I Know You Are Getting Used To This But....

We have put our departure off for another day. Norma wants to wash the floors and walls while we know we have access to good water. There is also a nearby lake I want to explore, so..... one more day.

Gas Prices Rise in Mexico

From Mexico Today:

"Gasoline and diesel fuel prices rose again this weekend, the second time this year… Magna gasoline increased by 8 cents, rising to 7.96 pesos per liter, while Premium increased by 4 cents per liter to 9.70 pesos per liter... Diesel increased by eight cents to reach 8.32 pesos per liter..."

This is still only $.65 per litre Canadian so I am not complaining...

Super Sunday

It doesn’t get much better than this. The Super Bowl with palm trees and the Caribbean Sea in the background! Life Is Good!

TV Day Today and Moving Day Tomorrow

Today is the finals for the Scotties Women's Curling in Canada. The final game between PEI and "Team Canada" is on right now. We are cheering for PEI.

After that is the NFL Super Bowl from Miami with The Who playing at half time! We are cheering for The New Orleans Saints (and The Who).

The weather forecast for Chetumal is not so good with thunderstorms and rain predicted for Tuesday on. Cancun looks better with clouds and little chance of rain after Monday so we are moving north! Our Dutch friends are at PaaMul so we may stay there a couple of nights to catch up with their latest news and then on to Cancun and Isla Mujeres.

High Water Mark

This is the high water mark in Chetumal when Hurricane Janet made landfall right on the Chetumal waterfront at 1:00 AM on September 28, 1955 as a Category 5 storm. The storm surge was over 6.5 feet deep and extended 1600 feet inland. This plaque in on the side of a building in downtown Chetumal. All but four buildings were destroyed and an accurate death tally has never been made but it is known to have been at least 500 and this is considered a very conservative estimate.

The RV Park

Here is our park, the Yax Ha. We are on the back (top) wall about 40 feet from the pool.

View

And here is the RV Park in SMA:

View

It Is Nice Here In Chetumal

The weather has been good here. It is humid and the clouds roll in in the evenings sometimes bringing the odd spatter of warm rain, but compared to the rest of Mexico, it is nice with sun most days. I have been watching the weather on the Internet, trying to plan our departure. Cancun is the next stop but the wind has been blowing. In fact my friend Wayne on Isla Mujeres reports the sand blowing off the beaches and onto the roads.

The humidity in Merida, the stop after that, is at 100% right now. Campeche is nice now but rain is forecast and my friend Les in SMA reported 36 hours of non stop rain yesterday. Veracruz, also on the way home, is also threatening rain!

We are into the curling from Canada and that goes on into the weekend. There is a very nice pool here and we are only paying $300 pesos a night ($25 CAN) so I think we will stay put for a while and continue watching the weather and delaying the inevitable return North. Life is Good!

Hmmm… What Happened Here?

When the trip started, both dolly fenders looked the same. A few days ago as I was unloading the car something had changed…

Right Fender:

Left Fender:

Tope damage? Unlikely. There were no gravel roads that day… Who knows? Anyway there was a nice quarter inch deep groove cut down the centre of the tire where it looks like a bolt has dragged on it. It is one of life’s mysteries… The licence plate was attached to the tail light and that is gone as well. I will have to call Master Tow to arrange for a new fender as we pass through the USA. The license plate will have to wait until we get home.

We Are Still Here

We are still in Chetumal! We have started watching the Scotties Tournament of Hearts Women's Curling from Canada. It is very poor quality curling but still fun to watch. "Team Canada" has pretty much lost every game they have played and more points have been won by "stealing" than by scoring. It is a tournament of misses! With many teams blaming the ice.

When I curled, our skip gave us s**t any time we blamed the ice as both teams play on the same ice. It is no excuse. We were also embarrassed when the other team "stole" points as that meant we missed a shot. And we were nowhere near this level of curling.

Anyway, we have just paid for two more days. It is hot and humid here, 27 degrees and 84% humidity at 11:00 AM. The fan is on in the motorhome trying to move the air and I will head for the swimming pool when the current game is over. This is the best pool we have found in Mexico. It is unheated, except for the sun, but is warm and it is cleaned every night.

The battery charger is on the car battery as it almost did not start last night. I know heat is hard on batteries but the battery is only a year and a half old. We will replace it in the states and take advantage of the five year pro-rated warranty from WalMart. In the meantime I will make sure my little solar charger is in the sun when we are parked. The jumper cables are in the trunk just in case we have to hire a cab for a start downtown.

Ah, the little trials and tribulations of traveling in paradise! But even with the tribulations, Life Is Good!

Mexican Comb-Over

Getting a haircut in Mexico is always fun. I generally prefer to find a small barber shop on the street and go sit down for a simple haircut. This usually costs $30 pesos ($2.70 CAN) and is cut just the way I like it. Short all over.

Every once in a while Norma talks me into getting it cut at one of her places. They are much nicer, smell a lot better and the scenery is much nicer. However, they run around $100 - $150 pesos and I actually paid $250 pesos in SMA!

One thing however is common. Mexican hair cutters all think a man with a bald spot needs a comb-over! They always leave a long bunch of hair at the side that they try to hide the bald spot under. This works in the shop but as soon as you get in the wind or a pool, it is game over. I immediately go from a dopey looking Canadian to a dopey looking Canadian with a long mop of hair hanging over one side. The Mexican girls are supposed to like this - I guess.

If I am not paying attention sometimes I do not notice and get this comb-over cut. I solve it with a pair of scissors as soon as I get home but I am never happy about it. After all, I paid to get ALL my hairs cut, not just a few. If Norma is there, she usually comes to my rescue and holds the hair up and make scissor motions with her hand. This works and her reward is not having to listen to my cursing and complaining all the way home as I am brushing the hair out of my eyes and off my ear. The worst cut I got down here was the $250 peso job in SMA. I almost went back and rubbed “Mr. Ramon’s” face in it. I don’t care if he used to work in L.A. and has Toller Cranston as a regular customer! I just want a damn haircut with NO comb-over por favor!