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Archive for Malcolm

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We Wish Someone Had Told Us (Part 1)

We wish someone had told us to make sure, before moving to Yucatan, to have our plans for a car sorted out before arriving. If you are contemplating a move, it is absolutely critical that you either:

Drive your own car down from the States, or
Arrive with enough cash on hand ($10k or so should do [...]

17Jun2010 | Malcolm | 4 comments | Continued
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Isn’t it About Time Everyone Went Home?

Chrissake, do I hate Semana Santa. For the uninitiated, the Holy Week leading up to Easter here in Chelem is the first chance in the new year for wealthy Meridanos to actually use the guest houses that they utterly neglect the rest of the year. For the first few weeks leading up to Semana Santa, [...]

1Apr2010 | Malcolm | 12 comments | Continued
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Us vs. Them: Expat-on-Expat Crime

In a recent entry, I wondered aloud why Yolisto hasn’t been fully embraced by each and every expat living here in Yucatan, and Josh (of the consistently excellent American Egypt) posted the following comment:
If there are some ex-pats who have not embraced it, don’t worry: some are posting on their own blogs and don’t have [...]

16Mar2010 | Malcolm | 6 comments | Continued
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The Reports of my Death are Greatly Exaggerated

As they are wont to do in a small town, the so-called “coconut wireless” has been abuzz with news of our departure. Gawd, what a dicky sentence. What am I, the Pope? Actually, I’m pretty sure no one has noticed our plans to leave, since following our year’s hiatus, no one really reads this blog [...]

10Mar2010 | Malcolm | 10 comments | Continued
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Reviewed: Hotel Ibis in Merida

Having stayed in our share of small Mexican hotels that are trying to copy the larger chains, usually with limited success, we had been regarding the newly-opened Ibis Hotel with a bit of a raised eyebrow. An overnight in “the big city” is not uncommon for us; we book a hotel room at the drop [...]

26Feb2010 | Malcolm | 2 comments | Continued
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Norte #33 was a Doozy

I am typing this from the one room in the house that has power, after getting socked for the last 24 hours with one of the most powerful nortes I have ever seen. The waves were breaking on people’s houses, and our neighbor’s house was covered in foam that was being spit up from the [...]

25Feb2010 | Malcolm | 0 comments | Continued
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Renovating Our Beach House, Volume 7

If you have been following along, you know it has been a long road to take our squat, one-level “beach box,” a structure whose only intended purpose was to have a shady place for a wealthy Meridano to hang a hammock and drink a Sol in the summer, and turn it into a modern, year-round [...]

5Feb2010 | Malcolm | 2 comments | Continued
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Renovating Our Beach House, Volume 6

As we may have mentioned in prior volumes, our house was built by the previous owners one room at a time, as money allowed, with no (as far as we can tell) over-arching plan driving the whole thing. Because of this, the bedroom was tacked on to the house with a separate entrance, which meant [...]

3Feb2010 | Malcolm | 1 comment | Continued
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Dropped Out.

Jillian: How will it end, I wonder? In order to address this unanswerable question with poetry and symmetry, I look back to the beginning. Rereading the early entries, from the planning stages to our first enthralled weeks in Mexico, through all the trials up to this present moment; as I listen to the waves, I [...]

4May2009 | Malcolm | 16 comments | Continued
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Only in Mexico: Electrified Flyswatter

In Mexico, there is a general assumption that you, as a member of the public, are going to try not to do anything stupid. In particular, you are going to take basic steps to avoid hurting yourself. Our favorite working example of this attitude, and one you are probably tired of hearing us repeat, is [...]

2Apr2009 | Malcolm | 14 comments | Continued
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Searching for the American Dream…in Mexico

I just wanted to call everyone’s attention to this little nugget, which appeared in New American Media:
“MERIDA, Mex. – At some point last fall, the one millionth American established residency here in Mexico. That makes Mexico the host nation for the largest American expatriate community in the world. There are now more Americans living in [...]

31Mar2009 | Malcolm | 1 comment | Continued
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Loading Up the New Living Room

In this post, which I estimate will interest approximately four of our regular readers, one of whom will be my mom, I wanted to take a moment to show off how the living room is shaping up, now that we are loading it up with furniture.
The fact is, shopping for furniture here is TOUGH. We [...]

11Mar2009 | Malcolm | 20 comments | Continued
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