Forgot about the wedding...

With all the talk about the storm, I forgot to mention the wedding we watched on the beach earlier this week.

We went out for an evening bike ride and ended up watching a traditional Mayan wedding ceremony. I could hear conch shells being blown and music playing on the beach, so of course I had to investigate further. What we saw on the beach was amazing, probably 100 people all dressed in white, most were barefoot. They were listening to music being playing by a Mariachi band, who were also dressed in white. There were lots of candles and herbs burning. Smoke was pouring into the night sky. When the Shaman arrived we knew we were at a ceremony of some sort. She was dressed in brightly coloured clothes, unlike everyone else in white. It was hard to tell what she was up to because out of respect we kept our distance - unlike one tourist who walked right into the middle of the ceremony taking pictures, wearing only a pair of shorts. Topless overweight hairy men should not crash weddings!

I finally figured out we were at a wedding when the bride arrived in her gorgeous wedding gown. She looked about 16 and so did the groom. The most interesting part of the ceremony was when the bride and groom were taken down to the water and their family and friends made a circle around them, I couldn't see what was going on inside the circle, but it was neat when everyone in attendance around them raised their arms up as if in prayer.



I'd never seen anything like it. When I got home I wanted to learn more about what we'd just experienced so I Googled it. Here's what I found on Google:

The Mayan Wedding Ritual is based in the Maya's connection with the universe and their gods. Which is described in their sacred book the Popol Vuh. The ceremony brings the couple to the four cardinal points (north, south, east and west) to unite them to the feminine Mother Earth and the masculine Cosmic Energy, symbolized by a central sacred candle.

Family and friends circle around the couple and they celebrate the union of the bride and groom by presenting gifts of flowers, music, food and drink. Mayan music with pre-Hispanic instruments and the sacred conch shell is performed before and during the ceremony.

The bride and groom wear simple natural clothing of white or off white. They wear no shoes so they can absorb the energy of the ceremony. It is suggested that family and guests wear natural cloth clothing in white or cream, preferably barefoot, so they can share in the spiritual energy created by the ceremony.

It was all very interesting and I'm glad I got to see it. It seems when you're on vacation in Mexico you never know what you're going to experience next.

Adina

A rough night in Mexico

We woke up last night at midnight to a rain storm and what felt like hurricane force winds rocking our RV. We found out today that they were actually 80 MPH winds, no wonder we felt like we were going to take off.

Before I went to bed I sat at the beach and watched a lightning storm flashing in the distance over the ocean. I thought the light show was over, so I went to bed. But as I slept the storm got closer and pounded down on the trailer park. During the night the guys were all running around in the rain trying to tie things down. It was a long night for everyone.



Ron just came in and said "It's like a friggin monsoon out there." He's been out in the rain all morning helping people dig trenches and clean up everything that's been blown around or broken.

The road and the Bocce course are now gigantic mud puddles as are most of the sites across from us. I heard a few people will be renting rooms at the hotel for the night because their sites are flooded. We seem to be ok where we are.


Gord looking at the flood in front of his RV and still smiling -No Bad Days for Gord :)




During the night our awning came crashing down and hit the trailer beside us, there doesn't seem to be too much damage to the neighbors trailer but Ron will need to buy a new awning.




Earlier this morning I went out for a walk to find my favorite stray dog and see how he was after the storm. He's a sweetie, a shaggy Terrier mix of some sort. The locals call him Solo Vino. He usually runs over to me right away when he sees me, but today he just looked up at me as if to say - what the heck's up with all this rain? He's not too happy with being soaking wet, but he sure smells better. Now that he doesn't stink (as much) maybe I can sneak him into the RV without Ron knowing? ;) He's blind in one eye, missing a few teeth and walks with a limp but I'd love to take him home.



Our power's been going on and off since last night, so I'd better hurry up with this post. It's still raining like crazy out there, so it's not over yet...and to think we were worried about the septic problem.

Adina

Shit happens even in paradise

Where are my friends Paul and Howie when I need them? One of the exciting events around the trailer park this week was the back up of the septic system for the RV's along the beach side. Adina and I were sitting outside and heard a strange gurgle then boom it happened, I won't describe any more cause it was pretty nasty. Thankfully it never caused a problem inside the motor home, but the aroma on the outside was another story.



Another event this week was our big Bocce ball tournament. We had 9 teams playing double knock out. It was 95 degrees out and there we were playing Bocce for 6 or 7 hours in the sun. It was nice to have all our neighbors come out and have a good time, drinking and playing Bocce til sundown. We stopped at 2pm for a potluck at Gord and Donna's place, everyone brought food, it was an awesome spread. That's me and Gord in the pictures.



View of the tournament from the hotel rooftop - my motor
home is the 2nd one in on the beach side



Me throwing - got my serious game face on



Me & Gord at the 'officials' table - Gord's keeping score
on our Chiquita banana box score card with clothes pegs



Chili - Dave's Mexican Hairless dog



Me & Gord having a drink


After lunch, me and my partner Linda made it to the final 4 teams. Things were going just great until darkness was upon us. I requested from the head honcho guy Dave (haha) that we should postpone the last 4 games until tomorrow, as he was holding two spotlights in hands (with about 50 candle power each) he said ahhhh lets keep playing. Well since its our first year here I reluctantly agreed to play in the dark. Half way through the game we were leading 6-5 and I threw 4 balls out of bounds! My opponent Harold only had to throw 4 balls in bounds anywhere on the course to win, and he did. I was very upset, but in the spirit of the thing I walked away quietly, and then everyone packed up for the night, go figure.



The other 3 games were played the following day. As it turns out (which I knew) my opponent Harold and his partner Ron were the ones to beat, and they won the tournament. As Forrest Gump would say "And that's all I have to say about that."


Me being official again


Rum
- as I'm affectionately know as around here.

The Spanish word for Rum is Ron, "I'll have another Ron and Coke por favor."

Hey Ron!!!

That's what Ron heard when he sat down to have a drink at a bar in Barra De Navidad. It was our friend Concetta from Victoria! What a small world to unexpectedly bump into someone you know here in Mexico.



Ron, Concetta and a couple of her friends ended up going to the rooftop bar of Hotel Alondra, where our friend Rocky works. They had a good time, so much of a good time that I was a little worried when Ron wasn't home by sunset, we had no way of calling each other. I had visions of the scooter breaking down and him being left pennyless on a dirt road somewhere. But I didn't need to worry, it's pretty safe around here and the people are very helpful, they'd probably fix his scooter, give him more Tequila and send him on his way. :)

Yesterday I wasn't feeling too hot, so I stayed in bed and read a book all day. I finished my Nora Roberts book Red Lily. It was a little creepy, it's the first Nora Roberts book I've read that has a ghost in it. I enjoyed it though, it kept my mind off my aching tummy.

I was feeling much better today, so Concetta invited us over to her daughter's house in Barra for a swim in the pool. I am determined after 40 years to learn how to swim. Ron was shocked when I jumped right in.





After our swim at Concetta's we went to Salamandera's in Melaque, we had a little dinner with our big happy hour drinks. Now it's time for bed, drinking gigantic Daiquiris are exhausting. Tomorrow it's Market day again, I'll be on the lookout for finding cheap Nike shoes for my son Austin, I'd better rest up.




Buenas noches.

Adina

Ok on to happier things now...

The other day we rode our bikes over to Barra De Navidad. Barra is a nice little town, I like it there because everything is so central. I have a terrible sense of direction, I keep getting lost in Melaque when I'm out riding my bike on my own. But I always seem to find my way home, as long as I can find the ocean I can make it back to the RV park. :)



I've been enjoying watching the surfers playing in the huge waves in Barra and the skim boarders on the shore here in Melaque. Last March there was a big skim board competition held on the beach in front of the Laguna Del Tule where we're staying. I have to find out if they're doing it again here this year. That would be cool to watch. I hear people come from all over to watch and participate, they blast loud music, drink, eat, it's a 3 day beach party. Sounds good to me.



Yesterday I went to a fundraising event benefiting the clean up of the lagoon. I had a good time, they had dancers, singers, a mariachi band and a buffet. No wonder I couldn't find a goat in Melaque, they keep putting all of them in their stew! In spite of the floating goat's head in the pot, I was brave and ate the stew. I passed on the brains though, I do have my limits.



Its another beautiful sunny day in Melaque, time to go lounge by the pool...hey check out the dude in the Speedo...omg.



Adina

My puppy Maya died today :(

I'm heartbroken.

Adina

Never try to milk a male goat in Mexico

We've met so many people from Vancouver Island here in Melaque, one of them is Shaer from Comox. When I took our new Chihuahua puppy to the vet he told me she was too young to be away from her mother, at the most she was only 5 weeks old. So for the past few days Shaer and I have been riding our bikes around Melaque on a quest to find goat's milk for the puppy.

The first day went around to the grocery stores asking for 'cabra de leche', every time we said it the locals would laugh, finally someone who spoke English said we were saying "Do you have any goat of the milk?", that is funny. The stores only sold goats milk cheese, so no luck with the goat of the milk.

The next day we decided we'd head out of town into the more rural areas to see if any of the farmers had goats milk. We thought there had to be goats around here somewhere, it's Mexico! We headed down the 200 highway and turned off into a little neighborhood. Most of the roads weren't paved, we rode our bikes down dirt roads with lots of potholes, it was a fun bumpy ride. On our journey we saw two little boys around 10 years old who were busy running down the street swinging machetes, and chopping up tall grass as they ran. We're definitely not in Kansas anymore. One of the boys smiled, winked, said "hayyy" then made an a-ok hand gesture to me as he ran by. I've heard some interesting catcalls around here lately but that one really made me laugh.

Ok back to the goat story...we got lucky and finally found a goat tied up in someones yard. We rode up to the house, which was humble and not much more than a shack, an older man came out, this time we said "Hola, leche de cabra?" to which he laughed and basically said in Spanish that his goat was male and it wouldn't be a good idea to try and milk him. No kidding, ouch those horns looked like they'd really do some damage. So off we went to look for a safe milkable goat. We reached a road made of really jagged rocks, I thought it may not be a good idea to ride over it, but Cher said something like ah we have mountain bikes we should be ok...nope she was wrong, a few minutes later she had a flat tire. We were in the middle of no where, a few miles outside of Melaque. Who carries a tire patch kit? not me.

The next thing we know the police are driving down the dirt road toward us, the scary police that everyone fears running into. They spoke little English but it was easy to see we needed help. They put our bikes in the back of their truck, we squeezed in on the passenger side, the big guy with the big automatic weapon got in the back with the bikes. I don't think I'll ever forget it, I thought it was so cool. They were great, they drove us to the gas station to fill up the tire, but it wouldn't hold air. Then they drove us to two different bike repair shops, both were closed. The Mexicans were sure wondering what the heck two gringo women were doing in a police truck, they were pointing and laughing as we drove around town.

When we arrived back at the RV park, we told Ron we'd been arrested by the Mexican police because we tried to milk a male goat, omg Ron's face was priceless!

So there you have it, the police weren't that scary after all, Miguel and Alfonzo saved the day. As long as you aren't carrying weapons or dealing drugs the police aren't going to bother you. In this case they we're very helpful and friendly.

We never did find any goats milk, I guess we'll keep trying, and we'll try to stay off sharp jagged rocks. :)

Adina