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

Things I will (not) miss when I am back in the States

Things I will miss when I am back in the States:

1. coke in a bottle
2. tacos al pastor and panuchos
3. yummy, cheap avocados at every meal, even in January
4. kinder buenos – whatever will I do?
5. laundry service – maybe this should be number 1…
6. park walks
now that it is “winter” and it “cools” down to a “frigid” 70 degrees at night, Paul and I have gotten into the habit of taking park walks after the Law and Order re-run (or during if we have already seen it). The park is neat (mental note to take a photo) and takes up a full city block. Around the perimeter is a walking (or if you are so inclined a jogging) path. We pretend (because we really don’t know) that one lap = ¼ of a mile so we go at least 4 laps a night sometimes more when we lose trackwhile we are jabbering. There is also a very friendly homeless black cat that lives in the park and likes to nuzzle with your feet as you walk by her. I’ll miss her too.


Things that I will NOT miss when I am back in the States:

1. the rooster that lives next door
which is kind of a funny story, if you don’t wake up to said rooster every morning at 4:30am. Paul and I have a running joke about the rooster. The rooster lives much closer to our apartment than he does to the owner’s house. The woman who lives in the house probably doesn’t even hear the rooster in the mornings like we do. We like to take walks in the evenings, sometimes fairly late when the air is cooler, and we joke on our way back as we pass her house that we should stand under her bedroom window at about 12:30am and start crowing like roosters! ha! Maybe we’ll do that on our last night here!
2. the crappy tea/coffee served in restaurants. A yummy cupful of ashtray! Exactly what I wanted! (though I do have to admit that Wal-Mart (I know, I know, but you don't LIVE here) that Wal-mart carries a fair selection of Twinings and Celestial Seasonings. I have recently purchased both "Chamomile and Spearmint" (Twinings) and "Sleepytime" (Celestial Seasonings), which I highly recommend. I never bought it in the States but I slept great after a cup of Sleepytime last night. Go figure.
3. lighting the hot water heater in the morning. I think the thing doubles as hot water heater/mosquito sanctuary – not the best way to wake up in the morning.
4. chicken death smell
This one may need some explanation: There is a chain restaurant by our house (luckily it is 4 blocks away) called pollo brujo (witch) – yeah she’s a brujo alright, a long dead and decaying one because the place smells like raw (dead) chickens were left out back like 3 years ago and still haven’t been cleaned up. Clearly this is not the case because the rat-ferrets (our lovely Yucatecan Opossum) would have taken care of them by now but you get the idea of what the place smells like. It smells like chicken death. Technically the fastest way to walk to the park in our neighborhood (see above park walks) is past chicken death restaurant but we now go around to avoid the smelly raunchiness.
5. ants – all of ‘em
6. the bus system
Being passed by a bus that you want to take, being told to pay twice, sitting on the sunny side of the bus on a hot day. I will not miss this.

Random Adendum:

Here’s a story for you:

Paul went to this photocopy shop to have some things photocopied. (Still with me?) They said Sure! we can photocopy these things and they’ll be done at 4pm. Paul says ok and comes back to the shop at 4pm (which is his mistake because 4 here means like quarter to five, but anyway) so at 5:30 he’s still sitting there waiting for his stuff to finish being photocopied and he notices the guy who is doing the photocopying is trying to hurry. In an effort to speed up the process for Paul he is skipping pages as he photocopies! And Paul’s all like Sweet! ‘cuz what I really wanted was every 4th page of the book! So now he has to go back to have them fix it. I bet they’ll tell him it’ll be ready at 4!

More as it Happens!

Part Two of the Family Extravaganza in Mexico

Paul and I got up early on the morning of the 28th, took our bags to the Hyatt, and checked in. We were pretty dirty since we didn’t have hot water in our apartment so the Hyatt people were kind of like, um, are you sure you have a reservation here? But they were nice and we got our room and then headed to the airport. The Manley flight was delayed (the same flight and same delay the Worleys had) so we waited, ate at Burger King, and waited some more. Just ten minutes before they were to arrive, the flight was delayed again by more than 2 hours. We drove back to the hotel and I took a fabulously hot shower and was in better spirits to meet the parents in a much cleaner state. Paul checked the flight online and we headed back to the airport. The Manleys arrived safe and sound and later that night Mom and I went to go get Uncle Larry who flew in from San Diego.

We relaxed and visited until everyone was about to pass out and made plans to meet for breakfast the next morning. (BTW: The Hyatt is super nice and the buffets are amazing so we ate there a lot.)

Friday: we went to Dzibilchaltun and had the same guide as we did when the Worleys were here. He was excellent (again) and we got to see the ball court in the back part of the city behind the cenote.

Saturday: we got a guide who took us through Chichen. He was good but didn’t really have tons of extra information that Paul didn’t already know. We did take some extra time (although it was quite hot) to visit the observatory and temples in the old part. It threatened to rain but never did so we headed off to the buffet in Piste where we ate with the Worleys and it was yummy food again with more Yucatecan dancing. After the buffet these boys from the town wanted to trade something from us for a statue one of them had carved. Paul (to my happy surprise) decided to trade his old hemp necklace to the boy for the statue. They boy was excited and so was I to get rid of that thing! He had it on by the time we were leaving the parking lot and we had to tip all the boys for “watching our car!”

For dinner we went to Los Almendros and had panuchos, which everyone agreed were yummy.

Sunday: We went to Merida en Domingo for shopping. I had the bad idea to tell Mom that Nancy had bought some dresses for grandchildren that didn’t exist and she thought that was a super idea and bought three! Um hello? So now the pressure is not only on Kate and me to produce female heiresses, but on Bryan (sorry, you’re going to have to have more than just Mavster) and Mary too. Sorry all, I take full responsibility…

For New Years we decided to do the package the hotel had to offer and what fun it was! We had a scrumptious buffet with California rolls, marinated olives, every meat you can think of plus 10 more, salads, sides, and then the desserts! We think there were over 20 desserts to choose from and I’m pretty sure that between all 5 of us we tried them all! After that Uncle Larry treated us to a bottle of champagne to ring in the New Year. The actual ringing was kind of weird because no one actually “rang” it so we just decided after a while that is was the New Year and then celebrated! I think we were all in bed by 1am!

Monday: we just relaxed. It looked like rain but we walked around some and had frappachinos (sp?) downtown. Pretty much everything was closed for the holiday, which surprised me because there were many more tourists in town for New Years than there had been for Christmas.

That about sums it all up. Paul has his first class of the semester right this moment and I start on Monday, at 8am, yuck! Wish us a fast and productive semester!

Happy New Year

I hope everyone had a Happy New Year and all are recovering from the food extravaganza that is the holiday season. We had a wonderful time with family, so much so that it may take me a couple of posts to get everyone up-to-date.

The first thing I should say is that Tom and Nancy arrived safe and sound on December 20th and before we could say ‘hellos’ and ‘how are yous,’ Paul and I were voraciously munching on all the tasty home-made treats they brought. Kate sent some spoon cookies with a homemade raspberry filling that were, while a bit smashed by the TSA, perfectly scrumptious!

Then we chatted for hours it seems about all the funny things the dogs do and all the creative snacks Tom likes to give them in the afternoon to keep Masha from getting cranky before dinnertime. That and how cute they are when they are sleeping. After that is was full-vacation mode:

We ran Paul’s parents around in our sporty Dodge Stratus all week.

Let’s see they arrived on a Wednesday so we relaxed that day and ate panuchos, yum.

Thursday: we went to ruins called Dzibilchaltun then we had tacos with the Ramirez’s for dinner.

Friday: we went to see the church at Izamal, where Pope John Paul II visited in the 90s.

Saturday: was Chichen Itza, where it rained just as we were leaving so Paul bought really cheesy tourist shirts to wear for lunch so we wouldn’t be all damp and gross, instead cheesy and mis-matched, but dry. That evening we had tomales at Mexican Night after which we had coffee and assorted pies. We love the coffee and assorted pie woman at Mexican Night so much we go almost every week. In an effort to make ourselves feel better about eating assorted pies, we walk home if it is not raining.

Sunday: Merida en Domingo, the main square is full of vendors selling all kinds of handicrafts and such. Oh right, I forgot to mention that on Friday we also stopped at Kimbila where Tom bought a snazzy guayabera shirt for himself and Nancy bought two cute dresses for her granddaughters – what granddaughters you ask? Exactly, future granddaughters. No pressure, none, zip, zilch. At least the pressure is shared with Kate and Neil who now must also produce said granddaughter.

Monday: Christmas Day so we relaxed again until dinner.

I don’t know if you got what you wanted for Christmas, but I sure did* I received the first season of The Closer on DVD. So far I have only watched 2 episodes. We are going in order. It is sort of like your favorite candy bar, if you eat it too fast you won’t relish it so Paul and I are on a strict Closer regimen to maximize the enjoyment potential. Of course, Paul noted that when we watched all of them we could just watch them again, which is true, but somehow not the same…

* of course what I really wanted for Christmas was for family to visit me and pay for my every whim during their stay, which they happily did, which I happily let them do. But I got this also…

Tuesday: we said good-bye and Paul and I took the Dodge to Mani for dinner and then back to Merida because all of the hotels were full in Ticul. When we arrived we realized we had no hot water (my favorite) so we did not take showers on Wednesday or Thursday. Wednesday we took our laundry to be washed (at least our clothes won’t stink) and Thursday we packed up again for round 2 with the Manleys and Uncle Larry.

Next installment coming soon - you can't wait I know you can't...

Melissa

Merry Christmas!!

As if I even need to add words to this photo... Paul and I are getting excited for family coming. I finished my class today so we are officially on vacation until Jan 3. Thought we would get you in the Christmas spirit with this, the cutest photo of 2006 (although Kate´s photos are a close second!).

Merry Christmas!

Melissa

Kibbles Update

I didn’t want to mention anything before but it has all worked out now so here is the story:

The day I posted the ‘Gecko Naming Contest’ was the last day we had seen ‘Kibbles.’ I was thinking, oh crap, here we finally named him and he was eaten by a crow or something! But not to worry he was finally spotted in the bathroom last night (practically gave me a heart attack)and seemed healthy, I mean for a gecko. Phew. Thought we had jinxed him!

More soon

Melissa