You know it's been a slow week when...

I am posting photos of the gecko that lives in our window. He is pretty cute, pretty fast, and all around loud at night. He chirps like a bird, except only at night, so you know it’s him. When we get too close to him he does this really funny run a little bit – blend a little bit – run a little bit again. He doesn’t just take off; he moves in sections. It’s interesting. He is usually a shade of translucent beige to match the color of the walls, but one night we came home late and he was on our front door, which is white. He was white. Cool and gross!

So here he is. We haven’t named him yet, so if you have any suggestions now’s the time to voice them:

Gecko Naming Contest Rules
(please read the fine print to avoid disqualification)

1. Post a comment to this post to enter your suggestion into the contest.
2. You may only enter one name per day per household.
3. Finalists and one winner will be chosen explicitly on the notion that I like the name best. (It’s very scientific.)


Happy Posting!!

Just some stuff

Well, I haven’t been keeping up the blog as well as I have in the past so I thought I should post an update on us…

We are in a very happy spot right now. Paul’s classes are beginning to wind up for the semester, which gives him a little free time to work on his “real” stuff. He still gets up at the crack of dawn, but I keep my earplugs in and usually don’t hear him. I can’t complain too much because he can make a mean spaghetti here, which is a great comfort food when you get tired of tortillas!

An internet place just opened within walking distance to our apartment, so we no longer have to take a bus to check our emails, which is great. We also found an internet café – really a café, with coffee, that has wireless so our computers are breathing a sigh of relief as we update our software and such! We also learned how to call the US super cheap (as some of you know!) at this café after spending Lord knows how much to call parents.

I counted my tea bags (yes, I am totally for real) to see how many I had left. I have enough tea bags to get me to December 21, which is extremely lucky because my first shipment of tea will be arriving with the Worleys on December 20. Phew, that was close!

I am writing to you at this moment wearing socks AND a long-sleeved t-shirt. Now, it is not cold here (I mean really, we have all the windows open and the fan going) but it is definitely much cooler today than it has been, well, since we got here! Yesterday was beautiful too, (I don’t think I sweated yesterday) so we went out to dinner to a place that Paul has been wanting to try. The restaurant used to be a ways from our house but they recently moved two blocks from us. We went and sat outside in the chilly breeze and ate excellent tacos al pastor, some garlic bread (complimentary), and an order of guacamole and two beers. After tip, the bill was $13.00. I think we’ll be going back!

We are going on Thursday to a town called Huncmá, where a friend of ours teaches English. He is from Mérida but has studied in the U.S. We are trying to convince him to apply to Comp Lit at UNC. Hopefully he will and will get in!

Today, Monday, Nov. 20 is Mexican Revolution Day (we finally figured it out) we while you are all getting ready for Thanksgiving, we are relaxing and eating tacos. We do, however, have classes the rest of the week so think of us when you’re napping to football on the tele after having gorged yourself on yummy turkey and pumpkin pie… oh Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday…

ok, I’m off to enjoy the “cold!” Burrrrrr!!

Here's a photo of our new hammock! Paul's working hard as you can see.

The hammock is great and the temps are getting cooler so it is nice to lay in it and read a book, or nap, as shown. It is called a matramonial especial, which as far as we can tell, means it holds three people (don't go there) meaning two parents and a child. It holds the two of us fine, but there's no room for a friend! ha!

In other news, Paul is kicking my butt in Rummy, our TV is STILL broken, and we are loving all the yucatecans wearing sweaters when it is a chilly 70 degrees outside. It was wonderful, I don't think I broke a sweat all day - that would be except when I almost stepped on a dead rat on the way home from the bus stop from school, but anyway...

So we are going to head home after a hot chocolate and carrot cake at our wireless cafe. We got on the bus Wednesday night coming home from said cafe and we asked the bus driver when the last bus was (it was 10:30pm) and he says, this is the last bus all night! Phew! It's a long walk... well, until you hail down a taxi and go home, but still...

ok, we're heading home! more soon

Melissa 

My New Fighting Technique is Unstoppable...

well, almost.

So there are 4 kinds of ants here: (by here, I mean near our apartment)

The little buggers that bite you. Luckily these ants live in the grass and don’t venture into the apartment. But man they hurt!

The mini-sugar-ants are super-small and oh, so ubiquitous. These little mites get into all the food Paul leaves out if I don’t find it in time to double ziplock it and then put it in another plastic bag. Note: they prefer bullion cubes, sugar, milk, and your occasional bread. They do not like salt, rice, avocado, or garlic. You can kill a ton of them ant they just keep coming back. (ha! get it?)

Black ants are really annoying too because they like trash. For the first few weeks we were here we used the trash can in the kitchen. ha ha! They were all over that mistake. Now we keep a plastic bag hanging on a hook way up high and take out the bag and put it in the trash can on our porch at least once a day. They are under control now, but work very quickly.

The big ants, brown and black. Some of these ants are leaf cutter ants and they seem to go from the garden on the left side of our house to the garden on the right side, cut some leaves, and go back. They tend to work in the evening so if you go out and come back after dark be sure to step over the line of leaf cutter ants in front of the door. Later, I guess they get tired of cutting up leaves, or maybe just the renegade ones do, and some come into the apartment for some kind of crazy suicidal bacchanal, which leaves them all dead in the morning as mentioned before. Perhaps one ant steals another ant’s leaf and the shunned one challenges the robber to a duel. Either way, these renegaders end up in the apartment over night and dead in the morning…

I’ve used the ant spray but it doesn’t seem to last that long. The best thing to use is some good ol’ Windex because it seems to wipe out the trails (they smell the trials or something?) they use to follow one another and then they all get confused and start this massive retreat, which is funny if you’re in a good mood or a mass killing spree if it’s hot and you’re cranky. Keeping food triple bagged or in the fridge also works well too as does NOT putting raw meat outside on the back porch. Remember the Chupacabras, right?! An ant sponge works well for the ones on the counter (the itty bitty ones) so you don’t end up washing your dishes with a sponge with a bunch of dead ants stuck to it. Don’t even ask…

In other news: we are excited to have family coming soon. Our TV is still broken and my Law and Order DTs are almost over. I have almost completed one sock, which is gorgeous on size 1 needles. It is STILL hot here (I know this subject is getting tired, but really it was 93 today). No termites since the spraying took lace, happy about that. Have two chapters finished of the thesis. That´s all for now. More soon!

BTW if you like reading blogs, check this one out. It is so funny it makes me cry (in public at internet cafes):
http://smartypants.diaryland.com/index.html

Dia de los muertos / Jaanal Pixan

**photos coming soon**

The guide book says it best, Yucatán is the place to see a great display during el Día de los muertos because in Yucatán the celebrations downtown are primarily Maya celebrations of Jaanal Pixan, which is the Mayan Day of the Dead Festival.

So we talked to several different people and it seems that the Festival is three days, October 31, which is (sadly so) turning into an Americanized Halloween with pumpkins, candy, and the like. November 1 is Saint’s Day and the day to remember children in your family who have died. November 2 is the adults day and the day to go to the cemetery to remember your ancestors who have passed on.

The “celebrations” basically consist of family members getting together at a house and eating A LOT of tamales. Pib is used for these days. Pib is basically a hole in the ground with sticks or a screen over the hole. A fire is lit in the hole and the tamales or whatever food you’re eating is cooked on the sticks. It is AMAZING by the way.

Unfortunately it rained all day on Nov 2, the day set aside for going to the cemetery. Señora Ramirez did stuff us full of tamales, however, and some fried massa that was super tasty too (it’s sort of like fried chicken skin without the grease, except totally different) Basically for three days she showed up at our door with a huge plate of tamales in banana leaves (steamed over a pib). We love living here…

Here are a few pictures from the main square downtown. Various towns from around Yucatan built huts on the square and erected altars for the dead. The idea is that when a person dies he or she begins the journey to the afterlife. It is a long way, so he or she will need nourishment, food; some rest, in a hammock; possibly a light for guidance, a candle; etc. (The bowl-looking things are called luuch in maya and are made from jícara a type of gourd. These are used for drinking, should you get thirsty, and for eating your oatmeal-like breakfast).