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2005
2005
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January has come and gone. The last time I wrote we were headed off to the Leaky Palapa for New Year’s Eve.
Marla and Linda did a great job of a beautiful meal as usual. Unfortunately, I had an outbreak of hives that made
me pretty miserable. I had a massage that afternoon and I think I must have been allergic to the massage oil. I
was an itchy, uncomfortable mess for 3 evenings as they would subside during the day and return in the
afternoon. I had never had hives before, but they are unmistakable and I recommend you pass on the opportunity
to have them.
We ended up staying at Xcalak until the 6th of January as we were having a good time. When we left we took the
AC compressor out of John and Danice’s truck with us to find a replacement or get the pulley repaired.
While we were in Majahual on the way to Xcalak we met Tom and Deb who are building a house in Rio Indio north
of Majahual. They told us about their architect and mentioned that he had just finished a house in Bacalar at
Rancho Encantado. We had seen the house going up last June but hadn’t seen it complete. It turns out that it is
the house for a couple from Taos who own Rancho Encantado. We stopped off there to see the house and saw
what a beautiful design and construction job it was and wanted to meet the architect as we knew the ones we had
been working with were not going to work out.
We found the architect’s house in Bacalar and met his wife, Nita. Shiva wasn’t home and we arranged to meet him
on our property a couple of days later. We then drove past a couple of his other projects and got very hopeful
that we had finally found the architect for Maricasa.
That day we made it only as far as Chetumal (about 5 miles short of home) and camped behind the Liverpool at
the Plaza de las Americas. While Colleen shopped for groceries I took a taxi to a repair shop and turned the
compressor over to a mechanic who was going to figure out what to do about it.
We dumped at the Yax Ha and filled with water and then settled back onto the property. It felt good to be home.
We really like Xcalak, but it is too far out to live fulltime. Calderitas is so convenient to shopping and other
conveniences.
A day or so later the mechanic reported that the compressor was not fixable and we arranged to have him
purchase a rebuilt one. Then we picked it up and put it on the bus going to Xcalak. We had never used the bus
this way before, but had seen plenty of stuff loaded onto buses and offloaded at strange stops along the road to
know that the system works. There is no charge for sending it, but the driver expects a couple dollar tip from
someone. So John met the bus when it got to Xcalak late that night, tipped the driver and now they are back in
business.
A week or so later we visited Bacalar again and ate lunch at a restaurant that Shiva had designed and built and
got a tour of a house that is just being completed. From seeing these projects and getting a good
recommendation from the owners about working with Shiva, we have decided that we have found the architect we
want to work with. Shiva also has his own construction crew and will be able to do the complete project from start
to finish. We are just working out contract details with him and then we are on our way. An added bonus is that
both he and his wife speak English….
In the middle of the month Jonna and Mimi visited again on their way home to Akumal. Jonna's 60th birthday was
an important one for her and she and Mimi made plans to travel around Mexico with some friends from the States.
They stopped in here for a few days and we had a lot of fun playing dominoes and took a great boat trip up the
coast. Bob likes poking around in the dirt and we found some Mayan pot shards and obsidian knives in the dirt
along one of Colleen's trails. They stayed at the Yax Ha down the road where they had hookups for their rigs.
Toward the end of the month we had some visitors from England. Moira and Graeme are readers of our
travelogue and Moira had written months ago to ask what it was like to travel in Mexico. They had gotten so many
warnings from people (who had never done it) that it wasn’t safe and were wondering what we thought about it.
They are seasoned travelers around the world and Graeme used to drive buses for touring musical groups so we
told them how great we thought it was. They bought a beautiful Monaco coach and showed up here for a 4 day
visit.
Our road accommodates our rig with some tight corners but they had a bit more trouble getting in as their coach
is taller than ours by a few inches. Graeme was unruffled, Moira and Colleen climbed up on the roof and whacked
off a few branches and they were in. We so enjoyed their company. It was fun hearing about what it is like to be a
tour manager for musicians (Rolling Stones, Queen, and lots of others) from Graeme and interesting to hear
about being a district nurse in England from Moira.
In preparation for their eventual departure, we worked on the road quite a bit to get it in better shape. We did
some shopping together and they visited the museum and took a taxi back to Maricasa when they were done.
Graeme now has his own machete which he got some practice using and some safety lessons from Colleen. We
talked their ears off and then sent them on their way north to meet friends in PaaMul.
When they are finished traveling in North America they will ship the rig home to travel in England and Europe.
Since Graeme has driven large buses all over Europe he knows that the size of their rig only presents some of the
usual challenges and they can park it outside of the cities where the streets are narrower. So, for those of you
who are considering taking a large rig to Europe, we have it first hand that it is doable.
On the 31st of January we had a visit from a woman who lives in Minnesota and who is interested in the idea of
moving to Mexico. Jill and some friends had found last minute $79 RT tickets from Minneapolis to Cancun. Jill took
a bus to Chetumal and then a taxi to Maricasa. We spent some time driving her around the area and visiting with
her. We had dinner and then she went to her hotel to be able to take a bus back to meet her friends the next
morning early. Jill was delightful company and we were sorry that she had such a short time to spend here. We
hope she will come back and visit again.
Even though this is January’s travelogue, I want to tell you about what we did on February 1st before it is just a
fleeting memory. We knew that Olivia Tours was docking with a cruise ship full of women in Majahual on February
1st and had been making plans to be there that day to hand out promotional material about Maricasa. We were
up until after midnight making bookmarks to give away after delivering Jill to her hotel.
In Majahual there is a sleepy little town that wakes up on cruise ship days offering T-shirts, margaritas, massage,
ski doo rentals, snorkeling equipment, food and all kinds of wares for sale. In order to get there, the passengers
have to pass through a large resort with entertainment, shops, swim up bars, restaurants and a beach. They don’
t make it easy to get out of there as taxis are not allowed to pick people up right outside the doors and so most of
the passengers are basically captive and unaware that there is anything outside of the resort unless they have
booked a tour to some ruins or done some research online. It is also not possible to get into the resort unless you
are a passenger or an employee.
Several weeks ago, our friend Paul had showed us where the wall went down into the sea to block off access to
the resort. We were determined to break into the place to hand out our bookmarks.
Linda and Marla were our cohorts for the day in Majahual as they drove up from Xcalak. John and Danice also
drove up to see us but their interest was just a jaunt and to hang out. Our plan was to be in Majahual talking to
women about Maricasa as they walked up and down the dirt street looking at T-shirts and then to swim into the
resort to meet those women who had not managed to escape.
The morning was delightful fun and we got a really great reception from women on the street. Each bookmark we
handed out represented a conversation about our project and it was great fun for both of us. We had some help
from Jorge who works in Majahual and he was talking us up like crazy. We were so successful with it that we ran
out of bookmarks just about the same time we ran out of energy to talk to any more women. Linda and Marla were
ready to get on with the next phase of the day and break into the resort. So we got in our Jeeps and drove down
the beach road and parked. We decided that snorkel gear was not necessary and so we just walked down to the
rocky, craggy coral beach. Linda and Marla didn’t wear their shoes so they were a little tender footed making their
way down. Colleen and I had on our Tevas.
We went into the water and made our way around the wall and up onto equally sharp rocks on the other side. We
could see the guard waiting for us to get there. As we approached him, he asked for our ship ID card. We told him
in English that our friends were holding them for us as we didn’t want to get them wet. His English was pretty
basic, we didn’t speak Spanish to him, and Linda, a fabulous actress, engaged his attention as the rest of us just
forged ahead. We looked around to try to figure out where to go and probably appeared as though we were
looking for our mythical friends. Eventually Linda was able to disengage herself from the guard and found us by
the restaurant and pool. We didn’t have any more bookmarks so we just hung out and enjoyed the pool. We saw
a few of the women we had talked to earlier but mostly just pretended we were where we belonged. We had a
couple of the tourists take our picture by the pool and when I get them in the email, I will post them on the website.
The ships were due to leave at 4:00 so the crowds started thinning out and we figured we had better make our
escape which we figured would be easier than our entrance. We opted not to go out around the wall again but
instead walk out the front gate and grab a taxi back to our cars. We walked out the front and tried to take one of
the taxis that was dropping off ship passengers but were told that we had to walk a few blocks to where they were
allowed to board passengers. Now Linda and Marla were barefoot and walking a few blocks wasn’t very
appealing. A local who was probably about 2 1/2 sheets to the wind offered us a ride and we opted to take it as it
was only a couple of miles back to the main road. The taxi drivers got on their radios and blocked us in so we
could not proceed…since our driver was sort of out of it, he didn’t catch on very fast and we were surrounded by
ill humored taxi drivers. We got out and started walking until we were picked up by a van driver a few blocks down
the road and we were delivered back at our Jeeps.
What a fun day!!!! We combined business with pleasure and a little bit of rebellion and can now claim to have
broken in to the resort and have pictures to prove it.
So, that is how the month of February began…until next month…
Marla and Linda did a great job of a beautiful meal as usual. Unfortunately, I had an outbreak of hives that made
me pretty miserable. I had a massage that afternoon and I think I must have been allergic to the massage oil. I
was an itchy, uncomfortable mess for 3 evenings as they would subside during the day and return in the
afternoon. I had never had hives before, but they are unmistakable and I recommend you pass on the opportunity
to have them.
We ended up staying at Xcalak until the 6th of January as we were having a good time. When we left we took the
AC compressor out of John and Danice’s truck with us to find a replacement or get the pulley repaired.
While we were in Majahual on the way to Xcalak we met Tom and Deb who are building a house in Rio Indio north
of Majahual. They told us about their architect and mentioned that he had just finished a house in Bacalar at
Rancho Encantado. We had seen the house going up last June but hadn’t seen it complete. It turns out that it is
the house for a couple from Taos who own Rancho Encantado. We stopped off there to see the house and saw
what a beautiful design and construction job it was and wanted to meet the architect as we knew the ones we had
been working with were not going to work out.
We found the architect’s house in Bacalar and met his wife, Nita. Shiva wasn’t home and we arranged to meet him
on our property a couple of days later. We then drove past a couple of his other projects and got very hopeful
that we had finally found the architect for Maricasa.
That day we made it only as far as Chetumal (about 5 miles short of home) and camped behind the Liverpool at
the Plaza de las Americas. While Colleen shopped for groceries I took a taxi to a repair shop and turned the
compressor over to a mechanic who was going to figure out what to do about it.
We dumped at the Yax Ha and filled with water and then settled back onto the property. It felt good to be home.
We really like Xcalak, but it is too far out to live fulltime. Calderitas is so convenient to shopping and other
conveniences.
A day or so later the mechanic reported that the compressor was not fixable and we arranged to have him
purchase a rebuilt one. Then we picked it up and put it on the bus going to Xcalak. We had never used the bus
this way before, but had seen plenty of stuff loaded onto buses and offloaded at strange stops along the road to
know that the system works. There is no charge for sending it, but the driver expects a couple dollar tip from
someone. So John met the bus when it got to Xcalak late that night, tipped the driver and now they are back in
business.
A week or so later we visited Bacalar again and ate lunch at a restaurant that Shiva had designed and built and
got a tour of a house that is just being completed. From seeing these projects and getting a good
recommendation from the owners about working with Shiva, we have decided that we have found the architect we
want to work with. Shiva also has his own construction crew and will be able to do the complete project from start
to finish. We are just working out contract details with him and then we are on our way. An added bonus is that
both he and his wife speak English….
In the middle of the month Jonna and Mimi visited again on their way home to Akumal. Jonna's 60th birthday was
an important one for her and she and Mimi made plans to travel around Mexico with some friends from the States.
They stopped in here for a few days and we had a lot of fun playing dominoes and took a great boat trip up the
coast. Bob likes poking around in the dirt and we found some Mayan pot shards and obsidian knives in the dirt
along one of Colleen's trails. They stayed at the Yax Ha down the road where they had hookups for their rigs.
Toward the end of the month we had some visitors from England. Moira and Graeme are readers of our
travelogue and Moira had written months ago to ask what it was like to travel in Mexico. They had gotten so many
warnings from people (who had never done it) that it wasn’t safe and were wondering what we thought about it.
They are seasoned travelers around the world and Graeme used to drive buses for touring musical groups so we
told them how great we thought it was. They bought a beautiful Monaco coach and showed up here for a 4 day
visit.
Our road accommodates our rig with some tight corners but they had a bit more trouble getting in as their coach
is taller than ours by a few inches. Graeme was unruffled, Moira and Colleen climbed up on the roof and whacked
off a few branches and they were in. We so enjoyed their company. It was fun hearing about what it is like to be a
tour manager for musicians (Rolling Stones, Queen, and lots of others) from Graeme and interesting to hear
about being a district nurse in England from Moira.
In preparation for their eventual departure, we worked on the road quite a bit to get it in better shape. We did
some shopping together and they visited the museum and took a taxi back to Maricasa when they were done.
Graeme now has his own machete which he got some practice using and some safety lessons from Colleen. We
talked their ears off and then sent them on their way north to meet friends in PaaMul.
When they are finished traveling in North America they will ship the rig home to travel in England and Europe.
Since Graeme has driven large buses all over Europe he knows that the size of their rig only presents some of the
usual challenges and they can park it outside of the cities where the streets are narrower. So, for those of you
who are considering taking a large rig to Europe, we have it first hand that it is doable.
On the 31st of January we had a visit from a woman who lives in Minnesota and who is interested in the idea of
moving to Mexico. Jill and some friends had found last minute $79 RT tickets from Minneapolis to Cancun. Jill took
a bus to Chetumal and then a taxi to Maricasa. We spent some time driving her around the area and visiting with
her. We had dinner and then she went to her hotel to be able to take a bus back to meet her friends the next
morning early. Jill was delightful company and we were sorry that she had such a short time to spend here. We
hope she will come back and visit again.
Even though this is January’s travelogue, I want to tell you about what we did on February 1st before it is just a
fleeting memory. We knew that Olivia Tours was docking with a cruise ship full of women in Majahual on February
1st and had been making plans to be there that day to hand out promotional material about Maricasa. We were
up until after midnight making bookmarks to give away after delivering Jill to her hotel.
In Majahual there is a sleepy little town that wakes up on cruise ship days offering T-shirts, margaritas, massage,
ski doo rentals, snorkeling equipment, food and all kinds of wares for sale. In order to get there, the passengers
have to pass through a large resort with entertainment, shops, swim up bars, restaurants and a beach. They don’
t make it easy to get out of there as taxis are not allowed to pick people up right outside the doors and so most of
the passengers are basically captive and unaware that there is anything outside of the resort unless they have
booked a tour to some ruins or done some research online. It is also not possible to get into the resort unless you
are a passenger or an employee.
Several weeks ago, our friend Paul had showed us where the wall went down into the sea to block off access to
the resort. We were determined to break into the place to hand out our bookmarks.
Linda and Marla were our cohorts for the day in Majahual as they drove up from Xcalak. John and Danice also
drove up to see us but their interest was just a jaunt and to hang out. Our plan was to be in Majahual talking to
women about Maricasa as they walked up and down the dirt street looking at T-shirts and then to swim into the
resort to meet those women who had not managed to escape.
The morning was delightful fun and we got a really great reception from women on the street. Each bookmark we
handed out represented a conversation about our project and it was great fun for both of us. We had some help
from Jorge who works in Majahual and he was talking us up like crazy. We were so successful with it that we ran
out of bookmarks just about the same time we ran out of energy to talk to any more women. Linda and Marla were
ready to get on with the next phase of the day and break into the resort. So we got in our Jeeps and drove down
the beach road and parked. We decided that snorkel gear was not necessary and so we just walked down to the
rocky, craggy coral beach. Linda and Marla didn’t wear their shoes so they were a little tender footed making their
way down. Colleen and I had on our Tevas.
We went into the water and made our way around the wall and up onto equally sharp rocks on the other side. We
could see the guard waiting for us to get there. As we approached him, he asked for our ship ID card. We told him
in English that our friends were holding them for us as we didn’t want to get them wet. His English was pretty
basic, we didn’t speak Spanish to him, and Linda, a fabulous actress, engaged his attention as the rest of us just
forged ahead. We looked around to try to figure out where to go and probably appeared as though we were
looking for our mythical friends. Eventually Linda was able to disengage herself from the guard and found us by
the restaurant and pool. We didn’t have any more bookmarks so we just hung out and enjoyed the pool. We saw
a few of the women we had talked to earlier but mostly just pretended we were where we belonged. We had a
couple of the tourists take our picture by the pool and when I get them in the email, I will post them on the website.
The ships were due to leave at 4:00 so the crowds started thinning out and we figured we had better make our
escape which we figured would be easier than our entrance. We opted not to go out around the wall again but
instead walk out the front gate and grab a taxi back to our cars. We walked out the front and tried to take one of
the taxis that was dropping off ship passengers but were told that we had to walk a few blocks to where they were
allowed to board passengers. Now Linda and Marla were barefoot and walking a few blocks wasn’t very
appealing. A local who was probably about 2 1/2 sheets to the wind offered us a ride and we opted to take it as it
was only a couple of miles back to the main road. The taxi drivers got on their radios and blocked us in so we
could not proceed…since our driver was sort of out of it, he didn’t catch on very fast and we were surrounded by
ill humored taxi drivers. We got out and started walking until we were picked up by a van driver a few blocks down
the road and we were delivered back at our Jeeps.
What a fun day!!!! We combined business with pleasure and a little bit of rebellion and can now claim to have
broken in to the resort and have pictures to prove it.
So, that is how the month of February began…until next month…
January 2006
Around the World with Kathe and Colleen