Living in Mexico

Good Times

Like I told you, I didn’t experience the layered love embrace of Mother Mexico upon arrival in this country, or really ever. So be it. Some people discover a love of this place that burns like a thousand suns. For others it just burns. I know that sometimes my tart reactions are triggered by the [...]

9Mar2010 | Jillian | 0 comments | Continued

On The Town: Wicky’s in Playa del Carmen

We are so lucky to be just four hours from the crazy amazing waters of the Caribbean. We don’t make the drive very often but when we do it is with gusto and great dedication to pleasure. Laying supine in a beach chair, staring at the sky and taking intermittent dips in the ocean is [...]

9Mar2010 | Jillian | 1 comment | Continued

Ramblings

When Mexico is adorable it is wonderfully so. Children chasing chickens in the yard, festivals of colors and lights and saints, spontaneous parades, palm trees, colonial architecture and cheap delicious street food are all undeniably very good things. But when Mexico is awful*, it is terribly so. We’ve discussed how there is not really anything [...]

1Mar2010 | Jillian | 5 comments | Continued

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

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

The News Not The Weather

I remember a tempestuous August storm. It was nothing more than a strong summer rain. But sheets of water were falling from the sky and collecting in quick inches on our street and I was scared. My parents flung open the doors and stood outside to marvel at the intensity and I thought, not for [...]

25Feb2010 | Jillian | 0 comments | Continued

Things to do in Yucatan Before I Leave aka My Yucket List

Dance all night at The Mambo Cafe We had our wedding reception at this live music venue/dance club at the Plaza Las Americas mall and it was amazing, shiny, loud, and vibrating. But I was a little distracted/overwhelmed/intoxicated and would love to go back to shake my money maker without worrying about our forty friends [...]

23Feb2010 | Jillian | 4 comments | Continued

Part-Time Paradise is a Full-Time Hell

Believe me I flagellate every time I even think about complaining, so don’t get upset and decide that I’m awful. But every holiday must end and even the beach gets boring, especially in a town such as this. Chelem, like the mysterious city Brigadoon, is not meant to exist all the time. It only comes [...]

18Feb2010 | Jillian | 0 comments | Continued

Waiting For My Man

We’ve had one norte after the next blowing through our port, the skies are opaque gray and all the Yucatecans and casi Yucatecans are bundled up and battened down. We drove into Progreso to run errands while the help leveled rubble and planted and washed our pots and pans. I picked up our laundry and [...]

17Feb2010 | Jillian | 0 comments | Continued

Mexico Micro and Macro

I would say we keep our distance. I prefer that my hands are clean. I want to want to look more closely at life, to face certain facts about the world, but when I do it’s with shock and sad horror. Perhaps I’m too empathetic. Or is it selfish? Or just squeamish. Maybe I would [...]

16Feb2010 | Jillian | 2 comments | Continued

Life in a Small Fishing Village

It’s not that pictureque, actually. Oh, but it can be. I was naive to think it would look like a painting, with colorful masts studding the ocean’s swells, happy moppet children playing with their untoys, and beautific faces in church on every Sunday. Those idyllic images do occur. There have been afternoons when fishermens’ families [...]

11Feb2010 | Jillian | 2 comments | Continued