Our Trip to Merida Part 2

It was great fun having the Ana and Sebastian in Merida. They both loved the house and spent much of the time at the house in the pool and exploring everything. Sebastian was really good about hanging the wet towels on our rooftop hanging area. It was all a new experience for him to use clothes pins and hook the wet towels and swim suits to the rope. He thought it was fun! Both of the kids liked the malls and the activities at the malls...like jumping, the decorations and of course their first time ever ice skating!

In the meantime us adults did what adults normally do but without snow! So Happy New Year to all!

Our month in Merida...Part I

After 37 beautiful and mostly warm days in Merida, it was time to leave. The time spent there just flew by! The first 15 days were mostly spent with our architect and shopping for things such as drapes and a bathtub or talking to vendor who were to supply our screens, for the doors and windows, as well as retrofit the french doors for screens. The pool and casita were not finished when we arrived in November, but the workers were right on it as we watched them work long and hard until suddenly on the 15th they all disappeared!
On the 16th of December. Carlos sister Karen and her two kids, Ana and Sebastian arrived. They were our first guests and we happily welcomed them and delighted in sharing Merida! Sebastian was fascinated by the corner plaques and quickly got into finding and photographing them As the kids are home schooled this would become his project for the month. Sebastian found one just one block from our home which in the hundred of times I've walked this way I had never noticed.

I had never noticed this corner plaque!

Sebastian with one of his finds!

Once the pool had the final finish and was filled the kids delighted in both early morning and late afternoon swims. The water temperature seemed to be between 80-82 degrees F which is a little cool for me but not for them! I had muled down some inflatables purchased in the USA and they were enjoyed by both the kids.

An early evening swim

Ana loved the beach.

The kids also enjoyed taking buses, shopping, ice skating at Galleria, taxi rides, and the beach in Progreso. Sebastian enjoyed going to the to the juice man two blocks away and buying the morning fresh squeeze orange juice. He was not afraid to try to speak Spanish to makes his needs know! On Christmas eve their father Santiago arrived from Boston. They stayed at our house for a week longer than us so they were able to explore and experience things on their own too.

Sometimes it is just the little pleasures that make Merida so enjoyable. There is a small chain of ice pops called La Michoacana, the fruit ice pops flavors are delicious and numerous! My favorite is lemon, limey and tart.The kids liked that one too. The other adults loved the coconut which was rich and creamy.

Sebastian was the life of our Christmas party..playing cutthroat dominoes!

It was wonderful to share our home and Merida with family. I think that they really enjoyed it and will be back often. I'm so glad we built the casita!

Enjoying Starbucks with Tio Carlos!

My Casita!

For most purposes that casita is done... yes there are some fine tuning that needs to be done, but for all intents and purposes I could move my bedroom there now. On Monday, Lupita the cleaning person will be giving it a through going over....then I will make the decision if I am moving my bedroom there now or waiting until next year. So here are some of the photos taken just an hour ago.

Update!

Well, we've been in Merida for 18 days and have been so busy! Here are a bunch of new photos so you can see! Right now I am waiting for the bus from Cancun to deliver my sister-in-law and her two kids...they will be our first guests a Casa del Gato Azul!

Getting down to the wire....

15 days until we leave for Merida! Wow, I'm getting nervous now! I've packed 4 large suitcases and I only have our clothes left to pack...as well as chocolate to bring to Arturo and family! I am hoping that I have all the right things. I've taken notes throughout the year as people have mentioned new stores that carry gluten free items as well as doctors who make house calls...yes this is possible and noted the name of a dermatologist with a good reputation! I will be making our appointments with our dentist so that we can get our teeth cleaned and a general checkup.
When we get to Merida we hope all the major construction work is done and we can move our master bedroom from upstairs to the newly built casita.. Since we are having visitors we will need to buy two twin beds for the kids to sleep in. Maybe a couple of hammocks too so we can see if they would like to try that! I would like to visit some of the second hand stores to see if we can find a table and chairs to use for now..maybe something in iron that can be used outside. A bedside table or two or three might be useful too.
In the meantime construction is ongoing in spite of all the rain Merida is receiving and Arturo has sent some new photos!

Pool work continues

Ready for paint

This walk in closet has a window

Stone was too expensive so we will have a concrete bathtub!

Our wall is now higher than the security light next door

A view of the main house from the casita

I'm excited to share Merida!

Carlos with his sister Karen and husband Santiago

During our trip to Merida in December, we will have our first house guests...I'm so excited to share what I love best about Merida! Carlos brought two of our Danish friends two years ago, but they were unable to stay in the house as it was in the first stages of construction. So these guests will be our first 'official' visitors!

And their two kids Sebastian and Ana..the middle is my granddaughter Maia who won't be there...

I thought long and hard about what to show them and I think I'd really like for them to first get a feel of Merida...go to the markets, to Santiago and to Santa Ana...walk, smell, feel, wander! Hang out at our beautiful home...swim in our new pool, relax and get to know the neighborhood. Than we can plan some trips to the cenotes, Uxmal, Mayapan, Progresso etc. The possibilities are endless! What do you suggest we share?

I'm in countdown mode!

The pool steps are in!

It's just 5 short weeks before we leave for our month+ in Merida. Now I really need to get it together! I have 3 large bags packed with 'stuff' and enough things put aside for another large bag and that's not even counting our clothes! Now I've read that Cancun is getting strict about checking bags! I've left the price tags on anything new and there is really not much of that. 

I do however take some food items (gluten free) as last year it was difficult to find some items. I did find a loaf of frozen gluten free bread at Pescadelli, but at 20.00 US it was like gold! I know I need to plan ahead and get Monica at the slow market to make some for us.
I received some new photos this week and Roger, our esteemed architect, has told me that they are a week ahead of his schedule...unheard of ..but he knows that we are bringing family down in December and wants it to be ready for us! Nice guy!! We will have two weeks in the house before our guests arrive. I will need this time to get some more furnishings as well as de stress and settle in.
Meanwhile here in St Louis the Cardinals are in the World Series, the weather is changing to autumn like, my new kitchen floor is in and I do have to prepare the house for house sitters coming in. More worrisome is that two of my cats have disappeared! Gus, the Maine coon almost two weeks ago, and Bleu-Beri who this blogged is named after, (as well as mi casa) 6 days ago....These are cats who do not really wander and stay pretty close to home! I know that people say to keep them in, but these are rescue cats that could not acclimate to an inside only life...and I knew when adopting them.

Starting to look like design!

December is taking forever to get here!

This summer seems very long, and time felt like it actually stood still in September. Carlos has been working very hard and needed to get away... he hasn't really had a vacation all year. We found a cheapo 7 day cruise (last minute) from Miami and couldn't resist. Luckily we also had enough points to use for our airfare! And so we packed our bags and headed out. The ports of call were Carnival private island, St Thomas, San Juan, Puerto Rico and Grand Turk Island, not to mention two sea days. We love to cruise and view the ship as the vacation.... the only land excursion we planned was in Puerto Rico. This is Carlos' place of birth and both his parents are buried here. We would only have time to visit the National Cemetery in Bayamon as Carlos' mom is buried in Yabacoa which is further away and the opposite direction. My first photos taken at the cemetery when Carlos found Papa Charlies place of rest where a little spooky...I think his spirit was happy with our visit!

Carlos found Papa Charlie's stone

We brought some fall flowers

San Juan

For the first time we visited Turks and Caicos and it was just beautiful...The people were very nice and the beaches were wonderful!

Grand Turk

While we were cruising, the building of the casita and pool continued and progress continued forward. We had a skype call yesterday and received a few updated photos: