Waiting in Texas

12 Jan

The Tortas have been recovering from our adventurous drive from southern Mexico to central Texas. We’re hanging out with our youngest son and his family waiting on the birth of our first granddaughter (Sophia). Lisa’s mom arrived and will be driving back to Bacalar with us at the end of January. I remember playing the waiting game, with babies who refused to be born on anyone’s time but their own, and with a move to Mexico over four months ago. Actually, we’re still waiting to close on our property in Mexico, build and move into our home there. The builder has been selected and first payment made, so we wait some more.

The computers are fixed and the IPad replaced. We are working our way through the purchase of items that are difficult to find in Bacalar – yarn to finish a project, a battery for my watch, new running shoes, lube for my bike chain that rusted from three months of neglect.

I think this week will be pretty low key. Lisa came down with a bug yesterday and we’ve been dealing with fever and other bodily fluids that need not be mentioned. A challenge is visiting friends in Austin, over an hour away, while waiting on Sophia. We’ll probably arrange a get-together on short notice and hope folks can come.

The challenge is always to appreciate the present and not constantly look down the road to some better time or situation. Thanks for visiting with the Tortas. What are you waiting for to be happy?

The Newest Torta

The Newest Torta

Hunter and GrandmaLIsa

Hunter and GrandmaLIsa

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So much for waiting.

So much for waiting.

Tags: , , , ,

OMG It’s Sunday!

5 Jan

We left Bacalar on Monday with the dim-whitted idea of meandering along Mexico’s Costa Esmeralda toward Veracruz, and Tampico while enjoying a peaceful drive with beautiful vistas of the Gulf of Mexico. Day one, we drove like wild women through Villahermosa and on to a “little town” who’s name no one can pronounce. Driving for 12 hours is not a good idea.

As in the US, many small towns in Mexico have exploded with traffic. Narrow streets make for a hair-raising experience and after a long day on the road, the Tortas don’t do so well. We spent one chilly night in Coatzocoalcos as a northern had blown in making a walk along the beach impossible. The hotel front doors were tied shut because of the wind.

Day two, on to Veracruz. This time we got smart and made reservations at a little hotel downtown. We wanted to be in the heart of the New Year’s Eve celebration. What were we thinking!? At two in the afternoon, the traffic was a nighmare. We got within blocks of the hotel only to find roads closed and traffic diverted. I tried calling the hotel but my language skills disintegrate over the phone. We were parked at a curb, trying not to cry, surrounded by street musicians and parties that got started early. They were having way more fun than we were.

We channeled our inner Amazing Race and hailed a cab and told a sweet driver our dilemma. He told me to climb in and off we went with Lisa in tow.  Placed in his experienced hands we turned in circles until arriving as if my magic in front of the hotel. He told me why the traffic was so bad. Apparently the presidente of the state was being sworn in downtown that very afternoon. Road closures were for security and our cab driver was not happy either.

We had a blast in Veracruz for New Year’s Eve. Once we got settled in the hotel, the tension of the trip melted away. We walked through the zócalo, cathedral and artists mercado, people watching and enjoying a beautiful evening. Veracruz is an old city with so much to see and do. We decided to stay.

Day three, we walked the malecón, (boardwalk) and visited Fort San Juan Ulúa. Veracruz has a very busy port. We stood mesmerized by huge ships full of cargo containers parking more easily than we could downtown.

We crossed the boarder without event and arrived at our son’s house outside of San Antonio yesterday. The middle of the trip we’d like to forget. To say the least, it was a huge lesson learned and possibly material for a future blog. Our granddaughter is due any time and we are glad to be settling in for a visit with family and friends. Just how resilient are the Tortas? We better find out before we drive back to Bacalar in a month.

Shipping Port Veracruz

Shipping Port Veracruz

Fort San Juan Ulúa

Fort San Juan Ulúa

NYE Selfie

New Year’s Eve on the Zocalo

Mantra for driving in MX

Mantra for driving in MX

 

 

 

 

Familia Nueva

29 Dec

Spending our first Navidad y Año Nuevo in Mexico has been both a time of celebrating a journey that started more than a year ago and a bittersweet absence of the family traditions that we have maintained for many years. With the sale of our Austin home and the yet to be built house in Bacalar, we are staying here and there with our possessions scattered.

This week we had the delightful experience of meeting Nancy and Judy who found Dos Tortas on LIPS (Lesbians in Paradise) Facebook page. They are retired and live full-time in Mexico and were on a holiday vacation to a warmer clime. Judy recognized me on a chance encounter in the town square and the rest is herstory. We’ve been exploring pyramids, kayaking and sharing stories of world travels and life in Mexico. Lisa and I now have familia nueva and a place to visit on our trips to and from the States, or a getaway from the tropical summer.

There has been so much unknown in this process of jumping off a cliff and praying to grow wings or find new solid ground. Being open to the unexpected and having it land in our lap has renewed our faith that this is the right move. It’s more than a bond of strangers in a strange land. It’s knowing there are Tortas the world over and opportunities for close relationships wherever we go.

If you want to see more photos from our visit to the Mayan pyramids of Kohunlich, visit our Facebook page. As always, comments are appreciated.

Our New Torta friends.

Our New Torta friends.

Just sayin.

Just sayin.

Tags:

Pass the Tamales

22 Dec

To say that I moved to Mexico to avoid the Christmas hype would not be far off the mark. The endless Christmas carols, holiday traffic, and buy, buy, buy mentality starts earlier and earlier. I used to look forward to breaking out the outdoor lights, brewing up a batch of my mother’s home-made eggnog and dusting off the cranberry recipes. While we had pretty much quit giving gifts, we certainly enjoyed time with family and friends.

This will be the first Christmas we have been away from our family. We’ve missed a few Thanksgivings, but never Christmas. How did I not see that I would have feelings about this? It hit me that I am dealing with this sadness by acting like I don’t care. “I don’t even LIKE Christmas. The people here are all weird. Do we HAVE to go to all these parties?” Waaah.

The truth is that this is the new life we’ve chosen. Our kids are grown and creating their new families and traditions. We will see them in January and have lots of time to connect. We are getting to know our new peeps and the last thing I want is to be aloof and distant, been there, done that.

So pass the tamales. I know that eggnog recipe is around here somewhere.

Thanks to our friend Scott for this wonderful little greeting card.

Tags:

Electronic Hell

15 Dec

I have a brother who has no email address. He has never Googled nor ordered anything from Amazon. He doesn’t know what a Kindle is. I booked his recent flight to our family reunion while he was on the phone feeding me credit card information. I can’t send him pictures from our vacation, and he’s never read my blog. He takes great pride in not participating in a much bigger world, preferring his life on simpler terms. No passwords, I get it.

I remember when I got my first cell phone. I didn’t like the idea of being tethered to anyone who had my number. Then like everyone else, I quickly couldn’t live with out it. I purchased an IPhone to keep up with my kids and feel like technology wasn’t passing me by. Without my laptop and internet, I couldn’t have spent hours researching “retiring to Mexico” from the comfort of my lap. It would have been old school library and books.

Since coming to Mexico, we have heard of many ways to stay plugged in. For the past few months we have used wifi (in Spanish weefee) to access the web and Skype to the States. I believe there is a data plan in Mexico that can be used with an IPhone which will allow people to reach us via Skype and can also serve as a Mexican phone, all in one. Probably when we get back from the States in February, we will look into it.

This week Lisa had a liquid explosion which dumbed coffee on her laptop and I lost my IPad, both on her birthday. The laptop was rescued but the IPad is gone. It took me about 12 hours to pull myself out of a pity party and get my head on straight. The IPad allows me to take the lovely sunrise pictures that I post to Facebook daily. Sometime during the sleepless night following our disaster, I had a vision of a Bush man of the Kalahari Dessert. He was wearing a loin cloth and carrying a spear used to provide food and water. No laptops, I-this and that, charging cables, internet woes, error messages, and above all no passwords. While I will likely get another IPad, the freedom from electronic hell does sound appealing. I’m just not sure about the loin cloth.

Easier Than You Think

Easier Than You Think

Revisiting Some Favorites

Revisiting Some Favorites

sunrise10

First Sunrise Living in Bacalar

First Sunrise Living in Bacalar

Tags: , , , , , ,

Madre Mia

8 Dec

The Tortas have returned from Florida where we enjoyed a very family Thanksgiving. We have not been together with my siblings for many years. We hiked, did some boating, saw manatees, ate and ate some more.

Thanksgiving in Key Largo

Thanksgiving in Key Largo

Upon returning to Mexico, we landed in Cancun and breezed through customs. Outside of the airport I was looking for a bus to take us to Bacalar when a tall, official-looking young man asked me if I needed help. In the conversation, he called me “Madre”. At first I was annoyed (my go-to response) but within a breath I realized that calling a woman madre in Mexico is a term of respect. In the US we call someone a “mother” and it is akin to cursing.

While much is challenging living in Mexico, it is small, unexpected cultural experiences that endear the country to us. Being in Florida reminded us of the incredible wealth and infrastructure that the US has that makes life so easy for so many. And we don’t even know it. In poverty, human connection is the major resource. Sometimes it shows up simply as treating each other with resect.

Tortas on Holiday

Tortas on Holiday

Starfruit Key Largo

Starfruit Key Largo

Florida Sunset

Florida Sunset

Thought for the Day

A Wonderful Recipe

 

Tags:

Feliz Dia De Gracias

1 Dec

The Tortas are off on holiday to Florida visiting family. Here’s an earlier post from our preparation for the move to Mexico. It all seems so long ago. Have  a wonderful holiday.

Date night with Lisa.

Date night with Lisa.

I met Lisa on September 16,1994 in a lesbian bar. That’s why last night was such a perfect send off for our last weekend in Austin. We had spent the day packing the trailer. Looking from our pile of stuff to that tiny trailer had caused me some exceedingly restless nights. Lisa’s history of packing 18-wheelers gave me some hope, but I still had little faith. The end results were amazing. We had help from our sons, their dad and Lisa’s cousin. I was in charge of recording where everything was put in the trailer, writing furiously as they squeezed things into every nook. If I didn’t see it with my own eyes, I would never have believed how much we fit in that trailer.

Friends had told us of a fun sounding event happening last night. It was a reunion of folks who used to hang at a bar named Rusty’s, long gone the way of lesbian bars in Austin. We took naps, dusted off our only pair of clean shorts and headed over to Maria’s Tacos for an old fashioned lesbian soiree and drag show. We had a blast. A last chance to dance a little two-step, run into some old friends and visit the time capsule of our past. It was absolutely the best send off possible. Had I not seen it with my own eyes, I wouldn’t have believed we could step back in time, except of course for the cell phones, gray hair and extra weight LOL.

An end to a perfect day.

A Room Full of Stuff

Fit this in the Trailer? OMG

Packed

Packed

Find Something? I doubt it.

Find Something? I doubt it.

Grandson, Lisa, DIL, Sons & their dad.

Going to Miss You Sweeties

Maria's Tacos

Maria’s Tacos

Great Drag Show

Life is a Cabaret

Refrigerator Magnet

Thought For the Day

Tags: , , , , ,

Tortas on Holiday

24 Nov

Hola Dear Followers,

The Tortas are on a new adventure, traveling from Mexico to the US and back. We are spending a couple of weeks with family in Florida (another jungla!) hoping for some sunshine and fun.

Here’s an earlier blog entry for your reading, Starry Starry Night. We haven’t had many starry nights recently with all the rain. I’m hoping to get my star chart out when we get back.

Blessings to all as you gather with family and friends to remember what’s really important. Love one another and show it.

Feliz dia de Gracias

Feliz dia de Gracias

Gratitude, gratitude, gratitude

Gratitude, gratitude, gratitude

 

Machete – Tool of La Jungla

17 Nov

Herramientas or tools is a mouthful for most English-speakers, but a necessary word to master for living in Mexico. In order to manage our lawns in the US we have mowers – riding, push, electric, gasoline, and human powered. Then there are edgers, hedge trimmers, clippers, rakes, blowers and you can probably think of more. In Mexico there is the all-purpose machete. Our half acre of property was cleared in half a day by two men wielding blades. There is historical kinship to the sword. Revolutions have been fought and roads built by armies swinging a machete.

This week I purchased my very own machete. I figured that it would come in handy working on our property. With the upper body strength of a flea, I bought the smallest and most light-weight machete I could find. I then turned to that trusty educational source YouTube. I learned more than I could have imagined about the usefulness of this handy survival, self-defense, multi-tool. I’m off today to get it sharpened and then will attempt to not cut off any limbs, mine or anyone else’s. Wish me luck.

Ain't She Sweet?

Ain’t She Sweet?

Property Cleared

Property Cleared

Monday's Sunrise

Monday’s Sunrise

Another Tool of La Jungla

Another Tool of La Jungla

Tags: , , , ,

Ah Retired

10 Nov

Two and a half months and we’re beginning to feel the edges of what it’s like to be retired. After a lifetime of “chop wood, carry water, repeat” days begin without an alarm clock or schedule. This week we returned to Chetumal, as my persistent rash is defying usual treatment and we are on to Plan B. We live in such a sanitized world in the US and acclimating to a new environment is a rite of passage for expats here. For some reason the skin really takes a hit. I will never need lip balm again, nor lotion for dry skin, and I will adapt.

Chetumal is the capital city (pop 140,000) of the state of Quitana Roo. It is the source of all things city for those of us living in quiet Bacalar (Walmart, Sam’s, movie theaters, medical, immigration, and live music). It’s a thirty minute drive and Lisa and I are learning our way around as streets are rarely identified and the city layout defies logic.

After a quick visit with Dr. Quintanilla, we headed downtown to El Centro.

Museum of Mayan Culture

Museum of Mayan Culture 

The museum houses both a permanent display of the great Mayan cities and visiting free exhibits. I really enjoyed the Day of the Dead exhibit by artista Carmen Vazquez. Visit our Facebook page to see pictures of her amazing art.

Replica Mayan Village

Replica of a Mayan village

 

Model of Tikal, Guatemala

Model of Tikal, Guatemala

Mayan Columns

Mayan queen

After our museum visit we discovered a great little Turkish restaurant across the street and treated ourselves to coffee.

Turkish coffee is beautiful little china cups.

Turkish coffee beautifully served in tiny cups.

And now for the best part…we went to our first movie in Mexico…Gravity in 3D (tres day) with Spanish subtitles. With my old person card, we paid about $10US for us both. There were seven other people in the theater. Free museum entry, discounted movies…not bad, and we even enjoyed the movie!

Last night we also stopped to enjoy live music at a restaurant where we are making friends with the staff. Do you believe it, two dates in one week? Ah, we are learning to enjoy the retired life.

Que padre!

Date night with Lisa.

Date night with Lisa at El Pargo

A chance to practice Spanish.

A chance to practice Spanish.

When the mind is like water, calm and peaceful, it reflects the beauty in the world. When it is agitated, you can have paradise in front of you and not see it.

Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

← Older Entries
Newer Entries →

Emilie Vardaman

travel and random thoughts

Your Hand in Mind

Musings of a human factors engineer after her brain was released...

Adventures with LoLo

Surviving Yucatan

Smoothing out Mexico's rough spots.

Surviving Mexico

Adventures and Disasters

Perking the Pansies

Jack Scott's random ramblings

WordPress.com News

The latest news on WordPress.com and the WordPress community.