As much as this place can be slice of heaven… quiet, secluded, beautiful… there is a fly in the ointment.
A beautiful morning’s view…
The morning sun just caressing our chairs by the pool…
I can’t suppress the desire to just head to the beach…
But what’s that sound? … the sound track from Jaws? … dundun, dundun, dundun…
Noooooooo! It’s all back again!
The accursed Yucatecan seaweed has returned overnight!
As far as the eye can see… to the West…
… and to the East…
By my approximation… I raked an ~10m deep swath ~1m wide from the sand to the waterline that was ~1/3m deep = ~3 cubic metres. Our house is at Km 17, so from Progreso to our house there is ~50,000 cubic metres of seaweed…
…every morning… sigh!
Bryan has provided me with a link to the potential answer to this problem, which only really occurs during the winter months down here.
Today, HelpMe! HelpMe! shows how to make dinner in Uaymitun in 10 easy steps…
1. Engage eager minions to help prepare the meal and supply wine! 2. Bring 3L of pure water (salted) to a boil. 3. Heat and frequently stir your favourite pasta sauce. 4. Pan fry 1Kg of ground sirloin (nothing but the best)! 5. Select the best Penne (and perhaps a Tequila shot). 6. Grate some delicious cheese (Gouda here). 7. Prepare some nummy garlic cheese toast for the broiler. 8. Pour some fine Chilean Merlot. 9. Hola! Dinner is served! 10. Don’t forget dessert… Vainilla Helados with Mermelado Fresas!
Watch this space for HelpMe! HelpMe!’s next blog post on her trip to the Mall!
This blog post is about what Yucatecan living for us so far…
Enjoying the beach…… pelicans overhead… beautiful skies… Val and George arriving… La Casa del Faro (BBQ Ron’s new place)… cervezas, margaritas and great appies!… earnest culinary discussions… great sous-chefs!… fine diningand fabulous sunsets!
Missing you all greatly and wishing you could be here!
After much discussion, HelpMe! HelpMe! is going to ‘produce’ this blog post… for better or worse!
Tuesday was the day that Tia (Aunt) Val and Tio (Uncle) George arrived, but not until after 9 that night! Way past my bedtime and Nana and Papa’s too!
Waiting, waiting, waiting… and they wouldn’t let me have a hamburguesa con queso at the Merida Aeropuerto BK! 🙁
They’re here, they’re here!
Here’s me and my favourite tía y tío posing in front of the Merida Jaguar at the airport.
We always enjoy our morning coffee by the pool!
Of course, we needed to pick up a few things, but we stopped on the Malecon in Progreso for some lunch first… Nana’s sharing her Margarita!
I’m with Papa… we like the Salbutes the best!
Lookit! Lookit! Wildlife in the empty lot beside the Bodega!
Today, Tia Val absolutely needed to have her hair cut, so we went into Chicxulub to La Casa de Gaby (although there was no official sign or anything).
More waiting… I hate waiting… and Papa wouldn’t even let me play on the playground equipment! Said it was for kids only! Can’t he see the dog in there!!!
To pass the time we went to the Chicxulub pier, but it was pretty quiet as the wind was very strong today!
Finally Tia Val had her hair finished…
… and Tio George treated us to Helados (Ice Cream)! Tia Val and I love the Vanilla!
Keep a watch out for the next episode of HelpMe! HelpMe!’s Mexican adventure!
Sorry for the delay in this post, but, you know, things can get very busy down here 🙂
Here are a few shots of the interior of Uaymarima (aka Casa Gabriela)… the front hallway and the staircase leading up to the bedrooms.
Some of the fine artwork throughout the house, with a glimpse into the main living room below.
The ceiling at the top of the stairs is filled with coloured skylights giving the whole area a beautiful feel. The view is toward the back (i.e. away from the beach) of the house with the 3rd guest room at the end of the hall.
This is our master bedroom, which has…
… sliding doors out onto the balcony overlooking the pool and the beach.
This is the 1st guest room which also has access to the balcony.
The 2nd guest room with nice sliders on both sides to allow cooling breezes to blow through.
There’s a rather interesting staircase leading up to the roof, but there’s nothing to see up there except the mechanicals.
The view down the hall way to the front bedrooms. The TV comes with SKY service (mostly in Spanish) but does have the NFL Channel so we should get the Super Bowl on Sunday (go SF!). I’ve set up a small table by the little window to hold my laptop as we can get internet signal from there.
Here’s the more formal living area; dining room and …
… living room.
The dining room with a glimpse into the kitchen.
The fully functional kitchen with a great gas stove… wishing you were here to cook, Bill!!!
And the infamous refrigerator… they say it’s the salt air that does a number on things, but it looks like it was salvaged from a dumpster! George thinks it has leprosy!!!
That’s all for Blog post 3… Val & George arrived Tuesday night on time. Will show you pics of that in the next post!
It’s Monday and it’s time for HelpMe! HelpMe!’s first official outing! We’re going shopping and someone is very excited about getting out of the house!
Our first stop was to the Lavanderia in Chicxulub where your laundry gets charged by the Kilo.
Then we stopped next door at the Mercado to pick up some peppers and sour oranges from Jose.
Then, onto the Bodega Aurrera in Progreso…
…and you thought it was hard shopping with kids!
She was insistent on getting the cow paper towels!
Back home now and relaxing by the pool… someone is trying to pilfer some of the “Hot Nuts”!
It was a beautiful day, so naturally someone wanted to go swimming too!
Two tired kitties… so to speak!
Be sure to tune in again for the further adventures of HelpMe! HelpMe! in Uaymitun!
Tomorrow, she’s going to the airport to pick up her Aunt Val and Uncle George!
Wednesday morning, we repacked the few things we had taken out of our bags and then had “Hot Cakes” at the Cafe Club across the street from the Luz en Yucatan. After saying farewell to Tom, as we’re coming back to the Luz again, we caught a cab out to the airport to pick up our car… felt bad as the tiny and elderly Mayan cabbie struggled to put our luggage into his little car!
Hopping onto the Periferico (ring highway around Merida), it wasn’t long before we were cresting the last knoll and jittering across the rows of topes (used for speed bumps… you have to see them to believe them) into Progreso.
We met up with Marisa who was our friendly ‘greeter’ from Progreso Vacation Rentals at the Pemex gas station. She and her erstwhile companion (we thought bodyguard 🙂 ) then drove us out to Km 17 to the beach community known as Uaymitun…
… and into our beach house called Uaymarima (aka Casa Gabriela on PVR website).
The short drive through the courtyard led us to our new home for the next 2 months!
What a welcoming entrance with a little view through the side pathway to the Gulf!
This the view of Uaymarima from the beach. Our bedroom is on the balcony to the left…
… where we are greeted with these views each morning!
The outdoor space is fabulous with lots of sun and shade spots for resting and enjoying a good book and a cold beverage!
So, today is Sunday. We’ve been here 3 days already. It still really hasn’t totally sunk in that we are HERE!
Today is the first day that we’ve been settled enough to take the time to sit by the pool and relax. The weather has been warm (flip flops every day) but a bit windy. We have neighbours from Comox, BC to our left and from North Hadley, PQ to our right. We met up with Dave and Diane Barnhardt from Sarnia who are about 1 Km closer into town the other day and had a nice visit. We’ll likely walk down there in the next day or so.
We also met a gentleman, Charles Doering, who’s been coming down here for 16+ years so he’s a fount of knowledge. Small world… he was a radio announcer for CHOK in Sarnia back in the 50’s and his ancestors came from Germany and settled in a little place now known as Wellesley, ON where Kerry, Bryan, Jack and Ben live!
We’ve been getting reacquainted with the Bodega Aurrera in Progreso (think mini-Walmart) and had dinner at the Casa del Faro restaurant in Chixculub where Ron, the BBQ guy from the Bamboo Beach Club, has opened up right on the beach beside the pier.
Special note for Bill(y) … we made Achiote pork chops and rice for dinner last night. Just wait for my next blog which will show you the inside of the house and you’ll drool over the stove!
Signing off for today… only 2 more sleeps and Val and George arrive!
HelpMe! HelpMe! has always been a home-body… enjoying hiding in unique spots throughout the house awaiting someone to find her. So this is a new experience for her to say the least!
Like we all do while waiting for our flight, she’s just hanging out in the Lufthansa lounge at the Detroit Metro Airport.
Our flight was on time, so we were able to take a break in Ruby’s at the Houston airport. Someone snuck a sip of Nana’s mamosa! Oh my!
Now that we’re settled into our Beach House in Uaymitun, MX… of course, the first thing she wanted to do was to go for a swim in the pool!
After a quick dip and some sun, someone’s getting hungry! After snooping through the entire pantry, guess what she wanted?
What better way to have your after dinner favourite treat that at poolside! To bad Kirsty Wursty!
Yawn! Yawn! Siesta time… but this is a long bannister to climb up!
See you next time, as HelpMe! HelpMe! explores the local area!
Welcome to our Winter of 2013 in Uaymitun! This was originally published as “A Uaymitun Story” in my Blogger.com site.
Don and Michelle drove us down to the Detroit airport in plenty of time for us to catch our flight to Houston and on to Merida. All our flights were on time and we made in through Immigration OK, but got the RED light at Customs and had all our luggage searched. But in any case, we arrived in good spirits via cab at our wonderful hotel, Luz en Yucatan, in downtown Merida.
The next morning was beautiful, so we lounged around our room and then had a late breakfast across the street at the Cafe Club.
The grounds at the hotel were beautiful and serene!
We then took the bus up to the Gran Plaza Mall and got our Mexican phone and internet stick from Telcel. It was an interesting experience and we ran across another example of the local planning council’s work!
With the help of a friendly local, we made the bus ride back downtown to the Plaza Grande where the heart of Merida can be found. We strolled by the 200 year old grand theatre to the 500 year old Cathedral. The Pepsi truck was more modern though!
We had a break in a small park and watched the Meridians and the tourists walk by.
After a break back at the hotel, we walked down the street for dinner at the Chaya Maya. The Yucatecan style restaurant was in an old house of the original owner of the Maya ruins at Chichen Itza.
The inner courtyard was filled with massive trees and a vintage car.
We shared a very authentic local dish called Pollo Pibil, which is a 1/2 chicken with local spices, tomatoes and onion steamed inside banana leaves.
What a day in Merida! Off to bed in the ‘El Mozo’ room to be ready for our move to Uaymitun!
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Wednesday was our Healthcare event in Kuala Lumpur… had a good turnout and they were an good audience. Once we were finished our sessions and a roundtable, Rob and I took off for the airport.
Little known fact… Malaysia is one of the world’s largest exporter of Palm Oil. They have over 1/2 million hectares of Palm Oil plantations, which became very evident as we flew into Kuala Lumpur. The row after row of palm trees vanish into the distance. I grabbed this pic from our cab while heading to the airport… palm trees everywhere!
At the airport, we had some lunch at the OldTown White Coffee shop… I had a #607 Dry Ipoh Chicken Hor Fun… was good!
Back in Singapore, we stayed at the Crowne Plaza Hotel at the airport. This was my supper, Beef Hor Fun, similar name to my lunch but quite a different dish.
Early the following morning, it was back into the air on Singapore Airlines to Sydney. About 4 hours of the 7 hour flight from Singapore to Sydney is over Australia… here’s some pics of the Outback from my plane window.
In Sydney, I booked into the Four Seasons near the Circular Quay… I stayed there my first trip into Sydney. This is the view from my window looking up George St away from the harbour.
One can’t revisit Sydney harbour without getting fresh pictures of the iconic Opera House…
… and the Harbour Bridge!
Chris McNeil and I managed to meet up for a brew in a pub near the harbour! Cheers, Chris… and I owe you one!
Friday morning, leaving Sydney on AC34… 15 hours enroute to Vancouver for a 7:30 AM arrival on Friday morning!
The Harbour Bridge and the Opera House are visible toward the bottom left of the picture.
About 1/2 way through our flight, we passed over Honolulu… could see the lights of the city!
As we neared Vancouver, I managed to snap this view of the sunrise.
We landed around 7:30AM… our pilot was completing his last flight after 39 years as a pilot for AC. As we taxied to our gate, the ground crew lined up two fire engines and they created an arch of water for the plane to pass under to honour the pilot…. cool!
I had a nice visit with Mom on Friday and Saturday… Val came down for the weekend and Rog came up on Saturday. For dinner Friday night, Val and I took Mom out for dinner at a local Chinese restaurant… was great food, but given it’s neighbour, I had to take a picture! 🙂
I’m now finishing this Blog in the Lounge in Vancouver… my original flight to Toronto was cancelled and I’m heading out on a flight what was 1 hour later, but is now running 1/2 hour delayed … it’ll be a tight connection in Toronto for my hop to London… wish me luck!
I hope you enjoyed my Singapore and More blog… until next time! Cheers!
