balloons, some outdoor café's and a double story trampoline for the kids. We and ended up watching a bit of the softball game that was underway. Several home runs and lots of cheering followed. It was a fun walk in the neighbourhood and it's nice to see so many people enjoying the warm evening in the park. Of course there was activity at the church and it seemed like a mass was underway.

Xena has become a true lizard hunter after almost catching a rather large iguana one afternoon. She only let it go, because I was yelling at her to drop it. I don't think she will listen to me next time. She now hunts and stalks each and every one of them. She scratches (and even bites) all around their concrete nests and though they are extremely dumb, they have managed to avoid her so far. I think it's just a matter of time until she gets one.

The house seems to get really hot in the afternoon and early evening, and in this current heat the house felt like a sauna last night after dinner. Cooking in the kitchen only adds to the heat. We noticed that the neighbours sit in front of their houses on the street, so we decided to try it. And voila! It was much cooler out front, with a really nice breeze blowing down the street. We sat there for about an hour cooling down and with all the windows and the front door open, the house cooled down quite a bit so we could relax inside again.

We heard this week that our house purchase is expected to be completed by the end of the month. I am so excited about this. Not sure if I should be, but I am. Either way, we will be in our new home on September 1 - even if we are renting. Now I'm lying awake at night, thinking of all the things I have to do when I move in.