February 9th to 15th, 2020

Another wonderful week in Paradise, it is going to be a bitter sweet flight back to Canada on March 5th.

Wing night and 1 litre of beer  on special at Michellada on Monday Evenings! One has to be careful with  this jug  because it has no handle! It is a two hander. I am  so heavy into concentration on holding my drink I have  no smile for the camera.

Allan and Howard are both dressed in green, I guess they are wanting to be in the colour scheme and lighting on their evening out at Michelladas. lol

Isn't this an interesting light fixture?

John Hicks and his wife Darlene were honeymooning at a resort in Cancun,  and they came to visit us for a day. It is always nice to have people from home stop for a visit while in the area.

Part of our day trip with them took us one of the beach bars to celebrate Fernando's birthday. You have seen pics of Fernando in previous posts, he is our reliable and trustworthy maintenance person.

This is a few of the birthday celebrators, it was a beautiful day to have a birthday party.

Mayan worrier performers were on the beach, John and Darlene took the opportunity for a photo with them. The beach beauty perfectly posed in the back ground is a photo bomber. Does she remind you of anyone? Something about her looks familiar. LOL

The Hicks' loved our beach.

The famous and popular Puerto Morelos Lighthouse shot.

After an afternoon of  beach time, we had a dip in our pool to refresh before going to dinner at La Cabana before they had to return to Cancun Hotel Zone.

Just as John and Darlene were pulling away in their taxi we were approached by the remnants of the Birthday Party "Party Animals". Apparently they had been house hopping after they left the beach, our place was not the first and I understand it was not the last. Oh, to be that age again.

This weekend the volunteer, free spay/neuter clinic was on again. People come from miles around to voluntarily  

work long hours raising money for the cause and 
man the clinic which is held periodically, depending on the amount of funds they are able to collect. So many animals are neglected here in Mexico, these clinics are an attempt to reduce the population and encourage responsible pet parenting.

Allan came upon a ladder when we were on a walk about, he is not to sure he would trust it but someone obviously does because it was in use.

Roosters, hens and sometimes chicks are a common sight here in the Colonia. We used to have a Rooster that lived a few houses behind us, it was nice (for a while) to hear him in the morning, His wake up time was 3 am. He is not in the neighbourhood any more, I wonder why.

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This is a chunk of Carne Al Pastor, it is made of meat thinly shaved and put on a stick then cooked by an open fire. It is  very popular  in our part of Mexico and makes great tacos!

I have a facebook page "Elliott's Casa Pura Vida, Puerto Morelos", this week I updated it with these pictures of the exterior of our "home away from home".

I created the page only to give our family and friends 

a peak at our Mexican Paradise and our comfortable 

"home away from home".

I will say again, it is going to be bitter sweet having to go back to Canada. Our plans are to return in October 2020, hopefully that plan does not change. We really love our little niche in paradise along with the friends old and new that we have made. Allan and I feel we are so blessed 

to have this luxury in our lives.

Here ends another week in Paradise. So 'till the next post, stay safe, stay warm and keep smiling.

February 2nd to 8th, 2020

February 2nd in the Mexican Christmas tradition is  Candlemas  a Christian holiday celebrated annually on February 2. It celebrates three occasions according to Christian belief: the presentation of the child Jesus; Jesus' first entry into the temple; and it celebrates the Virgin Mary's purification (mainly in Catholic churches).

To celebrate this special day the Mexican tradition is to hold  a tamale party known as a "Tamaliza" hosted by those who found the baby Jesus figurines in the traditional bread served on 3 Kings day, January 6th (Rosca de Reyes is a sweet bread, which is a special food for Three King's Day, known as "Día de Reyes" in Spanish, and celebrated on January 6 in Mexico)

Tamales were of course the main food with other choices included on the table to feed our guests. Including adults and children we had about 70 people.

The Municipality blocked off the street and donated tables and chairs for our event. Municipal officials are very pleased with the results of Claudia's work on saving the Mexican traditions.

This is the first year for Saving Mexican Traditions  on our street, it has certainly accomplished what Claudia had hoped and more. One gentleman (expat) said he has lived on this street  for 3 years and has met more people  in the last 3 Christmas traditional parties than he met in all the time he has lived here.  It is my hope that we are able to continue this Saving of the Mexican Traditions, because it has made our street a community of friends.

It was a laid back  party enjoyed by locals, expats, visitors and friends. A couple no one had met heard about the party and joined us. How awesome is that? They were truly amazed with the event and left with a fuller understanding of Mexican traditions.

Rudy is watching the big foot ball game on his phone. It was so nice of he and sharon to join us and bring the game along.

The children enjoyed the Bounce Castle as usual.

Some were playing games on their phones.

Our Canadian neighbour Yannek suggested we have Karaoke and brought along his computer, another neighbour José brought his projector and Claudia provided  a white sheet to show the words for the singers. Another Mexican tradition, everyone joins in and provides what they can to make a party, and it was a good one.  It was amazing to see how many of our neighbours could sing. Karaoke night was well received by all guests, those who sang and those of us who sat and listened. What an awesome  party.

Even the children took part in Karaoke  when they tired of the Bounce Castle, it was so cute to watch them dance and sing.

Dwayne was very impressed with the whole event and our connection within the community.

During a walkabout town we came upon this 

beautiful flower vine.

Dwayne took a walk into the port one morning and we met him with Howard and Theresa at "El Pirata" for lunch.

I am adding this photo to remind Dwayne of the awesome Club House sandwich and fries he had there.

A good time had by all.

His last night with us, Dwayne and his dad cooked  fries and chicken wings for dinner, two good cooks in the outdoor kitchen. 

It does my heart good to see Allan with his boys. Clinton was not able to make a visit this year, hopefully next year he will be able to attend one of our street parties to get a good feel for Mexico and our neighbourhood.

Allan and I had lunch one day at "El Picudito". 

Our waiter in the white shirt on the right hand side is "Danny Boy", he speaks great English and is very good at his job. This is a must go to place for shrimp tacos, the best I have tasted! The serve fish, seafood and cold beer!

We walked past the bull fighting ring park and found they have removed the old bull fighting ring. It was getting dilapidated and looked somewhat dangerous for use. Bull fighting is banned in some parts of Mexico. In doing a google search I see some areas are trying to bring it back.

The removal of the wooden structure has provided a larger unobstructed area for circus events, fairs and other community activities.

Our long time friends Lew and the Red Hat Lady from Vermont joined us on the roof top of  "La Sirena" 

one evening for drinks after enjoying a lovely dinner together at "My Little Italy".

Such a pleasant view and you can see a cruise ship in the distance.

Mentioning views, here is another one from Don Ernesto's restaurant at Ojo de Agua.

Their beer is always ice cold and the food is delicious.

Later that day we went to Playa del Carmen with the Belfrays and visited, among other places, another fabric shop. I was able to find a nice material to make curtains for my kitchen back in Canada.

One day at "El Picudito" we met this nice couple from Chicago, they were very interested in our part of Paradise. They love the town of Puerto Morelos, have been here before and plan to come back often.

They told us they have a photo of the leaning lighthouse and the beach hanging on the wall at the foot of their bed to remind them why they get up every morning to go to work.  We understand their love for this place.

Another week draws to an end, there aren't many left. We head home on the 5th of March so we will have to make good use of our few days left.

So again, until next post stay safe, keep warm and keep smiling.