Mastering the Art of Space

👍🏼Hitchhiking & Faith in Humanity❤️

I love my mother, so it makes me sad that I worry her so, but worry her I do & apparently a few other ladies in her over 55 community 😜 There has been more than one conversation that has begun with, “mom, we are okay!” She knows that means there is a fun story to come 🤷‍♀️ Or not so fun, as she would see it.

We headed off one bright sunny afternoon to the far west side of the peninsula, about 25km to the small pueblo of Churburná. We used an app to get a taxi for something like $20usd, thinking we would have no problem finding a return taxi when the night came to an end. The taxi dropped us in town, where we headed down to the beach to have a look around. The place we really wanted to be was another 3kms east & the shoreline didn’t look completely passable. We walked back to the town square & decided to grab a snack. Guacamole & World Cup hit the spot as we regrouped on the plan. We decided to grab a mototaxi, a motorcycle with a metal framed sitting area attached to the front 😬 Pretty sure the driver gave us one price at the start & another at our destination 🤷‍♀️ We paid the the latter with the agreement (we thought) that the driver would come back for us just after sunset 🌅

3 kilometers

This area had no services or facilities, it was just one long stretch of beautiful Mexican beach 🏖️ We spent the afternoon watching the pelicans dive bomb into the water & follow along with the returning fishing boats.

The sunset did not disappoint as the tide made its way up the beach.

As the light began to fade, we made our way back to our agreed upon meeting spot. You will be as shocked as we were to find our man never returned 🙄 3km, it’s not that far. However it was a narrow, mosquito infested road that was growing darker by the minute. This is the point where you may begin to understand my mother’s concerns 😉 With every passing car, I began to convince myself, I would just have to flag someone down & ask for a ride back to town. We walked past the fishing boat yard & I thought, we just need one of those guys to stop & we can jump in the back of a truck. You know, safety first! Two seconds later a pick up pulled over & a young guy motioned for us to climb in. Dave actually said, “Can you imagine what your mom will say when you tell her about this?!”

It was a short ride back to Churburná where they dropped us. We said our thank yous & goodbyes & they were on their way. I think we like to believe that all people are good & helpful, that doesn’t mean we aren’t paying attention to our surroundings. We headed back to our guac spot & tried to call a taxi. No joy. We also failed to remember & ask about the Colectivos, although that would have made for a pretty long night.

In a moment of brilliance or desperation, I decided to text our new found friend Paul. A little about Paul… Paul left his job amid the pandemic 😷 & chose to start a family business & turn his front courtyard into a quaint dining patio. Paul & his family work together to bring true Mexican flavor to the neighborhood. It doesn’t stop with tacos 🌮 Paul drives folks around, rents bikes & scooters & pours into his community while loving every expat that stops by. He & many like him, that we have met along the way are why we come to Mexico 🇲🇽

Thank God for WhatsApp! This would be the first time Paul would come to our rescue but not the last 😂

Paul would later help us rent a car & send someone to help us when we locked the keys in said rental car 🤦‍♀️

So as things tend to do, all worked out! We are safe, we are okay👌🏼 We ended up back in the area about a month later. It was great to see Paul again & laugh about the continuing predicaments we seem to get ourselves into. Fun times!

🇲🇽Yucatán, Let’s Pause Here a Minute🐚

We have been wanting to travel to Yucatán, MX for some years now, so it was high on the list of must-sees. It was not the easiest place to get to even before covid 🦠 It is just beginning to get a bit more accessible as the colonial town of Mérida is finding its way center stage. Mérida boasts an amazing mix of traditional Maya & colonial Mexican (Spanish) culture. Merida is on the rise with ex-pats, especially Canadians, with its growing art scene, amazing food, rich, abundant culture & breathtaking geography from the tops of basamental pyramidals to the unreachable bottoms of deep freshwater cenotes.

We planned to spend a month in the area, which was not nearly enough time to take it all in. So of course when the sh*t hit the fan later, it would become our “safe place” of return. Progreso, especially, will forever hold the memory of unexpected beauty with the incredible added bonus of quick & easy friendships.

Progreso is the largest pueblo along this Yucatán peninsula peninsula (no that is not a mistake.) Progreso sits in the center of the smaller pueblos of Churbaná, Chelem, Chicxulub, San Benito & Telchac Puerto, all amongst the Chicxulub Crater. The peninsula is separated from the mainland by a long stretch of state-protected swamps & mangroves.

Progreso was not nearly as walkable as San Miguel but once we learned how to flag down the colectivo, we were well on our way to discovering all this small pueblo had to offer. First & most importantly, we had to find a place to watch the World Cup ⚽️ What better place to be than Latin America especially as we neared the finals 🇦🇷

We found a great little Cuban place along the malecon, looking out onto the beach & across the Gulf of Mexico. Sarten Cubano became our go-to place for games & cocktails. Their Cuban sandwich was on point & it was one of the few places we found tostones (savory Cuban-style plantains as opposed to the more traditional sweet Mexican ones 🍌) In between matches, we took walks on the beach outside our condo, chasing the tide 🌊 ate tacos with new found friends & enjoyed the slow pace of Mexican time 🕰️

I think one of my favorite things about Progreso was the endless shoreline of seashells🐚 On our first long beach walk, we began to think this is where all the seashells must come from. Miles of beaches covered. Dave picked up one that seemed slightly different from the rest & handed it to me. “Oh, am I collecting these?” I asked. He said he thought I might want to, but I declined, figuring if I changed my mind, I knew where they were. 😉 A few days later I was talking to our daughter, Erin. We were discussing the upcoming holidays & she said, “I know what I would like for Christmas, something “hecho en Mexico.” 🇲🇽 I told her I would be on the lookout, but truth be told I was struggling with that myself. Most shops I visited, stuff was “hecho en Vietnam” or “hecho en Taiwan” Then a thought crossed my mind. “Do shells count?” I asked. She said, sure as long as I hunted them myself. I guess I was collecting seashells after all.

A few days later, Dave & I ventured out again for a beach stroll. My goal was to find a few dozen shells, maybe I could string a necklace or fill a small water bottle with sand & shells to send her upon our return to the US. Much to my surprise, not far from our apartment’s beach access we came across a sprawling pile of shells… I would spend the next days combing the beach, thrilled by each new find. Needless to say, I collected way more than a water bottle worth 😬

Whelks, cones, cockles, wings, tulips, cowries, ceriths, olives, conches & more I couldn’t find names for or identify 🤷🏼‍♀️ Who knew, well not me anyway 😉

Now as not to let you all be lulled into a false sense of us staying out of trouble… let me assure you… It’s what comes next 😬

!Feliz Cumpleaños! 🎂

Due to its timeliness, I am once again breaking into our regularly scheduled calendar of events… Why? Because February is my birthday month & I get to do whatever I want 😛 Let’s be honest the month doesn’t really effect that. So a quick interlude about an impromptu girl’s trip in what we refer to as a month of Jessicas, you see it begins & ends with 2 of the best.

She is at least the second Jessica in my life to call a best friend. We met a dozen years ago when we found camaraderie in parenting & marriage. We have seen a lot of life in those dozen years, growing children, passing relationships, moves from here to there. We have worked for each other, we have worked with each other, then counseled & supported one another through exciting changes & tough times ❤️

Jess & Jessica – the names we prefer, if anyone is asking 🙂

Jess joined me for a minute on the beach 🏝️ in Mexico for our February birthday month. We stayed at The Reef Playacar, the same place Dave & I spent our anniversary a couple of years ago. The Reef is a cute & cozy all inclusive hotel/resort along the Playacar neighborhood beach. With the exception of randomly locking ourselves out of our bathroom because of a janky knob, our room was quite nice. Comfy beds, cold a/c & good water pressure – when traveling as a way of life these become priorities.

As a talker, it has taken me a lifetime to learn & cultivate the ability & enjoyment of sitting in silence. The best relationships are those where we do both. Jess & I share more than a birthday month & beautiful name 😊 although you can tell us apart by our preferred monikers, Jess & Jessica. We also share beliefs, values & experiences that make it easy to catch up on life & at the same time, sit quietly enjoying our books. Add some cushy beach loungers & we were stuck in for days. Read a little, talk a little, eat a little, drink a little (or a lot one afternoon 🥴) The days went too fast.

Sidebar: Some places in MX only use third party booking sites for their accommodations, others give you added benefits for booking with them directly. The Reef Playacar is one such place. The Reef is also sort of a timeshare something or other… that is how we originally discovered it when some friends of ours shared their bounty of weeks with us for a great 25th anniversary deal. This time I booked directly through the Reef website & by doing so received a gift of a 2 for 1 massage. (Those massages could have been free, had we sat through the 2 hour TS presentation, not surprisingly we passed on that.)

We did however avail of our massages & an afternoon in the spa steam room, sauna, cold plunge & relax room. Nothing quite like a little extra pampering on an impromptu girl’s trip.

As our visit came to an end, we booked the hotel shuttle to the Reef’s sister property in town, Cocoa Beach to enjoy dinner at their Japanese Samurai restaurant. We had an almost lovely evening of birthday laughs. We were joined by a family of four with two teenage girls who spent most of the time on their phones & a couple celebrating their 6 year anniversary, who pretty much argued the entire meal 🤦‍♀️ The restaurant put on a pretty good show, though there were moments I thought maybe our hibachi master was just learning the trade 😆

Another birthday in the books, another decade coming to an end (at least for me), another girl’s trip full of cherished memories made. Not to mention another half a suitcase worth of “stuff” she took back to the States for me! That is true friendship right there!

Now where was I? Right….. Progreso 🏝️