Sopa de Lima

This is one of my favorite dishes in the world, and way at the top of my list of recommended regional Yucatan meals. The ultimate soup, with a perfect balance of flavours and textures. I made it this week and it was a big hit. My friend Manon calls it the Mexican pho. and I guess it’s a good way to describe it. But better yet – here is the recipe!
Sopa de lima (serves 8)
Prepare the chicken stock by boiling 2 litres of water with 300g of chicken breast, 1 clove of garlic, a pinch of dried origano, one branch of fresh coriander (cilantro), and salt. Remove the chicken and put aside to cool.
In a frying pan, sauté one big white onion, one green pepper, and 2 roma tomatoes finely chopped – until well softened. Add this to the chicken stock, with the juice of 4 to 5 limes (to taste), and concentrated chicken stock if needed. Let it boil for 10to 15 minutes, and filter the stock through a sieve (I also press with a spoon to get the most of the flavourful liquid).

With a fork or just with your fingers, carefully shred the chicken breasts in fine long strings, keep warm with some stock. Cut the corn tortillas in wide juliennes, and fry them in vegetable oil, put aside. Steam the carrots, turnips and zucchini.
While the vegetables are steaming, cut one lime in thin slices, and slice one avocado length wise.

In each bowl, put a good amount of stringed chicken and cover with hot stock. Garnish with a mound of steamed veggies in the centre of the bowl, top with one or 2 slices of avocadoes, and sprinkle the crisp corn tortillas around the veggies, and one slice of lime. Enjoy!

December 30 - Chichen Itza and Cenote Ik Kil

Dec.30 - Bonne fête Claire et Céline! xoxoxo
Woke up at 6am to prepare a big breakfast for everyone - scrambled eggs with all the fixings, bacon and all, and a delicious cantalope. Manon and Richard packed a lunch for everyone, and the gang was ready to go by 7:15am. We left for our big day in Chichen Itza at 7:30m. A one hour drive - so we arrived well before the swarm of tour busses from Cancun and the so called Riviera Maya - perfect!
I remember going to Chichen Itza for the first time in 1986. Climbing on all the structures was allowed back then, and my Cancun friends and I even went in the passage under the pyramid. A dark passage with narrow stairs, leading up to a sacred room with the painting of a jaguar on the wall. The access to that passage was closed in 1990 I believe. I also remember climbing the pyramid a few times over the years – no longer possible. It is a very steep and dangerous flight of stairs, and it’s probably much better this way. Except for the multiplication of the crafts merchants on the site, it has not changed of course : ) Chichen Itza used to be such a great multicultural metropolis for such a very long time, very interesting to try to imagine what is was like to live there. We saw all the main structures and the cenote, and the kids were great all along.
By 11am we got back to the cars and went to eat our picnic lunch in the central square the nearby town of Piste. We had planned to go to the cenote Ik Il for a swim, and by then we were tired and reconsidering… but it was so hot that we decided to give it a shot. Glad we did, it was amazing! We all jumped in the pristine clear blue water of the cenote, and the kids had a blast jumping in from the high platforms – what a great afternoon we had!
Drove back to the ranch, the kids played in the pool, decorated for new year’s eve, while the adults drank cold beer. A very good day in Yucatan!

We've got Company!

Manon, Richard, Leo and Camille arrived at the ranch on Monday morning - yay!
The children are happy to have friends to play with, and we are delighted to have excellent company. We made plans for a great week, in Izamal today - tour of the market, the Convent, lunch, and back at the ranch very soon. Tomorrow will be their horse back riding family adventure, and Thursday we are all going to Chichen Itza.
They are amazing, this is a very long way out of the beaten path... It's good to have crazy friends!

I will be making sopa de lima tomorrow, stay tuned!

Our Mexican Christmas

Christmas eve was excellent, Christmas day was just perfect. The kids woke up with the roosters (yes, that's before 6am...) and were very excited to discover that Santa had found us here in Mexico. Quite a guy that Mister Claus! The magic of Christmas is in their hearts, no matter where they are. Stockings filled with goodies, and a coconut instead of the usual orange (although it is orange season here in Yucatan, but we don't want to ask too amny tricky questions...).
Had breakfast, opened presents, and went for a horse ride. It was pretty mellow, until Tim's horse took off runnning... and I mean Grand Gallop! Tim was screaming 'wo, Wo, WOOOO' as the horse ran faster and faster - it was sooo funny! Then the horse turned onto a path and we could not see him anymore (but we could hear Tim!), and it was not so funny anymore. Victoriano tied the boys horses to a nearby fense and ran to catch up to Tim. Thankfully, he came back nice and slow, with Tim behind him. He was fine. Pale and quiet, but fine. (the running scene still makes me crack up though...).
A simple Christmas dinner, roasted chicken and mashed potatoes with carrots, and gravy. I baked a 'renverse a l'ananas' for dessert, yummy. It was a beautiful Christmas, Amen.

Tried and True Guacamole

Back at the ranch on Tuesday afternoon, organised the food situation (freezer is full!). The kids were very excited to wrap presents on Wednesday morning. They also had fun filling the piñata with all kinds of candies, and I hung it in the kitchen, it will stay there until New Year’s eve (up high and much safer!).
In lieu of a Christmas tree the kids have chosen one of the outdoor plant, and decorated it. It looks pretty good, and they carefully placed the presents under it. The magic of Christmas is in there heart, no matter where we are!

Late afternoon on Thursday, time to prepare dinner and the boys have enjoyed contributing from time to time. Dylan is an expert at making guacamole now, I thought him when we were in Xcalak. It’s the way I learned to make it when I lived in Cancun, and to me the ultimate guac is made like this :

Mash 3 avocados with a fork (or the good old fashion way… with your hands!), squeeze in the juice of half a lime, add about ¼ cup of each white onion and roma tomato very finely chopped – and salt to taste. You may add cilantro and finely chopped hot peppers to taste if you wish (I don’t).
My golden rule about guac – which I have verified many times with different people in different areas of Mexico is… No garlic please!
The best chips to enjoy a good guac are ‘totopos’, a brand very well known here, not sure if they are available in Toronto. They are basically unsalted deep fried corn tortillas, the ultimate corn chips.

We are enjoying some market food now, and one yummy finding to me are the local ‘salbutes’. It’s a thick hand made corn tortilla, topped with some salsa, grilled meat (usually turckey), shaved raw cabbage and pickled red onions. A typical market fair, and oh so delicious!!! The hand made tortillas make all the difference. On the food front, I am still on the lookout for the best sopa de lima, and I think that I may have found the perfect concoction in a Merida restaurant last Monday. I will try to make it, and share the recipe if I am successful.

Christmas eve already… Happy Christmas to all !!!!

More catching-up

DECEMBER 21
We went horseback riding a couple of days ago - first time for the kids, and first time in many years for Tim and I. Victoriano, our guide and one of the rancheros who helps around the house - also Daniela's dad and Samuel"s brother - took us for a short one hour tour. No instructions... which made it a bit tricky for me as my fellow riders were not always close enough for me to share what Victoriano was telling me. Dylan's horse was stalling, and we later discovered that he did not move because Dylan was giving his horse the signal to stop instead of going... Also, Tim's horse almost took him to the cow's field... they do have BIG horns and were all looking at Tim. So bow that we have learned the basics, the next ride will be longer and probably better - looking forward to it!

We are now in Merida, arrived yesterday and spent the night. This is our Christmas holiday shopping expedition, and let me tell you that shopping in the downtown Merida public market could very well qualify as an extreme sport... After that, the Eaton Centre on December 23 pushing a stroller, carrying a bouquet of balloons and a pair of skis would be a breeze! We found some interesting things, it was a fun and memorable experience. This morning I took the boys to a piñata store - what a great place! There should be one of these in Toronto... is there? The ceiling filled with beautiful colorful piñatas, and aisles of sweets, candies of all kinds, and little loot bag surprises, it was great. We have a beautiful piñata for our new year celebration with Manon, Richard and their kids - it will be fun! They will land in Cancun on December 26, and arrive at the ranch on December 27.

Tim went walking around town on his own while I was out with the boys, and when he come back tot he hotel we will head back to the ranch, stopping at a mega grocery store on the way - also stocking up on food for our merry guests.

Unfortunately we do not have internet access at the ranch, we have to go to Izamal in one of the internet cafes there - there is no wi-fi in Izamal. However there is a spot by the pool at the ranch where there is cell phone reception and I can get my email once in awhile using my iphone (I don't want to know how much this will cost....). This allows me to check for important emails and assess our need to go to town to connect. Better than nothing!

Happy Christmas preparations to all of our dear friends in Toronto - we miss you!

Catching-up - December 16

We made our way from Playa del Carmen to the ranch in the little Yucatan community of Sudzal yesterday. 40 minutes from Playa to Tulum and turn inland towards Coba. 40 minutes from Tulum to Coba, stopped on that road to buy a couple of pieces of pottery - there is a roadside shop with an impressive inventory of glazed ceramics, you just can't miss it, and whenever I visit the area I make sure to stop there. Then another 40 minutes from Coba to Valladolid, a beautiful colonial town and it was nice to see their Christmas decorations. From Valladolid to Sudzal was about one hour, going through some great little pueblos with beautiful old colonial churches. Each turn we had to make was onto a smaller road, in the beautiful Yucatan countryside - farm land and cattle country. Once again we were pressed by the looming sunset, wanting to get to destination before dark. When we finally found the dirt road to the ranch - the gate was locked! Luckyly, the ranchero across the road has a key and kindly opened it for us, and locked it after we passed... Did I say we were in the middle of nowhere in Xcalak? Well, I take it back. 2km on that little dirt road with the gate locked behind us... hoping it was leading to where we wanted to go and... yes! There was the house. Phew, and a half!!! (Tim had lost his glimpse of adventurous spirit by then...). Samuel and Daniela greated us, and we came in to see the permises. It's soooo BIG... our giggles of awe echoed through the house, which made me giggle even more!

Shortly after we unloaded the car the owners came to welcome us. There was Carlos - whom I was in touch with via email to rent the house, and both his parents. They seem to be a very respectable family, they carry themselves with the typical grace and formality of Mexican upper class - with the warmth of Yucatan folks. They live in Merida, and based on the old photos on the walls here at the ranch house, they are probably one of the Yucatan families that have enjoyed the golden age of this Mexican state.

Yucatan was once one the wealthiest state on the planet, with a booming economy based on the heniquen (also called sisal) plantations. This is a plant that resembles a giant aloe vera, and yields a strong fibre similar to cotton - but much stronger. In the 30's, the striving Yucatan economy was killed by the raising popularity of a new fibre : nylon. The beautiful haciendas that we see throughout the Yucatan countryside are mostly abandoned, and the land is used to grow other crops and raise cattle. Some haciendas have been restored and turned into exclusive little hotels. One of these is the Hacienda San Antonio (google it!), which is next door to the ranch house we are renting.

We had a great night of sleep, despite the big dead scorpion we found in our bedroom... and woke up with the sound of the roosters, the birds, and Samuel the cowboy taking the herd out. I got up and Dylan was right behind me. He looked at me and said 'hey, did you hear that horse?' So we look out the kitchen window and there was Indio, one of the horses, running on the little road in front of our house - looking beautiful and happy, saddle free. We had a moment of perfect happiness - high fived each other and hugged. Later today on that same road, Samuel brought back the herd of cows, and another farmer took out is herd of goats.

The kids jumped in the pool, which is bigger than I thought, and to Tim's delight we will be able to swim lenghts in there. The boys already played a few games of billiard too - in the huge dining room. And Tim discovered the beautiful reverb with the violin and the guitar, and he already wrote a new piece this morning. This place is... beyond words!

We are now in Merida with a wireless connection - More catching-up coming soon...

Goodbye Xcalak

We left Xcalak at 9:30 this morning, and arrived in Playa del Carmen at 2:30. A long drive, uneventful thank God.
We had a wonderful last day in Xcalak yesterday, and visited Jane and Greg down the coast. We went for a snorkel, and had a snack (my pineapple cake) and Greg, Jane's husband, gave us an elaborate tour of their beautiful beach house. Ho-Le-Dream-House! Greg hired 2 architects and supervised the building work for one year! But that's only after he came countelss times to find the perfect lot... it is his dream house and he put a lot of love and mind... and money into it. The result is jaw dropping, all build by hand (no power tools), and life there is with rain water and solar power. We will keep in touch, they wouldlike to visit us at the ranch.

Leaving was difficult, it hit me when we started driving the little Xcalak coast road - I had a good cry. I want to go back, so if anyone is interested - the next trip might be adults only.

So here we are - in a city! Tim is hungry for some town vibe, so we will go walk around tonight. The weather is cool (sort of sweat shirt kind of cool) and instead of jumping in the pool, Tim and Dylan went to play tennis - while Leo was keen on spending some time at the Kids Club. And I... grabbed the computer and ran to the lobby for some alone time online!

Cheers!

The Gringo Community

Inspiration started to flow and I have been working on my book of French children's songs and rhymes lately. I had written only the lyrics in my note book and have been using them in my classes for a long time, and finally I have charted 15 of them so far. I wrote a new rhyme, for a back tickle. At my last class in Majahual the kids and I danced with light scarves and it inspired me to write a little Spanish song - called pañoleta - I like this word, it's my new word of the week. I will let the words and the notes flow out, it seems that the first 4 weeks are being processed...

Yesterday was a very good day. Dylan finished his presentation on the Maya Civilisation - a very good paper! We had a great lunch, tostadas with leftovers inspired by Tio George. Then Philippe took the boys fishing on the lagoon dock - hoping to catch their first barracuda (they didn't, but they had a great time), and while they did that Tim and I went for a snorkel together. It was so nice to hold hands and swim through the biggest school of fish we ever saw - there must have been hundreds! I was definitely one of the highlights of our trip so far.
At about 4pm Gisèle and Philippe had a little piñata gathering, with Gabriel and Martha and their little daughter Yolanda, and Gabriel's brother and his little family - they have a baby boy. It was Yolanda's first piñata, and her first candy too. She is only 18 months old, and she is adorable. It was fun.
Then Gisèle and Philippe suggested that we go out to dinner at a local eatery called 'Toby's'. It was Judy's birthday and many local gringos were to gather there. For the occasion, Toby made a special menu - 3 tacos of your choice served with guacamole, a home made limonade, and flan for dessert. It was perfect. We had the opportunity to meet some local gringos, and it turns out that the group of people we met are actually most of the private home owners of the Xcalak coast. There must be a dozen of private homes, and 8 owners were there. Most of them live here half the year, and they are all pretty laid back and friendly, hippy boomers. Tim might go jam with Nick today, a retired drummer who is known as the only musician in the community. He does drumming circles regularly, and his house is supposed to be quite something - with a big round music room full of drums. We also got to meet Toby himself (the restaurant owner), a very friendly guy, and a Xcalak native. His father is a fisherman here, and a few years ago Toby went to work as a waiter down the coast in Majahual - that's how he learned English. He came back to town and opened his little restaurant two years ago, and it quickly became a local favorite. Jane was at Toby's last night as well, and we will be going to visit her tomorrow. I baked a pineapple cake, and we will bring our snorkeling gear. She is Gisèle's best friend here, and like her and Philippe, she loves the sea.

Tim and I went snorkeling again today, and Gisèle came with us. She showed us some of her favorite spots - pretty amazing. We saw our first parrot fish - so big and colourful! A huge snapper, about 4 feet long. More French Anglefish, and so many other colourful ones - yellow, orange, red, and many shades of blue - some striped, some purple and yellow, it's a beautiful show. As we swam to shore by the end, just in front of the house where it's shallow and warmer, we swim through thousands of baby fish and came upon a couple of lobsters. I lifted my head and we were about 10 steps to shore. This place is very special, did I say that I love it here?

The Big Picture

Friday, December 10. Gisèle and Philippe - the owners of the house - have planned a little pinata gathering for the children today. Philippe is a fun guy, very light spirited and chatty, he loves to express his feelings and philosophical thoughts. He has become Leo's fishing pal. Gisèle is a bit more reserved, she seems to be more business driven and down to earth. She knows everybody's name in the community, and knows the names of all the fish and creatures we see.
The back of the property is on the lagoon, and they just finished building the dock. It seems to be Philippe's little heaven, and to him it's just as marvelous as the beautiful Caribbean in front of the house. They both love the water, and when they go out snorkeling they are gone for 3 to 4 hours. They swim out to the other side of the reef barrier, and go way out about 2km - to a small reef formation located straight out from their house. Philippe leaves with a couple of harpoons and a mesh bag, and a good knife. He always comes back about one hour after Gisèle, with some snapper in his bag, and the odd lion fish. They must eat fish every day. If not from the sea, it's the catch of the day from the lagoon. This is their home, and they only go back to France to work for a couple months about twice a year.

The last day in Majahual was nice, we went to Miriam's husband's restaurant (Miriam is the owner of the Montessori school) - a road side taco joint. It was fabulous! He showed us the many fillings to choose from and explained the ingredients, all very local (cactus, pork skin, etc.) and all very delicious. We all had seconds. The funny thing is that he is located right on the corner of the main road into town - you can't miss him. And all the tourist tour busses from the cruise ships go right by, but they never stop. He said that he doesn't expect to have tourists there. What he has is local food for local folks, and that's the way he wants it. Eating there was one great highlight of our adventure so far. Gracias Tio George! After lunch the boys and I went to the school, and I gave my last class. It was fun, and it's satisfying to see that the kids know the new songs I have been teaching them. They will continue to sing them, and knowing that is the great joy I take back with me to Canada. I left about 20 maracas and bells for the school. I also gave a bunch of scarves that I made from fabric I bought in Chetumal. It was in the left over bin at the entrance of the fabric store, and alltogether it cost me $1.50. I made 18 light scarves with it, for the children to dance with - which we merrily did today. Miriam was very happy.

I emailed Jane to find out if we can drop by her house this weekend. She has invited us but time flew and with only a couple of days left, I think that it would be a shame to not take the time to get to know her better. She has a great energy, very warm and very interesting. I hope we can make it happen.
It seems unlikely now that we will go to the Chinchorro, it's too bad, but I think that it might be a bit much for the kids and for Tim. It's a two hour ride out to sea to get there. This one will remain on my 'lifetime to do list', so I might come back. Maybe with friends, for an all adult vacation? I would be in for that of course. But while we're still here in Xcalak, It would be nice to get on a boat at least once, I'll see what we can do. Maybe this weekend?

Tim and I were discussing the big picture about this trip. What are we going to gain from this? Are the kids realising how special this is? And so on... It's funny how I feel it's so clear to me, and how Tim struggles with finding a purpose to it all. It is mainly my project I guess, so for me the questioning phase was done long before we left. Now I am just enjoying the great ride. I believe that in the big picture, the boys will learn that they must stick their neck out, take some calculated risks, and overcome some fears to discover new, enriching and exciting things. This was certainly true for the snorkeling. At first they did not want to try, and were scared of going out on the kayak - probably because they know that there are sharks in the sea. So we practiced with the gear on here in front of the house, and they saw tiny striped black and yellow fish, and many others, and they saw their first lion fish and their first barracuda. Then we went on the kayaks, to a small reef about 100 meters off shore. They were blown away, and were hooked from that point on. Now they want to explore farther. The fear is gone, replaced by the knowledge of what is there for them to enjoy. And that's a wonderful gift. Now that we have demystified the sea, we will move on and experience life on a farm, and ride horses! But I must say that leaving the sea will be difficult, I love it here.

The End of the Road

Yesterday we went to the end of the road, where the bridge has been burned. We also got the full story about the bridge - On the North side of the bridge, a Mexican official was given a beautiful big piece of land as a retirement present, and decided to build a small eco resort on it. On the South side of the bridge, another Mexican man had purchased a big piece of land and had the same eco resort idea. The one on the South side, who had made a pretty investment no doubt, probably decided to cut the road access to the other guy's resort, leaving prospect patrons to drive an extra hour around the Xcalak peninsula to get to destination. We went to the end of the road and spent a few hours in the abandoned resort. A beautiful place! Only the maintenance guy and his dog. He keeps cleaning the beach every day, as the place looks very tidy. It's for sale, apparently asking 4 million but would settle for 2. Hard to imagine what could be done with the place, it's a 6 hour drive from the Cancun airport, and 2 1/2 hour drive to the town of Chetumal.

Today is my last class at the Majahual Montessori school. We are invited to have lunch at the little taco restaurant to the entrance of the town, the owner is Miriam's husband (Miriam is the owner of the school). It will be sad to leave at the end of the day, these kids are great!

We are leaving this house on the morning of December 13, and since the drive is about 6 to 7 hours to the ranch, we wanted to spend one night somewhere along the coast. I looked online and after some research, we decided to go back to the all inclusive resort for 2 nights. $100 per night for the four of us, all inclusive, can't beat that price!

So we will let the food supplies go down in the next few days, and slowly start packing our bags again. Moving on!

Boo-ooo

Nights are cooler these days, about 18 degrees, and the cool breeze is lovely - especially in early morning when I get up and make coffee. Yesterday the sea was very calm and the tide was very low, so the four of us went out for a snorkel witht he intention to make it to the barrier. There is so much reef between the shore and the barrier that we never make it, and we didn't make it there yesterday either. Every time we go snorkeling we see something new. Yesterday we saw 3 beautiful French Angelfish - they are big and graceful, and they don't seem disturbed by our presence. Tim and Dylan saw a Green Moray - the biggest of the Morays - and it was about 8 feet long! I take the time to show Léo all the vegetation and now he shows me interesting corals, not only fish. Big Brain Coral, lots of purple Sea Fans, Black Sea Rod, and a lot of Anemones, and hundreds of Queen Conch. Dylan and Léo are both inspired by what they see underwater, and make drawings when we get back to the house. Tim goes snorkeling every day in the afternoon, it's part of his routine now. It's the first time in his life that he enjoys swimming with the gear on - he loves it. To enjoy snorkeling one must be able to relax and float around while observing the life forms all around - it's a very serene state of mind.

Today the boys and I were supposed to go to the Xcalak elementary school, but we decided to skip it. It's Jane and Judy's new ESL program and I just got the line-up last night. I wanted to prepare this morning but a rather upsetting discovery turned off all my enthusiasm for a couple of hours. All the little sea treasures that we had gathered in the last 3 weeks have been thrown to... the garbage! While we were in Chetumal last weekend, the owner of the house decided to come up and take a look at the upper unit. Hey, this is her house after all! But she decided to tidy-up a little... not sure why - Martha had cleaned the place very well. Upon our return I noticed that a couple of things were moved around, but nothing strange really - a chair in a different place, the ashtrays put away, etc. Then this morning Tim asked me if I know where our little treasures went. We had a collection lined-up on the wide railing, and Tim had put the smaller ones in a glass container on our bedside table. All gone. A sad mistake, she feels bad of course. She offered to take some from her husband's collection - but this was a collection of little treasures we had found along our first 3 weeks here, nothing can really replace them. And the memories of the reaction of the kid's finding their first piece of coral, or choch shell, etc, you know... So I took 4 plastic bags and the four of us went for a long walk on the beach - hunting for interesting treasures again. I was upset and so was Tim. We did find cool things, but it's not the same.

We got back and had lunch, and worked on our song. It's inspired by the sea, and our goal is to record it before we leave Xcalak.

Chetumal

We are spending the weekend in Chetumal, capital city of the state of Quintana Roo, on the border to Belize. We came here partly to go to the Museum of Mayan Civilisation as Dylan is sending his school paper on the Mayan culture next week, and partly to replenish our food supplies. Chetumal is one of my favorite Mexican cities, maybe even my favorite now. I love Merida as well, but it has become much more touristic in the past 10 years. Chetumal is too far out of the way for main stream tourism, a great border city, and an important commercial point for the South East region. The city is in a festive mode this weekend, Christmas lights are up everywhere and we enjoyed a fun evening at the Zocalo (main square) last night. Giant Christmas tree in the centre, people lighting their fireworks, big slide, and the usual fleet of mini electric cars for the kids (10 pesos for 5 minutes...that's about 80 cents!). Léo had a grand time, Dylan is too big for the slide and the cars now but he enjoyed watching his brother.

Although Xcalak is across the bay, it's a 3 hour drive to make the giant 'u' on land back to our little house. Longer than the 2 hour boat ride there, but there is no car ferry operating between Chetumal and Xcalak. We will leave Chetumal after lunch, and begin our last week in Xcalak. Already. Time flies!

Banana Cream Pie!

Since there is no bakery in the village of Xcalak, the special treats I make are desserts. By the way - I tried the Apple Cake recipe with pineapple instead of apples, and it was delicious. I suspect it would be great with other fruit as well, it's such a simple recipe and it requires so little ingredients that it's a keeper for me. I already know it by heart.

Moving on to a little more complex concoction... but oh so delicious!

Banana Cream Pie

3/4 cup white sugar, 1/3 cup all-purpose flour, 1/4 teaspoon salt
2 cups milk
3 egg yolks, beaten
2 tablespoons butter, 1 1/4 teaspoons vanilla
1 (9 inch) pie crust, baked
4 bananas, sliced
In a saucepan, combine the sugar, flour, and salt. Add milk in gradually while stirring gently. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture is bubbly. Keep stirring and cook for about 2 more minutes, and then remove from the burner. Stir a small quantity of the hot mixture into the beaten egg yolks (to warm them up), and immediately add egg yolk mixture to the rest of the hot mixture. Cook for 2 more minutes; remember to keep stirring. Remove the mixture from the stove, and add butter and vanilla. Stir until the whole thing has a smooth consistency. Slice bananas into the cooled baked pastry shell. Top with pudding mixture. Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 12 to 15 minutes. Chill for an hour.

Trouble in paradise...

We came upon a couple of unfortunate events when we went to Majahual yesterday.
First - we always go directly to the gas station (the only one...) to fill-up the car, and pulling out of there we saw a police officer on his little motocycle, driving away from town (there is only one road). So we hit the road, the town is only 4km from the gas station. Suddenly Tim notices that the cop is making his way back, and is about to pass up on the right shoulder... okay, hello officer! He signals to pull over... bummer. He asks for Tim's lisense, and as he contemplates it, he casually asks where we're going (one road... only one possible destination... this is ridiculous) I politely answer his questions, and he explains that this is a 50km zone and that we were going quite fast. He will have to write a ticket, and keep our lisense - and we will have to go settle this in Chetumal (the capital city of the state - a 3 hour drive). So I try to get out of this, telling him that there is no way we can make it to Chetumal on Friday. He just repeats the whole thing... not rude, just plain sleazy. So I pull out my wallet and ask him if we can settle this, handing out a 200 pesos bill ($20). 'I don't want problems later' he tells me. I answer 'There is no problem here'. He smiles and discretely takes the bill, and tells me to mind the speed limit. Goodbye officer!

We went to town and had lunch, explored a bit since it was a rainy day, and then I went to school to give my class (great turnout - 20 kids!). We split immediately after to catch as much daylight as possible for the road home. Not quite half way to Xcalak, on the road in the middle of nowhere - a flat tire. About 30 minutes of daylight left... we never changed a tire. Get the spare out, try to figure out how to work the crank and where the heck we should put it to jack the car... this is not good! Oh, a car is coming! Get he kids off the road, make sure that they see us... they stop and ask if we need help. Thank God! Father and son from a little town I can not pronounce, kindly get to work and change our tire in 10 minutes. When they're done they wish us a safe trip and go back to their truck - feeling good about helping a little family of gringos. They were such nice guys, Tim gave them a CD - not sure if they will listen to it but it's exciting to think that they will - in their little town which has a name with no vowels whatsoever. We were very lucky.

With that we got home later than expected, tired and concerned. We want to go spend the weekend in Chetumal, and we do have to get that tire fixed (or replaced...), and the muffler of our car is about to fall off and the road here is... hummmm... very punctuated! It appears that we can take care of the tire here in town today, Good Gabriel will help us.

On to better things... Banana Cream Pie recipe coming later today!




http://www.maplandia.com/mexico/quintana-roo/othon-p-blanco/xcalak/

It's been 18 days since our arrival in Mexico, and after 15 days here in Xcalak I can already feel how time flies. I love it here. Most of my time is spent on basic things like getting food and preparing it, washing clothes by hand and hanging it to dry, schooling the boys, go swimming or snorkeling with them, and a couple of hours of business work every day, and a little bit of class prep every week. All that between 6am when I get up with the sun, and about 9pm when I go to bed at night, tired. I love it here.

I love to compose with limited supplies, I find that it's a great way to be creative. I see opportunities to explore new ways, it's most definitely in my nature. The boys have already adapted to eating things they never wanted to try at home, like guacamole and onions. They are more open to trying different things, and they also compose with what's available of course - with a good attitude. I'm proud of them. There are so many delicious fruit here, and Léo likes to come to the truck with me to choose the best ones. Mangoes, cantalope, papaya, bananas, apples, mandarines, pineapples, pears, grapes, and they are all so perfect and delicious!

I tried a new recipe last night - a Banana cream pie. It got the thumbs up, so I will share it with my blog followers sometime this week. I like trying recipes that require the basic local food, and I know that it's all available in Toronto as well so maybe we can share the flavours despite the distance - that, and the starry night sky!

Sleepless in Xcalak

We were all up at 2am, not sure why. Tim played the guitar softly for awhile, I read to Leo and he went back to sleep, I gave Dylan permission to watch one episode of The Simpsons on our portable DVD player, and I am blogging! It could be the wind. Our first few nights here were very windy and the constant howling, together with the sound of waved breaking in the distance, was difficult to get used to. The last 2 or 3 days were very calm, but tonight the wind is back. Although I must say that one of the things I enjoy the most here is to sleep with the windows open and feel the night breeze, something I can never do at home because of our downtown location (bar patrons talking as they go to their cars in the middle of the night). Here it's the dogs that bark once in awhile, but I like that. They keep us safe at night.

There are two dogs here at the house, their names are Café and Tigre. Café is not trained and has no dog manners whatsoever, and the kids named him 'Psycho Dog'. He playfully jumped on Dylan one day and would not stop, and as Dylan got more agitated Café jumped even more. Dylan got really scared (he does not panic easily...) and Leo came to get me. Tigre doesn't have much more manners, but at least he understands Spanish. So as much as possible, we try to keep the dogs away from the boys.

Dylan and Leo had their heart set on watching the Grey Cup today. They made a list of things for their Grey Cup 'Party', and we went to town this morning. They each got a bottle of pop and a chocolate bar. They set-up the palapa (where we get our internet signal) with cushions on the chairs, and candles on the table. Everything was ready... except for the signal. There was problems with the satellite reception and after a couple of hours, they resigned themselves to accept the situation.

Okay, I think that sleep is coming... sleep tight !

Precious times

December is around the corner and we have news that winter has settled in Toronto, with the first snow, the ice rink opening at Dufferin Grove, Santa's parade and the Grey Cup. If I was home I would probably be cooking something homy for the cold days, like a big pot of chili, or curry chicken. I would be putting the fall clothes away and pull out the hard core winter attires like the snow boots, mitts and scarves and hats. And we would probably enjoy our fireplace this weekend. Getting together with friends, and planning some Holiday gatherings. Our life in Toronto is filled with precious moments, and we will be very very happy to come back to them after being away for so long.

The boys made their Christmas list, and it triggered a discussion on giving - as opposed to receiving - and creative ways to make a difference for some kids who live in the great places we are visiting. We are letting the idea simmer... This motivated me to go for a little venture and Léo and I drove to the village today. We found the store for school supplies - it's entire inventory can be neatly placed on a kitchen table, but they have the essentials. I finally found some real printer paper - but here we buy it by the sheet because it's a rare commodity. I use every single sheet on both sides - something I should do at home too! While in town we also looked for fresh chicken, but it will be available only tomorrow (just like the gas, good old Mexican Ma ñana!), and we looked for a bakery - no such thing in Xcalak. Only the basic necessities. Only what we really need, and a little more (like cookies, and candies!)

We went for a nice snorkel today. We went out on the kayaks, found a great spot and dropped the anchors, and put our snorkel gear on. Just as I let myself in the water the bottom of by baiting suit got caught on a hook on the side of the kayak - and I was stuck in an impossible position, unable to reach and unhook my rear end... Dylan tried to rescue me, but it's Tim who finally untwisted the fabric. My Hero!

I started to look into an excursion we could take in this region, on the sea of course. Deep sea fishing is an option, or boating to Belize to spend a day in San Pedro, but I must say that the one I would like to do the most is going to the Chinchorro banks - about 20 miles off shore. It is said to be the last intact coral garden in the Caribbean, and is has a number of old ship wrecks. Very few people get to see this, and who knows how long it will remain healthy. The effect of global warming on warm seas like the Caribbean is causing the water to heat-up more than ever, and even a couple of degrees can be devastating for coral reef. It causes discolouring of reef formations, it is know as the 'bleaching' effect. A gray reef is a very sad sight. Just today, I was showing Léo to not look only at the fish, but also at the purple and pink and orange reef vegetation and their many different shapes, and the unique quality of the light underwater. It is so beautiful! Does he really see it? I hope so. And I hope that it's still there when he will want to show his children.

A Day in Majahual

We spent the day in Majahual yesterday. I had a meeting at 3pm with the woman who helped me organise the music classes, and we also wanted to do some food shopping and enjoy the beach, so we decided to leave by 10am for the drive to Majahual which takes a little over one hour. To our big surprise as soon as we got in the car, we realised that the time in the clock in the car indicated 9am, and after some thought we realised that we have been living one hour off since we're in Xcalak! Wondering why we could not sleep so well? That could have something to do with going to bed at 8pm! Wondering why we missed the Skype meeting with the tutor? That's because he we were one hour early! Wondering why Hockey Night in Canada started one hour late? Well that's because it was actually on time! So now... what's the right time? The one on my iPhone, or Tim's iPod, or Dylan's ipod, the MacBook? Very confusing for us. : )

We tried to buy some gasoline in the village as we were low on gas and when we found the right place after searching and asking for about half an hour, the lady told me that they were out and that they were expecting the truck in the afternoon. Okay, maybe next time!

We finally got to Majahual (yes, one quarter of a tank is enough) and there was a cruise ship at the pier which makes for a busy day in town - since the town is located at a 5 hour drive from the Cancun ariport very few people drive there, and the entire economy relies on those cruise ships. The cruise port name is 'Costa Maya', much more catchy than Majahual... It's a lovely place despite the soul touristic development of the beach strip. Majahual is also special because all along the Mezoamerican reef barrier (750km long - second longest in the world) it is the only place where the reef barrier is so close to shore that one can actually walk to it (about 100 meters on low tide). The beach is super there too, with a rare sandy shore along this coast (mostly algae and reef by the shore) - perfect for swimming. And a lot of the beach bars and restaurants have wireless access, perfect! We settled at the same place where we had lunch in March 2008 when they were re-building the town after hurricane Dean. Now a fully developed operation, much like most of the beach strip - good to see! So took advantage of the wireless and did some work, and for a couple of hours I had a killer office!

At about 1:30pm we left the beach strip to make our way to the 'casitas' (aka New Majahual). We had lunch at a groovy little cafe called Aroma, apparently the hot spot in town. Then we did our shopping, the store is not so big but carries most of what we had on our list (except for meat and cheese). And then I met with Rebecca at 3pm - a great woman, very nice and friendly, and we had a good chat with Tim and the boys before we made our way to the Montessori school, one block away. First music lesson at the Montessori school of Majahual. I was not sure how many kids would show-up, and I was ready for a very small turn out - and about 20 kids showed-up! The first class were all JK and SK age, about 12 of them. The second group was up to 7 years old and there were 8 kids. I kept a simple program and most of the class content was made of songs and activities that I translated from English or French - it worked very well, kids had a lot of fun and parents feedback was amazing - I am very much looking forward to going back next week. The ice is broken!

I was done at 5pm and we left immediately so that we could arrive before sunset... but missed that mark by a good 45 minutes. But the road is very well done with reflectors all along, and there is basically no traffic (we crossed 2 cars in one hour). Got home, made dinner and made it movie night with The Burbs (with Tom Hanks... funny!).

Today is Leo's big day for his evaluation, he completed 9 pages and did great!

Gabriel, the care taker of the house, went fishing in the laguna and brought back a nice 3 1/2 feet baracuda - pictures coming soon on FB - and prepared nice filets for us. He is so kind! The fish was delicious - just pan fried with butter. Life is good!

The Bridge

I met Jane yesterday afternoon. She is a very good friend of Gisèle, the owner of the house we are renting, and she dropped by to introduce herself. She is a vibrant woman, a retired early childhood teacher, and she is actively involved with the school library program here in Xcalak. She is also starting and ESL program at the school next week. She is from Minnesota, and spends six months here every year with her husband. Their house is about 2km down the road and she invited us to snorkel there as she has a nice shallow reef in front of her house - perfect for the kids. She will also take me and the kids to her ESL class on December 7, she said that it is a must for the kids to see what a classroom looks like here (they barely have a piece of chalk...). Looking forward to the experience.

She also told us how the bridge that used to link the beach road to Majahual went down. It appears that two Mexicans had a huge argument one night, and they burned it. There you go! I guess their affairs are settled now! She said that it's not a bad thing, since Majahual is the bigger town on this part of the coast and Xcalak is much more quiet and safe since the beach access has been... well...burned down (okay then...).

School work still going well - although for some reason we were not able to Skype with Leo's teacher this week. The session was postponed to Tuesday and while we waited for him to connect, we did the home work and after a half hour, he was still not there so we signed out. When the home work is completed I take a photo of each page and email it to his teacher. Today I tried to do this with my camera instead of my iPhone, but the resolution was too high and the filed were too big - so this will be done with the iPhone from now on.

We all went snorkeling a little farther yesterday, Leo's first time on a reef. I partnered with him and was holding his hand and the entire time he kept pointing at each fish (big blue, and yellow and purple ones) and I could hear him exclaiming his joy and surprise through his snorkel - what a pleasure to share this with him!

Time to prepare to go to town, I will put the final touch on my lesson plan and we will hit the road to Majahual. The last time we were there in March 2008, was 6 months after the town was completely wiped out by hurricane Dean and they were very busy re-building. It will be great to see the new town, the boys remember the way it was so they will appreciate the difference. We'll do some shopping too, I wonder if our list in realistic... the 'big' store there might not be exactly our idea of 'big'. We"ll see!

Life by the sea

We arrived here in Xcalak one week ago today, and we're still getting used to living by the sea. The weather was very rainy for the first 3 days, and then it turned for the better - with the occasional quick rain storm (very windy!!!). All of us, except for Leo. have difficulty sleeping the night and we can't quite figure out why. It's not too hot or cold, the beds are very comfortable, so maybe the silence! For me, the mosquitoes have a lot to do with it. My feet are covered with bites, and it's driving me CRAZY!!! Especially at night... I try every single cream that we have to sooth the itch, some kind of work better than others. We're going to town tomorrow (Majahual) and I will look for something more efficient. Anyone knows of a natural way to sooth mosquitoe bites? Please let me know!!! I'll try anything - lemon juice, banana peel, butter... really!

We started to practice snorkeling in front of our beach house to get used to the equipment, and the boys and Tim loved it! Tim spotted a lion fish the first time we went in, too soon and too close... these are a real pest but I'm glad that the boys could see one up-close, and that they are aware of them. The following day we practiced some more and we saw a barracuda, again I was glad that they could see small one and that they are now able to identify them. There are many little fish as soon as we get in the water, a lot of little striped yellow and black fish, some little purple ones with a yellow belly and tale, and many sand colour fish. Dylan seemed a bit concerned about going out farther to snorkel since we got here, and he did not want to go for kayak rides. Yesterday I accompanied Tim and Dylan to a small reef near our house and not too far out, for their first real snorkel experience (Leo and I had to Skype with his teacher). They were amazed at the difference in the fish so close to shore, and swam through schools of blue fish and saw many other beautiful ones, all around this small reef garden. They loved it, and Dylan wants to go every single day now!

The birds are also plentiful around here. Many migratory birds like cranes and cormorans, and others which we would like to identify eventually. On is black and twice the size of a robin, with beautiful bright blue wings and a bright yellow bill, and they travel in groups. I saw a yellow parakeet, and as I am getting better aquainted with our camera I will try to capture some good images to better identify them.

The sea shore is covered with conch shells, never saw so many - there are thousands! Unfortunately even in such a remote location, the beach is also littered by all kinds of plastic waste carried by the sea. Sad sight, but eye opening for the boys.

Today will be a busy day, a lot of school work for Leo since I received his evaluation papers for this trimester. I am helping him revise the subject matters every day, and give him the document to complete on Friday morning. I will find a good reward, he works hard and it's not easy for him to do school work here. I also have to prepare for my first classes which will take place tomorrow. I already translated some songs and activities that I do in French - this way I am comfortable with the material instead of learning all new songs. Let's get to work! Hasta luego!

Apple Cake - Enjoy!

Yummy Easy Apple Cake

2 cups diced apples (small cubes)
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup oil
1 egg, beaten
1 cup flour
1tsp baking soda
1/4 sp salt
Cinnamon and vanilla to taste

Mix the diced apples with the sugar and let sit for 30 min. Add oil and egg, cinnamon and vanilla and mix, add dry ingredients and mix well. Pour into a prepared 8'' or 9'' pan, bake at 350F for 40 to 45 min. To add a special touch after it cooled a bit, I poked the top with a fork and drizzled maple sirup on it. Yummy yummy! I will definitely make it again!

Driving to Xcalak - what you should know

It occurred to me that as I was preparing for this trip I did not find much information about driving - so for the folks who are looking for such details, I will take a moment to share what we have learned.
First - if you land in Cancun I highly recommend that you spend the first night somewhere on the coast between Puerto Morelos and Playa del Carmen. The drive will be a little over four hours from Playa del Carmen, and it's better to avoid driving after sunset.
Second - Plan on leaving sufficient room in your car to pack the food supplies you will buy. In our case, we are a family of 4 so we purchased a rooftop bag (roofbag.com - good price and fast delivery) to store our clothing luggage. We also carry a banjo, a mandolin, a violin and a guitar, so the bag was absolutely necessary. Playa del Carmen has a few super stores, we went to Chedraui, but you could also go to Sam's - they are both very easy to find on the East side of the 307 in Playa del Carmen. We bought 2 styrofoam coolers, lines them with a garbage bag (the coolers may leak over time), and 2 bags of ice to store meat and dairy products. This type of cooler is not too big and gettin two is easier to place in your trunk than one big cooler.
Third - Get cash, there are no banks in Xcalak and the closest ATM is in Majahual (60km).
Fourth - fill-up you gas tank in Tulum, and when you get on the road to Majahual, fill it up again at the gas station located about 5km before arriving in Majahual (the only gas station here...).
Fifth - The turn off to Xcalak is just before the gas station, so you will have to go back on the road and turn left on to the Xcalak road and you should arrive in Xcalak in about 40 min. Thist is the only road going that way but there are no big signs, just a bunch of small ones. This is the ONLY road to Xcalak at this time (mid-November 2010). There used to be access from Majahual to Xcalak along the beach road, but one bridge has collapsed and has not yet been rebuilt.
FINALLY! You should know that the tortilla guy drives down the road every single day, a package of fresh warm corn tortillas cost $150 pesos. A food truck comes by twice a week, on Tuesdays and and Fridays. They have plenty of fruit and ) veggies, and meat (chicken, beef and pork). The beer truck also comes by twice a week, also on Tuesday and Friday.
The people who liv here are mostly Mayans, and they are honest, kind and simple people. And last for not least - Enjoy you stay!!!

NEXT POST : Yummy and simple apple cake recipe!

Xcalak, Quintana Roo - Mexico

We arrived just after sunset on November 17, and it has been overcast and rainy since then - we are told that it's the first rain in about 15 days. It's fine - not too hot and just enough rain breaks to go and enjoy our surroundings. We went swimming in the sea this morning - lovely and warm, and a lot of life above and below water. So many big conch shells that Leo actually took for mission to take the ones on the beach and put them back in the water, saving them.

We realise that although we did by a fair amount of food, we will need to get fresh fruit and veggies regularly. So after chatting with Gabriel, our property care giver, I found out that there is a pretty good food supply system along this little secluded beach road. First, the tortilla guy goes down the road every day on his motorcycle with a cooler filled with fresh warm corn tortillas (I LOVE the smell of warm tortillas), then the produce and meat guy comes twice a week - Tuesday and Friday - just like the beer truck. I actually bought some fruit today, and beer too - it's just too funny to wave the beer truck and buy a 24 !

I also inquired about gas for the car, and we have just enough to get back to the gas station in Majahual, 68km from our little beach house. There used to be access to Majahual from the beach road, but the bridge collapsed so currently we can only get there with the jungle road - about 45 min. drive. I have leared that there is a good general store there and we will be able to buy some paper supplies, beach toys and other things we will need in the coming month.

Breakfasts and lunches are pretty simple, and an afternoon snack in needed since we tend to eat smaller meals here. Dinner is the bigger meal - I made a pasta sauce yesterday, cooked black beans which we eat every day as dip or in rice or any other way one can eat black beans! I am cooking chicken legs tonight, and will use the bones to make sopa de lima (my favorite soup!). I will share the recipe later this week. Tonight I will also bake a simple apple cake, and share that recipe as well as soon as I know if it works... you never know.

Schooling is going well so far, we have a shift in the morning and another one in the afternoon. For Leo's hme work, I took photos of each completed page with my iPhone, and emailed them to his teacher. She is supposed to email me his new home work today - and I will print it on our fine and dandy HP portable printer. It's amazing to be so far away from everything, with only solar power, and be able to communicate and skype with the satellite connection on this property. Awsome!

Over and out for today - I must go and chop some apples!

DAYS 1 TO 5

Yeepee - we're here!
Our flights were on time and painless, we had a quick connection in Charlotte, North Carolina, and thank God our luggage made it!
No problem through customs, and finlly got picked-up by our car rental company to get to the car. Another unforeseen expense which I should have researched : liability insurance. Very important here in Mexico - for us it's an additional $800 for 3 months. Okay... now for adding my name as a driver? The guy says at least $500, but he can do it for $100 cash (HA!). While I'm talking Tim is looking at the contract and sees very clearly that spouse can drive under this agreement. So I told the guy that Tim would drive, we're just fine thank you very much : )

Got to our hotel at about 1:30 or 2pm - Occidental Allegro Playacar - beautiful place and very friendly staff, perfect beach. We got in our swim suits and the four of us ran together in the Caribbean. The boys were over the moon with all the perks of the all inclusive (especially the buffet 3 times a day) and as we were walking around Leo and Dylan were chatting and saying 'wow, what more can there be around here?'... that's when we got to the giant chess board and they both stopped and exclaimed 'GIANT CHESS!!!!!' We had a good laugh. I think the guys thanked me one hundred times on that first day. Leo did his homework, and we Skyped with his school tutor on Monday as scheduled.

I thought I had done a great job packing - I usually think of everything and more... but this time to my dismay I realised that the boys had no underwear... another good laugh! So we went to Playa del Carmen to shop, got what we had on our list including a new guitar for Dylan - made in Paracho, Mexico, just like my mandolin. Paracho is famous for its string instruments, mostly guitars. $80 with the case, perfect!

On November 17 we packed our bags after breakfast, installed and loaded the rooftop bag, checked out and hit the road to go grocery shopping. It took about 2 hours. We have 2 styrofoam coolers which we filled with ice together with the meat and other cold food, and we had just enough room in the car to pack the food we bought. Finally... we left to get to our next destination : Xcalak.

It was a 5 hour trip, including one pit stop to eat lunch. Of that 5 hour drive, about 4 is literrally in the middle of nowhere. From the highway we turn on to a road going west (towards the sea) and drive for about 45 minutes, then turn right on to the road to Xcalak for one hour - and it seems like the jungle is taking over the pavement pretty much all along. We finally got to the village as the sun was setting. Great... now we had to find the house in the dark! Got on to the dirt road along the sea shore and about 8km from the village - finally arrived at Casa Caracola. Good thing, we only have 1/4 of tank of gas left in the car! No gas station in town... Oh well, we'll take care of that somehow. We're here for one month!

Settling in, it rained A LOT overnight, today is overcast and we're exploring the permises.

Over and out!
xoxo

3 DAYS TO DEPARTURE

It's actually 2 days since we are leaving home at about 4am on Sunday morning. I finished packing and weight our bags - we are allowed up to 50lb per bag, otherwise we will have an insane surcharge. And we do have 50lb per bag - yeah baby!

We're busy with last minute errands like banking, copying house keys, leaving photocopies of our passports and legal documents with our emergency contact, Tim is reviewing our insurance coverage, I finalised a bunch of winter schedules and invoices, the cleaning lady just came to do the ground floor, I cleaned the dining room windows, etc. It's certainly looking like we're moving out!

I am beginning to relax and let go now. The house will be ready, and so will we! : )

5 Days to departure

Well, I'm so wired that I'm not sure how to define how I feel - excited, stressed, scared, anxious, stressed, happy, exhausted, stressed... I think that 'freaky' is a pretty good word actually. Sitting down and taking the time to write is pulling me out of the madness for a few minutes - so I indulge.

I went to my dentist today, I was supposed to get a small surgery which had been re-scheduled twice (by him). I like my dentist. He is a crazy, creative and unconventional individual. He takes his entire team to Haïti once a year to offer free treatment to hundreds of people there. It's his home land. So today, he kept telling me how this intervention is a piece of cake, that would be out of there in half an hour, etc. and once everything was set-up he sat down and looked at me and said - 'you know, there is another way to do this. It's harder for me, but better for you - so that's what we'll do' His assistant rolled her eyes, and changed the entire set-up for the change of plan. It took 2 hours, and he worked hard. When it was all done he said 'if you have trouble with this tooth again when you get to Mexico, here is my number. I'll be in Playa del Carmen on Monday'. He is too much! And best of all, I have no pain - not even the slightest tenderness around the tooth he fixed. I think it's worth at least one margarita!

I came home and I packed some Christmas items. Some familiar objects for our tropical Holiday season. Snowman and icicles in Yucatan!

ONE WEEK TO DEPARTURE!

I am completely overwhelmed and trying to keep my focus clear on the priorities - there are many...

I found a cleaning lady and the plan is to have her come 3 times before we leave - once for each floor, beginning with the basement at 2:30 today. We are still discarding items as we are cleaning, organising and packing, and Tim will probably do a trip to Value Village today or tomorrow.

I met with the boys teachers last Wednesday, and we have a good plan for the schooling front. Leo's will require much more work than Dylan's, and it will be a great opportunity to be creative and make fun projects together. We will explore Canada's first Nations and the first French settlements, and we are encouraged to note differences and similarities with those of Mexico. In Science, we will study the world of plants, their structure and their use - and the timing happens to work with our stay at the farm!
Dylan will have to keep a weekly journal, and prepare a presentation on Mayan civilisation. He will also have to keep-up with his math. The books represent a heavy load - I packed them in a separate bag.

I made the poster for the classes I will offer in Majahual, 3 family circles for accompanied children up to 4 years olds, and 3 classes for unaccompanied 4 to 7 year olds. It will take place at the little Montessori school of Majahual. I will arrange my teaching in the village of Xcalak once we get to our first house. I have a lot of small instruments to donate - it feels amazing to give songs and games and instruments to children, and know that they will keep playing after I'm gone.

For Le Petit Atelier, I met with my biggest client last Wednesday morning and everything is fine and dandy. Happy client, happy teacher, happy kids - I couldn't ask for better. I will be meeting with 2 other big clients this week and fine-tune the schedules for the next trimester, and then everything will be lined-up until April 1 inclusively.

For The Little Workshop, all the schedules are finally settled. This was the most challenging part as Tim is a very popular teacher and his absence is being felt. However everyone is continuing - and our 3 teachers are well booked and ready for the upcoming months. Because our hard drive died about 2 weeks ago, I had to re-enter all our email addresses and phone numbers. This is actually a good exercise because I now have the info on my iPhone as well, and we are leaving with an updated address book in our computer.

This all sounds so dry and serious and boring... it is the unavoidable organisational phase which is not so much fun. But that's how we can pull this off - I can't wait to lighten-up!

2 WEEKS TO DEPARTURE

Halloween already, I remember when we first told the boys about this big trip a few months ago - we said that were to leave a couple of weeks after Halloween... long way away, plenty of time. Not anymore!

Many many things to do, some troubleshooting with the new computer (our old hard drive is gone with all the data...) but we'll get through it. I met with my good friend who will handle the administrative tasks of Le Petit Atelier, and things are in very good hands. TheLittle Workshop admin will be taken care of by our sub letter, and there too things are in good hands so I feel confident that business will be running fairly smoothly.

Tim and I cleared some space in the garage, and we finally stored our bins of clothing (well sealed). Still some purging to do, last minute items like decorative objects, books, etc. We now have some of our friend's boxes as he is all set to move in, and it really feels like our departure is near.

These next two weeks will be the most intense, but as organise our bookings and review our itinerary the excitement of what's ahead of us is balancing things out.
First 3 day stop : http://www.allegroplayacar.com/
And then for the first month : http://www.casacaracola.com/

It will be amazing and filled with surprises!

3 WEEKS TO DEPARTURE

Our good friend who will sublet our home came for a quick meeting and tour of the house to plan his move. He seems happy, and that makes me feel very good. I tend to undertake way too much in situations like this, and if it was up to me I would have painted the house from top to bottom (and that's what I thought I would do about 4 months ago...) - but it will not be so, and it's fine. Phew! For us, the move begins tomorrow with sending our big couch to the garbage! Yé! On Friday, our friend will be delivering his couch, bed and a few things.

A couple of set backs in the last few days: our computer hard drive died. I had a bunch of business files backed-up, but unfortunately we lost a lot of amazing family pictures from the last four years. Tim also lost a bunch of original charts and recordings... ouch. It's so much work to write full arrangements! but at least he still has many of these pieces printed - so thank God for paper!
The other set back is that after 11 + years of parenthood, we have just entered the head lice club. Yes, thank you very much. Poor Dylan had a fair population on his head, and after checking a couple of times and not seeing anything - I misdiagnosed the itch problem and was treating him with psoriasis shampoo (ding dong!). Oh well, now I know what to look for (do I ever...) ! Leo had a very mild case, and I keep checking myself daily.

Business is doing just fine, I have to confirm schedules for the winter trimester and we're good to go.

Oh... I still have to prepare a little poster for my classes in Majahual and Xcalak - has to be in Spanish, better get to that!

I purchased 2 sturdy duffle bags with wheels, I measured our roof top carrier bag and found just the right size duffle bags to fit in with a little extra room. China Town is perfect for shopping for suitcases and bags, and prices are amazing. So we will travel with 2 duffle bags, 2 carry-ons, a banjo, a mando and a fiddle. We will buy a guitar there.

I can't believe we're a little less than 3 weeks away! What are we doing? Oh yeah... we're living fully!

4 weeks to departure

Still getting stuff out of the house - I can't believe how much old, useless and damaged items we were holding on to! This is one part of the plan that I had underestimated - not in terms of work but in terms of satisfaction! A very healthy exercise. Next week will be the time for furniture purging - making room for our sub-letter who will be moving in with some of his furniture. Time to get rid of our beat-up, ripped and dirty couch - yay! Then the futon in our bedroom - also at the end of its life, but this one is a little sad because Leo was born on it. Dylan's dresser is also a curb case, and I think that's pretty much all in the furniture department. We shall go shopping when we come back!

I did cancel our booking in the big beach house in Telchac Puerto after all, I decided to listen to my gut feeling and the discomfort I have with renting such a big property and occupy only one third of it. We will settle for a very nice two bedroom home with a pool. It's a bit more expensive, but we will rent it for about a week and also go spend about 5 days in Merida - and balance the cost with a camping excursion on Holbox Island. I've always wanted to go there, and camping will be an adventure. There is a camp ground called 'Ida Y Vuelta', they have everything we need, and the price is right. Should be fun!

When we will arrive in Mexico on November 14, we have planned on spending 2 or 3 days in Playa del Carmen to do some shopping - including groceries for our first month in remote Xcalak. I originally wanted to go to a little hotel that I've been to a few years ago, but as I was looking for a better last minute deal I came upon some great pricing on all inclusive resorts. So for $103 per day, the four of us will kick off our great adventure in a modest all inclusive resort - which is cheaper then the original hotel+restaurant scenario - and so convenient! The kids will love the big pool, the buffet meals, and the beach is gorgeous. http://www.allegroplayacar.com/
The resort is also at the edge of town (as opposed to out of town like most resorts), which makes it easy for us to do our shopping (some sports items, a guitar, cooler, beach towels, etc.).

Actually, it's less than 4 weeks away now... yippi!!!!!!

Tic Toc!

I accomplished a lot in the past month and on many fronts, we are on target. The two Petit Atelier teachers are trained and working alone in their respective daycares now, and they each lead an after school series in the neighbourhood. The next step is to prepare their schedules for the second trimester, and coordinate the January after school series.

The Little Workshop is fully booked, and all parents have been notified of Tim's absence - he has two great teachers replacing him. We are about to begin the second term, and I will take that opportunity to train our business coordinator with processing the term payments and making bank deposits.

I am looking into the boys schooling, and Leo's teacher was happy to announce that the school has accepted to lend us all the books we need to keep up with his class curriculum - great! I will be meeting with Dylan's teacher this week. Their tutor will come over for a first session here at home on Monday, working specifically with Leo for the time being. This will allow us to develop a stronger relationship and a routine before we get into the long distance 'Skipe' communication.

As for the house prep, we are still merrily purging and it is starting to show - finally! It feels great, getting rid of the useless things kicking around is a fantastic exercise. It brings great psychological satisfaction, and our home environment feels healthier.

After much consideration, we decided to not rent the big beach house on the Gulf of Mexico. We will probably spend some time in Merida, and go back to the Caribbean for the last bit of our journey. All good!

7 weeks to departure

If you are thinking about traveling with your family like we are, either far away or for a long period of time - don't forget to budget for medical and dental care taking place prior to your departure. Yes, September 2010 will be remembered as a heck of an expensive one. All very good investments of course, dental and medical care for the four of us. Only today's visit, the vaccinations cost us $750 - and that's not all of it. The other medication will be purchased in Mexico for much cheaper that what it costs here. I also need a small dental surgery, small procedure but big invoice... Ho-le-cow how I miss my medical and dental family coverage... but of course if I was still a corporate work horse we would never be able to do this beautiful crazy trip.

We are still purging the house, and put one purging day per week on our calendar until our departure - it works very well! Today Tim got rid of more clothes than what he has left in his closet... and I am delighted. It feels great!

Some hickups with Le Petit Atelier, one of the teachers I hired will not be able to work for me this fall - no work permit... (she is from France). The other two teachers are fully booked which is very good, but because of the one missing teacher I am in the unfortunate position to ask some clients to wait until March. They are small clients, but they are just as important in my view because it means that these kids will not get music classes while I'm away.

Next step is Passeport renewal for all of us, we will probably get our lovely 'no-smile' pictures taken this weekend.

And now I can almost hear the clock ticking...

More teaching?

I just heard back from the Telchac Education coordinator - she is supporting my teaching project and will be meeting with the principal of the Telchac school this coming Wednesday. I am crossing my fingers and my toes...

Telchac is a small fishing village on the Gulf of Mexico, simple, rustic and tranquil. There are two small schools in the village, one for G1 to G6, and the other for G7 and G8. If this works, we will book the big house since it is walking distance to the village. It is a huge property, but the owner is renting is to us for much less than her regular price and it ends up being the same price as a two bedroom house along the coast. So it looks like we're back to the original plan after all !

Here in Toronto the weather is cooling down and school begins tomorrow. I pulled out some fall clothes for the kids and myself, and realised that I will have to select the summer clothes that we will bring to Mexico instead of putting it all in our usual seasonal storage bins. I really want to keep our luggage to a minimum though, it makes it much more simple to travel although we have to do laundry more often.

Hey, this means that I am starting to pack the suitcases! Slowly but surely!

Oh my... I am feeling the anxiety and we're leaving in what... 10 weeks? TEN WEEKS !!!!!
Considering all the things we still have to do (which I take all on my own shoulders of course because I do have a big tendency to be my own worst enemy...), ten weeks is not very much time. I will have to manage the preparation of the house for the sub-let by asking for some help for a change... and everything else will be much easier.

I found a basic First Aid course with many dates available, it's a two day training and it will give us peace of mind. I also began to research the flora and fauna more thoroughly, and it reminded me that there are many creatures to be aware in the areas we will be visiting. I did come across some of them during my many trips there, like the barracudas, sharks, scorpions, crocodiles, and some spiders so big that I had to call for help to remove it from my apartment wall... But we will be further South, actually South of the Belize border which is just across the bay of Chetumal, and while the monkeys and parrots and toucans may be a delight, the tarantulas and the many types of snakes are not so good. I am now looking for a couple of good books to help us identify what we see...

Tim and I are now considering not booking the big beach property in Telchac Puerto for the third month. It seems that we might not have friends visiting us, and it is such a big place that it's becoming difficult to justify the commitment of renting it for one month only for the four of us (it accommodates 16 guests...) We are leaving our options open, and we will book it last minute if need be - the kids really want to go back and it would be nice to be in known territory, but only if we have company.

I have made contact to teach in Telchac Puerto through a local charity coordinated by two american women. They collect money and sponsor children's education in Telchac Puerto and Progreso (Yucatan state). They provide school uniforms, vairous supplies, and for older students they also cover tuition fees. They are very interested by my offer and I am waiting for their decision. If I do teach in Telchac, we may have to stick around that part of Yucatan a bit longer but it leaves many options open for housing in the area - maybe in a beach house, maybe in Merida, or we might stay at the ranch longer.

And the school year is about to begin, pushing us back into a very scheduled life.

and time flies...

Business, business, business.... I am running late with the matters of The Little Workshop. In the crunch of the fall registrations, with some schedule tweeking to prepare for Tim's absence. Kevin Braun, our guitar and bass teacher, will take over most of Tim's students while we're away. It works out very well, he is a great guy.
The training schedules are done for my two new Petit Atelier teachers, and looking forward to being in the classroom with them. One is booked for the entire school year, and the other one will be covering the shorter contracts in smaller daycares for this year. All good stuff, very exciting.

The kitchen is finished at last - I mean really really finished. It looks great, still feels a bit awkward while getting used to it. The house is almost in sublet condition... only have to do a big paint job pretty much all over the rest of the house, and a new floor in the bathroom. Oh yeah, and change all the runners in the back entrance of The Little Workshop. We will get there!

While in Quebec city a couple of weeks ago I went to the big weekly flea market in Ste-Foy. I found many small instruments for a ridiculous price, and my mom had found some too a couple of weeks before. So now I have a nice bag of various percussive instruments that I can donate to the Majahual school. I will complete the collection with a set of rhythm sticks and maybe some bells and small maracas. I just hope that the teachers and children will keep having fun with the songs and games I will teach them long after I leave town.

I'm getting busier and I have less time to day dream but when I do, I admit that the prospect of spending three months in Mexico is scary at times. It is a long time considering that our longest trip so far was for only three weeks. I see it as a fun challenge to be out of our comfort zone, although we're not exactly going to live in misery... but certainly modestly and away from the big money machine of our crazy branded world. It will require interesting adjustments from each of us, not always easy of course. I once read that 'life is a balancing act of holding on and letting go', I think it's a very good way to look at it.

3 months to departure...

Summer vacation is almost over, and I brace myself for a very busy few weeks. Le Petit Atelier is set for the fall with my main daycare clients confirmed, and it is now time to make a round of registrations for The Little Workshop.

In terms of personal organisation, we are all going to the dentist next week. I also decided to look for a first aid course for Dylan and I, and I will also have to look into vaccinations and malaria prevention. We will arrive in Quintana Roo just at the end of the rain season, and our first destination is on a thin slice of land between the Caribbean and a long mangrove. Better look into that!

Still traveling with the roof top bag, still haven't filled it to full capacity - still very happy with it.

We will soon go back home after spending about 10 days in the beautiful Rimouski County, I love it here. We enjoy the amazing Appalachian scenery - we see a lot of birds. Can't help to wonder if the loons, the ducks, the hummingbirds, and all creatures flying South to the Gulf of Mexico will come back to the North next summer. Hoping they will, just like us.

Active Tourism 101

I have been thinking about finding some type of active involvement with the communities that we will be visiting. Teaching music in Majahual is definitely along those lines, and I will also look into collecting used instruments to fill a box for the school. But this is more my own project, and the school is 65km from our little beach home on a little sandy road, which makes it more of a weekly commitment.

While trying to learn more about the area in general, I came upon a Facebook page about the sightings of the first lion fish along the Costa Maya. It is a fairly alarming situation, and I think this is a cause that we can embrace as a family.
The lion fish is a fierce coral reef predator. It has no known natural enemies (except humans), it can wipe a reef of its fish population by 80% in about five weeks, and they reproduce at a rate of up to 30,000 eggs per cycle with a few cycles per year. Here is a very informative piece on the subject : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ar0CX8dj948

Our little house is located inside the Xcalak National Reef Park, and this puts us literally in the heart of the matter. For a prime diving destination like the Costa Maya, the local economy relies on the preservation of that section of the reef barrier, as well as the Chinchorro banks located a couple of hours off shore from Majahual. Chinchorro is known as one of the last coral reef garden in the caribbean, take a look at this arial photo : http://www.locogringo.com/maps/tour/P1010093a-t.html . I really want us to go out there, it would be amazing.

So... a lion fish safari? Hey why not! After all that's what they do in the Bahamas, and they end it with a feast of fried lion fish on the beach. Now we're talking !

We shall have some visitors!

A couple of good friends have confirmed that they will be visiting us at the ranch - yé! They will arrive on Boxing day - family of four - so we will be in very good company to celebrate the new year. Looking forward to it!

On the practical front, I have received the 'Roof Bag' for the car and we had the opportunity to try it last week when we went to the cottage. It's very easy to install, it's very sturdy, and it will be absolutely perfect for our Mexican adventure. It was not even filled to half it's capacity, and it allowed us to use the car trunk for instruments. So for the first time ever, we were able to bring a guitar, banjo, mandolin and violin to the cottage - and best of all, the kids had the back seat to themselves for a change!

While at the cottage I studied a great big book of French early childhood repertoire that I purchased last month and found a lot of new songs and activities to add to my program. Many of them can be easily adapted to Spanish, and I also found some traditional South American material - very inspiring. It makes me feel better about teaching in Spanish, I'll be just fine.

This coming week will be busy, I will settle a lot of business details for the fall. All I need is a good 'to do' list, my computer, a phone, and a few days. Voilà!

Majahual and Xcalak - aka the Costa Maya

This is what the Costa Maya looks like, with it's main town : Majahual. We will be there from November 16 to December 12 - 27 days. That first month will be very much about the pristine Caribbean water, the coral reef barrier and the creatures that live in and around it. It will also be about living on the ocean in a remote location, with limited commodities and lots of time to explore the coast. We have rented a one bedroom apartment on the second floor of a beach house, about 65km down the coastal road from Majahual. Xcalak is the most southern town on the Caribbean coast of Mexico, and it is a jewel of a place on earth. This the view from the dining room. Looking forward to having breakfast there!

Good news!

I was thrilled to get confirmation on my first Mexican teaching gig today - a series of 6 to 8 classes in the elementary school of Majahual (Costa Maya). I will be running an after school program in Spanish and English from mid-November to mid-December, and the school is only 20 minutes down the sandy coast road from the beach house we rented in Xcalak. This is a dream come true for me (hell yeah!). I am hoping to develop a teaching circuit in the states of Quintana Roo and Yucatan, and pursue a long time project that will be the object of another blog when the time comes.

So this will be a very steep Spanish immersion about one week after arriving in Mexico, pero asi le apprendi ! (that's how I learned it) and there's nothing like a little brain gymnastics for us - people of a certain age...

Memories of Cancun

I have gone back and back again to the beautiful Yucatan peninsula, and along the past year I tried to identify what exactly is pulling me to that part of the world. It has fulfilled many things over the years, and now I think I go for the sheer simplicity. I love that my main concerns become to get the bread at the bakery in the morning, do some laundry and hang it on the line, get food and prepare the next meal. Get up with the sun after a cool, quiet, and dark night. That's what I seek there, but it was not always this way...

I first went to Cancun for a 2 week vacation with a group of students of Laval Univertity in May 1986. I moved there in late September of the same year. Living in Mexico had an important impact in my life when I was 21. The city of Cancun was only 18 years old then, and everyone working there were from somewhere else. A great mix of Mayan, Mexican and young adults from everywhere in the Americas and Europe. It was before the cell phone, and actually not many people had a land line either. Life was very simple, and friends visited each other... how about that !

Three weeks after I arrived I got hired as Public Relations for a Spanish company based in Madrid. They owned hotels in Majorka and the Canary Islands, and they had just purchased their first hotel on Mexican land : The Green Sixteen (on the golf course). They cut deals with canadian travel agencies and so all our arrivals were from either Toronto or Montréal. My job was to host a happy hour and briefing every Saturday, set-up on site entertainment and events along the week, manage the shuttle to the beach, and assist guests in getting around town. A heck of a job!

Money was not super but eventually I had my own room at the Green Sixteen, and because I was constantly referring tourists to my favorite local businesses, I had many free bees. I was able to do pretty much every excursions and cruises, had access to free water sports including scuba diving, and many restaurants did not charge me a cent. Great life for a 21 year old !
After the sixth month I came to Canada for 6 weeks, and when I returned to Cancun I was hired as PR by the Paradise Beach Club (a popular joint) to promote their condo development, and I also got hired by the Hard Rock Café to train their team of waiters (past life in restaurants...). If you ever go the the Hard Rock Café in Cancun, you must know that I drove the pink Cadillac to it's final destination before it got mounted on its post.

Life was moving at a faster pace, and I felt right at home. I was spending more time with my good friend Luis, who was also good friends with the federal minister of tourism and the sub-minister for the state of Quintana Roo. We had some great times, they liked to party big and were treated like royalty everywhere they went. We had access to the best Cancun could offer. Too much.
About 2 months after my return, I got offered the Public Relations position for the Cancun International airport - a fantastic job opportunity. I felt the decision was not only about the job, but also about settling in Mexico for the long run. It was a government position, and required for me to become a Mexican resident. I was not ready to commit, so I declined the offer and I moved back to Oh Canada ! It was like ripping me in half.

And so I will soon go back once more, and maybe I will finally get a piece of land... not far fetched!

Chug Chug Chugging along!

Now that the flights, the car rental and the accommodations are booked and confirmed, the focus comes back to the present time. In the business zone, everything must be carefully planned and organised for a smooth operation while we are away.

Things seem to be moving much faster now. The kitchen reno is going so well that it seems that it will be finished by the first week of July. School is almost over for the boys. Effective today The Little Workshop is closed for the summer, and Le Petit Atelier's last classes for this school year will take place at the end of June. Many Little Workshop students and Petit Atelier clients are already confirmed for September, and the work will soon begin to fill available spots on both schedules.

With July comes the time to organize the fall, confirming teachers availability and looking at tentative training and work schedules, and preparing training material. It's also a good time for contacting prospect clients and advertise private music lessons for August registrations, and update the web sites.
With August comes the time to confirm all of that, clean and prepare the studio for Little Workshop students, buy piano and guitar methods, and begin training for the two new and fabulous Petit Atelier teachers, prepare payroll schedules, and start a new set of financial books for a new year of operations.

This is all the juggling required to run our two little businesses - and I absolutely love it!

How?

How is this possible? Well, it did not happen overnight. Tim and I have always wanted to live abroad with the boys for awhile, we were dreaming of a one year venture somewhere in another country. Along the past few years my life has turned around for the better, and self-employment allowed me to make healthy changes. I took charge, for better or for worse, and it brought me a great sense of empowerment. The Little Workshop, our home based little music school, is exactly where we want it to be in terms of volume of operation. We have no plans to grow it bigger. As for Le Petit Atelier, my mobile music education service, it is growing steadily and it is proving to be a solid little business with a lot of potential for further growth.

So between the two businesses which will keep operating with our team of great teachers and coordinators, we will be able to manage a steady income while keeping a fluid communication all along the three months. The other important financial part of the puzzle is that we are subletting our house while we are away. A very good friend came forward with an offer that we could not refuse, and it will be great peace of mind to know that our house is in good hands.

As for the cost, we are paying very low rental fees because in each case (3 different houses) we are getting long term rate for properties that are usually rented for much more money on a weekly basis. The first house is in an amazing location on the Caribbean, and we are taking advantage of the end of the low season pricing-with long term rate. The very best pricing we got is for the ranch, which is costing us $500US for the month, and which allows us to afford some weekend trips while we're there. The last destination is the beach property we rented with friends in 2008, and the owner is giving us a great deal.

So with all these factors combined, our 3 month stay will cost us the same as what a family of 4 would spend in one week in an all inclusive resort. The timing is just right for all of us, so we're doing it. It feels both very crazy and very sound... and more importantly - it feels right.

Five months to departure

Five months and six days. So far so good, everything is going well and our kitchen reno will begin on Monday. A little bit ahead of schedule, and it's all good. Tim and I spent two hours at Ikea this morning, and we walked out of there in an excellent mood. Life is full of surprises!
On the booking front, the deposit has been sent for the ranch. It was a bit complicated, and I had to use Western Union for the first time. I discovered that they have an amazing network of service points, and it is possible to wire money in a matter of seconds to be collected in the tiniest remote towns. Pretty amazing. So it is confirmed - we will be in the heart of Yucatan farm land for Christmas and to break in the new year. I'm sure that there will be some nostalgia in the air. A memorable Holiday season, half way through our big adventure.
On the practical front, I have been wondering how we can carry so much luggage in the rental car. We will have many instruments, and our regular luggage. We can travel light, and we have been to Mexico before with one single suitcase for the four of us - and one carry on each. But even with reduced luggage, the problem will be the first grocery shopping which will have to be done on the way to our first destination - with a full car. It will be the biggest shopping as it will include all the basics, and it will also be for the most remote place in our journey, for one entire month. After some research, I have found the solution in... a rooftop bag. It doesn't require a rack, and it is made with thick waterproof fabric. If you find yourself with a space problem when traveling by car with your family, you may want to check it out: https://roofbag.com/OrderProducts.asp - or borrow it from us when we come back!

Why???

mmm... I am generally on the side of 'why not', but there has to be a more rational aspect to such a long stay in Mexico. So on the work front, Tim and I intend to work hard on our respective music.
I will be working on my repertoire (book) of early childhood French songs, rhymes and games, writing new material, and develop a Spanish program. I will be teaching occasionally in local schools, providing music workshops to children, and/or teacher training. I intend to improve my skills on the mandolin, and Dylan will be recording some of the bed tracks for the CD that will accompany the book. These goals are very difficult to achieve when caught in the day to day routine of our city life, so I expect to make important progress in these areas. I will also make key contacts for another project that I have for the coming years, but that will have to be another blog! As for Tim, he will be working on his fiddle playing and write music as well. He is exploring the possibility of getting some gigs, and possibly study with local master musicians. We will be carrying quite a load of instruments; guitar, mandolin, banjo and violin, with a few recorders and some percussion, and the multitrack recording guizmo.
The children will keep up with school too. I will handle the most I can, and we will 'skype' in a tutor on a regular basis. It will be challenging, but very manageable.
So we're not really slacking off here... Let's call it a 'temporary slow motion withdrawal from urban life'. Yeah, that's it!

The Reno Plan

Ready to make our big kitchen reno move, and for us the work begins this weekend with a MAJOR purge. We have to empty the kitchen, remove the suspended ceiling, and paint... all before July 1st. It may sound like a reasonable goal to most people, but for us it represents a fair challenge.
This is the first renovation project since we moved in the house and did the basement studio 12 years ago. We're not doing anything major, no big structural or design changes. A bigger park view window to let the sunshine in, and a lot of cabinetry to finally have much needed storage space. New ceiling with light fixtures from this century, and new floor. It will be fabulous!

And best of all, once this is done, our house will be adequate for the downtown sublet market - our ticket to future traveling!

The Itinerary

The first month is confirmed, the deposit was mailed out on Tuesday. Xcalak is an exciting destination - about 20 years after I spotted it while studying the details of the map of Quintana Roo, when it was only accessible by boat. When I first went there 12 years ago, there was still no road and it took 3 days for the boat to gather enough people to make the trip from Chetumal, capital of Quintana Roo. I spent an amazing day snorkeling with Heather, my sister in law. It was her birthday, a beautiful and memorable one! So yes, I am looking forward to going back with my little family.

From Xcalak we will be heading inland to the state of Yucatan, to a horse ranch close to the town of Izamal. It will be a 6 hour drive and we might decide to make it in 2 days - with a pit stop in Felipe Carrillo Puerto - the home of the Yucatan peninsula Maya resistance. Still very much Maya to this day, I will teach the boys to properly greet the locals in their language - I'm sure it will earn them many big smiles.
The ranch is an 800 acre property owned by the Cervera family. With the growth of tourism in rural Yucatan, they decided to build a rental house on their land. It has 4 bedrooms, a pool, and a game room with pool table and ping pong. They have bikes, and of course the main attraction is the horse back riding available on the property. I am hoping that the boys will get comfortable with the horses, and learn about life on a farm. We will also work on our music while at the ranch - the perfect environment to play and write. The quiet rural Yucatan is what I seek when I go to Mexico, and this will be my candy. It is perfectly located, right in the centre of the state with fabulous sites to explore all around us. From archeological sites, to colonial architecture, cenotes and caves, wild life and the Rio Lagartos biosphere reserve, Merida, and so much more. Yay!

What's next? Telchac Puerto!