2014 Memories

Wow, what a year!  We travelled to so many places and did so many things in 2014 that I'm finding it difficult remembering exactly what, when and where it all happened.

World Juniors in Malmo, Sweden

NY fireworks, Malmo

New Year's Eve, Dec. 31, 2013 we were in Malmo, Sweden with Alex and Greg, our niece and nephew, on a home exchange for three weeks to watch the World Junior hockey tournament.  For New Year's, we met up with our friend Jim Hornell (there for the tournament with Hockey Canada) and his wife Mim and headed downtown for a huge party held each year in a square with live music and fireworks.

NY Eve street party, Malmo Sweden

It's a family event and many thousands of people fill the square, and the streets, all evening and on into the night.  Although it was a lot of fun, Alex's main memory is about us choosing the wrong bus to go home and travelling around the city for two hours before finally jumping off and catching a cab.



On January 11 we left Malmo for Hamburg, Germany, a few days after the kids had returned to Canada.

The harbour, downtown Hamburg, Germany

We were back in Hamburg for some medical appointments (nothing serious) and stayed at our usual Courtyard Marriott Hotel.  The amenities are nice, it feels like home after so many stays there, and it's close to stores and a train station allowing us to travel around the city and further afield with little trouble.


We returned to Regina, SK, Canada on January 18 for two nights before flying to Cancun.  We caught the direct airport to Merida bus for a 4 hour ride, then Kenn and Karen picked us up in our new Honda FIT!

Kenn with the new Honda Fit

Actually, it's in their name but we own 1/3 of it so NO MORE rental cars!  So after a 90 minute drive we finally reached our home in Celestun, Yucatan, Mexico late in the evening of January 20.

Kelsey and Mark wedding party

The next day was the wedding rehearsal for Kelsey, daughter of our friends Kenn and Karen. Luckily there were no flight delays as I was the photographer!  All went well as did the wedding the next day.



A couple of days after the wedding I went to Star Medica hospital in Merida to see Dr. Carlos Reyes De Caceres as my shoulders were incredibly painful.  I was already on a waiting list in Saskatchewan for rotator cuff surgery on my left shoulder but somehow I had now also injured my right shoulder.  Xrays and an MRI were inconclusive so they shot me up in both shoulders with cortisone and I was good as new in just minutes!  At least long enough for me to hold off on any surgery until I returned to Canada.

Adrienne and Chris on the Flamingo tour

Flamingo tour, Celestun, Yucatan

Our friend Adrienne came to visit us in February and we did all of our usual touristy stuff including Uxmal Mayan ruins and the obligatory Flamingo tour.

Chester the cat

Also in February we rescued a starving cat with a limp that our friend Richard named Chester (after the limping character on Gun Smoke) so we later gave Richard the cat.

We also rescued an abandoned puppy that was close to drowning in our swimming pool!
We named her Lucy and quickly fell in love with her.

Roger and Lucy in Celestun

Unfortunately, dog ownership just does not fit well into our travelling lifestyle right now, so on April 16 we took Lucy back to Canada with us and within 48 hours,

Lucy in her parka with Chris 

Nick was her new loving owner and she was welcomed into her new Canadian home, AFTER we got the poor freezing puppy a t-shirt and a parka before she froze to death!

Shawn carving the Easter turkey

Lucy with her new owner, Nick

We stayed in Regina for Easter at the new home of our niece Alex and her boyfriend Shawn.  It was
crowded with all the family and dogs but the meal was great and we all had a fun time.

May Day parade, Luneburg, Germany

View from church tower in Luneburg, Germany

We returned to Hamburg, for hopefully the last time, on April 25 and this time we rented one of those furnished executive apartments for a week.




It was a nice change from our usual hotel stays there and we filled our week with walking and sightseeing and a train trip to Luneburg, an ancient Hanseatic city, on May 1 for May Day celebrations.

Our new 2014 Nissan Pathfinder

When we returned to Regina on May 3 it quickly became apparent that our 10-year old Ford Escape needed replacing.  We got a great trade-in and bought a new Nissan Pathfinder.  A much better vehicle for towing our little T@B trailer and also a lot more cargo space, which we would soon realize the value of.

Camping with Mike, Kathy, Dave and Sylvia

We went camping with our friends Dave and Sylvia and their friends Mike and Kathy a couple of times this summer, north of Camrose, Alberta for the May long weekend, and south of Camrose for the August long weekend.

Pathfinder and the T@B

The T@B trailer pulled much easier with the larger SUV and we had a great time golfing, eating, drinking.

I had a little surprise on our May trip, discovering that I had not drained the hot water tank in the trailer before winter.  It looked exactly like the last time I forgot a can of Pepsi in the freezer, but a lot more expensive!

Bow Lake, Alberta

We left our trailer behind Dave's neighbour in Red Deer after the May long weekend and drove to Kelowna, BC for a week to visit Chris' mom and her brother Murray and wife Gloria.  We took highway 11 out of Red Deer, through Rocky Mountain House and across the mountains and lakes for one of the most beautiful Alberta drives we have ever experienced.
Hwy 11 runs mainly west before connecting with Highway 93 running south by the beautiful Bow Lake before connecting with Hwy 1 near Lake Louise.

Murray and Gloria at Sun Peaks

We stayed with Murray in Kelowna and while there, we made a day trip to Sun Peaks near Kamloops to have a look around and check out some condos for sale, and then we did the same thing again after our August camping trip, but I'm getting a little ahead of myself here.

Shoulder surgery #1

We decided to sell our beautiful little home on Clearwater Lake in Saskatchewan as soon as we returned there in May, thinking that a move back into Swift Current would be a good idea to help Dad.  We spent the next few weeks cleaning up, selling and giving away excess belongings to prepare for the move, then I had rotator cuff surgery in my left shoulder done in Saskatoon on June 3.







By July the house hadn't sold yet and my Dad started having some health problems.  He ended up in the hospital in Swift Current for a few weeks, then into the Prairie Pioneer Lodge for recovery and respite for another few weeks before finally moving in August into permanent residence in the Foyer St. Joseph Nursing Home in Ponteix, just a few blocks from my sister Diane.

Sun Peaks condo

Meanwhile, our lake-house sold in August.  No longer needing to move to Swift Current for Dad, we started house-hunting in the Okanagan Valley in BC.

Sun Peaks skiing

We had always hoped to return to BC after I retired and an opportunistic crash in the condo prices provided us with perfect timing and in August we bought a 2-bedroom condo, ski in/ski out, on the golf course at Sun Peaks, BC near Kamloops.

Sun Peaks golf course

This year-round resort community gives us the perfect lock-and-go accommodation for the summer while being managed and rented out for us in the winter when we're in Mexico.

Seattle, view from ferry leaving the harbour

While we were waiting for the new home deal to close, we sold or gave away all of our furniture (new condo comes furnished), packed away all of our belongings into a couple of storage units and

Our Miata in WA state along Hwy 101

Oregon coast, Haceta Head lighthouse in the background

we took off on a 3-week 5,000 km. road trip in
our little Mazda Miata convertible down the Pacific Coast Highway from Seattle to Santa Monica.

Elephant seals, Piedras Blancas, California Pacific coast

After a couple of days in San Francisco to visit our friends Kas and Lara, we actually ran out of time a day early and turned back north after reaching San Luis Obispo, California.  A 3-day stop at Treasure Island in Las Vegas helped rejuvenate us for the much faster, but nearly as long, drive back to Swift Current, SK.

San Francisco, Golden Gate bridge in the fog

As we were currently between homes, our friends Garth and Sue came to our rescue, giving us their apartment in Swift Current to stay in for a couple nights.  We then loaded up everything we could jam into the Pathfinder (we knew that extra cargo space would come in handy), strapped the two kayaks to the roof, hooked up a U-haul rental cargo trailer, and headed off to Sun Peaks on Sept. 18.

Unfortunately, upon our arrival at our Settler's Crossing condo in Sun Peaks, we discovered that our kayaks did not fit into our condo storage locker, but that was the only slight negative about the move. Our condo was great and the village of Sun Peaks was as wonderful as we had thought.  We spent about ten days setting up our place a bit and getting as much of our junk moved in as possible, then it was off to Saskatoon for another shoulder surgery, on my right shoulder this time.

Dad celebrating 95th birthday with drinks and wings in the bar

Following my surgery we stayed in Regina with Chris's brother Lonny.  Luckily my right shoulder required much less work so my recovery time was greatly reduced.  Within a few weeks I was able to drive and we went to visit Dad in Ponteix, SK and celebrate his 95th birthday.  He's greatly improved, really thriving and in fact as per his request, we celebrated his 95th birthday on October 24 (a day early) with drinks, wings and cake at the local bar!

While in the area, we took the opportunity to leave our Pathfinder with our niece Alex, currently living with her boyfriend Shawn at his parents farm acreage.  Our Miata and the T@B trailer were already there so all of our vehicles were safe and sound in one spot for the winter.

October 28 we flew out of Regina to Cancun, caught a bus, took a taxi and finally arrived back at our
home in Celestun, Yucatan, Mexico.  Over the next few weeks before Christmas, we did a few small home improvements, a couple pieces of new furniture and some new plants around the yard, added a wrought-iron railing to our stairwell and screened in the outdoor kitchen and seating area.

Steer chasing the cowboy, Celestun rodeo

So we were back to our usual socializing with Friday night ex-pat dinners, attended a local rodeo, celebrated Chris's birthday as well as Robert's (son of our friend Sandra).

Robert and Chris birthday party

Life got busy in a hurry as Chris got back into Pilates 3 days a week and we started taking Salsa dancing lessons, and shortly before Christmas the pre-school had all of their classes put on a Christmas pageant in the town square.  

Celestun pre-school Christmas pageant

Installing the handrail

Installing our screen room

Some new furniture and TV at Casa Piedra, Celestun

We spent Christmas Eve at Hacienda San Jose Pachul 

Richard and Jose, Hacienda San Pachul

in the nearby town of Kinchil owned by our friends Richard and Jose.  We had a great dinner and visit with them, then stayed overnight in their Orange Tree Room.  Breakfast the next morning was spectacular then we drove back to Celestun and had Christmas day and dinner with Wanda and her daughter Cassandra, and Kenn and Karen and their son Cody at their home, Casa de Celeste Vida guest house.

The Sunday after Christmas, Cassandra, Cody and I went to watch Kenn play softball with a local ball team.  Cassandra wanted to try batting so they put her in for the last  inning.

Dr. Caceres putting on Cassandra's cast 

 She hit a hard grounder to the short stop who threw her out at first.  So Cassandra slowed down her run, stepping funny, and broke her ankle!  Kenn helped her off the field while I got the car.  We placed her into the back seat then after a quick stop to pick up her mom Wanda, I drove nearly double the speed limit for the 100km trip to Star Medica hospital in Merida.  They called an orthopedic surgeon to see her and it turned out to be Dr. Caceres that I saw last February!  So I got a free followup consult while Cassandra waited for him!  It turned out to be a bad sprain and a broken bone so they got her into a cast and we headed back, much slower, to Celestun.

Susan and Chris on the Flamingo tour

We picked up my friend Susan from Calgary at the Merida airport on Dec. 29, and did our usual Flamingo tour of course.



On Dec. 31 we got together with a group of our French-Canadian snow bird friends that live near us here, with a New Year's Eve dinner at the home of German ex-pat Maria Welton.

Burning the Old Man, New Year's Eve, Celestun

It was a nice pot-luck dinner and Chris made her famous Tourtiere, French-Canadian meat pie.

We ended the night with a beach bonfire next to Hotel Gutierrez (our Friday-night ex-pat dinner location with Peter the chef) and burned an Old Man (just an effigy!), a Mexican custom that symbolizes burning the past and getting ready to start a Happy New Year without any bad memories from the past.


2014 was a pretty hectic and eventful year for us and 2015 is shaping up to have even more adventures so I better rest a bit here in the sun while I can!  

  

Baseball adventure

The history of baseball in Mexico runs deep. From the origins of the game in the 1800's to the Mexican League that began in 1925, and all the way up until the 1957 Little League World Series Champions, the passion and enthusiasm for baseball in Mexico still exists today including right here in Celestun.

Kenn records the out at first

Our friend Kenn has been lucky enough to have been invited a few years ago to play on one of the local teams.  Originally, he suspects it was at least in part due to the fact that his van could seat most of the team to travel to their away games.  But he quickly become a good friend and valuable member of the team and is obviously well like, respected and a welcome addition to their games.

Kenn gets a hit, and later scores a run

Kenn's son Cody, Wanda's daughter Cassandra, and I headed over to the ball-park today to watch Kenn play a game.  Scheduled for 1:30, they were still several players short and had no opposing team there by 2:30.  So Cody and Cassandra quickly drove back to the house to get running shoes to help fill the roster to get a game going.  But by the time they returned, enough regular players had finally arrived to get the game underway.

Cody and Cassandra with Osvaldo and Kenn at the ball park

Our team quickly jumped ahead with about a 7-2 lead within a couple of innings.  By about the 7th inning, with the game pretty much in the bag for us, Cassandra asked to just have a chance to bat without playing in the field.  So in she went and on the second pitch hit a strong grounder towards the short stop.  She got a great jump towards first base but a good play and accurate throw beat her there for the final out of the game. Realizing she was thrown out, Cassandra slowed her run just before the bag and stepped down awkwardly on her left foot then collapsed onto the sand.


My first thought was that she was just goofing around although her knees had obviously gotten scraped up pretty bad in the fall.
But the look on her face and plea for help got my heart pounding and running to her to support her and help her off

Cassandra gets a hit!

the field.  Her ankle was already badly swollen and discolouring so it was obvious that a trip to the hospital was in order.

While I ran for the car, Kenn helped her back to the road to meet me then got us some ice for the trip.  After a quick stop to pick up her mom Wanda, I got our little Honda Fit to reach near take-off speeds on the 100km trip across town, through the jungle, other towns and villages and around the large city of Merida and then finally into emergency at the Star Medica Hospital in record time.

Cassandra's X-ray and some cash to pay for it

After an examination, x-rays, and a consultation with the fantastic (and apparently very good-looking I'm told) orthopedic specialist Dr. Carlos E. Reyes De Caceres, her diagnosis of a bad sprain and fracture was confirmed.

After Dr. De Caceres applied a fiberglass cast, supplied some crutches, and Wanda picked up medication, we were back on the road, for a slower, more leisurely return home to Celestun.

Dr. De Caceres applies a fiberglass cast to Cassandra's ankle

Do I hear "pre-boarding" in my travel plans?

So a really fun and exciting time at the ball park was unfortunately followed by a traumatic event. But in time, our Winter Solstice day of 2014 will eventually give Cassandra a good story to tell.

Life in Celestun

Well, other than having no internet most days over the past three weeks, life has been going on pretty much the same every day since my last post...warm, sunny, lazy and basically, spectacular!

When the internet is working, I've been VERY happy with it.  The speed is sufficient to watch streaming movies on Netflix with excellent sound and picture and no problems with buffering.  But, like so many things in Mexico, not everything works all the time.  And then getting something repaired can be a little challenging.  In large part, the challenge is due to my own lack of fluent Spanish but every kind of infrastructure or service around here is generally lacking in maintenance for a variety of reasons.  I guess there are bound to be some trade-offs for living in paradise!  :)

We've been busy so far doing a few improvements around the yard, pruning, planting, cutting down. Kenn and Karen's son Cody helped me out with our new chain saw, taking down some large branches and cutting some stumps down lower.  My shoulders haven't recovered enough from surgery yet for me to even HOLD the chainsaw never mind actually cut down a tree with it.

Cody cutting down some stumps in our yard

I'm hoping to get Cody back one more time to take down a couple of trees; one in the way of our clothes line and another just creating more mess than enjoyment for us.

My friend Kenn mentioned to me the other day that he was interested in learning Salsa dancing and I told him that Chris and I would like to as well.  In years past, we had often considered various dance lessons but life always seemed too busy to go ahead with anything.  Some friends of ours up the beach, Peter and Sandra, are getting married in January and as Sandra is Cuban, there will definitely be some Salsa music at the wedding. Sandra teaches Pilates as well as dance so we have started classes with her along with Kenn and Karen, and another friend here, Marie-Francoise.

Salsa dance class

In the first class we were all stumbling over each other but we had a glimpse of what we might be able to do one day.  So with two classes each week until the wedding on January 24, we just might manage to avoid looking like complete fools by then.

Inspired by Black Friday shopping in the U.S., in 2011 Mexico introduced "Buen Fin" on the third weekend of November each year.  Huge sales take place like Black Friday and it's probably the best time of the year for furniture and large appliance shopping.

Our favourite furniture manufacturer and retail outlet in Merida, Marbol, was taking part in Buen Fin so we paid them a visit ahead of the sales weekend to see if we could find a loveseat for our sun room. Luckily we found the perfect match for our other chairs so we returned on Saturday, Nov. 22 to buy it.  As we live over an hour from Merida we had to wait a couple of weeks for them to coordinate delivery along with other customers.  But it's here now and fits great in the room, in front of the new 40 inch LED TV, that I bought just BEFORE learning about savings available on Buen Fin!

Our sun room, with the new furniture and TV

The past few days have been busy with three birthday parties!  Chris had a birthday on the 13th and Sandra's son Robert turned 5 on the 12th.  So we got a HUGE cake for them that we served for dessert at our Friday night expat dinner party.  Peter the chef cooked a meat lasagna and a great mushroom and spinach vegetarian one too, and put them out self-serve as the night's special.  The next day Robert had a huge birthday party at his house with close to 50 kids plus parents and friends. We left that one just in time to get to Kenn and Karen's for dinner and another birthday party for Chris!  Karen cooked a great meal and we ate in the outdoor kitchen.  Jorge and Fabi and Jorge's parents showed up later, then it was tequila, tequila, tequila for a few hours after that!

Friday night ex-pat birthday dinner party

Robert and Chris birthday party

Robert's 5th birthday party

Another birthday cake!

  

Jorge left before we all got too crazy with the tequila as he was having his grand opening the next morning of his new furniture store in Celestun.  It is a smaller branch of Comercial Zozaya, their larger store in Merida.

Inside the new Comercial Zozaya store in Celestun

Fabiola and Jorge in front of his new Celestun store

Wanda, Kenn, Karen, Chris and I all showed up for the 11:00AM grand opening.  It's a great little store with access to the full inventory of Comercial Zozaya and the prices look to be very competitive!

We were REALLY looking forward to the free Pastor Tacos they were cooking out front!  But they weren't quite ready yet so we headed over to La Boya, a little beach restaurant nearby, for a few cervezas.  They kept bringing us free botanas so we stayed for another drink and kept eating. When we finally made it back to Comercial Zozaya, all the tacos were gone!

But free tacos or not, it looks like a great little store and a very welcome addition to our town!