Lazy beach days.....

This weekend in Puerto Morelos is one of the big fishing tournaments. Lots of extra people, cars and boats in town.











Was sitting at a favourite beachside bar having a chaya refresco, and noticing what a beautiful paint job had been done on the centre boat on the beach.












Suddenly 6 guys show up, lay some pipes under the boat, and with a few good grunts, launch it into the water. I am told an artist came from Cancun to do the artwork, so I wish I had gotten a close up of it - an amazing fish just before the name.








the view from our balcony at Los Viajeros.......that street goes one block and then you are at the beach......so nice to have a nice one hour beach walk every morning......












Ok, so I love taking pics of the beach and this amazing water.....soon enough we will be gone and have to live 6 months without this view........

Botas and music.......

Botas at his favourite place - the beach! So we have tried for another year to find him a wonderful furever home, with no success. He is part of the family, but sadly cannot come back to Canada....can you imagine what the cats would have to say......?????

He loves to be with us wherever we go - including in the car......if you are going, I am coming with you.....!!!!

Sometimes (between house cats) he gets to play on the back patio, chase his ball and chew his kong - and he loves to lie on the chaise.......

Sometimes he even gets to come in the house, and no matter it is 34 degrees, he has to sit right up against us. So this summer, as our time to return to Canada fast approaches, we have taken dear Botas to Summer Camp for the next 6 months in the jungle....

This is his new home at Calle 9 in the Urbana, or the jungle area behind our housing area. Carlos is a great guy who is a dog trainer and he also boards dogs while people are away. He used to live right across the street from us, so we got to know him as a neighbour too. He lives on a couple of walled acres with lots of forest, open spaces and several dogs, which will help Botas become better socialized with other dogs. 

We took him out last Thursday, with his bed, his toys, his bowl, and fond farewells, but got to go back again today for a family visit....he is doing well with the other dogs and learning new things. It was hard to leave him, but we know he will be well loved and we look forward to having him home again when we return in the fall.

Daf works on the blog in the condo........

And last night we went out with Linda and Anna to have supper and listen to some music at the Cantina Habernaro.

Mark Mulligan was performing one of his last shows in PM this season, with help from his friends Susan and Sam. It was a great show - we were all up dancing most of the night. See you in the fall, Mark!

what a difference a day makes....

Monday morning at dawn and all the tourists have gone home.....back to work and back to their inland communities. Here are our lovely beaches at their best.....with no one on them except the waves, the birds and the occasional walker with a dog.










As the sun warms the day, it is already over 30 degrees, so little dips in the ocean make the walk more pleasant.











sigh......isn't it beautiful......?













Seaweed washed up on the shore...............












........at Acamaya Reef, where we lived for 5 months in our RV our first full winter down here.












The house Casa Maya, once owned by the author of Where the Sky is Born, who found little PM in the early 70s, bought and built here over the years and actually started the Alma Libre Bookstore 18 years ago. The house was recently sold to some Canadians!









Oh, look, I found a mermaid on the beach during my walk........












And what used to be 50 - 60 an hour is ridiculously cheap in April. Massage on the beach.....what fun.










The first order of business after our town received it's "Mayorlty" status was paving the streets. Each street that was graded and paved had its water and sometimes even cable service disrupted, but I guess that is the price of progress....LOL This little piece of machinery is, as you can see, just a couple of feet away from the coffee shop in town where we stopped for a coffee this morning.







The sign basically says, "Excuse the disruption"............pretty funny when you think about homes and businesses losing their water.........











Still, despite all the trucks and heavy equipment it is sure nice to see newly paved streets all over town. Some of the potholes were a couple of feet across and deep, so drivers and walkers alike are happier!

Fun being "townies!...

Our home away from home for almost 2 weeks is this lovely one bedroom - lovely bathroom and balcony off this room.

Our kitchen and dining room area - just 2 blocks from the beach and a short walk to the downtown square.

Our living room/dining area. We are on the 2nd floor, so wonderful ocean breezes blow through all day and all night.....thanks Rob and Jo for giving us this wonderful little vacation in our own town.

Semana Santa (Easter) brings everyone from all around the area to PM to enjoy their 2 weeks vacation at the beach. While we all love a deserted beach, it is such fun to see all these local families enjoying time at the beach.






In every direction, as far as the eye can see, are colourful umbrellas, families, food and fun.











That one little white face in the middle is Miki - we each had a lovely swim in the tropical sea, followed by margaritas and guacamole at Ojo de Agua.










Sunday, May 1 was the last day of business at the bookstore, so Rob and Jo joined us for a drink after work to celebrate another great season! See you all again next November!

life in the hood

OK, Miki got up at 3 am but I told her - "dont' wake me up till there is something to see" so got up at 4:30 A.M. to watch the Royal Wedding. Miki had her tux all pressed and ready, but it was almost 32 degrees already, so she passed. I wore my birthday suit and my fanciest straw hat. Really nice couple, doing it right by actually having a relationship before they get married - we wish them every happiness!







So it turned out we had Mamita and the babies were with us for a few days instead of an afternoon, careful to not let them have contact with Mariposa while she was there, or Botas. We had 3 zones - dog zone in the front yard, mama and kitten zone in the house, and Mariposa zone on the back patio, except at night, when Mariposa slept with Daf and Mamita and kittens were on the back patio. On Friday mama and kittens went to Diane's, after exhausting all other options. Still hoping someone else can take them......










The little gaffers are just so sweet - the littlest black one is a worry, but is nursing well, and Mamita is looking after all of them so well. She had to have gotten preggers in her first heat - can't be more than 4 months old herself, and skin and bone. She has been eating like a horse at our place and has learned - in one day - how to use the litter box! Lovely calm affectionate cat.












The street cats were oblivious of all the kittens inside....just came for food every day, as usual. We will miss them, but turns out they will be fed every day - stay tuned for that story in the next entry!









Botas got to be in the house for visits on Wed with the cats in other rooms. We took him on Thursday to Summer Camp in the jungle (at Carlos's - the Dog Man), so he will be well cared for, have lots of nice dogs to be friends with, and a walled acre of land to play safely in. More pics coming Monday.





The good news is that we have rented our casa out for the summer to an American gal, Melissa, and her 2 kids, Eddy and Tamara until the end of October. We don't leave Mexico until the 11th of May, and she moved in on the 30th, so we are staying at one of Rob and Joanne's lovely vacant suites in town. The night we moved in we took ourselves out for dinner to Gaucho's to listen to this wonderful violinist.....great music and we were just 5 minutes from our new temporary home.








Completed our last day at the bookstore so are footloose and fancy free 2 blocks from the beach for the next week and a half. Had a lovely appie and margarita at Pelicanos.....














....and enjoyed the awesome view of the beach. So nice to have a few days to play before we leave....the last few weeks have been way too busy.

R.I.P. Mariposa

We sadly announce that dear old Mariposa is in cat heaven today. She is playing in the tall grass, chasing mice and sleeping in the sun beside a full bowl of tuna and a plate of cream.








As her feline leukemia symptoms increased, we had fewer and fewer options for her care, and today we made the decision to have her euthanised and out of distress.








She came to us last November and has been a gentle soul who we loved, spoiled and got lots of love back from her in return.








She settled in well, and we thought we had another furever home for her, but it did not work out, so she was back with us after just 2 weeks.







She loved to sleep on the patio in the sun, on the couch, right up against Daf all night, and was friendly to all our company during dinners and parties.










You were much loved, dear Mariposa, and we will miss you. Thanks to Dr. Guillermo for your kindness on this sad day.