Happy Valetine's Day

Another picture of Mom at Uxmal in a small structure beside the hill upon which sits the Governor's Palace. Mom is standing in a very small courtyard behind the little building. There is a small art design in the centre of the "V" arched roof of the building that was interesting as well - something that Mom found and pointed out to me.

What did we do so far for Valentine's Day? Sun, sand and sea to start with after a breakfast on the patio. Then, a bit of reading with an attempt at a little siesta time before heading into the village to buy some tortillas maseca which will be used with out supper later. We will likely have Roger and Marianna over for a visit to bring our day to a close. It's a quiet day, a good day.

Love and wishes for a great Valentine's Day to all of you!

Uxmal

We left for our trip to Uxmal a bit later in the morning, once it was decided that the weather would be better for beaching the next day. A drive of about an hour and a half got us to the Mayan ruins of Uxmal. I will be posting about that experience at the travel blog site. Enough to say that it was incredible. It is one of those places that one needs to visit just like the Great Wall or the Palace of Versailles. It boggles the mind. Our hour and a half guided walk through took us closer to three hours as we had a great guide who didn't just recite memorized facts, he talked to us and answered a lot of question. It was an afternoon well spent.

Today, I have a late morning Spanish class in Progreso. Right now, it is relatively calm and the sun is beginning to burn off the morning moisture haze. It's going to be another one of those days of sun, sand and sea.

Ceviche Caracoles

This is Mom's latest addition to her shell collection. The shell still had it's owner in residence when we picked it up on our walk yesterday morning. Needless to say, we ended up cooking him up (and out). Typically, this little guy is used in a dish called "ceviche caracoles", something we always get as "las botanas" when we order a beer at a local sit-down establishment.

Today, we are off to tour another Mayan site called Uxmal. I will report back in with another photo tomorrow.

Bathing suit beauty and ...

I guess these photos say it all. We are getting darker and are enjoying swimming in the ocean. Mom found another 'live' shell that is turning out to be as interesting as the last one, smaller but worth the effort to clean it up. We have to cook these 'live' shells before they can be cleaned up.

Temperature today got up to +32C. We went swimming twice today because of the heat and because the waves stayed small until later in the afternoon. Tomorrow? Who can tell?

All's quiet on the southern front

It is really getting to be a good life. Today was just another very warm and sunny day with it's typical morning walk of ten kilometres followed by a nice ocean swim. Lunch, time for working on Spanish, reading and some time writing blog entries filled the afternoon with a raking of the drying seaweed on the edges of the beach as a bonus extra - an excuse for just a little more time out in the sun. Mom got in some time with her collection of shells while I blogged. Then we took another walk of only six kilometres just before supper so that we would have a good appetite.

Before supper tonight, we sat out on the beach patio and watched the sun set while drinking a glass of red wine. And then in to supper which was chicken à la Yucatan (made by yours truly) and a great rice dish with veggies made by Mom. And so, another day was spent quietly on the southern front here in Chuburna.

Beachcombing

Sunny and warm! Of course that means we were on the beach for the whole morning. By the time we got back to the villa, it was after noon. On our walk we met a number of Mexicans out for walks as well. Since it was Sunday they were out for a day at the beach for picnics and for beachcombing and just plain relaxation. Many come from Mérida as this is where they have their summer homes.

While we were walking along the beach, Mom found this huge shell. At first we thought it might be a coconut but on closer inspection it turned out to be a shell covered in a green-brown coating that was like bark. As I picked it out of the water for Mom, a Mexican lady remarked on its size and told us that many use this size for lamps. She also told us that in Progreso and Mérida, a shell that size would sell for sixty pesos. She told us all of that in Spanish. I guess we have studied enough that we were able to actually understand her.

Once back home, we had lunch before returning to our Spanish studies. While Mom was listening to her lessons on her MP3 player she worked on cleaning up the new shell. I guess that pretty well sums up our day, yesterday. Walking, studying, reading, walking and relaxing in the sun.

More about learning Spanish

I took this photo yesterday late afternoon in order to catch the sun's rays on the leaves and on the cement of our back wall. As you can tell by looking at the palm tree, it was still windy. This morning, there is almost no wind. and there isn't a cloud in the sky. Here's hoping that it stays calm all morning.

Well, our other neighbours, Brian and Tracy, gave us their Pimsleur series to use. Within minutes of putting them on our computers we were both practising Spanish. I have to say that I am super impressed at how seriously Mom is working on learning.

In case you haven't heard, the Senators won last night. It is kind of nice to see the team playing a bit better. While they were busy winning, we went out for supper with Kathy, Brian, Tracy and two others - a Saturday night out. Today, I think we will have a quiet relaxing day in the sunshine. Of course, we will study some more Spanish as part of our day.