expat living in Mexico | the adventures of dos tortas

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Los Perros of Bacalar

The dogs of Bacalar have been on my list of blog topics for awhile. They lounge in the streets barely aware of speeding taxis and zipping motos. When walking or riding our bikes, it is useful to carry a stick or pocket of stones. Bacalareños and expats alike either own dogs, are afraid of them or both, for good reason.

In the defense of the perros is our friend Rojo. He takes collections of dog food, arranges sterilization clinics and maintains the bellies of a small herd of street dogs. With the support of many gringos he has taken the fight to the município and raised awareness. His facebook page, Perros Olvidados de Bacalar, the forgotten dogs of Bacalar, was created to provide a central message board.

Rojo the dog whisperer.

While riding this week I was bum rushed by two dogs that hang out blocks from our house. I got scared, hit the brakes and went down. I got up bruised but determined to do something about this particular duo as I have seen them in action before.

They certainly think they live here and someone is feeding them.

I canvassed the neighborhood but was told that the dogs have no owner. No one wants to take responsibility for this pair, for good reason. A friend paid $11,000 pesos this week, about $750us when a passing man called the police threatening to sue, claiming our friend’s weimaraner Lucy had bitten him (names have been changed to protect the presumed innocent). As anywhere, the case for settling “out of court” was made and a deal was struck.

The take away came from the old man who came by on his tricycle while I was knocking on doors. I see him frequently in the hood and noticed that the corner dogs mostly ignore him. My curiosity was peaked and I struck up a conversation. I told him that the dogs had attacked me and I was looking for their owner. He casually glanced at my leg looking for evidence of the crime. Finding none, he proceeded to gesture about the mythical dogs who live “over there” and attack and kill people. Seemingly there are always people, “over there” who have it worse, like the starving children in Africa, invoked by my parents to pressure me to eat my peas and carrots.

The lesson and our new mantra is, if you’re not dead, you have nothing to complain about. Try it this week; it sort of has a nice ring to it don’t you think?

DOS TORTAS

Tags: bacalar mexico, Dog stories, expat living in Mexico

Comments 12 Comments
Categories Expatriates, Retire Mexico, Uncategorized

Cobá Center of the Mayan Universe

26 Oct

Since moving to Mexico, Lisa and I have wanted to visit the pyramides of Cobá. It is north, turn left at Tulum and follow the signs. There was a tropical storm predicted but we were unfazed. The weather in Mexico is much like Texas, wait an hour and it changes.

Entrance

We arrived early to beat the crowds. Tour buses can empty out and make even a spacious site such as Cobá (almost 50 sq miles which housed 50,000 people at its peak population) feel crowded.

Walking through the jungle.

We spent $20US for a tour guide. Ixmael, a local guy who taught himself English. He made our trip fun and answered our endless questions.

Lisa with Karen Flowers, our friend from Tulum.

Pedicabs made the trekking easier after climbing the highest pyramid in the Yucatan peninsula.

Nohoch Mul is 138 feet tall. It will be closed to climbing in 2015.

130 steps to the top.

View from the top with rain cloud.

Cobá has wonderful carvings, columns and early Mayan ball courts.

Put a leather ball through the ring without using hands or feet.

Stone columns.

Carving of a Mayan king.

Watching over a grisley ritual.

They jungle itself was also amazing.

Shopping opportunity outside the gate.

Driving home, the sky amazed as always.

The pyramids of Mexico give us added respect for a country with an ancient history. You’re welcome to ride shotgun with the Tortas as we work our way around the Yucatan. See you next week.

Sunrise of the week Laguna Bacalar.

Tags: Adventure in Mexico, Coba Pyramids, expat living in Mexico, southern yucatan

Comments 10 Comments
Categories Adventure, Retire Mexico, Travel, Uncategorized

Think Global Shop Local

5 Oct

In the mid-1970’s when I lived and traveled in Mexico; there were no grocery stores. Large open-air mercados showed up predictably, one or two days a week and were the norm. We took our woven bags and baskets to bring home purchases. Bulk items such as frijoles were wrapped in newspaper. Plastic bags were non-existent.

Saturday Farmer’s Market in Chetumal

Coconuts in season. Open with a machete.

Then there were little corner stores where one could exchange an empty bottle and buy a coke. There were a few non-perishables sold and kerosene for the hot water heater.

Today there are large grocery stores much as we have in the States. Some are familiar such as Walmart and Sam’s Club. Others are Mexican – Chedraui and Soriana.

The little corner stores are still the backbone of Mexico. When I first arrived a year ago, I saw abarrotes and didn’t know what it meant. Pulling out my handy pocket dictionery, I found “groceries”.

A busy little store.

There are also mini-supers, tiendas and bodegas. Some are small enough to be operated out of a living room. The role that they play for low income people is invaluable. Where else can you buy one aspirin or one roll of toilet paper? Occasionaly there are eggs on the counter or tortillas warm in an insulated container. Mostly the tiendas are full of chips, candy, soda, alcohol and other processed foods.

Like the U.S., Mexico has its problems with obesity and diabetes, and the shelves of five liter bottles of coke abound.

This store expanded to include fruit, clothes and plants.

Every block has its little store. They function as a social center where gossip is exchanged and neighborhood news reported. The other day we bought thirty sheets of copy paper and ten paper clips. Bacalar is truly a world apart, even for Mexico.

Sunrise of the Week.

Tags: bacalar mexico, expat living in Mexico, grocery stores, Maria's Taco Xpress, mexico

Comments 7 Comments
Categories Expatriates, Retire Mexico

It’s Kind Of Like Camping Only Better – My Dad Would Have Been So Proud

17 Aug

Five children, a dog, occasionally my grandmother and a cousin or two joined our childhood camping vacations. It was partly economical but also for the love of being outdoors. My father grew up as a Boy Scout and loved all things merit badge. I learned to build and cook on a campfire, make a sling for a broken arm and identify constellations. His rule was to leave the campsite cleaner than you found it. My father’s admonitions live in my heart to this day.

Being my father’s daughter has served me well for living in Bacalar in the southern Yucatan. It’s a lot like camping, only better. The windows to our home are persianas which do not seal out the world.

Our alarm clock.

We hear birds squawking, dogs barking, the roosters greeting the sunrise and an occasional goat braying. It’s not all at the same time, usually.

We choose not to use air conditioning even in the heat and humidity of the summer. We cope as do most people here by keeping activity to a minimum during the heat of the day, jumping in the lake in the afternoon and if necessary, taking a shower before bed. The night seems to cool down just enough and we are up with the sunrise.

With the windows always open, you can feel the shift in the wind which indicates a possible shower rolling in.

My dad would have loved Bacalar. This past week was twenty-eight years since his death. I still see his gait in my son, and his stewardship of the earth in myself and my children. I hope my children and grandchildren will someday share stories of their crazy grandmothers who lived in the jungle in Mexico with their windows open.

Tags: Adventure in Mexico, Amazing sunrise, bacalar mexico, expat living in Mexico

Comments 8 Comments
Categories Uncategorized

The Benefits of Struggling to Learn Spanish

10 Aug

The New York Times recently posted an op-ed called The Benefits of Failing at French. I can relate.

In 1973, with the already aging brain (linguistically speaking) of twenty-one, I began the lifelong journey of learning a second language. I came to Mexico in the fulfillment of a childhood dream to experience my junior year abroad. I lived with a Mexican family who spoke no English. I had classes four hours a day, four days a week and drank mucho cerveza to loosen the tongue. Over the long weekends and breaks, I traveled as much as possible and fell in love with a culture and people that were difficult to explain when I returned to New Jersey.

Sunset in Cozumel.

In the more than forty years that have passed, I have both clung to and completely forgotten my desire to return to Mexico. As I began entertaining thoughts of retirement, memories of living here ignited fireworks and the rest is, shall we say, her-story.

Crossing the border almost a year ago woke the Spanish synapses that were more than a bit rusty. Those old feelings of my brain aching and not being able to remember words in either language came roaring back. I am happy to report that my Spanish has greatly improved in a year. I have resisted studying and have chosen to learn by practicing. I have conversations in Spanish as often as I can and find that my brain hurts less these days. Yesterday I even had a conversation on the phone, which I usually avoid, as there is no opportunity to read lips. I must admit that when friends comment on my improvement, I want to preen my feathers and crow.

Hotel La Semilla in Playa del Carmen from our recent visit.

Lisa had no ability to speak Spanish, other than the curse words picked up on a job site, when we arrived last September. Her first vocabulary words were highway signs on the drive down. Her learning approach has been different from mine. She uses a popular set of educational CDs and a workbook that I bought her. She now converses with locals and orders easily in a restaurant. The reason for her skill is that she doesn’t give up and she isn’t afraid to make mistakes. Our friend’s parents call her the parrot because she uses her thirty or so words, hugs them and leaves. They see her progress and love her effort. More than one of us has something to crow about.

Sunrise this week on Laguna Bacalar.

So I recommend that you read the New York Times article and don’t miss the comments. Our brains need the challenge. Our changing world needs us to understand one another. What better way than to learn another’s language. And I’ve heard that the third language even gets easier, no matter what age you are.

Tags: expat living in Mexico, Laguna Bacalar, mexico, Spanish, US Expats in Mexico

Comments 12 Comments
Categories Adventure, Expatriates, Retire Mexico, Travel, Uncategorized

Adventure Begins When Something Goes Wrong

22 Jun

When living in Mexico, buying property and building a house, we are ducks out of water, way out. The best way to have things go wrong is to have expectations of how they should go in the first place. Try as we might to be open to surprises, we didn’t see this one coming.

Our house is being built in an ecologically sensitive area. New laws are being enforced and as with any bureaucracy, it’s a moving target. We were told that to avert paying for a very expensive study on our lot, we would have to remove fifteen “protected” palm trees. It mattered not that the trees were planted by the previous owner and that we had no intention of molesting them in the building process. We would have to remove the trees from the lot and replant them after the building permit is granted or pay as much as $6,000us. Huh?

Now try wrapping your brain around moving five 30 foot high royal palm trees.

It was suggested that we give the trees to a vivero, landscaper, who would remove them for free and sell to a hotel in Cancun. NOT! Fade to me hugging trees and crying.

Six smaller “foot of elephant” palms that also had to be moved.

After having a conversation with Pedro, who does yard work for us, he assured us that, much to our amazement, the trees could be dug out by hand and moved and he knew other workers who would help with the endeavor.

I have never seen men work so hard in my life. They used picks, levers and ropes and achieved the impossible. Lisa’s truck was commandeered and a small front loader rented. The trees were removed and placed in a protected area so they will hopefully survive. We will then reverse the process to place them around our house to provide shade and beauty.

Even Mexicans scratched their heads as we tried to explain what and why. We decided that it was an opportunity to landscape that we would never have taken otherwise. Hopefully this time next year I will be writing my blog from a back porch in paradise, under my rustling palms. Fingers crossed.

Tags: Adventure in Mexico, expat living in Mexico, Laguna Bacalar, Retirement Adventure, royal palm trees

Comments 5 Comments
Categories Adventure, Expatriates, Retire Mexico, Uncategorized

Healing a Not Broken Leg – Isn’t Life Amazing?

25 May

Memorial Day weekend 2013, our daughter was getting married. Life was busy with selling our home, getting rid of most of our possessions and winding down our jobs. We went from crazy busy to retirement life in the jungle of southern Yucatan.

Life here is not for everyone. We did not want a large English speaking community with all the amenities of the US. Our nearest city and the capital of the state of Quintana Roo (Row) is about a 40 minute drive. Chetumal (pop 260,000) sits on the boarder with Belize and the Bay of Chetumal. It is not a tourist destination in spite of efforts to make it so.

Museum of Mayan Culture

Chetumal is where we go for medical care. Friday was three weeks since my fateful bike accident and time to return to the traumatologist. Don’t let appearances fool. While the buildings look right out of the 1950’s, the care is top notch.

Clinica Independencia

My experience thus far with medical care has been that it’s low tech but very hands on. Doctors take time. It’s not that high tech isn’t available, MRIs, etc are reserved for more serious situations. Dr Diez-Torres removed my cast, gently manipulated my knee, assessing pain and range of motion. He explained using a model what was going on. Our conversation was in both English and Spanish. We looked at the X-rays again and agreed that my leg probably wasn’t broken. He told me to return to normal activity as I was able and use light weights to do leg extensions to build muscle strength. I felt like I was talking to an equal.

My knee continues to heal. I look forward to swimming and no pain. While life in this corner of the globe is not for everyone, the lack of stress and beauty that abounds makes it perfect for us.

Tags: bacalar mexico, Chetumal mexico, expat living in Mexico, Life in the Yucatan, move to Mexico, retire mexico, US Expats in Mexico

Comments 2 Comments
Categories Adventure, Expatriates, Retire Mexico, Travel, Uncategorized

Today’s Spanish Lesson ¿Dónde está el baño?

18 May

When out and about in the US, one rarely thinks twice about bathrooms, unless you’re at an outdoor venue and forced to use a port-o-potty.

In Japan I once stumbled into a unisex bathroom which was a surprise to say the least.

Japanese Unisex bathrooms contain stalls and urinals.

In the airport bathroom in Istabul there was a sign asking people to please not wash their feet in the sink. International bathrooms are full of cultural experiences.

Istanbul, Turkey

You can’t miss this sign at a roadside Mexican restaurant.

Pull over I gotta go.

Living in Mexico in the 70’s gives me a point of reference for baños. It was so much worse then. Public restrooms were hard to come by and toilet paper, as we know it, was not common (newspaper, comic books). A lesson my grandmother taught me, and every woman in Mexico knows, never leave the house without tissues.

In Bacalar.

Today, there are clean functional toilets (most of the time) in Pemex stations where you stop for gas. The trouble is, they charge $3-5 pesos, $.25-.40 per use. It is a clear discrimination against women, since men have no trouble peeing on their tires. I’m not sure what’s up with the whole peeing on the tires thing, but you see it everywhere, pull over and pee on your tires!

Then one day I came across this –

They can’t refuse you service.

Handing a few coins to the bathroom attendant in the bus station, restaurant, government building, grocery store or hotel is the norm. I figure that I can afford it and it’s a way to circulate money to people who’s income it is. It’s the same for the people that pump your gas, sack your groceries or help you park your car (whether you need it or not).

So when looking for the baño in México, remember to bring your tissue and always have a pocket of change, or you too could find yourself peeing on your tires.

A Favorite Laguna Bacalar Picture

Tags: bacalar mexico, expat living in Mexico, retire to mexico, southern yucatan, travel Mexico, US Expats in Mexico

Comments 14 Comments
Categories Adventure, Expatriates, Retire Mexico, Travel

Small Town Living in Mexico What No Starbucks?

6 Apr

When we made the decision to move to Mexico’s Southern Yucatan peninsula, it was for as much of what we didn’t find here as what we did. As I ride my bike around town, I see so many sites that delight my eyes. I don’t want to romanticize poverty, but what you and I might consider poverty has it’s wealth in simple living for many. Enjoy some of the sights of Bacalar as it prepares for an influx of tourists for Semana Santa (Holy Week) leading up to Easter.

Enjoying the Shade in Bacalar, MX

Cenote Azul A Swimmer’s Paradise

On the Costera – Spiffing Up for the Holiday Week

A Small Hang Out for the Hipper Crowd

Simple Traditional Bacalar Home

Model of Bacalar Found In The City Park

Looking For a Bathroom or a House to Buy?

Looking For a Baño or a House to Buy?

One of Ten Speedbumps or Tolpes Along the Highway.

One of Ten Speedbumps or Topes Along the Highway Through Bacalar

Gratitude, Gratitude, Gratitude

Tags: Adventure in Mexico, bacalar mexico, expat living in Mexico, Laguna Bacalar, Life in the Yucatan, retire mexico, Retirement Adventure, southern yucatan

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Categories Uncategorized

“Es la Hoon-glah!”

3 Nov

“Es la jungla Alex!” (It’s the jungle) says Violeta, the housekeeper here in Bacalar, when I tell her about the bites that I have acquired and the itchy rash covering my body as a result. Es la jungla!

Very Itchy Rash

So I trot myself off to a doctor who looks at the rash and tells me essentially the same thing. When people are new to “paradise” they don’t have the antibodies to the mosquitos and various insects that creep, crawl and sting. So I leave the office with crema and allergy pills and the promise that it will get better and I will acclimate.

Living in the jungle is definitely a new way of life. There are the beautiful lush flowers and plants growing everywhere. Most of them we see in little pots as house plants, but en la jungla are growing wild and huge.

Another thing about living in la jungla is that it gets very dark VERY early. I can be talking on skype to the U.S. in the same time zone and it is quite light there. Here, it is completely dark, pitch black. It’s like someone throws a switch and the lights go out.

This week we were invited to a pizza party at the home of a friend who lives back in the jungle three miles off the main road. To us newbies it seems odd to start a party at 3pm, but when you consider the ride home in the dark it makes sense. So on Wednesday, we enjoyed our pizza and left the party for home and promptly got lost. I do not recommend back-tracking in the jungle, in the dark, and trying to find your way out. It took four of us keeping our wits to figure out the right route and reach the highway for home.

One thing for sure, life en la jungla (hoon-glah) is never dull and we are quite glad to be here. And my rash is much better and I will live.

A Restaurant in Bacalar

Tags: bacalar, en la jungla, expat living in Mexico, Expat Mexican adventure, living in paradise, mexico, retire mexico

Comments 2 Comments
Categories Uncategorized

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the adventures of dos tortas

Los Perros of Bacalar

Cobá Center of the Mayan Universe

Think Global Shop Local

It’s Kind Of Like Camping Only Better – My Dad Would Have Been So Proud

The Benefits of Struggling to Learn Spanish

Adventure Begins When Something Goes Wrong

Healing a Not Broken Leg – Isn’t Life Amazing?

Today’s Spanish Lesson ¿Dónde está el baño?

Small Town Living in Mexico What No Starbucks?

“Es la Hoon-glah!”

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