the adventures of dos tortas

Visiting Notre Dame Cathedral

Watching Notre Dame burn in 2019 was heartbreaking. The entire world was horrified. When Lisa and I saw the news this week of the completed renovation and pending reopening, it sparked memories of our trip to Paris in March 2024.

I know that the French get a bad rep, especially from entitled American tourists. Maybe the unfriendliness is true away from the city, but Paris was a delight for us. We stayed in a quaint boutique hotel behind the Louvre. The ancient “lift” took us to within two floors of our attic hideaway. The view was of the surrounding buildings, nothing to write home about but we enjoyed it immensely. The best part of the hotel stay, for me, was the daily warm baguettes for breakfast! I was in heaven.

View from the attic.

We are not foodies but enjoyed the waitstaff at every restaurant. They were multilingual, friendly and happy. One time we shared a table with a young couple from Mexico. They were living abroad for work and happy to speak Spanish.

One of our stops was of course Notre Dame. We sat on the bleachers behind a plywood barrier, gazing upward at the scaffolding and the very busy workers. It was a gray day but we sat for a long time taking in both the sadness and the hope. It’s hard to believe it’s finished.

Artists across the Seine from the cathedral. Stock photo.

I guess we’ll have to go back. Of the five cities we visited on our whirlwind tour, London, Amsterdam, Paris, Munich and Salzburg, Paris was my favorite. And there’s so much we missed.

DOS TORTAS

PS Forgive my stock photos. All my pictures were stolen in my phone.

Tags: expat living in Mexico, Inspiration, Notre Dame, Paris, retire mexico, travel

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Ten Years Living In Mexico

24 Nov

When we moved to the small jungle town of Bacalar in 2014, there was of course much to learn and adjust to. We were looking for a slower pace and to stretch our retirement dollars. I had gone to college in Central Mexico in the 70’s, travelled the country extensively, loved the culture and spoke Spanish. We loved the pyramids, fiestas and people, what could go wrong?

Travel – there’s a small “international” airport forty minutes from our house. In 2014 I imagined catching a flight to Austin to celebrate family events, birthdays and holidays. I should have done more research. All flights out of Chetumal pass through Mexico City’s enormous and confusing Benito Juarez airport. Connecting flights are often impossible to make requiring over night stays and $$$. Additional travel considerations were not thought out with the addition of Lisa’s mom and two dogs. Alice can no longer travel by herself and the dogs and house require house sitters, even for a long weekend in Merida. Not to mention that flying is not as much fun as it used to be.
Friendship – While I have talked about the challenges of making friends with expats, I haven’t talked about friendships with locals. Bacalar is small enough that shop owners, fellow gym rats and Lisa’s students and parents from the school she volunteers at, greet us warmly. Sometimes we get side-eye over who these foreigners are. It helps that Lisa’s Spanish has greatly improved. After ten years it’s nice to feel like we belong.
Transportation – For me, Mexico has always been an example of public transportation at its finest. Buses, colectivos and taxis were frequent and economical. As the Mexican economy improved, people bought cars. Individual transportation is far more common today than ever before.

For the most part life here has been a joy. We have zero regrets. A crystal ball to predict Covid would have been nice. We also don’t have to deal directly with the current political climate in the US. Hopefully in a few more weeks I will be on my feet and life will look a bit more “normal”, whatever that is.

DOS TORTAS

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Dreaming Of Pickleball

17 Nov

I found myself lying awake at two a.m. last night. The room was bright due to the full moon shimmering on the Laguna outside the window. The silence was palpable except for an occasional snort from our little pug. I love the quiet of night here in the Mexican jungle. Drifting in and out of sleep, I began visualizing myself healed, walking, swimming, squats and leg presses. I was seeing complete recovery from this broken leg that has kept me immobile for the last two months.

Last summer on our cruise to Alaska, I noticed a pickleball beginners’ class being offered on the upper deck of the ship. If you’ve been living under a rock for the past few years you might not be familiar with this cross between tennis and badminton, played on a smallish court with a large paddle. It is very popular with the grey goat population.

I’d been wanting to give it a try, seeing myself with some level of skill. Boy was I wrong! My cruise partner had brought his own paddle! Who does that? I’m not sure what the problem was but I couldn’t connect with the ball to save my life. I zigged and zagged trying to keep my eye on the darn ball. Back in the day, I used to play a decent game of tennis. That day is long gone.

Pickleball rules are very different from tennis.

My two a.m. visualization included playing pickleball. My feeble cruise attempt was fun in spite of making a fool of myself. I hear there’s a court in Bacalar. While I’m at it, I think I’ll visualize playing pickleball well. Ha ha. Might as well ask for what I want.

DOS TORTAS

Open link to watch.

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Tags: expat living in Mexico, full moon, Inspiration, Laguna Bacalar, pickleball, retire mexico, visualization

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Disabled Rights Are Human Rights

9 Nov

As another week creeps by in my healing journey, I am reminded of a friend, Nora. Nora and I worked together in Texas, traveled for work and for awhile shared an office. Nora had polio as a child and lives with no use of one of her legs. During the ten or so years we worked together, I was aware of her leg brace and watched her go from using a cane, to crutches, and after a fall, a wheelchair and walker. Since my accident and loss of use in my leg, she has been much on my mind.

Once we were traveling together and I got to see first hand her daily experience as a person with a disability. I had sprained my ankle at the time and was using a walking boot to hobble about. Nora insisted against my objection that I use a wheelchair to get through the airport. I remember feeling embarrassed. I saw how people with disabilities, even temporary ones are made to feel less than.

At the office, Nora worked a later shift and often arrived at work to find all the handicapped parking spaces occupied. She had to fight with administrators to get a designated parking space. Her car was her legs.

In front of our building there was a dip in the curb supposedly to act as access for anyone with difficulties climbing a step. The trouble was, there was a drain that always clogged after a rain, right where the curb opening was. This caused water to pool and made the ramp impossible to walk or roll through. Nora had been fighting for years to get the drain cleaned regularly or moved, to no avail. It seemed like she was always fighting for the smallest accommodation.

I have been out of the house once in the past seven weeks. It is impossible to get around as a disabled person in Mexico. The sidewalks are a death trap even for able bodied people. Accommodations are almost nonexistent. When our local hospital put in ramps, they had chains which blocked people from using them! I unhooked the chains every time I passed by. Finally the barriers were removed. We will all experience handicaps in one form or another in our lives. The US has The American With Disabilities Act, human rights that were fought for long and hard.

I highly recommend this movie on Netflix.

DOS TORTAS

Tags: broken leg, disability, Inspiration, Laguna Bacalar, retire mexico

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Discoveries Of The Bed Bound

3 Nov

Figuring out how to spend my time as I head into three additional weeks of R & R is a challenge. Thank God for Netflix where I have discovered Korean cinema. With a plethora of drama, romance and horror (I don’t do scary) I’m probably late to the game. Three programs have captured my interest or at least have kept me from loosing my mind.

The Extraordinary Attorney Woo

My favorite by a mile, Attorney Woo is a young woman entering her first professional job as a person with autism. The program captures attention with drama and sweet romance. It was almost binge worthy but I chose to stretch it out. I do hope they have a second season.

2. Culinary Class Wars

While I’m a sucker for cooking shows, this is my first foray into foreign reality cooking. Dubbed in English, both Michelin star chefs aka white spoons and lesser known black spoons compete in grueling cook-offs. The best one included a mound of tofu. While I didn’t know a lot of the ingredients, I’m ready to pack my bags for a taste-testing trip to Korea.

3) Physical 100

A reality show featuring world class athletes, body builders, martial artists and even actors who go up against each other to prove their physical prowess. I love how the show includes their internal dialogue which features a lot of trash talk and overly inflated self-confidence. As participants are winnowed from 100 to a final winner in both individual and team challenges, there are many exhausting twists and turns. Your ally becomes your enemy in a matter of minutes.

My surgeon has relegated me to bed rest for another three weeks before taking an additional diagnostic X-ray. Plenty of time to continue to explore the world of Korean cinema.

DOS TORTAS

Tags: aging, Inspiration, Korean cinema, Laguna Bacalar, netflix, retire mexico

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Not My Fault

27 Oct

It’s so easy to blame myself for the last two months’ trauma. “If onlies” run through my head. If only I had paid more attention passing through security in Vancouver. If only I hadn’t been so careless playing with the dog. Sigh, an accident is an accident, is an accident.

About two weeks after my fall, I got a message from my youngest brother emphatically telling me to pick up the phone. My brother William who is 16 months younger than me had an accident and broke his left leg! (same as me). He lives in Asheville North Carolina and was preparing for Hurricane Helene that swept through in September. My 71 year old brother climbed onto the roof to clean out the gutters, caught his leg and had to be lifted off the roof by the Fire Department.

He spent a week in the hospital after surgery with no electricity, riding out the hurricane. Food and supplies were being delivered by helicopter. At home there was no damage to his house, only the loss of a freezer full of food. He is very grateful.

We talk frequently commiserating over our bad luck. There’s nothing like someone living the same experience, at the same time, to make you feel seen, even if they are a couple of thousand miles away. Maybe we have stupid genes running in our family but I doubt it. I spoke to another friend this week who reminded me that she broke her arm this time last year.

I don’t think we will stop making mistakes because we are older. We may think twice, or three times, but an accident, is an accident, is an accident.

DOS TORTAS

Tags: falling, Inspiration, Laguna Bacalar, retire mexico

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Telenovela Part Dos

20 Oct

I left the hospital the end of September after a 24 hour stay. I went home with a bag full of inhalers, breathing treatments and pills galore. We had taken rapid Covid tests with us on the cruise and all three of us, my wife and I and my MIL tested negative multiple times. I wore my mask at all times because my sister had come down with Covid on her Alaskan cruise a couple of years ago. Little did I know that I had already acquired it. My symptom was a persistent dry cough which could be heard echoing among other passengers as well, up and down the ship’s hallways. Who knew?

In the hospital in Mexico, doctors performed an antigen test which showed that I had indeed had Covid. The inflammation had settled in my lungs which caused an asthmatic crisis. I went home after 24 hours with a prescription for R & R.

On the evening of September 14, only a week out of the hospital, I was playing with Luna and tripped over my own feet. I went down hard on the concrete floor. Lisa says she heard the crack. I never felt such pain nor screamed so loud in my life. Poor Lisa was freaked out. We both were at a loss as to what to do and I was in no position to make a decision.

Living in the jungles of Mexico one does not just dial 911. No one speaks English and explaining your location and situation takes skills. So Lisa called David.

David built our house in 2015 and is like a son. He has a Mexican wife and has lived here many years. His Spanish is top notch. He dropped everything to arrive at our house in 30 minutes, a new world record.

The rest is blah, blah, blah, emergency room, X-rays, tests and more tests. On the 30th anniversary of the day we met, I had surgery to set my leg. Not the plans we had for our special day.

Staples have now been removed leaving a kick-ass scar.

Life continues. I am to be 6-8 weeks off my feet. I’ve gotten access to my electronic accounts through no small miracle. Thanks to everyone who has commented and contacted me. It means the world to me.

DOS TORTAS

Tags: broken leg, expat living in Mexico, Inspiration, Laguna Bacalar, retire mexico

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Living In A Telenovela (Mexican Soap Opera)

13 Oct

You might have noticed SILENCE from the Tortas since our trip to Alaska in August. Life took such an unexpected turn at the end of our trip that I cannot even begin to explain in one blog. It started in the Vancouver Airport with a moment of inattentiveness. We were catching a red-eye to return to Mexico after disembarking at 8 am. It had been a long day. I didn’t know at the time that I had Covid doing its tap dance in my lungs. I wish that were an excuse. Anyway, someone snatched my cell phone and iPad while I tied up my shoes not three steps away after coming through security.

Not wanting to miss my flight, I returned to Bacalar getting sicker and sicker while some very poor choices on my part became evident. Online security and rampant identity theft have Apple, Google, and Samsung making it harder and harder to get into locked accounts. Google will not even talk to you. No live person to plead your case to. There are “procedures” and I made all the mistakes one can possibly make.

I allowed my iPad to store my secure passwords without writing them down. My two-step verification was to my phone and vice versa. I had NO passwords, No access to any of my accounts. No FB, Instagram, Apple ID, Google, banking accounts. Need I say more?

Then I ended up in the hospital with complications from Covid. And believe it or not, this is only half of the story.

DOS TORTAS

Forgive the stripped down blog. I’m still not back 100%.

Tags: Inspiration, Laguna Bacalar, retire mexico

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If You Want To See Eagles You Have To Look Up

18 Aug

We left Vancouver by ferry for the Sunshine Coast, a favorite Canadian summer haunt. We dropped Alice with a friend from Bacalar to catch up and give Lisa and me a little va-ca.

The Sunshine Coast is more of what I wanted in a vacation to Canada, tall pines and oaks, fiddle ferns and moss, the cathedral of the great outdoors. We watched the tide going in and out from our room on Porpoise Bay, Seychelt, BC. and walked a marsh full of birds (crows, siskin, blue herons, hummers, mallards, geese). I looked up to spot an eagle overhead. At least I think it was an eagle. Anyway, that’s my story and I’m sticking to it.