Whirlwind Tour of Yucatan

After our first trip to the baseball stadium (see last post) Paul and I worked extra hard to get ready for our Whirlwind Tour of the Yucatan with our good friends Maggi and Fer. We (read: I) decided we should go to the beach and de-stress for a couple of days before they arrived so we stopped in Playa del Carmen for 2 days waiting for Fer and Maggi to FINALLY get to Mexico. It was a great time. Very relaxing, great hotel (Luna Blue) and weather and I got to wear my new bathing suit with matching bag. Excellent. Here are my toes, eat your heart out…
On Friday we went to the airport and waited for Fer and Maggi. We waited in the airport café for what seemed like a long time because we were so excited. Finally Fer and Maggi arrived in Cancun. They were the best guests ever letting us shuttle them in a literal circle around the peninsula showing them interesting (to us) sites and towns all the while babbling at top speed about, well, everything (Paul and Fer discussed baseball, real and fantasy, A LOT and Maggi and I planned all sorts of fun activities for the summer including knitting club (read: women’s wine club), gardening club (read: women’s outdoor wine club), and home improvement club (read: Melissa-and-Maggi-make-lists-of-chores-for-Paul-and-Fer-while-drinking-wine club). So the summer is pretty much set!

Saturday at Chichen we babbled some more, saw some ruins, and went to check on our pups. The Worley’s will remember pregnant Mama who had had pups when we went to Chichen for the Equinox. Here they are 3 weeks later. Super-cute!






After Chichen we hung out in Merida for a couple of days for touring and shopping. Here’s Paul on the tour bus. Not sure why he looks like he wants to kill me, but we had a good time ducking the tree limbs and low-hanging power lines! Look out! Then we were off to Dzibilchaltun where Paul and Fer discussed more baseball under the guise of ruin-climbing (can we say insider trading?) It should be noted that on day 4 Fer and Maggi still like each other, yay!


After touring Merida, we took a break and went to Celestun to the flamingo reserve. This was a special treat because Paul and I had wanted to visit but had never gotten around to it. We took an hour boat ride around the lagoon to see the flamingoes, mangroves, and a natural spring, which was gorgeous and then came back to Merida to relax in the evening. Although I took about a million photos of flying flamingoes, I have several photos of just sky (they fly faster than you think and on a moving boat, it was hard to catch them in the air!) Here is a photo of an actual flamingo, not just blue sky!


The next leg of the trip was the highlight of the Yucatan. We went to Santa Elena where Mariano and Fidelina Bonilla live and had lunch there. We stayed at Chel House at the Flycatcher Inn (amazing), ate a FABULOUS dinner at the brand new restaurant The Pickled Onion, and an AMAZING lunch with hand made tortilla at the Bonillas. We also visited Uxmal before heading back to Merida one last time. Here is Maggi making tortillas! Doesn't she make a great Mayan woman?!

That evening Maggi and I went shopping and Paul and Fer went to Trompos to have tacos al pastor (never mind they play baseball on ESPN there) and then it was off to Cancun the next morning. We stayed at a nice hotel in Cancun and Maggi and I checked out the pool after getting thrashed around in the big ocean waves. The water was lovely but the old men circling around us like vultures talking about "business" got old quick. Gross! Old men! Ew! Luckily Fer had his "old men are circling around my wife" radar on and came and rescued us. We decided to move to the hot tub where the old men promptly followed us. The first old man in the hottub said (and sadly I'm not kidding) "Stop all that farting! Look at all the bubbles!" Oh Cancun... oh old men...

The next day we dropped Fer and Maggi off at the airport with two bags full of our stuff to take back with them and then headed back to Merida. Vacation is over, classes begin again tomorrow, need to pack for Costa Rica. Stay tuned for Costa Rica photos!


M

Happy April Fool’s Day!

and to you baseball fans, Happy Opening Day!
Paul got his baseball fix on Friday night when we went to a Leones game here in Merida. The Leones are the defending champions! We watched them win last season (on TV) when we had just arrived in Mexico. Friday night we finally made the trek out to the stadium and sat right behind home plate. The game was great! The Leones were socking it to the Pirates of Campeche (local rivally even!). The food was worth mentioning since we had a very eclectic smorgasbord of snacks including: french fries, pizza, popcorn, tacos al pastor, and the best deal of the night, $1.25 Corona. It was the closest to nickel beer night we’ll ever know! ha! The game was fun to watch and the breeze was great but the innings went by super slow. It started at 8pm and at 10pm we were in the 4th. We didn’t stay for the whole game because we had to take a taxi back to the apartment but it was a fun time. We are hoping to go back this week or next when F and M are here.

NCAA Tourney: Noah the Gnat and Grandpa Oden
Baseball has been a good replacement to the NCAA tourney. My bracket is so messed up I can’t even check my standings anymore and I do not give a crappy crap which team wins. I think Noah is an annoying freak and I think Oden is a really good basketball player for being 38. I guess I want Ohio State to win only because a Florida repeat might mean that Noah stays another year to do it again, and I really don’t want that. (that’s a joke)

The Good Shepherd: D+/C-
Yesterday, seeing as it is getting brutally hot here, we decided to go to a movie in the air conditioning. We saw The Good Shepherd with Matt Damon and Angelina Jolie. Paul’s comments, “It wasn’t like Munich, I didn’t feel like hours of my life had been stolen…” Paul gives it a D. If you ask me, it seems like the movie made sense at some point and then the editor got high or something and went a little crazy with snipping clips. I give it a C. It was okaaaay, but nothing to hop off the couch and rush to the movie theatre to see. One annoying aspect of the movie was that I had read on Yahoo a while back that Jolie was having trouble getting a visa to the Congo for filming. Well, I kept waiting for her to end up there because I had read about it online, but in the movie it doesn’t make sense how she would end up there at first, so that was distracting and misleading. That’s what I get for reading way too much “news” on Yahoo.

For real news, I consult this guy.

We are off to the beach on Wednesday for some relax time and to wait for F and M to get here (hurry up!). We’ll have lots of adventures to relate then!

Much Love

M

Synopsis of the Equinox Tour:

Dzibilchaltun A+
Chichen Itza B-

Paul woke up a *very* cranky Melissa at 4:00 am. We got ourselves together and drove to Dzibilchaltun (a 20 minute drive). We arrived quite early but there were already many people there and there was a short line to get in. Once in the archaeological zone we walked the white road to the Temple of the Seven Dolls and waited in the lovely chilliness and darkness for the sun to rise in the temple door.

As expected, the hippie-gringos were there, but not in any really annoying way. One guy up front did yell "The suns are flashing in our eyes, turn off your camera flash!" Which was weird, because it was dark and everyone wanted a "before" photo to go with the "during" and "after" photos, yours truly included. Whatever. Snap. *Flash* Then the sun started to come up and Paul started filming. This was particularly funny when a woman standing next to Paul said "Perdon" so he moved over a bit and she stood RIGHT in front of him. Luckily for her, she was short and he could film over her. There was another guy who got in the way, but this was no surprise. I hate crowds and I was reminded why. This is pretty though:

We had a fabulous time watching the sunrise. We headed out of the ruins and to the car, which Paul promptly got stuck on a big rock in the parking lot. To his credit, the parking lot is 4 wheel drive terrain, the whole continent is rocky, and the "getting stuck" didn't damage the car as we then drove it 2 hours to Chichen later in the day. It was one of those times that you laugh about when it is over but at the time it is NOT funny.

We drove off the rock, thanks to Paul's excellent maneuvering (sp?) and had breakfast at Sanborns. Yum! Then we went home, took showers, and packed up for round 2: Chichen.

We arrived without incident in Piste around noon and actually parked a lot closer to the ruins than we had expected. We walked a bit to the park, waited maybe 20 minutes in line to get tickets and then went to have some lunch. The serpent slithers down the side of the Castillo from 4:00-4:15 so we had PLENTY of time. After lunch we walked around A LOT and saw these puppies. The Worleys might remember the momma dog which was pregnant when they were there. The puppies were SOOOO cute! It was all I could do to keep Paul from bringing one back to Merida.

We walked around in the sun and heat and finally it was time to see the shadow. We got our seats on the grass kind of early so we could see and sat in the sun and waited. At 3:57 you could see the shadows starting to form. At 4:02 a BIG rain cloud covered up the sun and sprinkled on us a bit - but it was so hot and the rain was so cold, it felt wonderful. Well, at 4:27 when the cloud still hadn't passed I convinced Paul to get up and move around. At 4:35 we left, having seen NOTHING.

Oh well, I'm so glad we went to Dzibilchaltun and saw the sunrise. Also, we briefly met up with our friends Melissa and John. It was great to see them for a bit especially since we didn't see the serpent. Argh! We drove back bummed and tired and got back to Merida just in time for some Law and Order. We fell asleep by 9:30pm.

Well, Paul is back, W is gone, and the house is a mess. Why? Because we are watching ALL the NCAA games online. Woohoo! The best part is, it's free! So there's no time to mop between the Dook loss *Yay!*, the Carolina win *Yipee!*, and whatever is going on with Wisconsin!? Paul has a theory, but I'll let him post it if he wants to.

We found a new restaurant that is near our house, so the Yucatecan options have expanded, which is good because (I can't believe I'm saying this) but I am seriously tired of tacos al pastor. I know I will regret that come July or August, but really, I am. The new place, Susana, has wonderful, HUGE panuchos, a good sopa de lima, and so far that's all we've had but they also offer poc-chuc tacos and tortas, etc, too. Lots of yummy (and cheap) choices. Grocery shopping in the US is going to give me a heart attack. Oh, but Target, whenever I "need" a new bag/container/organizer something, ooooh.

This weekend we hung out downtown since we hadn't done that in a while. We go at night because it is getting hot here. (95 right now) and we are using the a/c more and more. Then we are off on our Equinox Tour Wednesday, which should be cool (see below for details).

I suppose that is all the details on us. Here is a*nother* photo of spoiled pups: from left to right Ellie, Luke, Sutton. Don't worry, Masha is on the couch next to this one, she's just not in the photo. What I'd like to know is: Where do the people sit?! Apparently Miss Ellie and Mr. Lucas are in LOVE, which is a bit gross if you ask me. They ARE cousins after all. But whatever, if Mash can behave enough to have 3 other dogs in "her" space, Lucas and Ellie can do whatever they like!

What the ...?

I am really beside myself. ALL this CRAZY *hand waving* talk about the "early" Daylight Savings Time and how airlines are gonna be confused, your toaster is going to attack you, Y2K nightmares all over again, like your computer might swallow you up so that you become a cyber person. In all of the rot that I have been reading (it's like a train wreck, you know, you, well, I, can't look away) I never read anywhere that this whole "early" thing was for the US only!!! JHC!

Correct me if I am wrong, and clearly I am wrong, but I always conceptualized Daylight Savings as a UN of sorts, but about Time. Either you are in or you are out, and "we, the UN" really don't care which, just decide. (Decide Indiana! For the love of God, Decide!) But I am stone wrong! Apparently we - meaning USers (I refuse to say Americans, don't even get me started there, that is another rant for another night) - can pick when OUR Daylight Savings begins and ends and everyone else stays the same. Well this little tidbit would have been oh, so helpful, BEFORE I ran around like a crazy person changing clocks ahead and mourning the hour of my life that was lost. alas! I got it back! Do you know why? Because Mexico don't play like that, yo. They aren't having any of this people-will-spend-more-in-daylight-and-we'll-make-it-look-like-it-saves-energy-BULL-CRAP-smorgasbord. Oh, no!

So, I have no IDEA what time it is where you are, but it is 10pm here and time keeps rolling on. I didn't lose an hour (yet), I am not going to be that stupid jerk who shows up to class an hour early tomorrow (phew!), and Paul was right (darnet anyhow!). Daylight Savings for the rest of the world is still on for the first weekend of April. I hope George W. sets his watch to the right time tomorrow when he shows up in good ol' Merida. Paul joked that he left for Santa Elena this week because he refuses to be in the same zip code as W, but the joke is on Paul because Calderon and W are visiting Uxmal, a mere 5 miles from Santa Elena!

BTW: I'll let you know if my toaster tries to attack me. Keep an eye on yours. ja ja ja!

M

Well, here I am all by my lonesome. Paul left this morning for Santa Elena where he is working on his video project.

We went back to Mani this week so Paul could film two short plays that this teacher wrote. The plays actually took place in Dzan on the 73rd Anniversary of the town. It was a big deal and the WHOLE town was there! We had a good time but it was actually quite chilly that night and I didn't bring a long-sleeved t-shirt so I FROZE (I know, hard to believe) the whole time! That night I used a BLANKET to sleep with until I warmed up. The plays were cool, in Maya so I didn't understand them until Paul explained them to me, but the residents of Dzan LOVED them and laughed a lot. After that, the town fed everyone massive amounts of tacos and soft drinks. Yum!

Right now I am listening to UNC play really well against Boston College, up 15 at the half. Woohoo! Go Heels! I need to pay attention too because P will want a play-by-play tonight when he calls.

This week I am on full-blown thesis work/reading/revising/etc. Next week we are going to do an "Equinox Tour." March 21 is the Spring Equinox so we are going to Dzibilchaltun at sunrise to see the sun rise (duh) in the temple window/doorway and then we are off for a totally annoying but well worth it experience of Chichen Itza at the Equinox. I am not too into fake new-age hippies running around pretending to worship a sun god they know nothing about all the while thinking they are being "Mayan." Then you ask a Mayan woman what they are doing and she looks at you and says, "I have no clue, I'm Catholic!" BUT! We are going anyway to see the serpent climb down the Castillo at 4pm. It should be cool and we promise to get totally hilarious footage of dumb-fake-new-age-hippies.* see disclaimer below.

Here is the pic of my super cute niece and nephews. I told you they were cuties. And look at me, in a sweater! ha! (typing in a tank-top, jeans folded up at the knee, bare feet, fan blasting)



Oh yeah, I forgot to tell y'all what P got me on my return to Mejico. If you remember, (and if you don't, go to blogs in September) we were both enamored by the "multi-use" bowls that were everywhere for Independence Day. Well, we had been eyeing a set but they were kind of expensive. They went 1/2 off while I was gone so P got a set of "party ware" that includes two multi-use bowls. The bowl is a glass dish really that you put snacks, chips, candy, etc in when you have a party and then when the snacks are gone you turn the dish up-side down and it can be used as an ashtray! I don't know why I find this so amazing, but I do. And I don't even smoke! Anyway, we are now the proud owners of 2 matching chip dish/ashtray bowls and I couldn't be happier!

In other news, I was watching the TV Guide channel (just in case the UNC-BC game was on ESPN here) and I saw a preview for The Closer on TNT! We get TNT here but have never gotten The Closer. Am very excited about this. Will keep you posted as details become clear.

And to reply via blog (how rude!) to just some girl's comment, I really wanted to get it (V for Vendetta) but I just didn't. I did enjoy the movie although the whole time I kept wondering how V got all his money. And the "fake torture" um, not cool. Ever. For. Any. Reason. Well, real torture isn't cool either, but you know what I mean! Kisses to Peanut. looking for a rebozo...

*OK I really feel like Mimi Smartypants here, but just for the record, I really like hippies and some of my close friends are hippies. I do not like fake-pretend-hippies. You know the difference. The fake ones are annoying.

OK, half-time is over, back to "watching" the game!

Much Love

M

1. Warning!
Thank goodness for the internet because it was a KILLER to listen to Tyler get clocked and not be able to see it. Luckily there were a few replays on YouTube so we got to see what all the hubbub was about. Suspended for one game. That is sad and embarassing. That is all I am going to say about that.

2. Movie Update.
While in Iowa Dad and I watched The Departed. I thought it was excellent. I am a big fan of suspense thrillers. Also saw the DaVinci Code. It was better than I was expecting. Paul and I just watched V for Vendetta. I get the feeeling this movie was trying to be historico-political but can someone fill me in, 'cuz I didn't get it. It wasn't baaad, but I am not a Natalie Portman fan. Although to be fair, she was much less annoying in this than the Star Wars movies.

3. Mani.
We went to Mani again for the night last night. Mani is the Yucatecan town where Diego de Landa burned the codices. (For more information, email Paul) We stayed at the Hotel Villa Real, which we like a lot in Ticul, and then this morning we went to meet the teacher Paul needed to talk to - so we got up and got ready at the hotel and ate breakfast there as well. We have stayed at this hotel before. So we go downstairs for breakfast and order two coffees. They bring us hot water and a jar of Nescafe. Now, don't get me wrong, some places you expect the Nescafe, but not here because we have had REAL coffee here before. Ugh! Oh well, Paul met the guy in Mani, I read for my defense, and the day was gorgeous! It felt like a Spring day with a warm sun and a cool breeze. Just lovely. We had spaghetti for dinner (with Nancy's "garlic" sourdough bread) and took a walk. It is good sleeping weather so I am off to sleepy ni-night!


M

Welcome back to Mexico.

Paul is cleaning out his side of the closet so I can put all of my stuff on his side because we have termites again.

We knew they would come back because last September all they did was a little spraying and that isn't going to take care of them. (I just sprayed them with windex and it took the paint right off the shelf, the expensive termite spray didn't do that, gee I wonder how stong it was!)
All of the wood in the closet needs to be taken out and replaced. That's not going to happen because the Ramirez's are going to remodel the whole place when we leave, move into the apartment, and rent the house. We have stopped asking for things to be fixed because they just don't want to do it.

So now we are cleaing everything out of the termite side of the closet (my side, of course!) and putting things in other places for the time being. Lovely. Just what I like to wake up to on a Saturday morning. Had any termites lately? Well, actually yes, thanks for asking.

The little buggers are so gross too. All clear and disgusting.

Luckily I didn't lose any clothes or books this time just some photocopies for the class I'm taking, which I will do without. But still!!!

Ugh!

I made it back to Mexico to a happy-to-see-me Paul!

I think he might have just been excited about all the presents I brought him but he says he missed me too. So after digging into the ginger snaps and chocolate chip cookies Paul's mom made and opening the baseball card packs Dad send him, he wanted to know all about the dogs, of course. I have to say they weren't half as excited to see me as I was to see them. They were all like, "Oh, you, you're that nice girl who used to yell at us when we got on the couch." *tail wag* And I'm all like "Look pups it's MEEE!" And they're all "Did you bring us presents?" Which I did, of course. (and one squeaks, sorry Tom and Nancy!). Basically the dogs had a good time showing me what a nice life they have at the beach and if I want to come back and visit them in their two-story playhouse sometime, I am more than welcome. Seriously though, they are super happy (and spoiled) and Masha did give me a big hug when I first arrived. Lucas snuggled to me all night - actually he was pushing me to one side of the bed, but we'll call it snuggling, and they both have grown up a lot. Masha doesn't even bark at Billy! Wow. She is getting old! Lucas doesn't really look like a puppy anymore (which makes sense since he is 3!) but still!

I had a great 24 hours in Charleston with the Worleys and the pups. Nancy fed me a huge spread of all my favorite foods and when Paul called I had to be all sly and say, yeah, the food was, well, you know, OK. He totally knew I was lying because his mom is a fab chef, but I don't think he could have handled it if I had told him what all I ate. Yum.

Anyway, Paul is trying to figure out the external hard drive to save his videos on and I am surfing for classes I can take next semester. (that's called constructive procrastinating) I also brought a couple of books Paul wanted, coffee, some peeps (essential), curry powder, BBQ sauce, and syrup. Had to leave my super-cute new scarf(thanks Ant A!) in Charlotte (bummer) because the only thing to do with it here is to hang it as a decoration!

We had an uneventful taxi back to the apartment and although it was hot, the apartment was clean (gasp!) and it was good to get back into my routine (that is, watching Law and Order and thesis stuff). I didn't go to class on Wed though because I was so tired and I didn't unpack before we went to sleep Tuesday night but I'll get back into that routine next week.

I suppose that is all for now, the Amazon fiasco seems to be fixing itself. I ordered some books and they were delivered to the wrong address, but I should have the replacement delivery next week. Phew! Luckily I can use the original books when I get back to CH and won't have to lug these ones with me! :)

well, I have to get back to work because the Carolina game comes on at 8 here and we have to eat dinner and get our walk in before then!

Much Love

M

LOOK OUT FOR THE THUNDERSNOW!!!

My two-week whirlwind tour of the US is coming to an end in sunny Charlotte as I wait on my delayed flight to Houston-Merida. I happily arrived to cool temps in NC and LOVED wearing a sweater and scarf. I went to Target at least 5 times (thanks Mom & J!) and almost asked my mom to go one more time before we went to the airport. And we totally could have because I am now delayed. oh well.

I had fun with friends in Chapel Thrill in between running around like a crazy person in the library! Fer made me pot stickers and edamame! Can't wait for F and M to join us in Mejico! Then I was off to frigid temps in Iowa to meet the cutest neice and nefew EVER. (proof below, ok proof soon bc I don't have the pic yet) Between H's Archie, Cody, Grace, and Gavin they make this whole baby thing look really easy, but I'm not buying it - yet... I don't care what you say Michele!

I got to see family in Iowa, wear wool socks, buy a scarf, and drink about 75 white chocolate mochas. Dad and I went to see the 3 rooms, count 'em 3 rooms, of Haitian art at the Figge Art Museum in Davenport. Then we got a snowstorm and Grandma's 80th birthday had to be canceled. That was a big bummer, so I was glad I got to see her earlier in my stay. The fun part of the storm was watching this one news channel. These two guys kept getting all the details wrong like what number to call if you need a ride to the shelter because your power is out (the only 385 number in Eldridge) and they must have said thundersnow, like 500 times. I told Dad we should go get a bottle of whiskey and take a shot every time they say "thundersnow" and let me tell you, if we had, we would have been WRECKED! Thundersnow! in Iowa! Watch out for the thundersnow, but pay no mind to the powerlines snapping from ice accumulation. Besides the totally hilarious repetition of "thundersnow" this news channel was doing a pretty good job repeating the single piece of news they had received from a viewer - a fallen tree on Middle Road. They repeated this news a minimum of 20 times. I feel an attachment to this tree after watching the same video repeated for hours and hours and hours... Dad: has the tree on middle road been cleared yet?

So after all of the CRAZY THUNDERSNOW I flew out of Moline to connect to Minneapolis to Charlotte. The first flight kept getting delayed so Dad and I watched basketball on the TV at the airport. I finally left and luckily I had plenty of time to catch my connection EXCEPT when we landed we sat on the runway for 45 minutes and I missed the flight! I spent the night in Minneapolis, all expenses paid BTW, and returned yesterday to Charlotte. Thank god for the Oscars (I never thought I would say that) because there was no bar in the hotel!

When I got back to Charlotte, finally!, we went out to dinner for an excellent burger and I am now waiting for my delayed flight to Houston!

Meanwhile, Paul has been in Mexico having all kinds of crazy adventures that I will update you on soon. Wish me luck catching my flights! This is the 3rd day in a row in airport!

Much Love and More Soon!

M

Well, I must admit things are pretty boring around here without a knock-down drag-out rummy game going on anymore. I still try to get in some Law and Order now and then but the ones they are playing here (I think they are current but who knows) Olivia is gone for a bit (maternity leave?) and we have Dani. Well, I'm glad Olivia is coming back because it seems to me the writers are writing Dani to be unlikable, and she is. Un. Likable. And Dani, could you get a new jogging suit? If she turns out to be a love interest for Elliot I might have to stop watching. Does anyone know when Olivia is coming back? Soon I hope!

We had dinner at a lovely Italian place on Friday night. We walk by this restaurant all the time and had never tried it. It was very good but expensive so we won't be going back every week. Paul had lasagna and I had tortellini, yum! Saturday we listened to the game and Paul went to go pick up some books downtown that he is having bound. That didn't go as well as the game, they still aren't ready. Here's the full story:

So Willy binds books. He's a book binder. He doesn't like to work. Paul dropped off 5 books for him to bind a month ago. Willy said he would drop the books off at his class he takes downtown. Paul said, cool. A month later Paul goes to Willy's shop and says hey, yo, where are my books? Willy says, I'll have them Friday. Friday is not very convenient b/c Paul doesn't have class that day but whatever, he makes a trip downtown to get the books. Willy says, oh I haven't finished putting the lettering on them. Paul says, that's ok, I need them and don't want to have to make another trip. Willy says, well, they aren't done yet (i.e. he hasn't even started!). So Willy says come back tomorrow at noon (which was inconvenient bc the game came on here at 12:30) and then Paul leaves. He STILL doesn't have the books! Yesterday at noon Paul goes downtown again and the shop is CLOSED. Paul stares at the sign on the door that says: OPEN 9-2 everyday, checks his watch (12:00) and comes home.

Today it has been raining since we got up, the rain keeps it cool but we also have a very large puddle in the kitchen (which leaks) and had our plans to do some grocery shopping foiled (we walk). Hopefully it will clear up and stay cool this afternoon.

That's about it except that our neighbor called me "guera-ita" the other day and smiled! Sheesh!

More soon!
M

Victory is Sweet...

Especially when it's against Duke.

Heels win by 5 and although it was a nailbiter, the youngin's decided to wake up in the second half and shove it into duke's FACE! Oh, it brings back such sweet memories of JJ's last game at Cameron Indoor when Hansbrough beat duke last year. remember that?

Oh, to be in Chapel Hill right now...

GO HEELS!

What a Novel Idea

Today is Feb 5. It's a holiday here, the day of the Constitution so there are no classes. We're glad it is a holiday because it is cool and rainy, the perfect day to stay at home and get a lot of work done.

At first I thought this was brilliant - to have a holiday the day after the Super Bowl so people don't haveto call in "sick, *fake cough, very fake cough.*" However, I have changed my mind because what I saw last night did not inspire a drunken bacchanal resulting in a very deserved and raging hangover the next morning. The game was good, even exciting at times with all of the interceptions. Tony Dungy made history. The commercials, I am told by an unidentified source, weren't great (although I really did think they were broadcast worldwide!? apparently not because we sure didn't see them (if you missed them too click here to watch 'em)) and the half time shows just get worse and wrose (I was going to fix that misspelling but I think it fits nicely, they do get wrose!) At least Janet Jackson was memorable! Prince looked either really bored and/or really didn't want to be there, I mean you could tell even he thought the whole shadow/phallic symbol/guitar thing was lame. He was right. It was. Lame. 80s twenty years later lame. Lame-o.

How old is Prince anyway?

Actual Conversation

So I called Roy Williams last night and this is what I said -

"Coach Williams, if I am going to have to subject myself to listening to the UNC Bball games at an internet cafe here in Merida that not only is fly-infested and an obvious drug front that plays music so loud my ears ring when I leave, but also during this particular game some kid of maybe 17 was clearly getting it on with his girlfiend behind the bar (I'm not joking, who would joke about that?) instead of refilling my tea AT LEAST the team could SHOW UP so I could go home happy with my grossed-out-ness/raging ringing headache because the Heels came out and showed 'em who's boss. I'm not asking for too much am I, coach?"

Well we have hit a milestone. It took 6 years and 7 months but we did it! Paul won the Rummy Marathon we started on July 2, 2000. He hit 100,000 on February 2, 2007. It was fun while it lasted, but I think we both hate rummy now.

Our TV was successfully fixed and we are looking forward to ordering a pizza (al pastor) and drinking beer while watching the commercials, I mean the game. Go Colts!

We had a Rosie spotting! Two actually. She is still really small but seems happy at her new home. She lives with a couple of cats that are people shy (and probably for good reason) so she won’t even come play with us anymore! That makes me a little sad but she wags her tail at us sometimes – you know, like a cat does. I’ll try to take a photo if I can without looking like a neighborhood stalker.

Oh yeah, about our "cold snap" well, it's over. It got so hot yesterday (almost 90 degrees in the apartment) we had to turn the a/c on for a while so we could fall asleep. It was nice while it lasted.

ok, well I have to go, halftime is almost over and UNC is down two (what’s up with that?) and I can’t type AND listen at the same time. Go heels, don’t lose to state!

M

News Alert!!

OMG!

It's going to get down to 59 degrees tonight! That is the COLDEST it has been here - ever. (ok, not ever, but as long as we have been here, which is ever to me)

Burrr!!!! Get out your scarves and mittens kids, it's gonna be a brisk one!

Rummy Marathon, more Movies, Rosie the Cat, and American Football

Well, it’s a good thing they are right this moment fixing our cable because I have launched an all out Rummy attack on Paul at the last second and the scores are now as follows:

Paul: 98,570
Melissa: 98,130

Back from a 1500 point deficit, I am feeling pretty good. It was a little touch and go there for a while when we didn’t know if the cable was going to be fixed or not and I thought, well crap, we might have to play to 150,000. I mean it is only January… to which Paul hung his head and said, “No! God no!” After our marathon he has solemnly vowed never, never to play rummy again, ever.

The heat wave finally broke I guess last Friday and we spent the weekend saying, “I’m chilly, how wonderful!” It is still nice today and we hope it continues for a good long while! It was pretty funny this morning I was waiting for the bus and this guy was waiting with me with a scarf and toboggan on and there I was in sandals and a long-sleeved t-shirt. You’d think it was a blizzard! Brrrrr!

We watched Munich Friday night (which sucked terribly and that does not make me an anti-Semite, the movie just sucked - terribly). Saturday we listened to UNC beat down Arizona, which was fun and then we had tamales and apple pie at Noche Mexicana and walked home. That was fun because the weather was good and we hadn’t done it in over a month. Sunday we watched The Interpreter with Sean Penn* and Nicole Kidman, which we decided deserved a C (Munich getting an F/U for ‘u’nwatchable). It wasn’t so much a bad movie as it could have been better.

*We noticed that while Sean Penn used to be incredibly repulsive to look at, he has aged rather well and looks, well not handsome, but close. Nicole Kidman looks great in the movie which begs the question WHY did she do that dumb Chanel commercial? She looks like an evil fairy who is mentally challenged in it. “I love to dance!” Bad idea, Nicole, bad idea.

We almost had a cat. Well, kitten. This tiny kitten followed us home from the park one night all purring and meowing and being cute and everything. And we thought, crap, we have a cat! But luckily she found some kitty friends who live in a tree a couple houses down from us and she lives with them now. I named her Rosie (but I think Paul named her/him Ronauldino, which does not suit her a bit, btw) so now when we go to the park and we walk by her tree I’m all, “Hi Rosie, Rosie!” and Paul’s all “Ronauldino? Ronauldino! vete p’aca!” The neighbors must think we are so weird.

I guess that’s all the news; we are looking forward to having cable to watch the Super Bowl this weekend (the first black coach to win one, right?) and Paul is making spaghetti and garlic bread tonight.

Much Love

M & P

Movie update:

We finally watched Apocalypto this week. Having read some fairly scathing reviews of it online and being fairly reluctant to watch it at all, I was not expecting much, and that’s what I got. The language (Yucatec Maya) was pretty bad, the script was obviously written in English and then translated, and the speakers, well what can you say, the protagonist is from Oklahoma or some crap so all in all his Maya wasn’t that terrible, though Paul’s is WAY better.

The blood and gore was over the top enough that it was pretty funny to watch.

The landscape was what really got to me. Yucatec Maya is only spoken in the Yucatan. The Yucatan has very distinct geographical features such as the fact that there are no rivers, only cenotes (sinkholes but not really). That said, when the river/waterfall scene occurred I was like, wow, that’s great that Veracruz has dramatic rivers and waterfalls but Yucatan doesn’t. What Veracruz does have that Yucatan doesn’t (excluding Cancun of course) are big luxury resorts for your Mel Gibson types to hold up in while filming a movie about a people who never lived in the part of the world your filming in, but let’s not get me started…

Besides some other anachronistic stuff like the hammocks (which were brought from the Caribbean by the Spanish) and just plain dumb stuff like the sleeping in the kitchen structure (kooben) instead of the home structure and the absolute stupidity of the ravaged village not to have some “look outs,” just seemed to me a little irresponsible. The temples referenced in the film were weird too, unidentifiable yet Tikal-Chichen-looking, which is funny b/c Chichen is primarily Toltec, but whatever, no one will notice.

The ending is totally laughable but not surprising because the whole time you’re thinking, how is this going to end? How can it resolve itself, and you think, “they couldn’t use the worst, most obvious conclusion could they?” could they? oh yeah! barrel of laughs.

But don’t take my word for it. Wait until you are super bored and then go for it.

In other movie news we saw The Holiday. Paul was disappointed because he thought there should have been more Jack Black scenes, on which he is totally right. The funniest part of the movie is the boob graze but we’ve all seen that from the previews so that was a little disappointing There was an inordinate amount of footage of the “beautiful” Cameron Diaz and what’s his name? that guy who cheated on what’s her name? oh yeah, Jude Law, him. I agree but the movie is ok and actually pretty funny at times. And, I was totally jealous of all the cold weather England scenes with snow dusted fields and a hot chocolate by the fire… alas…

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention why we are back on a movie kick. The cable is out. Grrrr! So we are off to spend WAY too much money at a sports bar to watch football that is totally on TV but we can’t get reception. More on this little annoyance as it happens…

That’s my two cents. Hope global warming is treating you well. It was 93º here today!

M

It's Snowing!!

… in Chapel Hill. As for Merida, I got sun burnt waiting for the bus today!

Here are some updates that I keep forgetting to post:

The Rummy Game is not looking good for me. I had the lead down to 1150 but then I lost a big one 215 to 10. Ouch. The scores are:
P: 93,540
M: 92,020
Paul says once he hits 100,000 he will never play rummy again!

We took off to Santa Elena last weekend and on our way there we finally finished the Ruta Puuc. The smaller sites that we had never seen were great. Plus it was really easy with a car and not having to wait for the bus for hours… and hours…

Classes are going well. Paul likes his classes except one is once a week for 4 hours! wow. My class is great and the bibliography is superb. The only bummer is that we are focusing on Anglophone Caribbean literature. I would prefer to be reading Spanish lit. in a Spanish speaking country, but the critical material in Spanish is great and I’m not sure I would have found these critics on my own.

Gosh, January is half over! I really need to get to work!

More Soon

Check out the New Link

Hi all,

Just wanted to let you know there is another blog to check on periodically. It can be found under My Links (to the right). Our friends Melissa and John just arrived in Mexico (Melissa will be doing Anthropological Fieldwork in the Yucatan) and have started a blog. It's great but don't forget we were here first. just kidding M and J!

We got to see them on Monday for a while as they blew through Merida on their way to Felipe Carrillo Puerto (a city southeast of here, 4-5 hours by bus, I think). It was great to see them and we chatted a lot - a lot of times all at the same time! It's too bad they'll be so far away but alas, I must keep speaking Spanish.

That's all for now, check them out, they're really cool.

More Soon