Yucatan living

For family and friends... On our first 3 weeks in Mexico. Which have pretty much felt like a holiday... And one where I do far less than I normally would on holiday (for those who know me well, that means no long hikes or bike rides up mountains in mid-day heat!). In fact, we've never had a holiday where we've done so little before but it's really nice. Lots of reading and swimming, and realising my Spanish is woefully inadequate and struggling to motivate myself to put in half as much effort in learning it as I did when I was working. I feel I need to start by telling you about the birds and the bugs. First, the Grackle which lives in our garden. Lean, jet back, almost purple, he struts round the pool noisily, showing us and any potential lady friends who's boss. Ben's says it's like having a cat (or at least like our noisy, bossy cat). The hummingbird ignores him and occasionally flits in & out sipping nectar from the flowers on the cactus. Inside scorpions, cock roaches and mosquitoes lie in wait for us at night. To be fair it's not quite that dramatic. The scorpion isn't deadly, and I've only seen the cockroach once. The mosquitoes on the other hand are numerous & persistent. And there are loads of ants. We can't leave food out even for a few minutes. Ben has classified them into 5 types, from small to large red monsters. The mid sized ones give a nasty nip (all the time) :(

Nuestra Casa, Chelem

We spend all day every day outside. There's a large thatched pagoda in the garden with enough space to escape the sun. And then the pool to cool of in - though it does get a bit hot to be effective in that regard #sofirstworldproblems.

100m down the sand track that passes for a road outside our house is the beach. It is wild, with big waves, strong currents, and normally nobody about. Its so much fun swimming, surrounded by huge pelicans diving into the water to catch fish. I have no idea how they can see the fish though - the water is totally opaque and they dive from quite a height. I can't even see my arms in front of me. Still they seem to be pretty successful. This evening, around 5ish, there was a storm brewing. We went down to the beach to watch it and then swam in the sea as thunder & lightning struck around us. Trying to spot the lightning, not to miss the pelicans diving and at the same time jumping the waves.

The stormy beach, Chelem

Ben has since looked it up and apparently swimming when there is lightning around is "one of the most dangerous things you can do". Ah well, we won't do that again! Last night, for the first time since we arrived, we had rain. It didn't last long. Every few days the weather forecast has predicted thunder storms and rain, and we look outside and just see sun with maybe the odd white whispy cloud. It's been hot. Too hot to sleep till the early hours. We are already used to getting up and putting on swim suits and only changing if we go out.

Mayan ruins at Dzibilchaltun

We have also done a few touristy things. We've visited an impressive Mayan pyramid.

We've cayaked amoungst the mangroves, hoping to see crocodiles but didn't actually see any.

And we've swum in a few cenotes - the underground river system here formed from a huge meteor that scientists think wiped out the dinosaurs. This is probably the most amazing thing we've done so far. The first one was amongst mangroves with raccoons running around, dragonflies and butterflies flitting above our heads and fish and turtles beneath us. It was really peaceful and beautiful. We had to get a little boat across the inlet to get there.

Cenote Xlacah

The second one we went to was even more beautiful. It was among the Mayan ruins, with large lizards looking on from the rocks surrounding the pool which itself was filled with waterlilies. We swam with goggles on and it was just like swimming in a huge fish tank. Very serene. And no one else around (at least at first - more people had arrived when we went back later for a second swim). What else? We've visited a few towns and villages. In pretty much every village tortillas are made in tortillerias - a simple machine and operator is all it takes with dough in one end & baked tortillas out the other. They are sold by the kilo, with locals buying big stacks of them at any one time. They are delicious fresh off the press. It is very hot work though. Most advertising here is done through graffiti. I'm not sure that is the correct description, but many places have images painted on the sides of buildings to advertise their wares. From snacks, beer, Coca cola logos, to mechanical services or medical procedures! I guess it makes sense with around 30% Yucatec Mayan speakers as well as Spanish speakers here.

A snack shop in Hunucma

Otherwise goods are advertised with a loud speaker from a pick up truck. Especially over the Easter holidays. Everyone advertises the same products - namely anything that can be made with coconuts "Coco frio, heladas de coco, cremias de coco, bolis de coco, flanges de coco... ". Roadside stalls selling the same are every few metres along the road. But coconuts grow everywhere here.... Everyone has them in their back garden. No wonder there never seem to be any customers! We have 2 more weeks here, then a bit of a road trip before Ben's brother & family join us in July. I'll report back again soon. Adios for now from Chelem, Yucatan.