Chemuyil Property

Day 13 - Our first day

At the crack of dawn, and I mean crack... its 6:30 and the room is just beginning to see some light. The air has finally cooled down enough for us to have a sheet on our bodies. We had to sleep naked on the bed as there was no relief to cool down. First thing we see is a big ass spider on the window nearest to us on the screen. Michelle asks me if it on the inside or outside of the screen. Even in my daze, I can clearly tell from the roundness of the spider's back that he's on the inside. Our slatted windows are the reason the spider is on the screen. He was in our house last night and he was running for his life and couldn't make it out.

I tell Michelle I don't know. But I do and I try to go back to sleep since I'm not really up yet but I can't. Now I'm looking at the spider. Michelle gets up and looks closer and then shuts the window slats. The spider goes crazy and jumps around everywhere but he can't get out. She's freaking out.

Now I'm up. No going back to bed now. The cat is freaked out. The geckos last night kept the poor guy up all night and he's not understading anything in Mexico. He's hot as we are if not more... he's got a fur suit on. There's spiders and snakes here that mean business, geckos that walk upside down on the ceiling and make weird clicking sounds. Lizards and iguanas everywhere... poor Ziggy. He's like in a horror movie but there's no end. And he's limping around now after his outing from last night.

The morning was quite productive. I played the handy husband and single handedly installed all the blinds that Michelle had bought on the previous trip here. That took me the better part of the morning. Michelle was busy preparing food for the rest of the day. Ziggy was not to be seen.

The air was getting warm and I was sweating throughout the whole day. No getting away from it. We showered after our first run of chores. Close to noon, we decided to head to the beach. If I had known how beautiful it was, I would have gone earlier.

An 8 minute walk to the beach was worth it. My god, the sand was white and clean, the beach is maintained immacutelately due to workers who patrol it endlessly as the beach is a protected habitat for turtles laying their hatchlings. Locals can come during day light hours and enjoy but for the most part it was not very packed especially for a Sunday.

We found a nice little shaded area in the trees bordering the beach. Within minutes three women came to our area and plopped themselves right in front of us. They had the whole beach. I found it a bit funny behaviour but maybe its a local thing. Soon we were in the azul water. There's no other color that describes this water. Crystal clear, the color of glacier water and the temperature of bath water, maybe a bit cooler.

I jumped in without my usual slow doddling and get used to the water. I began doing some body surfing, something I'd not done since I was 14 in Hawaii. Wow, why had I waited so long?

We spent three hours there without even knowing it. Did some yoga on the beach, had a picnic of cookies, and water, and swam around. Needless to say we got burned. Not as bad as I thought, but pretty good.

The body surfing took its toll on me too. It seemed all the sand was blasted up my shorts to my tender areas and stripped a layer of skin or two off. Ouch!

We spent the rest of the day doing minor things around the house, eating, showering, resting, cooling off and later went to Tulum to get some water and a few groceries. Michelle had only been to Tulum once with her sister. She hadn't spent much time there so we got to see things there that she hadn't been able to. The whole coast line is resorts. Sad in a way but that's Mexico.

The burgers for dinner were calling us and we hustled back home as it was getting dark. Dinner was awesome and followed by our first movie in our home... Once Upon a Time in Mexico... very cheesy but a good distraction.

Day 14 Monday Sept 7

Got up to a cloudy day a bit cooler than normal but not much. We had a nice breakfast with local yogurt mixed with fruit and nuts and some local pastries with coffee. Mmmm... that was nice. I hung up our bathroom mirror and made some plans for the rest of the day.

I dealth with the spider in our window. I had to open the window and he was so scared and weak. I pulled one of the slats and wearing gloves got a cup and got him to go inside it. As I went outside, we saw a couple in a minivan on our street. Unusual because we live on a dead end street. They watched me dump the spider and came over to chat.

Also from canada, Irv and Merrilee have been living in Tulum for 3 years and came over to make nice and get to know us. They are retired and he's a former oil dude from Alberta. Michelle had met Merrilee before on a previous visit and was promoting Jehovah Witness stuff. She clearly let her know we're not interested so they did not bring it up this time.

We felt they were snooping about, figuring us out. I'm usually personable but you wont get much from me initially especially if I can feel you pulling and pushing.

Afterwards, I got my big pants on, a shirt, boots, gloves and my mother in laws large brim sun hat and tackled the front yard. The weeds are 3 feet high and firmly entrenched. I managed to get a quarter of it done before I was done. I drank a few litres of water and took two little breaks and my lower back gave out.

Another shower and lunch and we're now ready to go to the internet cafe or a McDonald's and do our interneting. We're going to ask our neighbours if we can pay for their internet or do some bartering. Hopefully they agree. Then we won't have to have service here.

The cat seems better but he's still not moving much and is no where ready to go outside. He's become an inside cat. I think that will change as we all climatize. We feel like we're on a tropical island. We hardly need to wear clothes at all.

In the afternoon we went over to Playa del Carmen for some supplies. Stopped at a McDonalds to see if they had internet.  Nope, you had to pay for it. We were more happy going to our local internet cafe than here. We got packed up and went to get Michelle's blackberry unlocked. Due to a language barrier and some time, we found that the guy couldn't unlock her phone but did give us directions to where we could get it in PlayaCar.

Driving through PDC was a bit frustrating. Narrow roads, impatient drivers, pedestrians everywhere and tons of little expensive shops selling crap. After 20 minutes we gave up trying to find parking and decided to head back home for dinner. A dinner of spaghetti hit the spot.

We drove to the little village of Chemuyil near our subdivision and used their internte cafe. It was neat using our magic jack for the first time. I brought a land phone to use and was able to call my mom and leave her a message. Michelle's mom was online and we asked her to call us and it came through with no problem. Truly a neat little device... perfect for Mexico. We don't need a Mexican phone number or service now.

As written by my hubby Bijan Zade.

Day 9 - Getting close almost home thought we could make it, but car broke down again and we barely made it to Merida.

We could have made it home this day. If only we didn't break down. About an hour or so before Merida, I noticed the car had dropped a gear. It was revving too high for it to be in drive and it wouldn't go into top gear. It was right after we heard a noise from underneath the car. It sounded like gears being sheared off. It was not loud but it was not heartwarming either.

The truck did ok in third gear. I drove on the outside lane and put on my hazards and drove a bit slower. As we got to Merida, I had to start slowing down and even stopping. The transmission now got very funny and would have trouble even getting into first or even gearing up. Third gear was now gone. At one point I found that reverse was gone too. So wherever we had to go, we made plans not to have to use reverse.

I had a transmission replaced in Canada years ago and I paid around $2000 for a rebuilt tranny. That idea of spending that again made me ill. This trip was costing us huge. We could have flown down and saved. Damn!!!

Again we found an auto motel and there was a Ford dealership close by. I thought they might be able to help in the morning... thought.

We ordered a couple of hamburgers, beers and prayed.

Day10 - Car gets a new transmission, we get a break to chillout

We woke up and I went over to the front desk to get some help. No one spoke any english. I practiced my spanish using a phrase book. Finally they got to helping me. I found a chev dealer in the phone book and at 7:20 am they were closed. We walked over to the Ford dealership and they were opening at 7:30. They told us that chevy is their competition so no, they couldn't help. Damn!!!

We walked about a mile or so to see if we could see the Chev dealership. Usually they hang out close to each other. Michelle had worn her new shoes that morning and she was getting blisters fast. We got her bandaided up and walked back.

I went back to the office and found a new guy there. Great! Now I had to explain myself all over again. I managed to get him to call the Chevy dealership. It took me 20 more minutes to find out where it was. No one has a map in Mexico. It was frustrating.

I wasn't quite sure where it was but he said to go straight. I figured that meant just stay on the road. He said it was only 5km down the road. Well we finally found it. It wasn't hard but when you're not sure youre going the right way, it can test you.

The people at the dealership were very nice. A few of them spoke enough english to make it smooth. They told us that it would take a day maybe two to check it out. They asked us find a hotel and go there and they would call.

We decided since it was so early, we would stay in their waiting room. We brought our cat and our main bags to take to the hotel to the waiting room. I guess they sensed we were a bit desperate. They asked us if we needed to find a hotel and we said we would wait to find out even if it takes the whole day. Within ten minutes the mechanic came to us and asked what the problem was. We told him and he left only to come back to say the problem is serious and they can't fix it until next week. It would take 6-7 days to get the parts.

The cool thing was they already planned ahead and had called around. They referred us to a specialist in town who had the parts and could do it. I asked where it was and they were stumped. They couldn't explain it so they hired a taxi to show us. We packed up the car and waited for the taxi.

The taxi driver got directions from Juan who was helping us. It cost $5 to take us across town to find this little shop. I clearly could not have found it. The streets were narrow and one way and it was not easy to navigate unless you knew where you were going.

The shop was walled everywhere and very secure. They dont' mess around with security here. They are all concrete and too high for anyone to jump over. They had a shrine dedicated to the Virgin Mary. They clearly took their religion very seriously. There were tons of cars in the shop. It was an outside shop with cover on the sides for the cars they worked on. It was orderly and tidy with a few piles of tranny parts.

They told us it would take 2-3 days and to get a hotel and give them the number so that they could call us when it was done. Only three blocks away was the main strip and there were hotels there. We left Ziggy in the shade and took our stuff out to take to the hotel. I took a picture of Ziggy in his crate so that we could show the hotel people to let him stay with us.

We found a hotel after a bit of walking. The staff was very helpful but when we metioned the cat we heard the usual hmmms and haws and after showing them the picture they said ok.

We went back to get ziggy after dumping our stuff in the room. I turned on the a/c but it didnt' seem to do anything. I hoped it would be cooler when we got back. It was still morning and we hadn't had breakfast and we were hungry.

We decided to walk to get him but if we saw a place for food, we'd partake. The first hole in the wall had three people standing there and when we went in, we got the look that said "who the hell are you?" so we left. We found a little bar that looked very inconspicuous.

As we walked in it was ready for business with music on, darkness, videos playing and a bartender doing some bartending. No one else was there. We asked if he was open and he nodded so we ordered two beers and asked for a menu.

Instead of a menu a plate of food appeared. Three tostados with meat and sauce. Very yummy. As we ate that another plate of food appeared. Pork & sausage on cabbage and lime. I wasnt into the pork so I let michelle get her fill which she did. Soon after we remembered we had to pick up ziggy. The bar was refreshing. the cool a/c, the music, beer, food...wow. We got up to pay and it took the bartender, the owner, and two waitresses to doddle for five minutes trying to figure it out. we gave him 100 pesos ($10) and he was happy.

Ziggy was hot when we got to him so We called a taxi since his gear was heavy. His litter box was about 15 pounds alone. The taxi took us to the hotel and we dropped ziggy off. We took advantage of their pool. It cooled us off nicely and we had another beer each. No one was there and it seemed we had the pool to ourselves.

At dusk we started heading off to explore the city a bit. We walked towards the old Merida. The roads were tight and narrow and in some areas the sidewalk were barely wide enough to walk on. we walked to St. Lucia park. They were having a festival that night that later we found out it happens every week on that night. Every day of the week something else happened like clock work there. Nice to see rituals everywhere.

We were quickly picked off by a master salesman. A ten year old boy selling wrist braids. Only 10 pesos. I tried to say no but he wouldn't listen. Just kept begging me to buy. Man they're persistent here. I need to learn that. Eventually I caved in and bought two for us. I gave him a 100 pesos and he took it to his mom who gave him change. He brought back 80. Now his sister came in to sell purses.

A man sitting close by interupted the flow and spoke for us to the kids. He spoke great english. the girl really wanted to sell a purse. She tried to get us to buy for 100 pesos but i talked her down to 80, our change we got from his brother, when Michelle showed some interest.

After paying for that, three more girls came to us but now we were done. No more, please go away. The man, Enrique, was a professor and he said these kids were from a region outside Merida and came here to sell their wares.

He mentioned that he had visited Canada and that his son was now studying engineering or something and would come back to be a tour guide. I didn't get it. He was studying in Quebec so he could learn french. He mentioned that nearby was a place called the Maya House and that it was very special and that today was the last day it would be open for several weeks. It was normally only open one day a week. I thought it would be neat to go there. He gave us directions but decided to take us there.  It was a cool little shop with authentic Mayan gifts.

Day 11 - Car is fixed late in the day so we stayed another night in Merida.  Its a very beautiful and old city that we would like to revisit someday.

Day 12 - Short uphill drive to our new home on a coastal highway #307

Stay tuned for our new beginnings................................................

Day 7 - Tampico to almost Vera Cruz, met Thane and his dad

The drive after Tampico was awesome. Getting out of Tampico was easy. There was a bypass through the city. It's very tropical and the scenery around there with the oxes and flora around could have been clearly from a movie made in vietnam. lots of water, swamp like areas, and so lush.

We drove through the mountains and there were so many farms. We saw banana farms, agave farms, corn fields, and plenty of cattle. Many different kinds of cattle.

However the drive was very slow. If we averaged 60 km/h we were doing good. Driving through Mexico, expect to cover half the ground you normally do North of the border.

Our objective was to get to Vera Cruz. As the day grew long and the sun was getting closer to the horizon, we got our first look at the Gulf of Mexico when we hit this little town just before Vera Cruz. It was clearly a more rustic beach town. There were no luxury resorts but lots of tiny motels and hotels catering to more local type of customers.

We kept on driving hoping to make it to Vera Cruz. One the way out we say a really neat hotel at the very end on its own. It had to stories, a pool and the parking lot was empty. We kind of made a note of it saying wow that would be a nice place to stay.

Only two minutes after passing that hotel, the traffic ahead came to a grinding stop. Everyone here gets right out of their cars when traffic is halted. Its funny. Men get out taking advantage and pissing off the road, others are stretching and no one is hidiing it. We decided this was a sign and to call it a day. We doubled back to that hotel.

The hotel as nice and they only wanted $600 pesos. This was nice treat. The beach was right there with the waves crashing. Our senses came alive. We debated whether to be up front about the cat. we tried to find a room where we could sneak him but in the end we figured honesty was the best policy. We told him of the cat and mentioned he had a kennel and they accepted. I think travelling with a dog would have been harder as dogs tend to be noisier and they dont' want that.

The hotel seemed vacant. No one was there. There were a couple of men sitting having a beer in the outside eating area under an umbrella. It was dusk now and the night was coming on. The room was upstairs and down the hall. We had to make several trips to get the cat adn our stuff in there. Ziggy was freaked out again as usual to his new surroundings. He made quickly under the beds.

There were these big fat ants that were trying to get in to our room. Well they were actually getting in. When you stepped on tehm they snapped. It wasnt' pretty. I killed quite a few and left a pile of dead bodies in the corner.

We washed up and went to get some chow. We sat next to the couple of men who we'd seen earlier. Turns out they were heading back to the states. They were a father and son and the son's name was Thane. He was a chiropractor who'd been working out in Mahahual. We told them we were going to Tulum.

Thane was impressed and happy for us. He'd tried to get it going for himself but found that he was giving his business away for free too much to the locals and was finding it difficult to finance himself. He'd made a plan to go back to the states and work for two years, buy a trimaran and sail the Caribbean. He'd initially planned on starting a charter business in Mexico with two other partners but found the legal issues too difficult to make it work in Mexico.

In Mexico, opening a business here is clearly for those who have tons of money to throw at the right people to make it work. There's not too many small business people from outside Mexico making it work here.

Thane was also a diver and had just recently earned his rescue certificate. he was in great shape yet he complained that he couldn't keep his weight on down here.

I talked a bit about politics and what not to his dad for a bit which seemed to bore Thane. Soon they parted and went for a dip and we were eating our dinner and called it a night. The waves crashing outside our window lulled us to a deep sleep.

Day 8 - Got to Villahermosa

We were pretty pooped the day before. We had considered spending another day at this hotel and take in its beauty to recharge. After breakfast, we decided we might as well just drive a few hours and make it a bit closer to our final destination. I think talking it out like that made it easier as we were not wanting to pull in a long day.

We packed up and started driving for Villahermosa. For some reason we thought we may be able to make it to Merida that day. Again the roads were slow and very bumpy. I started to hear a rattle underneath the car. I think the Mexican roads had taken their toll on our exhaust system...poor truck.

After about seven hours or so of driving we got to Villahermosa. It was already dark but we figured were close the city and there was no other choice. Just get there. We found the first auto motel and drove in.

I checked over the truck and couldn't seen anything wrong with it. Then again I'm not a mechanic. Nothing looked out of place.

Day 9 and more to come.....................stay tuned!

Day 5 - Finally get to Mexico

Woke up ready to go. We initially had decided to go through Brownsville but the day before we changed our minds to Laredo. However after looking up on the net the best crossings in Texas, we noticed that Laredo was clearly not the best if not the worst. It was described as "the wild west" and that was confirmed by a friendly dude from the dealership that fixed our truck on our way back to the dealership to pick our truck up.

The truck came out to be $1000 US. That was a big hit for us. The fuel pump was over $500 and the labour was close to $400 and with taxes... Man that sucked for us. We were not overly joyful. That day became very low for us. We couldn't help but feel deflated for it. That money could have gone a long way in Mexico.

We decided to try the Eagle Nest crossing. It was clearly closer and we were wanting to enter Mexico by the end of the day. It was Saturday and if we were going to register the car at the Banjercito (imported vehicle registration), it had to be today cause they were closed on Sundays.

Thats one thing I like about Mexico. They have traditions that we used to have and they're not going to give them up. In Canada, Sunday is as busy a day as any other. Business as usual.

As we got to Eagle's Nest, the signs were very helpful and we made our way to the border. Traffic was moderate and we eventually made it to the border. There were no border guards but a set of lights that flashed green or red. If you got a green, you were good to go. If red, you had to pull over and get searched. We got a GREEN ;-)

It was a cloudy day and as were driving through, we had taken our sunglasses off. I find that anytime you get pulled over or have to talk to an authority figure, they don't care much for you wearing sunglasses. They always tell you to take them off. So I think that helped for them to give us the one over and see that we were not hiding anything.

Its also helpful to be calm and relaxed and not have fear or nervousness written on your face. Don't rubber neck. Look straight ahead.

We drove through and were instantly in the busy city of Puerto Negros. It's has 200,000 people there. Large enough. We decided we needed to get our visas so we drove into town but quickly doubled back to the crossing and went into an office.

I was a bit anxious since my spanish is not good... its bad. We found an office and a nice officer there tried to help us and filled out some forms for us and told us we had to go pay for the visas at the bank. However the bank closes at 4pm and it was 4:05. He spoke to us and from what he said we understood that the Banjercito was on the way to Saltillo 53km south. He said we could get our visas there and register our car. Perfect.

We jumped in the car and drove. The scenery was bleak on the way there. The day was cloudy and terrain was very industrial with power lines and smoke stacks. It looked harsh.

We got to the Banjercito in time to do our paperwork. First you go to the visa office and fill out your information. They asked for our passports, driver's licences and car registration. Then they point you across the room there to some girls who work behind heavy glass in the bank. They take your money for the visa. Then you go back to the visa officer and show him the payment. Then he fills out your car papers. Then you go back to the bank girls and pay them but they give you instructions to photocopy your registration. They point you across the room to a little dude behind some more glass sitting there quietly with a sign saying Copias. You go to him, he copies your papers, you pay him and then you go back to the bank girls and then you go back to the visa dude and he gives you your sticker and papers. The sticker has instructions to put it on your windshield next to your rear view mirror.

Michelle mentioned that our windshield might have to be replaced due to a major break in it. Being Mexico I don't think they care. But taking heed, I stuck the sticker so that I could get it off if we had to replace the windshield.

After that we decided to drive towards Monclova. We had heard about these auto motels. Michelle's sister had stayed in one on her way back to Canada. They were basically rooms with garages. You drove your car into the garage, closed the garage door and entered the room through a door in the garage. It was the most secure type of room around. From what we had heard these were meant to be extremely private accomodations so no one could tell who was staying there. The cars were hidden and it was extremely secure. One can imagine what kind of people used these. From what we heard too, they had hourly rates too...hmmm.

Monclova was our first big town after the border. It had a main strip that was very modern and had lots of businesses and traffic. However we were hard pressed finding a hotel or motel. We finally say a Sheraton at the very end of the strip. I figured if there's one hotel there should be more. We looked but couldn't find any. Finally I decided to go to the Sheraton and see what was up.

It was a very classy place. Probably a bit steep for us. The desk fellow was able to speak a bit of english. It was around $120 a night but they didn't allow cats. Michelle asked if he knew of an auto motel. He quickly smirked and started rattling of in Spanish to his buddy next to him. They quickly discussed where one was and he drew a map for us.

It took us a bit of time to find the Hotel Norte. It was clearly off the main drag and it was actually in a seedy area. There were high walls surrounding the entire "compound".

We drove in and it was extremely clean and tidy. We decided we weren't going to tell them about the cat. We needed to rest and eat. The room came to 550 pesos (about $50) and it was the last one at the end of the driveway. They open the garage from their office adn you drive in and close it with a button inside the garage. Once the door was closed, we unpacked and got the cat to chill out.

We decided to go out for some food. We walked the street a bit to check out our selection but besides some fast food chicken shack there was only a restaurant right across our hotel.

We ordered a whole Pollo Asado. Grilled chicken. It was to die for. I don't think I came up for air til it was finished. In my hunger haze, I hadn't noticed if Michelle had eaten. Normally, she eats slower than me so I was a bit embarrassed if I had eaten more than my share. She laughed and said she left me to be in my deranged state and yes, she had eaten enough despite my vacuum like consumption.

The family working there was very nice. One of the men there came over and spoke english and told me he had lived in Ottawa for a few years but had to come back due to trouble. I didn't ask why.

We went back to the room, watched some tv and soon crashed.

Day 6 - Monclova to Tampico, crooked cops in Monterrey

Getting out of Monclova should have been easy. Just drive back the way you came. For some reason as we drove out of Monclova in that seedy area, we got lost... ok I got lost. My GPS was not working and we spent the better part of an hour trying to get us out.

Finally we're on our way and we come to Monterrey. This is a huge city as well. We were on the main highway that clearly did not bypass the city. We were well into it and looking for signs to get us towards Tampico. I had heard Tampico was not a great place to go to and that your time spent there should be short.

Halfway into Monterey this crazy cop jumps into the four lanes of traffic that we were on and motions us to pull over. He starts complaining about our luggage on top of the car and stuff inside and takes out his ticket book. Damn! I had no idea what he's talking about.

He kept talking and we gave him the papers for the car and he looks at our licences as well. He start talking about a fine we have to pay and I notice he turns over the first two copies of the ticket and starts writing on the third yellow copy. Then he starts writing that our fine is 40x800 which equals $2500 pesos. clearly his math is not right but I'm not going to argue.

His partner, an overweight greasy looking cop, keeps looking at us and says nothing. Everything I had read about how to handle cops in Mexico went out the door. I was nervous and my lack of language skills was hurting me now. Michelle was nervous too and we just wanted them to go away and leave us alone.

They kept saying we had to pay the bill there. Damn!!! Ok. We got the 2500 pesos together and as I started to give him the money he got all pushy and said no. He didn't like me showing the money and handing it to him. He wanted me to give it to him down low in the car. He put his hands in the car and counted the money and snuck it into his ticket book. M'r F'r. Now I was mad. I gave him a hard dirty look.

Now they wanted us out of the city. I told him we were trying to go to Tampico so fatty jumped on his bike and escorted us out of the city. Damn we were handed our asses by a couple of yahoos!

Once again this left a bad taste in our mouth for the rest of the day. I didnt care to take pictures or take note of anything. I just wanted to get some miles on and get going as far towards Chemuyil as possible.

Because of the roads we were on, we kept hitting all these little towns and villages. Every time, we had to slow down and make sure we didn't destroy the car hitting their "topes" - speed bumps. And the whole town it seemed would be lined up along the road trying to sell food and stuff. They walk in front of the cars sometimes and slow you down.

I was not in the mood. I stopped for gas and banos - bathrooms. Most of our eating was in the car.

There is a clear rule when driving in Mexico. Don't drive at night. As the sun was setting, we got to Tampico and found another auto motel. Again we didn't tell them about the cat. I think we paid a bit more here around 700 pesos ($70).

Day 7 - Tam to almost Vera Cruz, met Thane and his dad

The drive after Tampico was awesome. Getting out of Tampico was easy. There was a bypass through the city. It's very tropical and the scenery around there with the oxes and flora around could have been clearly from a movie made in vietnam. lots of water, swamp like areas, and so lush.

We drove through the mountains and there were so many farms. We saw banana farms, agave farms, corn fields, and plenty of cattle. Many different kinds of cattle.

However the drive was very slow. If we averaged 60 km/h we were doing good. Driving through Mexico, expect to cover half the ground you normally do North of the border.

Our objective was to get to Vera Cruz. As the day grew long and the sun was getting closer to the horizon, we got our first look at the Gulf of Mexico when we hit this little town just before Vera Cruz. It was clearly a more rustic beach town. There were no luxury resorts but lots of tiny motels and hotels catering to more local type of customers.

We kept on driving hoping to make it to Vera Cruz. One the way out we saw a really neat hotel at the very end on its own. It had two stories, a pool and the parking lot was empty. We kind of made a note of it saying wow that would be a nice place to stay.

Only two minutes after passing that hotel, the traffic ahead came to a grinding stop. Everyone here gets right out of their cars when traffic is halted. Its funny. Men get out taking advantage and peeing off the road, others are stretching and no one is hiding it. We decided this was a sign and to call it a day. We doubled back to that hotel.

The hotel as nice and they only wanted $600 pesos ($60). This was nice treat. The beach was right there with the waves crashing. Our senses came alive. We debated whether to be up front about the cat. we tried to find a room where we could sneak him but in the end we figured honesty was the best policy. We told him of the cat and mentioned he had a kennel and they accepted. I think travelling with a dog would have been harder as dogs tend to be noisier and they don't want that.

The hotel seemed vacant. No one was there. There were a couple of men sitting having a beer in the outside eating area under an umbrella. It was dusk now and the night was coming on. The room was upstairs and down the hall. We had to make several trips to get the cat and our stuff in there. Ziggy was freaked out again as usual to his new surroundings. He quickly slid under the beds.

There were these big fat ants that were trying to get in to our room. Well, they were actually getting in. When you stepped on them they snapped. It wasnt' pretty. I killed quite a few and left a pile of dead bodies in the corner.

We washed up and went to get some chow. We sat next to the couple of men who we'd seen earlier. Turns out they were heading back to the states. They were a father and son and the son's name was Thane. He was a chiropractor who'd been working out in Mahahual. We told them we were going to Tulum.

Thane was impressed and happy for us. He'd tried to get it going for himself but found that he was giving his business away for free too much to the locals and was finding it difficult to finance himself. He'd made a plan to go back to the states and work for two years, buy a trimaran and sail the Caribbean. He'd initially planned on starting a charter business in Mexico with two other partners but found the legal issues too difficult to make it work in Mexico.

In Mexico, opening a business here is clearly for those who have tons of money to throw at the right people to make it work. There's not too many small business people from outside Mexico making it work here.

Thane was also a diver and had just recently earned his rescue certificate. He was in great shape yet he complained that he couldn't keep his weight on down here.

I talked a bit about politics and what not to his dad for a bit which seemed to bore Thane. Soon they parted and went for a dip and we were eating our dinner and called it a night. The waves crashing outside our window lulled us to a deep sleep.

Day 7 and more to come.........................................

Day 3

This second day was also very hot like the first, sunny and demanding our a/c to be used to make sure the cat didn't over heat. I had started to hope for cooler days and amazingly, from our third day on, we started to experience cloudy stretches and some rain. Our second day was better for the car but we still experiencing moments of loss of power. I was getting a bit pissed about the truck and was not liking that we were going to Mexico with a truck that was not strong. Our third day of driving was for the most part not too memorable. The landscape changed a bit but mostly farms. We passed by several cow farms and some slaughter houses. The smell and sight was not good! It was the smell of death and the cows were all pushed together and living in inhuman conditions on their last days. Another reason to eat less meat and promote a vegeteranian diet. Man, we suck as a species. We do bad things to everything.

We made it to Childress Tx that day. We found a motel that accepted the cat. They advertised clean rooms but were far from clean. The carpet was sticky and the walls were so dirty. The bathroom was incredibly gross. We dared not touch anything. Ziggy stayed in that night as the hotel was on a main road and the sounds of transport trucks was too much for him. This was the start of his becoming an indoor cat for the rest of the day as we were becoming less comfortable with him on his own. We were very tired and we crashed very quickly.

Day 4

We walked to Walmart that morning in Childress and got some kitty litter for the cat and some fruit. Afterwards we started driving towards Brownsville. It was a cloudy day and we were doing well till the truck started to lose power again. this really began to frustrate us. Michelle was driving and my frustration caused me to raise my voice in anger towards the truck. We had to pull over as we were not having any more power and the truck was not running anymore. We were 20 miles away from Fredricksburg. I let the car rest a bit as it would not start. The engine would turn but it wouldn't catch. I checked the fuses and wiggled a few wires, checked the air filter, and then prayed. The truck started. We got in and I drove. We both prayed that we would make it to F-burg and I was hoping to see a Chev dealer so I could get it looked at.

Wow what luck. the truck made it to F-burg and just as we rolled into town, there was a Chev dealer. The car was still acting up and I drove it to the service bay. An awesome lady there accomodated us. They let us take the cat to the waiting room and we waited. After a while, the car was taken to get diagnosed. We were getting hungry so we went across the street to Porky's for some burgers. This was a nice surprise. The restaurant was an old house converted to a burger shack. We ordered two cheeseburger specials and were surprised by how good and filling they were. I highly recommend stopping in. You can even write a message on the walls which we did. There's a ton of them all over the place. We sat in the far right corner stall as you walk in. Look for Bijan and Michelle going to Mexico 2009 in pen.

After getting back the nice lady had some news for us. The car needed a new fuel pump. That made sense. It was Friday though and they didn't have one and needed to order it.

They didn't work on weekends and it was too late. We would have to wait til Monday. I asked if there was another dealership. There was! Only it was in the next town down the road. Now we needed it towed but would be able to get it done by Saturday morning. Man, what an ordeal. It cost us $140 usd to get it towed, $40 usd for the diagnosis and the car was still not fixed.

The lady at the next dealership's service was not as friendly as the former. She was a bit snotty to Michelle and not much better with me. I met a very nice salesman there and he tried to accomodate us as well as he could. They drove us to a nearby hotel for the night. The hotel accepted cats as we called ahead to make sure. We grabbed the bare minimum we needed to get through the night. I felt we needed a break and bought six beer. Michelle and I drank them all that night. We're not drinkers but that night we sucked those back with feelings of needing to get filled up. The hotel had a pool and we sat by it. The water was actually getting cold and the air was cooling off too so going for a dip was not really attractive but sitting there was nice.

I walked back to the dealership to get Michelle's laptop so we could see a movie and I grabbed my camera as well. On my way back I took a few pictures and saw a couple monarch butterflies mating. That was kind of cool. The butterflies remind me of us. They migrate from Mexico to Canada every year and move back down again. Here were making the same trip at the same time as they were.

Day 1 - As written by my husband, Bijan Zade

We expected some trouble at the U.S. border but were delighted by the lonely soul of a custom officer and his feeble questions to see if we were worthy of a full search. We answered his questions, some were very useless - like why were we coming through this border crossing. I told him cause it was closest. I think it was the best one to go through since it was very small and insignificant. We drove to Weyburn from Gravelbourg and went directly south to the border. After those two hours of getting to the border, we were now smooth sailing down the Dakotas. We planned on getting to Rapid City or Sturgis as we were wanting to see the Mt. Rushmore park and see the heads. It turned out to be a long day and we rolled into Sturgis a bit weary and in the dark. During the day, our Blazer was giving us some grief. We stopped to take pictures at the BadLands and the truck wouldn't start immediately. We had trouble with surges in the power as well. The truck would lose power and then regain. We got anxious as this was not good news. We recently had the truck die on us the week before and had it towed and had the distributor cap, ignition coil and rotor replaced. A good ding in the pocket book. Then we had the truck looked at by another mechanic who gave us a good bill of health. So now we were concerned and not very confident. The whole idea of going to Mexico was already beginning to give me pangs of nervousness and doubt. Not a good start.

We rolled into Sturgis around 9pm and found our first challenge... finding a hotel that would accept our cat. We soon also found how friendly our American neighbours can be. The first hotel wouldn't accept cats and they were a bit more expensive than we were planning to pay for just sleeping. The nice lady called around and found us a hotel that would accept our cat and was affordable. We lucked out that night. The room was at the end of a row of rooms and we let the cat (Ziggy) go and stroll a bit so he could stretch his legs. He's an outside cat so he definitely welcomed it. The cat did good, he came into the room soon after and we went to bed farily quickly.

Day 2

We spent the better part of the morning doing our normal activities. Bijan went for a run in the neighbourhood and after getting back found it hard to cool down. After a cold shower he was finding it hard to stop sweating. The air was very warm and we were only a day's drive south of Sask. We did a quick stop to buy a Sturgis T-shirt and patch and then off to find Mt. Rushmore. We wasted the morning going to see the heads and then stopped short of paying the $10 to go into the actual park to get a better close up of the heads. Time was more of an issue and we could definitely see the heads from where we were. The park was beautiful and we chose to drive through most of it before turning back to get to the major highway to get going.

We stopped at a BestBuy in Rapid City to buy a couple Magic Jacks. This little device is only $40 and it includes a year's worth of long distance to anywhere in North America. It has a U.S. phone number coded to it and all you do is plug it into a USB port of a computer connected to the internet and voila... you now have a phone. We haven't used it yet but will be able to contact our families when we get to our home in Mexico. We had a quick picnic outside the BestBuy on their staff picnic table.

After leaving Rapid City, we made our way down to Burlington Co. We stopped into the first motel we saw. It was a small one and the sign inside clearly said no pets. Michelle, went in and asked the little old lady if we could bring the cat. We found that honesty is the best policy. We never tried to deceive anyone and we weren't about to start now. We were prepared to take our lumps for the trouble of bringing a cat. The little old lady looked at Michelle and said "Oh no problem, you can let your little cat in here." She charged us a little extra for it but nothing out of the ordinary.

Again, we let Ziggy out to stretch his legs. He as a bit scared and there were other cats in the area. A man drove up to one of the rooms next to us and Michelle noticed him get out and grab a shotgun from the back of the car and cock it and take it into his room. She was clearly not used to this. I know Americans like their guns so I assumed this could be normal. Ziggy still wouldn't come in and was being alusive.

The man next door, had his door open and I couldn't help to look in. He was living in this room. He had it all decked out with personal hangings on the walls and shelves. Of course Ziggy went inside his room and Michelle had to go get him. The man turned out to be very friendly. He came out and called me sir and we introduced ourselves. Scott was a welder and he asked about work in Canada. We had a friendly conversation and then said our good byes and finally Ziggy came in and we were able to chill out a bit. The TV weather station warned us of a storm coming through. I thought ahead and grabbed our duffle bag off the top of the truck and brought it in... just in time cause the winds were picking up and it was beginning to rain. Soon major thunder and lightning and a massive amount of rain came down and washed our car and the entire county. Ziggy was freaking. He was only too happy to be in the room.

Stay tuned for Day 3 and more.............................

Between the hot hot sun and the rain with thunder/lightening showers we have been picking and choosing out times for painting.  We have the house and garage completed and now we (mostly Bijan) is working on the deck.   It is amazing what a coat or three of paint can do for a place.  When we are finished we will have added some years back to the old house. 

I had a surprise call yesterday - my daughter, Stevie, is coming to Gravelbourg for a visit.  She is staying for 4 days and I am very excited!  We might take a drive to Regina or Moose Jaw for a day so she can do some shopping.

We are planning on starting our drive in less than 2 weeks.  We have a few items to sort out.........like Mexican car insurance??........time to start cruising the internet for companies to see what they offer.  We have packed and then packed again : garaged saled and garage saled again : then packed again and I think there is one more repack in our future.  We are deciding to take less and less as the time goes by.  I guess you let go of things in stages - round one and then round two but round three is where you make your biggest dents...........we are into round four ;-)

We have picked up some US cash and some Pesos so we are ready for each country and we had the Blazer tuned up yesterday so its good to go.  Ziggy has an appointment with the Vet for his shots so he will be good to go and with all the loose ends cleaned up its starting to feel like we are ready.

I have been following my Mexican community and they are creating such beautiful unique homes.  Each house is starting to take its own personal shape - some have porches, some have second or third storys, some have backyard pools.  We really can't wait to get down there and meet our neighbors and see all of the wonderful work they have done!  See you soon guys!!!

Wow! What a surprise!  Good ole Facebook has been really good for me with finding old friends and now some long lost family.  I have connected with my extended family brother, David, who is 20 years old and lives in Washington.  I love Facebook!  Thanks for being so open David - we will not lose touch again!

We have been in Gravelbourg for 2 weeks now and we almost have the little house painted.  It has been so hot here that we could only paint in the morning till around noon (must be getting us ready for the heat of Mexico!)  and then we pack it in for the day.  We still have the trim and all of the deck to do so we will be here for another couple of weeks - we are enjoying it so much that we are kinda stretching it out and not working too hard........loving the time with Mom.  Even Ziggy (our cat) is enjoying ole Gravelbourg, he came home yesterday morn with a baby bird in his mouth so he must have had a busy evening staking out a nest.  Bijan tried to save the bird but it didn't survive so we buried him in the garden.  Ziggy hasn't found him yet so we are in the clear.  Ziggy is a great tree climber so I am sure he will present us with another bird before the end of the summer. 

Life here is sooooooo relaxing - we have taken time to read, write, walk, jog, sleep, work on websites, talk and read some more.   Life is WONDERFUL. 

I have been working on contacting individuals in the Mexican neighbourhood and I have added some more Chemuyil rental properties to the Riviera Maya Rentals page - I hope you find something you like!

Well time to get to the house and paint paint paint ;-)

Here we sit - in Gravelbourg - starting stage one of our adventure.  This plan has been in the works for me for the last 10 years but only on my hubbys mind for the last 3 so he has had to catch up considerably.  There are so many things to do before we go and now that we are not working, we are in no rush to do ANYTHING.   This weekend we had a garage sale to get rid of the final pieces and most of them went to new homes to start their own adventures.   The move has been very interesting for everyone involved.  I have sold 42 years worth of belongings as has my hubby - all except for some items from our kids that are stored with my Mom.  Thanks Mom - we have no idea where we would safely store our special items.  You can come stay with us ANYTIME!  and we will store your massage table for you so you don't have to load it around each year.   Saying good-bye to stuff is much much easier than saying good-bye to people.........family, friends, acquaintances and even service providers like the chiropractor.   All are hard to say good-bye to...............all of them.  When head out we will be bringing our cat Ziggy. Once we are in Mexico we would like to go camping and exploring the Yucatan but we have our Ziggy.  Hmmmmm to find a good kitty sitter will be our first Mexican challenge........haaaaaa one of them.   We will have many challenges to face and I bet you Ziggy will be the least of our worries. 

Next week we are going to start working on the deck and trim.  We have decided to change the colour from white to a light green.  It will give the deck new life and if this isn't too much work we will continue and paint the house.  That would give the entire place a new look and some new life.   The wonders that can be done with paint are amazing!  I love it!!  We will have the deck done in a week and then we are off to Regina for a wedding.  We will spend a day or two in Regina and then we are back down here in Gravelbourg for another couple weeks.   It was a stressful last couple days leaving our home but now that we have left and moved onto Stage One it is all feeling much better.  Having a garage sale down here was a great idea because the neighbourhood loves them and we were able to part with more items cause you know when you are in someone elses place your own things look different and so our sale was much better than expected.  It seems we are a whole lot lighter and hmmmmmm I can't even remember what we sold 

In the next few weeks we will figure out our driving path, insurance, items to take, $$ to take, hotels to stay in that accept a cat, cool things not to miss along the way and all the million other little things to take care - Life sure is GRAND!!!!!

Today is Bijans second day off of work and it feels very strange and wonderful.  Yesterday was Fathers Day and it rained all day.  Our street filled up with water (as it usually does) so Bijan went out in the rain to unclog the street drains and free up our street.  The house seemed to get a little moat started on the one side of it so Bijan dug a trench and the water drained away.  He came in soaked and cold - oh ya did I say Happy Fathers Day - we laughed all day!  We spent the rest of the rainy day watching movies and talking about Mexico.  Today we woke up to a beautiful blue sky and decided to get the day going early.  We have already gone for a walk (which is becoming a walk/Mexico meeting), gone shopping, checked the travel route for Mexico, decided to buy and bring a printer after checking the prices on Office Depot Playa del Carmen and seeing it costs over 2 times more to buy it down there, and got some dinner ready.  Productive day,  we are trying to make the most of everyday here in Canada and get as organized as we can.  Bijan will take a few weeks getting used to not working for "The Man"  and then we will be in Gravelbourg on our wind down.  I have already gotten used to it with being laid off last Nov.   Wow has it already been 7 months?   Bijan and I are going to trade places and once we get to Chemuyil I will be working with a Mortgage company called Mortgages In Mexico and Bijan will be taking some time off to work on his own things.  Over the last 7 months I have been working on my website,  doing yoga,  cooking,  playing with Ziggy,  spending time with Bijan, making hemp and bead jewelry and doing loads more research on our Mexico adventure.  I have learned about and gotten used to loads of differents Mexican things, like the visas, FM2, FM3, Tourist visa, ride on the Tourist visa for the first 6 months and see if you want to stay.  Actually at month 4 or 5 you want to decide that and go apply for the FM3.  Its not a hard visa to get as long as you show the required paperwork which I have learned is 3 months of $2500 USD income into a foreign bank account (Canadian or US) and the statements can be printed off of the internet.   You need some pictures and the lawyer will do the rest for you for a charge of $500 - 750 USD.  We have found out that once you have your FM3 you can register a foreign vehicle as long as that vehicle is over 10 years old and you can get a Mexican drivers licence.  That will help a lot with the cost of insurance as we will just have to buy Mexican insurance.  Also, once you have an FM3 you can opt into the IMSS, Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social, the closest thing to socialized medical coverage.  Since doing the research and chatting with a few internet friends we are feeling a lot more comfortable with the things to pay more attention to once we are down there.   We have gone thru some ups and downs with the decision of leaving Canada (and I am sure we will go thru a few more before we head out) but all in all our risk level is low and our fun level is high so we are very excited!

After 2 weeks of appointments/viewings - cancelled appointments - no shows - undesirable renters viewing - the Perfect Couple showed up!  They drove 2 hours to see our house and arrived right on time.  They are clean, perky, happy, well adjusted to the adult world of work and play ~ we are very very happy!  We had seen many potential tenants and there was always something holding us back from letting them move into our home ~ one couple told us of their assult charges ~ another said they don't pay their rent but if we like you we will pay you (huh?) ~ a few didn't even come over to see the house, they just said over the phone  "I 'll take it" (no actually you won't) ~ we have seen our share of colourful personalities that is for sure!  So, we are leaving our home in the hands of a mid-20's couple with a puppy - both have jobs and are educated.  They have signed a 2 year lease and are moving in July 15.  That gives us a couple extra weeks to get organized. We still have 2 rooms of furniture to sell but most of the smaller stuff has gone.

I have been able to land a job with a US Mortgage Co. called ~ www.mortgagesinmexico.com ~ and I will start with them ASAP.  I am totally stoked about it and can't wait to get down there and get my heals dug in.  I will be working with a partner, Gregg,  who has been in Playa del Carmen for the past 6 months and made many connections that I am extremely excited to meet.  

I was surprised by a visit from my daughter last week.  She came for 4 days and we had loads of giggles and shopping together.  I love how light hearted she is and how silly we can get.  She has gone back home ~ an 8 hour drive from Regina ~ and the next time I see her will probably be in Mexico.  Christmas, maybe?? 

We are very please with how this is all coming together and it's making the move much easier.  Let hope it keeps going as smooth as silk.   

After a year of our house being on the market we have finally shifted to Plan B and decided to rent the house out.  We put a posting in Kijiji.ca and within a week had a suitable renter and a departure date.  July 1 2009.  We have 5 weeks to sort out the house, pack up and leave.  Most of my stuff has been sorted through which just leaves B to go through the book shelves, cupboards and assorted boxes.  His last day of work is June 20 so that gives us 12 days but he wants to be out of the house ASAP, hand over the keys to the renters and get on the road.  We are making a list of things that we need to do BEFORE we get to Mexico like:

- buy Mexican vehicle insurance
- buy some pesos
- get Ziggy's (our cat) shots up-to-date   (yes, we are attempting to travel with a cat)
- buy International Drivers licenses (helps out with the Mexican hwy stops)
- Hep A and B shots
- cancel all house bills
- change address
- check over vehicle, change oil and top up all fluids

and the list goes on and on.   We have waited so long for this day to come and now we need to get our sh*t together.  After we leave Regina we are going to head down to Gravelbourg to visit with my mom.  We want to stay a few days more than we need to since we won't be driving back til ???  Maybe we can help her with some gardening or cement block deck making............it will be fun to be around for a bit and chill out.  We are going to paint the deck and figure that will take us 2 days so the other 4 or 5 will be just visiting and bbq-ing.  From Gbourg we will head to Calgary and visit with some friends.  The Calgary Stampede happens during the first two weeks of July so we will be able to catch part of it....YAHOO!
From Calgary we will head west to Vancouver to visit with more friends and then on the ferry and over to Vancouver Island to see family in Victoria.  Victoria will be beautiful and in full bloom so we may stay a few weeks and do some camping.  B would like to build his mom a fence and I can help with some of the painting/staining.  This will be a fun and relaxing summer.  We will be on the road to Mexico by the end of August with hopes of being there safe and sound for the Fall Equinox at Chichen Itza which happens Sept. 21.  If we leave end of Aug. then that gives us 3 weeks and driving with Ziggy (our 1 year old brown tabby cat) that should be plenty of time.  We will keep you posted............................