Sunday - Part One

Sundays in Mexico are quiet relaxing! The streets seem empty because everyone is on their way to the beach. Sundays are family days. We decided to go to one of my favourite beaches at Puerto Adventuras Sunday morning. I knew this would involve our breakfast at a popular, roadside taco stand, on the highway before our exit to the beach! Here is Alfredo, with a big smile, waiting to give our taco filling requests. It is 11AM, Sunday, August 30th.

Here is our outdoor table and in front, a fresh juice stand.

I had three tacos and freshly squeezed orange juice. My first taco was a cream sauce and peppers. The second taco was chicken and the third rice. The best part of the chicken and rice taco was that the sauce was mole (mow-lay). I love mole. It takes forever to make and is a combination of lots of peppers and chocolate. It is somewhat sweet, but the peppers give a taste like nothing else! Check out Sunday-Part Two (below)!

Sunday - Part Two

This is one of the first beaches that I went to along the Rivera Maya, six years ago, when I lived in Mexico. That is, with the exception of the glorious beach in Playa del Carmen! It is about 15 minutes from Playa del Carmen on the way to Tulum. It is the beach at Puerto Adventuras! With each trip to Mexico, Alfredo, tiredlessly, on one Sunday, will take me back to this beach that I love. Well, the resort isn´t that bad either...ha, ha.
Hope you can feel the lovely breeze and hear the soft waves!

Of course, there is a palapa at this resort and beach. Under the palapa, there is a bar and grill. It never fails, that we order pina coladas!

As we had our afternoon drink, I took a picture UNDER THE PALAPA. Cool menu, eh?

School Begins!

School began in Mexico on Monday, August 24th! As in Canada, the stores are full of Back to School indicators! This sign in Spanish says ¨Happy Return to Classes!¨ The students must purchase all consumable materials for themselves and for the classroom! There are stores that sell necessary texts and books. Students must purchase these as well. Nothing is provided by the schools.

All students in Mexico wear uniforms! All stores sell them cheaply. Each private school, has a different colour of skirt or pant. All shirts and blouses are white. All public schools girls wear pink skirts and the boys navy blue shorts or pants. In Walmart or the Mega (a big Mexican chain), the white tops sell for $2.50 and the bottoms for around $4.00. I always thought this topic of uniforms was a great one to debate for staff and students. I love to see the school children in their simple 100%, Mexican made uniforms!

I love going into this store to buy fruit and vegetables. This display of pinatas was right beside the ¨Happy Return to Classes¨and uniform pics. How bright and colourful. In Mexico, when a student has a birthday, the family provides lunch and a pinata for the child´s class.

Here is my palapa shot for this post! I took this picture UNDER A PALAPA on the beach. I was laying on my chair and just looked up and shot the photo!

A Mexican Party!

Can you imagine being a member of this Miriachi band and playing in the middle of the day in 34 degree heat with a humidex of 40 degrees? For Mexican birthday, YES!!

On Friday, August 21st, Alfredo celebrated his birthday. We went, along with his son, to a restaurant. On Saturday, Alfredo threw a birthday party for his family and friends. In Mexico, it is traditional, for the person who is celebrating to make all the preparations for the party, except the cake which is provided by a family member. What is a Mexican party without a Mariachi band. Alfredo hired the band to play for an hour. Traditionally, the band plays some songs and then asks the audience for requests. Since 30 family and friends were at the party, the songs continued and continued. After the hours, the applause brought the band back for two more songs!

I include this picture because here Alfredo and his son sit and wait for the guests to arrive. When I took this picture, we had just arrived. It was 2:30 and the party was to begin at 2! For those of you reading this blog and know me and my need for being punctual, you will understand a little more into the Mexican style of life. A couple of hours later all 30 guests were there. Here is a brief timeline on how Alfredo prepared for his party - Saturday afternoon 2-9 PM.

1. Thursday - sent out invitations

2. Friday night, 6:30PM went to restaurant to make reservations and pre order drinks and appetizers

3. Friday night, 9PM phoned various Mariachi bands to find best price, then booked

4. Saturday morning at 11 AM went to order 10 BBQ chicken, rice and tortillas to take to the restaurant. It is always amazing for me to see how smoothly this party came together and over the past six years other events I have seen planned with 24 hours. Alfredo continues to tease me about me not believing he just went into the shower at 2PM the day of his party that was scheduled to begin at 2! He said, ¨Trust me. No one will be there until at least 3.¨Of course he was right. The party was perfect!

Here is my photo of a palapa for this post. This is an apartment complex with several buildings. The smaller palapa is the security palapa for vehicles entering and leaving. The one behind is a place for people to meet for parties and eating. This complex is about two blocks from the apartment here.

On Sunday (after the Friday and Saturday birthday weekend), we went to the beach around noon. On the way back to the apartment around 5PM, we stopped at this little bar for a drink (pop only) and a hamburger. As we walked by we saw a special, a beer and hamburger for 5o pesos ($5.00). When I asked about the Canada connection, the waitress told me the owner was Canadian!

Mexican Palapas!

I see many palapas each day! They come in various sizes, designs and serve different purposes. In an earlier post, I said that I would like to feature at least one palapa each time I post on my blog. I thought it would be fun to show you three palapas within one block of the apartment in Playa del Carmen. A palapa is usually an open sided dwelling with a thatched roof made of dried, woven palm leaves¨. They look like a roof or an umbrella and their original purpose was to provide shade and refuge from the hot sun!

The top picture shows a palapa awning for an apartment balcony. The middle picture shows a palapa on top of an apartment building one block from here. Since the buildings are flat roofed, they often have swimming pools, lounge chairs, grills and a sink for cooking. This particular building has a pool on the roof top and shade provided from the palapa.

This is the view from the apartment kitchen window! Can you believe it? As I wash the dishes, this is my view. Incredible, eh? Again, this palapa provides shade on the apartment rooftop for parties or BBQ´s.

Perspectives on Life!

Hola y Bienvendios, Mes Amigos!

Hello and Welcome, My Friends!

As many of you know, I am once again in Mexico! After taking a leave of absence 6 years ago and working in Playa del Carmen, Mexico for a year, as la maestra de ingles (teacher of English) in Playalingua, an adult language school, I have returned several times and now retired, as of June 2009, I find myself here again (More of my story later! What would this story be without my Mexican?). Each time, I return to this part of Mexico, my perspective of life is challenged and I am in awe of a culture and land so rich in tradition and beauty and yet so full of contradictions and paradigms different than mine! Yet, how my perception of life has been enriched and changed from my experiences here over the past 6 years.

In this blog, I hope to share with you my family and friends, how I see Mexico and life here. I want to share a way of life and a culture different than mine. I won´t tell you every time I go to the beach or to the store but want to share some experiences with you. I hope in each post to focus on one topic and include a photo of one palapa and its purpose.

As Stephen Covey taught us, our paradigm and perspectives are how we see, understand and interpret the world! I hope you will enjoy reading my posts and seeing my photos!