The Yucatan

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Originally uploaded by livinindogyears

Uncle Lionel in Front of Candlelight

Uncle Lionel in Front of Candlelight
Originally uploaded by livinindogyears

A hot September night in the Treme last year with Uncle Lionel.

Not the Gap

Not the Gap
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Shopping for clothes in the plaza on Isla Holbox at sunset.

My front yard1

My front yard1
Originally uploaded by livinindogyears

My front yard-literally.

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Originally uploaded by livinindogyears

Mother and child in Villadolid, Yucatan

Uncle Lionel & Me/ Candlelight 2010

Goin To Work in New Orleans

3 1/2 Months On Isla Holbox

Well first, I didn't write as life was too crazy.

I remember talking with my son that month on Skype about how long I'd been away. He said, "But Mom, you've only been gone two weeks and a day"! I couldn't believe it. Those weeks were a long agonizing blur and I was plotting my escape. The job I walked into on November 1st in no way resembled the job that I was promised. It was sold as
'muy tranquilo' and only a few hours of work per day.

Well, the first week I worked more than 80 hours. The place was not much managed and was struggling. There were no controls. The inventory had not been locked up and the steaks, lobster, duck, lamb all seemed to be disappearing. My Spanish is terrible and, of course some of the more macho members of the crew weren't taking to my locking up the food and alcohol or implementing necessary changes.

So we had a rough start.
We had mutiny on my 2nd day.
We had two big parties that week as well.
The kitchen was disorganized, dirty and very slow. The restaurant was losing money.

My head ached from converting from English to Spanish, dollars to pesos, pounds to kilos and from California cuisine to traditional Mayan-Holboxian foods. I had no idea what Tiken Xi or Puuc Chuk or Pollo Pibil was. It was so bad it was funny. I spent the week dehydrated and hungry and sweating furiously.

The mosquitoes were dining out on me and I was looking pretty flea bitten, except that fleas were only a part of the problem. The chiquista's were feasting on me. At week's end I was told that I was supposed to work not six, but seven days a week! On my 5th day there, the couple that offered me this job "in paradise" quit.
Are you laughing yet?

Where, oh where, was paradise???

But it got better and saner from there on. I accepted my friend's vacant positions and life righted itself.
Then I took some time off to explore the island and yes, it was paradise.

The Island Isla Holbox is north-west of Cancun, where the Caribbean meets the Gulf of Mexico. It is famous for its migrations of the whale-shark, the biggest fish on Earth and people come from all over to swim with these Leviathans. The sea turtles come onto our beach to lay their eggs.
As the island is difficult to get to, requiring the enlistment of planes,trains and automobiles as well as buses, boats and golf carts to get, it is not much visited by tourists and so is still very unspoiled.

There are no paved roads, mostly you get around on golf carts or bicycles. The pirate Jean Laffite supposedly buried his gold here, but then again, in the Caribbean, where didn't he bury his booty? Isla Holbox has only one small village and about 1100 inhabitants. Many Holboxians still support themselves by fishing and the fishing is insane here. Natives use only a fishing line with a baited hook on it. You can drop a line almost anywhere and pull up dinner.

The nights on Holbox are dark and beautiful and with almost no street lights outside the pueblo, starry constellations fill the simmering skies. It is safe to walk the moonlit paths to and from the pueblo.
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Animal and bird life is abundant. We have large, pale green frogs here and lots of birds: flamingos, pelicans, egrets, ibis, osprey, frigates, pelicans, parrots etc. Giant crabs walk down the sandy paths of our resort at night, you must be careful not to let them bite your toes. I had a large pet iguana "Chewy" who guarded my pantry. Coconuts drop from the trees.
Goyo would take his machete and cut them open for us to drink the fresh milk. sometimes we added dark rum. It is the Caribbean after all.

I went kayaking and swimming , from what was basically our front yard. The pelicans would dive bomb into the water all around me. One day a herd of sting rays almost swam into me. When you walk in the shallow waters, you must remember to kick your feet so as not to surprise them.



There was an osprey who had her nest high on a pole just out on the sandy lane behind my palapa. I watched her for the three months of my stay and just before I left I saw her chick in the nest with her.

. There are crocodiles in the river and dolphins in the sea. There was an ancient Mayan watering hole that legend says. before the Spanish came, was once lined with jade. The water is clear and cool, but when I went to dive in a large crocodile beat me to it.

At sunset in the town plaza the birds chatter so loudly that human conversation must wait until they're finished. Oh, and they have fireflies, which was a complete surprise.

The people, mostly Mayan were warm and patient. In all it is a very democratic culture, where no one wants to tell anyone else what to do. A friend from the States asked me if there was any ADHD on the island, and of course there's not, except for perhaps, myself. I made good friends. I taught English to the staff and they are worked on my miserable Spanish.

In spite of long hours there was a peace and gentleness to the life.

On Holbox I satisfied all of my traveler's criteria for adventure, beauty, cultural experience and learning, living sustainably, making friends, and giving back to the places that I linger in.

I've moved on now because there's a big world out there and I want to see more of it. I'm also pressured by my age to keep moving, because, at my age, I can only keep up this kind of travel for a limited number of years. Or can I? I've already been doing it for three and I'm not tired of it yet. Whichever it turns out to be, I'll always grateful for this sweet and sideways adventure.