In  Paradise --- Season 2022-2023

 October 30 - November 5, 2022   Week # 2 

This week we were able to complete all the little tasks of opening Casa Pura Vida for our 4 1/2 months stay- clothes need to be taken out of bins, some need to be refreshed, others don't, but all need to be hung up in the closets and some placed in drawers. You will remember that when we lost our luggage a few years back we had a hard time finding replacement clothing, so each year since we bring a few items with us to leave them here for the following year. One carry on and a pack sack each carried all of our personal items this year. The two checked on luggage pieces you saw in last week's pictures contained items we are used to having back in Canada and some items for close friends which we know they would like to have.

Sunday October 30th we finished up a few things around the house  and decided to go to the Sunday Market, it is just off Calle Timon which is a short walk for our casa.

We arrived just as things were closing up so we decided to head back toward home.

This is a new hotel on Timon,  it was just built last year I think. I haven't seen any reviews from guests so can't make comment.

A new seafood restaurant (La Chulada/ El Sazon Del Pacifico) opened recently and we thought it would be a great time to try it out. It is located on the South side of Calle Vallarta, one street South of our street.

There was one other table of customers when we arrived at 1 pm is but I would expect it to be much busier later in the day.

We each had the fish fillet, Allan's breaded and mine "GARLIC!' Mmmmm!

Monday Oct 31st we went into Playa del Carmen with a good friend (Maurice), who had to have the air conditioning fixed in his car.

Along the highway on the way into Playa there are these beautiful tree root pieces, 

and these beautiful wood slabs. We have often seen tables made from them - the tree root forms the base and the wooden slab is secured to the top of the root. They are beautiful to see when they are finished and varnished.

While our friend went to the auto repair shop we did a walk about and stopped at one of the Walmart stores to pick up a few things we needed for our Casa ---things that wouldn't fit in our checked baggage.😄The store was decorated in a mix of season. As we entered the store we passed the Day of the Dead Alter

and a short distance away there were Christmas decorations for sale. You can see that Christmas is just as commercialized here in Mexico as it is back in Canada. I am pleased with the unwritten rule/or show of respect there to hold off on  Christmas until after Remembrance Day.

After our friend found that he couldn't have any work done on his  broken air conditioner we went for shrimp tacos and beer at  "La Floresta Restaurante". This is the most amount of customers we have seen when at this restaurant.

We were in awe as we watched the few waiters - 3 if I remember correctly, they were on their toes so to speak. We sat down expecting to be a while before we were served and within no time at all, a waiter was at our table with a basket of nacho chips and dips and took our orders. I watched as other customers came in after us and each and every table had a waiter at their side within 2 minutes and their order in just a few minutes after that. Amazing service and their prices are very reasonable - our shrimp tacos were 30 pesos each, that is about $2.00 Canadian.

When we arrived back in Puerto Morelos Allan and Maurice took a few minutes to take a brisk sit and started discussing their carpentry projects. Here they are (with arms in the air) comparing kitchen cabinets they have made. I wonder of they could given as much detail to their story if they were made sit on their hands as they spoke. 😎😊😉😉

Later in the evening Allan and I stopped at "La Cabana Restaurante" here in Puerto for a light meal. We were pleased to see Chef Jair and Waiter Gabriel dressed in their Day of the Dead faces.

November 1st, El Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead)

Many of you will remember me mentioning our friend Claudia, well she is still active in our community doing her volunteer work, pet sitting, B&B and her translation services- one busy lady. For the past few years she has taken it upon herself to keep the Mexican Traditions alive in Puerto Morelos - one of her events it the  Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) Altar tour. This year she had 40 plus participants preparing altars for passers by to stop and view.

We were listed as one of the houses on the tour.

Allan and I started decorating our gates and  preparing our altar in the early part of the day. The bin, table and boxes are to give the altar height at different levels. It was covered with a colourful cloth and items our dead relatives would like to have when they come by for their visit.

The time came to light the candles in the early evening, when a big black cloud came along.  We grabbed a tarp and got the altar covered just in time for a downpour of rain. Well, the rain never stopped! 

Sorry to say, this was our 2022 Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) Altar.

The rest of the week went by quickly. Our Lemon Grass plants needed to have dead stems and leaves removed, they did look much better when the task was done. I do wish I had have take a before shot too.

Last week I mentioned that the shoe repair man had moved and I didn't know where he would be.  Rob, one of my followers mentioned in a post that the shoe repair man had moved a short distance away from his regular location. I had seen the cart on the street by the hardware store on the corner of Chaca and Zetina Gasca, but it was never open. I thought is was there for storage perhaps.  Then one day to my surprise, he was open and had a customer. So the parked cart was actually his new location. Its new location was nicely shaded and convenient to the public. I say "was" because the very next day he had moved again! Things keep changing here in Puerto - one can hardly keep up. lol

One morning on a walk uptown we passed this little fellow doing some work in the front yard of his family's home. He was so interested in his task at hand that he didn't even look up when I stopped to take his picture. I love the little wheelbarrow.

The "Pecao Restaurante" was on our list of restaurants to go as soon as we got back and got settled. We did that this week, is was so nice to see Sayri a waitress from last year, Yannick, a part owner of the restaurant in the center and on the right is Eddie. He started working here at Pecao this year but worked at another restaurant we frequent often. 

Their fish dinner is so good, once I completed my lunch I felt like I had truly returned to Puerto  Morelos. It is one of my comfort foods.

Yep the shoe repair man has moved - he is still on Calle Chaca but west of his previous locations on the corner of Calle Chaca and Calle  52 beside the SIX store. We are very happy he is still close to us and we walk past him on our to and from grocery shopping. He has not only added soles to shoes, glued soles, sewn back pack straps and given us a heavy gauge thread to fix our window blinds. Rob, make note of this so you will not be surprised of his second move. I will keep you posted if he changes location again. 😉😊

That concludes this week, so stay safe, be happy and keep smiling because it makes the people around you wonder what you are up to.