The Mexican Experience

Paul and I are currently sitting at the Sports Bar in sunny Mexico at the BlueBay Grand Esmerelda on the Mayan Riviera. The internet connection, while free, is a bit slower than I’m used to, so I thought I’d give a quick recap of our holiday, and post later. The memory, she ain’t what she used to be!

View from our balcony. The Oriental a la carte/bar/outdoor breakfast area.

It’s Friday, and I have to admit that neither of us has been keeping track of what day it is except where the Excursions are concerned. We arrived Monday afternoon (March 28), spent a leisurely time on the beach, drinking tequilas and banana daquiris, giggling while we negotiated the fairly well-lit paths on the way from the beach to our hotel. The hangover gods were kind to me, as a well-timed Aleve kicked it in the arse. Paul, well... the usual “argh, why did I drink that last couple of cervesas?!” routine... but he was “best kind” quick enough. :D The man has to learn to drink, ya think? I mean, really... he’s a former rugby player! 

The Swing Bar

Tuesday, March 29:

View at the Poolside

The orientation meeting with the Nolitours representative shed a lot of light on the rules and rights of the all-inclusive, and with  light and happy hearts, we headed off to the beach after lunch. The lightweight drinker turned into “Lobster-Boy.” *sigh* Again with the Aleve... and the Solarcaine with topical anaesthetic. He’s better now. I can’t talk much about the need for sunscreen, as the next day, Tulum Extreme took care of my shoulders. Ouch!

Wednesday, March 30:

Tulum.  What can I say. The whole event was ... entertaining. It’s about an hour away from our resort and we went with a couple of families from another resort. One of the first was a heart-stopping moment when the 6-year old daughter disappeared. One moment mama was applying sunscreen to her, the next... she was gone! The police were called and everybody looked around for her. Except for the other kids (older than the missing one) who were told to stay where they were on pain of beating. And Paul, who figured things would iron out by the time he finished his beer. He was right. Child was found at the entrance to the Tulum ruins. She’d followed another tour group, clambered onto the trolley bus, and hey presto! Gonzo! Tour guide and mama hyperventilated, but all was well in the end. Tour continued. Or began... depends on your idea of adventure.

Tulum is an archaeological site, nothing like Chichen Itza, but wow... My heart went pitter-patter when we passed through the gate. An hour later we emerged, amazed, exhausted, hot, hungry, thirsty. The best tacos were to be had at a little taco stand and we moved on to cervecas and the tour bus. 

The best best best tacos!!

The next stop was the “Yucatan Yungle” as Carlos, the tour guide, said. He described the fauna. It made me decide to not wander around at night... ocelots, yaguars, boa constrictors, on and on... Zip-lining wasn’t sounding nearly so bad anymore! Photos to follow. Maybe a video.

(I wish it were larger. Sorry. I tried uploading it directly from the computer, but the Blog video uploader was kind of slow. REALLY slow... I gave up after 10 minutes of sitting and watching. YouTube took about 3 minutes total.)


It was fun!!! I could’ve done with a few more runs, but hey... who knew?! Rappelling down a 100’ tower into a cenote was anti-climactic. Hands got a bit heated about 2/3rds of the way down... braking and releasing. I think, with a bit more practice, I could get into it! The final “adventure” was snorkeling in a cenote. *sigh* Dark, mysterious, soft calcium-rich water. Lobster-boy *ahem* ... PAUL... says that his burn felt immensely better after the immersion. 6 times the calcium content of milk. No osteoporosis, but problems with kidney stones for the locals. 

The temple at Tulum

The doorway through the wall of Tulum

Zip-lining

Rappelling

Snorkelling in the cenote (pron. sa-no-tay)

Thursday, March 31:

We took a cab into Playa del Carman where we wandered 5th Avenue. A true tourist-trap. The same tokens of tourista-ville on every block. We finally ditched and headed to the beach. Words fail. Blue azure water, fluffy waves, gorgeous golden sand... a policeman with a sub-machine gun. Yes... I got a picture with him. Cervecas and cigars for Paul, a sundress for me. We caught the shuttle back to the hotel and arrived back in time for last lunch. Beach from 3  - 5. Good time for non-heat, but some sun-tanning. A refreshing dip in the ocean followed by dinner at the Oriental a-la carte. Bed. 

Hand-made cigars!

A bronze sculpture of an Agave being harvested (Agave = Tequila)

Think he'd let me touch it?!?

Hard-packed sand at Playa del Carman

Yes, Kyle. They have 7-11's in Mexico. Sorry, man.

Friday, April 1:

Paul’s Facebook birthday. We spent the morning pool-side. Sunning and swimming. Wasting away in Marguerita-ville! He’s celebrating with lime margueritas, tequila, losing track of the days (“It’s Friday?! Hey! Happy Holiday!!!”) and going to the beach this afternoon.  Steak dinner at the a la carte tonight.

Stuff I didn't buy

A leather thing I DID buy

Coatimundis. Apparently they're quite delish. They eat ants and termites, and occasionally take a nibble of tourist.

Sandpiper kind of bird

Parasailing

Pelicans

Further to the Steak dinner, Paul had the flank steak (the very special “Butcher’s cut”), which is what they use to make their fajitas. Super tender and tasty! I had the hard-to-mess-up if you remember it’s still supposed to go “Moo” tenderloin. Delish. Paul didn’t want any of the desserts on the menu, so the waitress fetched a bowl of ice cream for him! Vanilla ice cream. I can’t begin to tell you how absolutely delicious the vanilla ice cream tastes out there. Amazing. Creamy. ... great service everywhere, but this was a very nice extra touch.

Saturday, April 2:

Our 2nd and final excursion was to Rio Secreto, the Secret River. A large underground river system which sustains the Yucatan Jungle. It’s the 3rd largest freshwater reservoir in the world. Discovered by the property owner about 7 years ago (a large sinkhole found in the jungle), it’s been open for tourism for the past 3 or so years. Before we entered, we had to follow some stringent guidelines. No sunscreen or bug repellent (shower was mandatory on site), no cameras or jewelry, no touching ANYTHING. Not the walls, the stalactites or stalagmites, and we had to be careful not to step on any of those new formations on the ground. The stalactites (hanging from the ceiling) and stalagmites (point up from the ground) are amazing to see. It’s awe inspiring to realize that drops of water combining with the calcium carbonate (limestone via coral) created all this over hundreds of millions of years. They took us through only a small loop. Seven miles are mapped and still more is being explored all the time.  We walked, scrambled, duckwalked, dodged, and floated through 1 1/2 kilometers of cave, stopping here and there to gawk. At one point, we turned all our headlamps off and listened in complete darkness of a cathedral-like cavern. Tiny musical plinks of water droplets was all we could hear. The perfect meditation chamber. Other than the undulating walls, ceilings, and floors, there were holes in the ceiling where bats flew in. We saw blind cavefish, strange spider-like insects... not much lives in the dark.

Sunday, April 3:

Sunning and beaching. We took a walk up the beach, wading through a couple of small fresh water rivers. I hooked up with a German couple from Dusseldorf (2 of 4 Germans on the resort!) and spent a few hours chatting. Many lime margueritas met their doom that day. Hey! It’s one way to replenish our lost-through-sweating salt stores. :D

Mexican a la carte finished off our day in fine fashion. While the cream soups throughout the week had been great, the Mexican Truffle Soup topped them all. It was like a mouth orgasm with every spoonful. Gorgeous flavour. Fajitas x 2 (there’s that flank steak again!) and chocolate volcano cake for dessert. I’d rather have had an extra bowl of soup.

Hola!!

Monday, April 4:

We checked out after a leisurely 7 am breakfast on the patio, and spent the next hour hanging out in the sun. Last minute sunning on my part! Our shuttle picked us up at 9:50 for a 1:30 pm departure from the airport. Pass security, stop at the Duty-Free for a bottle of D’Aristi Xtabentun Dulce (Omigod it’s delicious!!! Anise liquor with honey) and Baluarte Reposado Tequila. (It has a full-mouth feel with a smokey flavour. Paul says it’s sort of like a single-malt scotch. I say it’s tastier.) 

Our flight was delayed an hour, so we had a burger at Johnny Rocket’s, a retro burger joint. Thank goodness we did, because no sooner were we about to step on the plane, than we were all turned back. Why? Well, it seems somebody on the Mexican ground-crew overfilled the gas tank, causing jet fuel to spew out of the overflow vents on the wing! We watched it for a while... Kinda funny... mops and buckets and a large garbage bin, followed by an application of Zorball to the tarmac to sop it up. Between the clean-up and the paperwork, it was another 2 hours. We didn’t mind the wait! Better they check it out thoroughly before sticking us on a flying Death Can.

Some odds and ends:

A Banana Tree

A cool-looking frog hanging out at the buffet light

We had a great holiday. Relaxing as all heck. I’d go again. Tomorrow sounds good.

Happy New Year!!

Christmas has come and gone and the New Year has begun. What's new and exciting? Well... not much, actually. We had our usual quiet holiday.

Dana came to visit on the 16th and left on the 30th, but the two of us packed as much into that time as we could. Quietly, of course. She introduced me to the Gilmore Girls, so we spent many evenings watching episode after episode, knitting all the while. We discovered that we don't need the DVD's because it's available on NetFlix. Woohoo! $8.oo per month with all the movies and television shows you want to see! No additional charge per show. (somebody asked Paul that question)

I've also been watching Stargate Atlantis after Sean badgered me to take a look at it. I used to watch the original Stargate series, but stalled out somewhere in Season ?? 2 or 3? Can't remember. I've enjoyed the series, but he just informed me that it ends with Season 5! Hey! I'm ON Season 5 now. That's not good news. I'll have to find another program to use as a knitting aid. Seriously. I knit while watching t.v. It's handy for those stockinette rows with very little else to commend them. If I'm not doing something else, I start dozing off within a few rows. It's hard to finish a sweater with that kind of behaviour. I'm still working on my Lilac Silken Scabbard which I started January 1st, 2010. I'm nearly done the body though, thanks to the above-mentioned television watching. I still have to do the long sleeves. *sigh*

I haven't done any drawing or painting over the holiday season. I'll be starting that again this week or next. First things first... organize the new "closet" space. Since Kyle moved out on December 1st (He's doing well in his new place, btw), I've got a spare room that I've been planning to turn into a storage closet. I'll probably end up tossing many things in the direction of V.V. Boutique during the process of re-organizing. Just as well. "Too much stuff" can be a bad thing. Especially if you can't find your stuff because you've got too much of it that you put it in strange places, meaning to remember where it is, but then forgetting, because you've got too much stuff!!!

Igor has been growing like a weed. Last trip to the vet revealed that he's now 8 pounds! EIGHT Pounds!!! Wow... (Niki has lost 1 1/2 pounds since her last visit, so she's now 18.5 pounds. Probably because she's running around with the puppy instead of lounging on the couch all the time.)

Igor now does a fairly reliable "sit" and "down" although when he's hungry is NOT the best time for a training session. He gets too excited and just can't keep his butt planted on the floor. Velcro may be needed. He comes lickety-split when he's called, and he actually jumps into the shower after a walk. That's a very good thing because we're a very muddy place these days. I'm starting to think that snow wouldn't be such a bad thing to have.

I had to do a quick intervention when he started guarding his chewy treats. Growling at me when I try to take something away from him is NOT acceptable. The trick is to persuade him that I've got something better to give him. So far, so good. Maybe today I shall try him with the Greenie again.

Niki (2yrs) and Igor (3 1/2 mos)

Puppy feet. Paul feet. Feet feet feet

Merry Christmas to you! Igor and Dana

Candy Canes RULE!! Miranda and Dana

Head warmer

RIDE!!!! Igor's 4 months old here.

Puppy and Lambie

Igor. One week and counting up.

Igor's been living with us for one week today. It's been a very exhausting time. I remember sitting and thinking about getting a brand-new puppy about a week before he actually arrived.

I recalled how cute and adorable Niki was when we got her (she still is, btw!), and how fun it was to play with her. That brought me to thinking about how late I stayed up some nights throwing toys for her to chase and running her around the main floor of the house in order to tire her out so she'd sleep. I thought about the potty-training that went into the first loooong while. Even though she was pretty awesome, it was still a bit of work. We had her "puppy room" set up so she could just go into the room and do her business pretty much anywhere in that room, although ideally she'd jump into the paper-lined litter box to perform. She didn't always make it, no. But it was cool.

*sigh*

I decided that I didn't want to empty out the foyer to change it back into a puppy room, so Igor's only option is to go outside on the deck (not great cuz it stinks after 2 years even though we wash it off), or go all the way down off the deck, down the stairs, onto the grass. Yup. Door number 2. The grass. All I can say is thank goodness for outdoor lighting! I nearly took a header off the bottom stair the other night in the dark. I'd forgotten to turn on the big light. Or had it flipped itself off? I can't remember and it doesn't matter. It was freakin' dark and it was raining (yes, raining) and I was tired and he was squirming to be let down NOW!!! The lights need to be turned on at night as my night-vision goggles have not yet arrived in the mail.

He's doing pretty good with potty-training. Well, maybe it's more accurate to say that we're doing pretty good since we're the ones that have to keep an eye on him for "I'm looking for a great place to pee" behaviour. He circles around, like all puppies do. Yay. However, sometimes his circles are ... subtle... and disguised as "I'm looking for that toy I put down a minute ago" behaviour. I can say without argument that he's quick to drop into the doggie crouch! One second he's standing upright and in less time than it takes to blink he's squatting and peeing. One fluid motion. (Pun intended) Tether training really doesn't make much difference with that kind of speed. No, we don't punish him for the booboo. It's our fault (okay, maybe mine), so why screech? I clap my hands to distract him and hoist him up and run for the door. Better luck next time.

This was Niki's rawhide birthday card for her 1st b'day in January. Igor loves it!

Igor likes to chew. Anything that Niki ignored in favour of stuffies with squeakers is what he homes in on. This was Niki's 1 y.o. birthday card. It was pristine until he got hold of it for a few minutes and now a corner is chewed right off. The funny thing about Igor chewing on Nylabones and VeggieDents is that Niki figures it must be good if the puppy's got it. She nipped into his kennel, stole his VeggieDent (a bagful of which we've had in the house for the past several months!) and ate it! Then she went back later and snitched the one he'd been sucking on and ate that too. Such a jealous little darling.

Igor the Wonder Dog! Stairs are no obstacle!!

He's precocious. Physically anyway. I don't remember exactly how long it took for Niki to climb the (carpeted) stairs, but it was definitely not in the 8 week range. Igor just turned 9 weeks old this Wednesday. He climbed the stairs 2 days before that. Not just one or two steps. The whole freakin' flight from the main floor to the bedroom level. That's how many stairs? Um... I could go count them, but I'm busy. Suffice it to say that I was impressed.

Size comparison. Igor vs the small drink bottle.

He's also jumping from the main level down the step into the living room. It's a sunken living room, which I always thought would be cool but has turned out to be a slippery-when-wearing socks and not such a good idea when you're distracted and forget to take those two steps down. He quite literally did a "Super-dog!!!" leap, stuck the landing (gymnastics style) and dashed off in hot pursuit of Niki. Why am I so impressed by that? Because going down stairs is a scary thing when you have to approach it with your head as the leader and it's a skill that takes dogs a while to learn and become comfortable with!

I figure he'll be coming down the main stairs sometime this week. Maybe.

Meanwhile, I think it's potty time again. He just woke up from another nap. Byeeeeeeeee!

Igor Hurricane Stravinsky has finally touched down!

It's been a long 8 weeks, but they're finally over! Little Igor has moved into his new home. He's a tri-coloured Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, born the night of Hurricane Igor, hence the name.

As far as tri-colour goes, he's really more of a black and white with mere dabs of tan. Kiss marks above his brows, tan under his ears and tail. We couldn't get farther from Niki's colouring if we tried!

He's gorgeous and sweet. Very cuddly. Very bold. He's bigger than Niki was. He's 2.0 kg at 8 weeks! A big'un! Only two in the litter probably has something to do with that.

Niki's not too enamored of him. You could say that her nose is seriously out of joint. However, it's only been 20 hours. Today is socialization day with Niki. Getting used to one another, playing with the same toys, figuring out how to eat without arguing. So far, so good. Mostly. They had a fairly successful time in the backyard this morning, with Niki unbending enough to chase after him. I think she forgot herself! We're trying to show her that she loses nothing by his presence. In fact, there's even MORE treats to be gained!

He spent part of his night in the crate beside the bed, but most of the night on the bed with us. Might as well get things settled right away. Note to self: Igor must NOT be on the edge of the bed. He squirmed and squiggled and stretched so much that at one point I reached out in my half-sleep in an attempt to catch him before he fell off the bed. I failed. He thudded to the floor and sat there in a dopey daze, whimpering. He was fine! lol... He spent the rest of the night tucked securely INSIDE the bed! Under my chin. On my chin. On my forehead. Under my pillow. *sigh* It was a looong night.

He actually did fairly well for his first night. He only got up twice in the night for a potty, both times successfully accomplishing what everybody takes for granted within a few minutes. The breeder told me that they'd been calling him "Puppers." I'm thinking "Poopers" would be as appropriate! He did it on the grass! I'm happy about that! Really!!

Igor was born Sept 23, 2010. He's now 8 weeks + a couple of days old.

Some serious teething going on

Thank goodness for Nylabone!

and naps.

He's snoozing on my lap right now. Twitching his feet and wriggling with puppy dreams. Typing is hard with the laptop propped up on the side of my leg. I think I'll post pix and sign off. Happy Day! Oh... Paul's birthday, too! :D ... shhhhh...

Going Pedaly-biking! Happy 40th, Paul!