Mexico

Things I've done since arriving:
-went to a Mayan ruin at Xcambo around 2,000 years old. It's small compared to others which will have to wait for my next visit(if Mars and Pete will invite me again),
-Church on Sunday: standing room only, lots of singing, a colouful celebration,
-went to Merida, a city of 750,000 or is it 1,500,000. The main plaza had tons of vendors, Mayan dancing, cold beer and lots of to see.
-went to the clinic for my hearing, got antibiotics(hearing still not better). Marcel also got attacked by bugs and his legs are covered with bites and he's been to the clinic too.
-Pete loves to cook, we've had very tasty meals.
- went kayaking yesterday against Pete's advice. I had planned on being out for 2 hours but returned after 40 minutes, soaked and tired. I hit some pretty strong waves and a few times I thought I'd have to swim to shore.
- ate some botanna which is a free appetizer with every beer 0and piscado frito(only in the Yucatan) whole fried fish.
-finding out that the Lapierre's are very competitive at crib, scrabble and Scatergories.
-lost my ATM card which caused me some consternation. Banque National staff were good enough to go and deposit money in my RBC account.
-went fishing on the ocean with Marcel and 3 other guys. Our guides baited our hooks and unhooked the tons of fish Marcel and his buddies caught. When we returned, the Mexican guides filleted the fish called "grunts" and gave us each a huge pile which Pete cooked that night. A very nice meal indeed.
-Marcel and I went for 6 km walks a few times. I've got to get rid of some Christmas fat as I'm getting a big belly from all the driving and not exercising.
-Pierrette has taken on a mission of donating supplies to one of the areas poorer schools. On this one day, she bought cake for all the students and we went to school to share it with them. It was a very nice gesture on Pete's part and the kids were very appreciative.
-on our last evening we went to a restaurant down the road 0and had a another nice dinner.
I left on Jan. 23 with a tear in my eye.

One week in Mexico
It's now Sunday, Jan. 10th. I've driven over 2,000km so far in Mexico.
I got out of Vera Cruz after some driving around; only took one bad road and lost 30 minutes. The roads were good, bad and very bad. On a freeway, I hit a stretch of 1/4 of a mile long that was worse than any road I've ever seen. It was raining and this road(I'm talking about a freeway here) was almost impassable. There were hundreds of cars going about 1 mile per hour over bumps and holes, mud was flying everywhere and drivers were weaving in and out trying to avoid the really bad holes. I took a video and will try to put it on U-tube.

When entering every hamlet, village,town, and city, speed bumps greet you. And again, once, I missed seeing one and I thought my kayak would fly out of its saddle, never mind the damage to my shocks, tires, etc... Also, you could be driving on a nice road and all of a sudden, no warning, big holes appear and trying to avoid them is next to impossible due to oncoming traffic.
I find the countryside very dirty...lots of garbage strewn everywhere and platic bags hang from every tree. I've never seen so many dead dogs along the roads. I assume they have little ministry people doing the cleanup. I hate to say it but Mexico is a third world country and has a lot of catching up to do.(Pierrette tells me I should mention that the state of Campeche is very clean) I do enjoy seeing men on horseback riding along the roads. I saw many of those.
But I'm now about 4-5 hours from my destination. I arrived on Monday, Jan. 11. Lost my hearing in the left ear.

It's now Saturday Jan. 16; been here 5 days. It's cool and cloudy for this area and apparently, it's been the worst weather in 100 years. Is it following me??? (Christine is sure to acknowledge this fact!!!!)

Jan. 19: Marcel and Pierrette have rented a beautiful home on the ocean for the past 8 years. It's very cozy with lots of charm. The pool is being filled today as the weather outlook is promising. It's really a peaceful and quiet here. A few nights ago, we went to dinner at a neighbour's with about 10 couples, many from N. Ontario.

Things I've done since arriving:
-went to a Mayan ruin at Xcambo around 2,000 years old. It's small compared to others which will have to wait for my next visit(if Mars and Pete will invite me again),
-Church on Sunday: standing room only, lots of singing, a colouful celebration,
-went to Merida, a city of 750,000 or is it 1,500,000. The main plaza had tons of vendors, Mayan dancing, cold beer and lots of to see.
-went to the clinic for my hearing, got antibiotics(hearing still not better). Marcel also got attacked by bugs and his legs are covered with bites and he's been to the clinic too.
-Pete loves to cook, we've had very tasty meals.
- went kayaking yesterday against Pete's advice. I had planned on being out for 2 hours but returned after 40 minutes, soaked and tired. I hit some pretty strong waves and a few times I thought I'd have to swim to shore.
- ate some botanna which is a free appetizer with every beer and piscado frito(only in the Yucatan) whole fried fish.
-finding out that the Lapierre's are very competitive at crib, scrabble and Scatergories.
-lost my ATM card which caused me some consternation. Banque National staff were good enough to go and deposit money in my RBC account.

Houston is not GPS friendly

December 15, 2009
I've travelled 15,000 km and this is the first city where I've encountered real and ongoing problems getting around. Driving to my cousin's, I had to be directed by cell phone to her area of Houston. When I went to meet Christine, same thing. Getting to my hotel at the airport, I had to call the front desk for directions. A very frustrating time and I probably drove 300 to 400 extra km. So, yes I did yell at her a number of times and it wasn't pretty.

Getting back to the fun part of my journey, I've spent five full days in Houston, USA's 4th largest city. Both my hosts live in Sugar Land, a suburb of Houston. I spent a few days with my cousin, Adèle and hubby, Dennis, their two kids, Michlynn and Dylan and of course, Buddy, the dog. Adèle is my cousin Cecile's daughter from Saskatchewan and I was very well received. Heck, Dennis was even going to pay for my plane ticket back home. After attending church on Sunday, we went to a popular restaurant where I had my first huge Idaho potato stuffed with shredded beef, sour cream, onions etc...it was a whole meal.

Christine was a friend I had met earlier and she hosted me for two nights. Her kitchen fluorescent fixture had not worked since July and I was able to replace it without difficulty. She was vey appreciative and said that she now sees things diffently.

I also visited the Johnson Space Centre, a huge and very interesting complex. Remember the Appolo 13 famous line:"Houston, we have a problem"? (yeah, me and my GPS lady)This is where astronauts train(except when they used to come to Sudbury of course).

December 17 to January 4
I took a vacation from my vacation to be home for Christmas. I flew from Houston to Sudbury where my sisters Murielle and Aline met me at the airport. Had a wonderful Christmas with family and friends.