PM town square on a Saturday night

Ok, so we didn't get to see Herbie Hancock on Saturday night, but there was a show in our very own town square in Puerto Morelos!! In the afternoon, workers put up a stage and then there were 3 or 4 groups of dancers performing - the charming "old" men, and 2 sets of women dancers from various parts of Mexico.

The town turned out in droves to watch this very special show, and there were crafts for sale, lots of different kinds of food for sale, and even the littlest members of the audience had a good time.
All of this unfolded in front of the bookstore on Saturday, so we totally enjoyed, the music, the dancing and the people.

Friday night was a real treat - we finally got to take in the Jazz Festival!!! We got to see Jim Beard, Spyro Gyra and Sergio Mendes LIVE for FREE on the BEACH in Playa del Carmen!!! It just doesn't get any better than this. When we arrived just before 7, people were setting up their chairs and even making nice comfy chairs out of sand (wish we had brought our chairs...!).
By the time the concert was fully underway, there were thousands of happy jazz fans (most of them local Mexicans, which sort of surprised me) grooving to the sounds of some of the best groups in the world.

Saturday night we had to work at the bookstore, but tonight was Al Jerreau, Pat Martino and Herbie Hancock - amazing line up of artists right here in our midst.
Of course, I can never resist a local sculpture when I see one - this one was on our way back to the car after the concert. Sadly, I started to get a cold today, so will pound it with vitamin C and oil of oregano.

Hockey night in Puerto Morelos????

Thursday night we watched the Canucks play hockey on the computer.....whatever it takes, right?
Ok, suffice to say we are totally enchanted with our street cats - even managed to get boy tabby in the house for a cuddle and treats. The other 4 are so skittish - still don't know if they are male or female even.

A night out!

Ok, so we headed to Playa del Carmen tonight to take in some of the 4 day Jazz Festival. Sadly, we could not find the right location, so decided to just pick a place - that nice little wine bar, for instance - and have a glass of wine and people watch. Lots of folks out walking, tourists, families, people moving and grooving on a warm evening in Playa. Lovely!!!!~


























The Head in the middle of the fountain on Constitutiones Ave is always a treat!

All in all, a nice night out, and we will find the jazz another night. Good thing this isn't the only night it is on.

A day at the beach

We went to one of our favourite places to swim and eat - Ojo de Agua. We ate lunch on the patio, watched the roaming minstrels entertain the beachgoers, and chatted with them when they came up to the patio afterward. With 2 guitars and a harp, they produce wonderful music.

On the way home, we dropped by the white coati sanctuary (called Tejones in Spanish), which is where many of these lovely creatures congregate early in the morning and at dusk. We have brought fruit with us other mornings, but sadly had none with us this day, but that didn't stop the whole clan from running out for treats, even tho none were available. We felt so badly, so will make up for our gaff tomorrow and take them lots of special treats.

Cat lovers

OK, so there are lots of street animals in PM and everywhere in Mexico. We started last year with our little black and white one, and now have that one, her 2 kittens and their father, and now another beauty, a young tabby, and the friendliest of them all. Loves the catfood we put out every day, and has come in for small bits of cheese sometimes too.
Doesn't mind an occasional cuddle.......
Miki does her exercises in the pool every day ...the knee is pretty much fully healed and we are both losing weight what with a fresh fruit, veggies and fish diet most of the time.

Settling in....!

So off to Cancun to do the big box store shopping.....and Walmart has Christmas trees, for goodness sakes.....all the way from Oregon.












$58 for a big one, $38 for a small - a lot of money for a Mexican family to put out for a Christmas tree. The store is full of decorations....good grief, it feels way to early.
















So we want to introduce you to Poco Uno, Poco for short (means "little one" in Spanish) and this is the cutest little thing. Our laptop, which we nursed through the summer, praying it would last this winter down here, died the very day we got the internet. Figures. So we bought this little puppy at Walmart - A Compac HP pc, and as we struggle to deal with the Mexican keyboard and lots of Spanish on our screen, we at least are online and in touch with our world again.








Today, almost 2 weeks from when we arrived, we finally got to the beach!!! White sand, warm sun, lovely turquoise sea, good books, cold water - life is good and NOW we feel like we are finally home!!!!

Cats and more cats!

Last year, some of you will remember our little "Chaplin" who turned out to be female and who had a litter of kittens from the pure black male on our street. She is back, looking good, and is happy that her daily food has resumed as well.










One of her babies is a ringer for Daddy, pure black, cute as a bug's ear, and getting less skittish by the day.











The second baby is a female and looks a lot like Mom, but she is really thin, looks sick, and gets pushed aside by both her brother, her Mom and her Dad for food - guess they call this the survival of the fittest, and if we could ever get close enough, we would bring her in and make sure she gets fed. As the days go by, she shows up less and less and now it has been a week since we have seen her...oh dear.






After waiting impatiently for several days, our cable guy, Arturo, saved the day by getting our internet connected and up and running. Bravo Arturo!

Home again!!!

Our little PM square looked wonderful - we are ahead of the rush of tourists who will come later, so it is quiet and peaceful.











In the centre gazebo, here is the Day of the Dead Memorial, filled with food, flowers, water, booze, candles - all things to welcome those who had passed over and who would be visiting tonight, and be welcomed.










Finally we get to David Lau's, where our dear Valorie and her "boys" share the best food and the GREATEST margaritas in town.













We had way too many margaritas (OK, I had too many margaritas!!), a wonderful dinner and great reunions with friends!

Yah, sleepless in LA, too....

The big silver Alaska Air bird took us from Seattle to LA, arriving at 11:30 pm on Halloween night.















Our flight left at 9 am the next morning, so we found an out of the way bench and hunkered down with our stuff to sleep, get stiff necks and fortify ourselves with water during the night....which was VERY long.....!!!!!






















There goes LA, looking pretty benign on this lovely sunny morning.













5 hours later, there is Puerto Morelos down there, waiting for us!! We grabbed a cab, got home long enough to make the bed, and then jumped in the Tracker to go to town.

The Public Market

Live entertainment, lots of flowers everywhere, and we had coffee at a great little place on the main drag. Back to the train station to get our luggage, which was really beautiful. Off to the airport and then our 9 pm flight to LA. We love Seattle - used to come here a lot when we lived in Vancouver, so it has been a treat to spend a day here having fun.