ISLA MUJERES 2012
Jan7
Breakfast (10:30) at Bruja’s Café.  Huevos Motuleño = (tortilla topped with refried  beans topped with fried egg) x 2 with rice and fried banana.  Washed down with Sol cervesa.  A good way to start the day.  Grocery shopping = pork, cheese, yogurt, carrots, onions, peanut butter and Negro Modelo cervesa.  Afternoon= light reading, nap, watching NFL at Sancochos Café with guacamole & Montejo cervesa.  Rode the golf cart along the Carribean coastal road back home.  Watched Saints beat the Lions.  Much conversation throughout the day.  Ratio of Steve words to Denny words approx.  8 to 1
Jan 10
Have been walking a LOT here.  It’s a 30 minute walk to the “SuperMercado” which is like an old fashioned small town grocery.  Another 30 minute walk gets you to the one big box store.  We usually ride the cart to town.  Today I rode with Steve to the big box store.  He went on to take care of some business and after shopping I walked home.  Hey, it’s 80 degrees & sunny & I’m retired.  My beer consumption has tripled here;  got to keep hydrated;  guacamole is good for you, isn’t it?  It’s almost 2 pm, time for my siesta.    I thought about bringing a 40 oz jar of Jif along, should’ve done it.  It’s available here 8 oz at a time for a hefty price.  My peanut butter budget has also tripled.    Saw two geckos last night, one on the bathroom wall and one on the bedroom ceiling.  I waited for one of them to try to sell me some insurance, but they did not seem interested.  Perhaps  I look like a bad risk.  And today on my walk to town I met my first iguana, two actually.  There they were, on the sidewalk sunning themselves, about 15 inches long and looking like someone I don’t want angry at me.  But as I walked toward them they disappeared into the brush.  There used to be many iguanas here, but as the human population grows the iguanas dwindle.
Jan 11
Ya gotta love the life here.  We just got back from dinner in town; then we stopped at the store on the way home.   For $28 I got two very tasty fish tacos, one beer, two bottles of booze and an ice cream bar.   The booze was Kahlua & vodka.  I like black Russians.  At home we discovered that the only ice was frozen into a two liter bottle.  I filled the ice tray and resigned myself to having my B.R. tomorrow.  But Steve was in no mood to wait.  He attacked that bottle of ice with a hammer, a saw, a concrete wall and a screwdriver and he finally won. 
Bits & Pieces
Ø      Mexican wasps are just as ornery as the ones in Wisconsin .
Ø      I decided to begin my whole body tan yesterday, but we had so many complaints I had to give it up. 
Ø      My favorite beer in Mexico is Negra Modelo,  a medium bodied, mulatto-colored brew.  It is absent the coffee grounds bite of the stouts and yet has enough character to dance with guacamole, offering overtones of saguaro and agave with a finish as smooth as Mayan skin.  
Ø      You know how when you try a new food and you don’t exactly like it, but if you keep on trying it you eventually get to like it.   With prune yogurt it went the other way.
Ø       No seagulls here.  Lots of pelicans and frigate birds.  I love the frigate bird.  It is a large (wingspan 5-6 feet), black sea bird, whose body design reminds me of a stealth bomber.  They circle 200 – 500 feet above the water, sometimes in large packs, and when they spot something to eat can get from up there to the water in about 4 seconds.  They are very efficient fliers and riding the winds they can stay aloft for days.  Really.
Ø      House construction here is done the old fashioned way.  You rarely see cement trucks; concrete is usually done one five gallon pail at a time.  You can’t be in a hurry here.  Think molasses.
Ø      Enchilada flavored peanuts, boldly tasty. 
Ø      I have decided not to push this tanning business too far.  I don’t want the locals to mistake me for a Mayan.
Ø      Go figure—my pocket Eng/Span dictionary doesn’t have the Spanish word for “last”, but it does have the Spanish for vagina.  How often does that come up in conversation?
Ø      The little man on the moped who delivered fresh orange and grapefruit juice last year is gone.  That’s a big disappointment for me; juice squeezed that morning for $2 a liter.  Steve said that last year when I left, he left.  I wish someone would tell him I’m back.
Ø      Gecko turds look just like mouse turds.
Jan 12
Today Steve met with Oscar, the general contractor who is finishing the Sauer’s new house next door.   Building projects here happen at the same pace as the rest of Mexican life, think molasses.   A few weeks ago they had delivered a big load of fill to level off the property.   It’s still sitting there just inside the new short wall at the front of the property and will likely sit there for another month or two.   I like no-brainer manual labor (in small  doses), so I asked Oscar if he had a wheelbarrow and a shovel.  He did.          Talked to Karen on the phone tonight.  It was nice to hear her voice, especially her laugh.
Jan 13
This morning I popped out of bed, well, it wasn’t exactly a pop, did my morning stretch/warm up routine on the porch overlooking the Caribbean and headed next door to tackle that pile of fill.  One hour and 12 barrow loads later I declared, “Bastante!” and went home to make some oatmeal con yogurt  y peanut butter.  We need to do some food shopping today.        later…    In the afternoon I walked to SuperMercado.   There is a sidewalk along the shoreline road and as I neared the store I noticed a golf cart sitting beside the road and inside sat a 30 something woman, a nice looking, full figured gal, at least a 44-DD.  And she was wearing a bikini.    As I approached her cart I prayed mightily for that string to break.  And finally when I get there  – nothing happened.   Which shows you the value of prayer. 
Jan 14
At 7 a.m. I grabbed my shovel and went to work.  I am enjoying the physical labor, but prefer to do it before the day heats up.  I accidentally worked an hour and a half this morning, but it didn’t seem like it.    Steve spends the day here at Casa Colibri', but sleeps at Oscar’s house.  There is only one bed here which I said he could have and I would sleep on the couch, but he wants to stay in touch with Oscar.  Well, he came here later than usual this morning, having been caught in a deluge rainstorm (with high winds) on the way.  Remember he is driving a golf cart.    ………   It is now 2 pm; the rain has let up, but you could use a card table for a kite.  The TV has been sitting cold and lonely in the cupboard since last weekend, but today we open those cupboard doors for the NFL playoffs.
Jan 15
That howling sound you hear is the relentless wind continued from yesterday.  Or is it the Tebow fans?   Took the day off from the dirt pile.  ……….   p.m.  Just watched the Packers play their worst game all season and lose to the Giants.    Well, Steve’s mother-in-law died yesterday (it was expected).  Soooo, he’s going home for the funeral on Thursday, but will stay in Wisconsin to take care of some business items and return to Isla on Feb 6.  I don’t mind staying here alone for a while, but not for that long.  Soooo, I will stay here by myself for one week after Steve leaves and return to WI on Jan 26.  I thought about leaving with Steve, but I was looking forward to staying longer than two weeks.  Anyway, it will be in interesting growth experience to be here by myself for a week.
   
Jan 17
Up at 6; off to “work” at 7.  Today I broke through the pile of fill from the yard to the sidewalk.  The digging is tough, stones of all size, small chunks of concrete, pieces of asphalt paving.  But I find an hour of shoveling strangely invigorating.   I have noticed that when Mexicans walk by some of them give a lingering look at me shoveling.  My guess is that they are entertained by the sight of an Americano doing manual labor in their country.   Steve thinks they might have an ulterior motive (reporting an undocumented laborer), but Steve tends to think like that.  He’s not a chronic complainer, more of a good-natured cynic.
Jan 18
Steve had some business with an attorney in Cancun so we went there for the afternoon.  The ride on the high speed ferry is always pleasant, cruising across those turquoise waves in the sun and the sea breeze.  At Ramon’s office Steve signed the Big Book, a volume of official land transactions.  Afterward we walked to the nearby new shopping mall. It’s a large, nice upscale mall with lots of stores, some U.S. brands and some European ones as well.   We did a quick walk-by of some of the stores , sat down for an overpriced coffee drink , decided that civilization wasn’t all that great and headed back to the island. ……..  I found some rib eye steaks in the SuperMercado the other day.  Last night I pan fried them along with red onions and some fried pineapple rings.  Everything was tasty, but that cow must have walked all the way across Mexico to get here.  She gave our jaws quite a workout.
 
Jan 19
I dropped Steve off at the ferry dock this morning.  By now he is 30,000 feet above Alabama , which is a pretty good way to experience that state.  I will remain on Isla for one more week.  The first thing I did after Steve left was to fill the golf cart with gas.   Do you remember that dilapidated pickup truck on the Beverley Hillbillies?      Meet BoB (Bucket of Bolts), the Sauers’ golf cart.  By my estimate BoB is the slowest cart on the island.  Steve insists that it is only the second slowest.  When I arrived Bob was almost blind, missing one headlight and the other wimpy little candle made a feeble effort to light the road five feet in front of the cart.  BoB will start right up 3 out of 4 times.  Steering BoB involves continually flipping the steering wheel 30 degrees right and left just to go straight.  Last week BoB went into a coma for half a day.  Steve finally took pity and popped for a tune-up and a new pair of bright, shiny eyes.  Then last night about 10 o’clock, the night before Steve needed to get to the airport, BoB went into cardiac arrest.  No  spark, no start up, no lights, nothing.    So the two of us were poking around under the “hood” (seat) with our mini-flashlights, acting like we knew what we were doing.  Finally the culprit was revealed: some previous owner had blown a fuse and, not having a replacement, jammed a small piece of metal into the fuse holder and it, apparently , was the one who had cardiac arrest, that is to say it melted, perhaps because the new lights were drawing more current from the battery.  We poked around at the hardening blob of metal and Bob sprang to life!  But it’s a precarious fix.   Now I am driving a vehicle that on the next speed bump (there are lots of them here) BoB may pass out again.  I hope it doesn’t happen at night.  …..   This afternoon I drove to Centro (downtown) to have lunch at Barlito’s, a tiny breakfast/lunch café run by Brad and Tiffany, his wife.  Both from America , he is a baker by trade and a chef by necessity; both are cheerful, good-natured people.   Tasty panninis, great cinnamon rolls and other good food at modest prices, by American standards.  And there’s Nancy, a forty-something Mexican waitress, who is very pretty and nicely proportioned, a great smile and quite friendly.  I know nothing will happen and don’t intend for anything to happen, still, she is the kind of woman that makes you suck your gut in when she walks by.   …..   The Sauer’s renter came by to make his final rent payment,  X Pesos  for one month in a condo on the ocean. View to die for.         (Kris's additon--Sailfish condo for rent--top unit...inquire...)

Jan 20
I thought I might be a little nervous or apprehensive living here with no companion who knows the ropes.  But the first couple of days have been quite relaxing and enjoyable.  If my toothache doesn’t return and BoB stays healthy this should be a good week.  And to that end I check the weather in Wisconsin every morning which makes my day here delicious.  I have only myself to converse with here at the house so I’m not learning much about history and politics like when Steve & I chat, but I and myself have shared a lot of experiences and we both like to philosophize--and I can end the conversation any time I want.    Every morning I have breakfast on the second floor porch enjoying the sunshine shimmering on the water, the gentle breeze on my face, and the relentless waves battering the shore on and on like a horde of Mongol invaders—oops, wrong metaphor, different story—and the sea, a persistent masseuse  with rippled turquoise skin gently massaging the shore.     Seriously, it’s soothing to the eyes and ears and to the soul and no matter what else happens later, your day got off to a good start.     I am not napping every afternoon like I was in the beginning.
Jan 21
Kris told me in an email how to get more bottled water (5 gallons), so I set the empties out on the front porch with payment attached and later in the day there were two full bottles on the porch.  Delivery to your door, just like the good old days.  I had told Steve when he was here that I wanted to do a continuous video shoot from Casa Colibri' along the coastal road all the way to town, him driving & me holding the camcorder.  That didn’t happen, so today about 1 pm I grabbed my camcorder, hopped into BoB and headed up the coast, one hand on the wheel, one hand on the camera.  It went better than you might think.  I didn’t go off the road at all, but my eyes got tired of flipping back and forth between the video screen and the road.  By the time I got to town my right shoulder was complaining, but the coastal drive went so well I decided to keep filming all the way through town, which got a little dicier on those narrow streets.  No fender bender, no pedestrian injuries, bumped the curb one and did one block the wrong way on a one-way street.  A 25 minute continuous shot.    While downtown I stopped in to visit Pepe, the cart vendor whom Steve like to be on good terms with.   Visiting Pepe always involves buying him a beer.  We sot the breeze for a while and then I went toBarlito’s for a late lunch.  I opted for a salad since I eat few vegetables here, but I took out one of his very tasty paninis for tomorrows tailgate party here at Casa Colibri. I also brought home another  cinnamon roll; damn they’re good!
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Buenas noches mis amigos
Tailgate party at Casa Colibri'