A day off! (okay, a good part of a day off) :)

Here we are in Telchac Puerto on the hunt for pink flamingos.  A successful hunt needs to be rewarded by good food at a clean restaurant 1 block east of the pier. name I can't remember but the food was excellent; try the fish fillet mexicana!

 

 

Below is the pier 

 

Ceviche with camarones, mmm!

 

The restaurant

 

 

An interesting building

 

 

Friends Duncan and Chris from here in Progreso in the winter, and near VB in

the summer. We are at a look out tower at the beginning of our hunt.

 

Deb and I 

 

Quite the lookout venue but no flamingos 

 

Where we hope to sneek up on them 

 

But no luck.   They come when they come.   Poorly trained I say! 

 

Views from the lookout tower 

 

Chris and I looking up the stairs 

 

 

After driving to Telchac along the road near the bridge I find...... flamingos!

 

Always a light house to protect the pier 

 

You can tell it is fall, as the leaves drop to the ground in Canada....so does the sea weed break off and wash up on shore.  It is seasonal and stinky for a day or two. With the churning ocean eventually it breaks down and mixes with the sand and decomposes.

 

Sea birds on a wall ...be careful if they fly over you.

 

The town square midday.  Hot, humid, and too early for a nap after lunch. 

 

A nice break from the construction and a great visit with super friends!

A few small updates on the house!

The bathroom is definitely coming together!

 

 

And I love Sara's and my choice of tile!

 

And then a further destruction - ha!

Now that everything is out of the master bedroom, the floor can be broken up in order to put the support using the sand and escombro (rubble from the floor itself) underneath the new pour.

 

Here are Juan Carlos, Dod and Juan 3 hand collecting the rubble, carting it out to the front yard via the wheelbarrow, and organizing.

 

And the pour has already begun (above to the top of the picture), and the sand and rubble sorted.

 

And below, Juan and Juan Carlos hard at work!  A little bit of a sheen on the brow! (okay, and elsewhere too) :)

Sunday morning 10k race in Merida

So, early on Sunday, November 16th, Vic and I headed in to Merida for our first local race of the season.  It was just before 6 when we left Progreso for downtown Merida (about a 35 minute drive)

and the sun was well on it's way up, and the day was getting hot already!

 

 

Not that it had cooled down much that night as our recent nightly lows have been about 23 or 25 C.

 

 

 

 As Merida is a city of almost 1 million people, there are lots of runners, and this race was no exception.  Most races have a 1500 person capacity and usually fill up.  I think this one was the same.

 

Vic took part in the 5km walk (as his knee has kept him "out of the running" since June, and I (crazy woman) signed up for the 10k!

 

As such, Vic was able to get some wonderful pictures of the statues and decoration along the parade route.

 

 

These faces are a collection of art along the famous Paseo Montejo of Merida, and on Sunday mornings for everyone, one side of this major street of the city is closed off for several hours for people to be able to walk and ride bicycles down the streets without any traffic.

Below is the beautiful Banderas (flags) monument along the Paseo - truly a marvel

 

And here is the finish - Meta - which also means the goal!

 

There was also a wheelchair event

 

And I did finish, although I spent a good part of my run walking as I was way too hot, despite the 7am start! It was a really tough race for me on this particular morning, but I made it! :)

 

And I met our friend Carolina (also our dentist's receptionist) at the end for a quick visit!

 

And so begins the Sunday morning race calendar!

A few more steps forward and a major problem :(

Look at our gorgeous tile!  This is the shower in the house bathroom :)

 

And with the glass brick wall

 

And the campana (over the stove hood fan equivalent in Mexico). No extractor needed, as the steam (hopefully not smoke :) from the stove goes straight up the chimney and vents out the wall.

 

 

And Juan begins the shower wall outside, and displays his lovely design image of the X of glass bricks. We made add the talavera tiles later on to tie everything together

 

Inside of the outdoor shower stall

 

And then there's my adorable, but not reliable, plumber/electrician.

We're now les than 3 weeks away from being in our home, and many of his projects are nowhere near completion

 

The hose and pump have now been set up for us to fill our pool, but the cement is exposed and needs finished.

 

 

The foso (pit) for septic is half dug, but not completed

 

 

And only 2 of the lights in the entire house have now been installed.

 

 

So, here I am up at 3am emailing friends to see if I can find us a new electrician today, and find a gentle way to demote Jose back to plumber, so he can finish up those jobs, and get back on track.  Life and construction do have their challenges, but here's hoping today will be a solution finding day!  Ojala as we say here in Mexico (God willing!)

And our American friends

 

 In the midst of everything else, we have been trying to maintain normal life - ha!

What is normal any more?

 

Here below are some of our American friends that we got together with for coffee one evening,

from right to left, Steve, Kareen, D. Gregg and Sabrina

 

Sabrina is my running partner, with whom I run almost religiously, every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday morning (early to avoid the heat!)  She has become a great friend!

Celebrating Canadian Remembrance Day in Progreso

Here in the Progreso area, many of our friends are from Canada, and as a group, we were very proud to celebrate Remembrance Day together

 

And what a small world it is.  Here are Deb and Rob, our new neighbours at Neek Kaan, renting the apartment next to ours, who after it was all arranged, we learned are also from Cranbrook - fun people! (and our other neighbour of course - Dennis!)

 

And our friends who are now here full time, Karen and Francois, who are very active in most everything in Progreso!

 

Our friends, and very active Progreso folks too, Reg and Larry, and you may recognize the old guy in the forefront :)

 

 

And the lovely and wonderful Mary with her husband Weldon (behind her in the photo above). Also full time Canadians in Progreso, very actively involved in most everything - super folks!

 

And the services were held at the quaint little restaurant in Chixculub (just east of where we are), the Bamboo Beach - a great place to eat, and hang out.  They even have an expat exchange library available for everyone's use!

 

So yes, we may be Progreso residents as well, but we are still very Canadian!