Saturday February 27, 2016

This has been a busy week - we packed in all the socializing that we didn't get to in the previous first 7 weeks of vacation. A catch up week, so to say. I would get up in the morning and instead of thinking - today is Monday, I was thining - "today is beer tasting", Tuesday wasn't Tuesday it was "tonight we have dinner with Kris" and so on. Everyday had something going on, Friday came - I didn't recognize it as Friday and slept in, missing  my Skype Spanish lesson! Wow what a week - but it was a fun one.

Sunday we met Ann, Bev, Louise and John for brunch at El Pirata on the port side. They arrived late on Saturday evening for their 2 week vacation at their favourite condo Casa Banditos here in Puerto Morelos. The website for their conco is:   http://www.casabandidos.com/

You may remember from posts years past,  we tease Ann about  her  personal method of looking after her money when here in Mexico -  Louise and John got in on the fun this year too.  We ate at El Pirata and with your bill you get coin chocolates as  you can see in the picture near Ann's elbow. We teased the waiter "Geronimo" about passing out condoms to their customers - he blushed terribly and chuckled as he stepped back from the table.

This is the Maguire/Marselle group anxious to get on their way exploring Puerto Morelos, this is Louise and John's first year but Ann and Bev have been here a few times before and look forward to all the changes since their last visit.

We stopped in to visit with the paramedics at the Red Cross Ambulance Station. This fellow was very enthusiastic about his job and showed us all through his ambulance. This service is a volunteer service, the medics are on a 24 hour 3 days on, 4 days off, 4 days on, 3 days off rotation. They stay at the station for their shifts and get paid a stipend of $4,000. pesos every two weeks - that is equivalent to  $295.00 Canadian today. They cover a distance of about 70 kms of major highway between Cancun and Playa del Carmen and West to Vallidolid. That is a distance in time of 2 hours depending on the time of day and the amount of traffic of course. They carry auto extrication - a hydraulic system which is very old and on its last leg. 

The town of Puerto Morelos has become a city recently, their fire department is still in existence but they have lost all of their equipment including their fire truck, so the ambulance service is filling in as much as they can until the  fire department is equipped and up and running again.

These fellows come into town late in the afternoon after a full day's work. Look at those hot rubber boots?

Back home at "Casa Pura Vida"/Home of Pure Life"  a bug is dead in our courtyard sink - the ants are taking care of the corpse. Interesting how nature looks after itself.

Monday was the Beer Tasting.....

 We gathered in early afternoon for the event .... there were 5 different kinds of beer to be tasted and to add to the seriousness of the tasting, our pallets were cleansed with salt free soda crackers and a few sips of water prior to the tasting of each beer. Very intense. Each beer was served in a clean glass so not to taint the next brew and each beer was rated on a scale with the final score being out of 100. 

The final score was made up of a) the appearance of the beer, 2) its smell, 3) the taste, 4) the after taste,  and 5) its drink-ability (would you go back for more) = ? out of 100. 

The beers tested and in order of appreciation were:                  

#1 Bohemia Obsucra - Ladies 63/100; Men  80/100

#2 Modelos Especial - Ladies 60/100; Men 56/100  

#3 Corona Pale Ale - Ladies 61/100; Men 53/100

#4 Victoria Amber - Ladies 37/100; Men 53/100

#5 Tulum - Ladies 33/100; Men 1/100(Yuk!)

Between tastings  snacks were served and people mingled. Bev borrowed some of Allan's tools and worked on his Mexican walking stick - a mighty fine piece it is too.

Foxy quietly laid next to his master throughout the afternoon. 

There were non beer drinkers that were converted! Hooray! Hooray! Hooray!

And Some not!

 We left later in the evening

 and went to Ole's for dinner.

On the way we stopped to take a quick look at the shoe sale - this tent is an annual event which lasts a week or so. Shoes of all descriptions, sizes and colours.

Wednesday Theresa went to Cancun with

 Louise Begin  for a day of  shopping, they had 

a blast shopping in fabric stores.

 Allan, Howard and I stayed at home to do some extra little jobs that needed to be done before we head back to Canada. The main one was paint touch ups. 

That evening we had dinner with Kris, our 

property manager and very good friend.

Then we went for ice cream at the best ice cream parlor in Puerto Morelos.

 Wednesday the 24th our group of 8  spent most of the day at the beach, then went to the Maguire/Marselle condos for afternoon drinks and munchies.

That evening we went to El Pesquero for dinner

The food is always good there - this evening there was no hydro for most of our meal. The wind had been strong earlier in the day and the power became disconnected at the pole  outside the restaurant.

Louise was brave and tasted one of the hot sauces served with chips prior to our dinner being served. She was a little uncomfortable for a while - you can see the surprised and shocked  expression on her face. 

After dinner we stopped by Abraham's shop - he was proudly wearing the Honorary Haweater  sweatshirt Bev and Ann brought for him. 

Howard and little Joshua played peek - a - boo

while Theresa was entertained by Joshua's sister America.

Thursday Theresa managed to get to the shoe

 store to look for shoes but didn't see anything

 appealing so she made no purchases.

We took Dani out for dinner in the evening, when we picked her up we found these flowers  growing just outside their gate.

We are sponsoring Dani's education and her dental work. In this photo Kris is reviewing the most recent school report with her. She is doing well in all of her classes and has regular attendance. We are quite proud of her for her accomplishments.

 Kris is Dani's  guardian angel here in Puerto Morelos, she makes sure Dani has everything she needs for school and that she attends all of her dental appointments. I don't know what we would do without her, Kris has been so helpful in our sponsorship of Dani.

I got my ironing board and iron out this week. Allan thought I was loosing it when I packed them to bring to Mexico. The first time I used it was to iron a blouse and the second time....

I used it to iron these lovely placements I brought with me too. They are from The Little Shoppe Around The Corner at Knox - handmade by Kathleen Harasym.

Saturday was  a special day for the men,

they were up early and off for deep sea fishing.


They caught many fish, there was lots for us, the captain and guides as well as Dani's family. Allan took many wonderful pictures of the event and then lost my little point and shoot camera overboard!These two pictures were graciously passed on by Howard.

Later in the day we went to a birthday party for Juan who is going to be our pool man/gardener while we are back in  Canada.

I passed out puppets and stickers to the children who attended the party.

This is Juan's youngest son JT who is 2 years old - what a doll.

During the chill of the evening we were inside enjoying  the warmth of  friendship and a delicious fish dinner at the Maguire/Marselle Condos

The fish caught during the early morning's fishing trip were yellow tailed grouper, trigger fish and amber jack.

The kitchen was vacated for the sole use of Bev our chef and John his assistant.

Even the chef needs a break.

Mmmmmmmmmmmmm..... DELICIOUS!

Well, that ends our last full week in Puerto Morelos Villas Uno for 2016, only a few days left until we will be back in Canada enjoying its cold cold winter. Brrrrrr.