17.06.09-12. El Rancho Del Sol

Claudia and I took a road trip from Cancun over the weekend.  First stop:  the small Mayan town Solferino, about a 90 minute drive north and west of Cancun where she and Eric bought property last year after their wedding.

There was a hard rain in the neighborhood recently and the road was muddy so we parked the car at the home of Don Pedro, a local friend who lives on the road leading to their property and walked the 1/4 mile or so 
 

to El Rancho Del Sol

 

where in addition to the sign, they have added street side fencing and painted their trademark "peace, love, trees" on a rock in the driveway.to claim their property. 

 

Claudia showed me where Eric and she planted a Ceiba tree in Mike's honor on his March 18 birthday this year. 

 

The ceiba tree is sacred in the Mayan culture.  They showed Mike and me this Ceiba tree when we were visiting the Ek Balam ruins together during our first visit in 2014....

 

And this Ceiba tree in Solferino when we were here last year after their wedding. Mike was more comfortable staying in the car during this visit, but he was with us. 

 

During our visit to the land this time, Claudia  engaged Don Pedro to help clear the jungle growth away from existing crop trees and the new trees they have planted since buying the land. 

 

When we passed through two days later, Don Pedro had completed 1/8 of the project.  

 

It's a jungle out there!  But they are excited about the Banana, Limon, Coco, Neem and Moringa trees which are already growing and excited about being able to develop the land further. 

We lodged with friends in a large house with property that is being used as an animal refuge in town. 

 

We walked to a local cafe to have dinner and I broke with my 8 year tradition of no soda and drank a Coke since I forgot to bring my water bottle to dinner. 

 

When we returned two days later to approve Don Pedro's work, we stopped to visit more local friends. Lucy made tortillas and cooked us fresh fish in her outdoor kitchen over a wood stove

 

Her husband, Domingo works a large piece of land farther down the road, and we met him last year when Eric and Clau were still shopping for their property. That time Domingo cut open coconuts for us all to drink. 

 

Ah, life's simple pleasures!