17.05.08. Cancún

Today was a good day for ejercicio. I went with Clau en la mañana to her yoga class at Aviva  

which is a very new and nice spa in town that is owned by her friends Ursula and Maura. They are going to have Claudia design and install a rooftop garden - here it is ready and waiting: see empty planter boxes on the lower level. 

 

Back to yoga.....it was a good thing the 90 minute class was easy enough to follow by watching the other students ( but with harder moves than the grief yoga class I have been taking, so I didn't get them all) because the instructor, Valentina,

 

spoke beautiful Argentinian Spanish and I understood very little of it!

We spent the afternoon at home. Ceviche for mid day meal, and I gave myself a tour of their working back yard:  

compost bin for the garden.

 

garden for food.

 

Dehydrator for processing some of the garden items. 

Palapa with mosquito netting and hammocks for siesta after eating the food from the garden

 

And an outdoor compost baño to collect the processed food and start the cycle all over again! 

When the afternoon siesta was complete, we drove back to Aviva where Claudia gives a hula hoop class on Monday and Wednesday evenings.  

This class was a lot of fun for all six students and the teacher was spectacular, 

 

but again, I learned best with my eyes since my ears and brain are not quite up to the task of understanding all the español. 

Finally, after class, Claudia took both her mothers out to dinner at an outdoor Italian restaurant 
 

where we ate under a full moon and celebrated "dia de la madre" (which is always on May 10 in Mexico) two days early. 

 

Buenas noche de Cancún. 

17.05.07. Izamal a Cancun

I got a good 8 hours sleep last night and woke up to the church bells at 6:30 so I went for a power walk through town alone before breakfast.  Saw some ancient ruins up close. 

 

They were scattered throughout the town.  Saw this home based business - "Hospital de Bicicleta"

and many early risers out on their healthy bicicletas.

After breakfast in the hotel patio beautifully located at the base of more ancient ruins

 

we visited Kinich Kakma - the largest pyramid in Izamal and the third largest in Mexico. We walked around its 660 foot base surrounded by city streets 

and homes first. Lupita gathered some feathery seed pods from the ceiba trees we passed along the way which she is going to use to make a pillow.  

On the fourth side of the pyramid base we found the official entrance where we climbed up to the plaza level of the archeological site 

 

and then, since I had the right shoes and the desire, I climbed up to the top - some 115 high 

 - with a 360 degree view of the town and surrounding jungle 

  

We returned to the city center along the calles amarillas

and spent some more pesos at the street vendors tables in the plaza, then stopped for some Agua Fresca 

 

before climbing into the air conditioned car for the two hour ride back to civilization in Cancun.  

Upon arrival,  we went to "el cine" to see  l' Odyssey. The sound track was part English, but mostly French, with 100% Spanish subtitles.  So I gave my español reading skills a good workout and understood a large portion of the dialog in the enjoyable movie about Jacques Cousteau.

17.05.06. Cancún a Izamal

Here is the welcome home picture I did not take last night since we got home so late from the airport.  

Claudia con su madre Lupita y yo.

 

I went with Claudia to the beach first thing this morning

 

because she is taking a Polynesian dance class and had a practice event before it got too hot.

 

This afternoon we drove two hours west to   

 

where we had freshly made tortillas 

 

and agua Chaya 

 

with our traditional Mayan cuisine dinner. Some late afternoon shopping ( I actually bought something!) for local artisan wares made of natural fibers 

 

from the henequen plant ( same plant from which we also get tequila).

 

and a tour of the Monestery built in 1500's on ancient Mayan ruins

 

came next.  The town and historic area is small and easy to to return to our hotel

  to relax for a while before the evening light show on the Izamal Monestery walls 

Buenas noche de Izamal, Quintana Roo, Yucatán Península, México. 

17.05.05 Travel Day to Cancun

8:00 AM. Wake up
9/00 AM. Leave Chris and Rick's house in my bright red Jerp rental car
9:45 AM. Arrive at rental car drop off due to light traffic and on time departure
 

10:00 AM  Arrive at airport via rental car shuttle

 
10:30 AM. Finish checkin for 12:50 flight - print boarding pass and check one bag
So far, so good!
10:35  Board rental car shuttle bus to RETURN to the AVIS counter because they called to let me know I took the keys with me.  

 

Go figure!  Usually I leave things behind!  Luckily,  today I had plenty of time, so my mistake was not a terrible setback
11:30 AM. Arrive at the gate in plenty of time to catch my flight
Back on track!
1:30 PM Late departure gave me plenty of time at the gate to eat some breakfast and send adios messages to my peeps.
6:00 PM local time - the  flight to Dsllas was uneventful
10:00 PM local time - the flight to Cancun was uneventful

 
12:15 AM local time. Finally cleared customs and left the airport after a two hour ordeal due to hundreds of people 

 

and only 3 customs agents.
All is well that ends well - my luggage was waiting for me on the floor outside the luggage carousel.
Yeah!  I made it:)

17.05.01-04 Preparing to leave for Mexico

I moved the Southwind from South Carlsbad State Beach to San Elijo State Beach 

( just six miles south on the coast highway) where Mary has a camp hosting gig 

during the months of May and June.

This is a perfect win-win situation for both of us because Mary gets to live in her old home town while she enjoys living at the beach for two months, and I do not have to worry about or pay for storage for the Southwind while I am gone to Mexico.

Most of the three nights and days we spent together 

were devoted to Mary getting settled in the Southwind 

and me getting OUT and ready to leave town for two months.

We took a break to enjoy a beach walk at sunset on the middle night.

I've been preparing for this trip for over a month, because I knew I would want to have a bit of spare time to return to South Carlsbad for a relaxing beach afternoon at my favorite spot.

I made it out of the house according to schedule so I could attend 

one last Grief Yoga session in Carlsbad.

This yoga class has been a very satisfying experience for me during the 10 weeks I attended. The instructor, Monique, lost her own husband at a much younger age than me, and has a great knack for leading us to recognize, acknowledge and accept our physical and emotional feelings at our own pace.  I knew one last session would be a good way to bring closure to this shocking period of grief during my Carlsbad months, and to transition to the next phase of my life without Mike.  

Well relaxed and connected, I continued on out of town and stopped for a short visit with Roger and Jeannie at their house in Oceanside

before continuing on to Rick and Chris's house in Escondido.  I am staying with them tonight because they have agreed to babysit my Jeep for the two months I will be gone.

Rick drove me to AVIS is his hot corvette 

so I could pick up my rental car to drive myself to the airport

 for a 12:50 flight tomorrow morning.

Thanks, Chris and Rick.

Goodbye to California for now.......

17.04.26-05.01 Transition campsite

The first step of my transition from Carlsbad camp host to vagabond in Mexico 
is a short relocation to site #216 on the south side of the entrance station  
and on the ocean side of the road.  

From here I do not even need to leave the motor home to get an excellent sunset view.
Very nice!                  

I am definitely looking forward to the next thing, which is a nearly 8 week trip to Mexico.  I leave on May 5, and return on June 28.  The details of this trip are still being developed,

 and will be shared in this blog as I go along. 

Meanwhile, I have been devoting much time to my ongoing Spanish self study using Duolingo and Study Spanish apps on my cell phone.  Here I am attending a MEETUP group of non-native speakers who are also learning Spanish.  I have met with them three times to sit and get to know each other while speaking only Spanish.

Here is a picture of the once a week Carlsbad Senior Center Spanish class I attended during Feb, March and April on Monday mornings. 

I'm nowhere near fluent, but am confident I will be able to communicate when I'm in Mexico - and not just to say the basics like ?como estas? and ?donde esta el bano?

In addition to packing for the upcoming trip and studying Spanish, I decided to take care of our Jeep which is not as happy as I am about living at the ocean in San Diego and Oregon over the last four years.  The roof is starting to rust.  I sanded it down, cleaned it up and applied a clear protective seal coat which hopefully will delay the rust progression.  I had actual physical help from the former auto mechanic and current camp host, Tookey, and moral support from the other hosts.

I have been paying attention to the tide chart all along since the beach is narrow 

and difficult to walk on the rocks during high tide.  One monring there was a -32 tide at dawn, so I set the alarm and took a walk along the beach

 to downtown Carlsbad 4 miles north of the campground.

When the tide is up, it has the power to move rocks (see the Easter Miracle blog post) and here is a view from beach level after the rocks have been washed up to partially obstruct the access stairs from the campground bluff down to the beach. 

One  night I had dinner at Felix BBQ with Soul in Oceanside with Chris and Rick.  I was reconnected with them in March when my high school girlfriend, Sue, came to visit me and her sister who lives in Escondido, about 20 miles inland.  Rick and Chris have agreed to let me park my Jeep in their roomy driveway and yard while I am in Mexico.  Big benefit!  Away from the beach, nt at the airport,  and Rick will be able to start the car occasionally so it still has battery when I get back.  We had a good dinner and discussed the logistics of our next meeting on May 4, the night before I fly.                                                                                                              

On my last full day in this site, Roger and Jeannie came to visit for a short while.  

They really enjoy being at eye level with the pelicans who fly along the updraft of the cliff.  My camera was not quick enough to catch the pelicans, but it looks like Roger is ready to fly away himself.  Hang on, Roger!