Small Town Mexico

And just when you thought I had moved on from my way overdue Mexico posts, I am back at it.  

Truthfully, I needed to change it up.  Life was happening and I needed write the stories, bring these blog pages up to speed and get some January photos of my girls placed in my January folder!  I can barely believe that I will likely end up pushing my Christmas - that's December, 2011 -recap into February at this point.  Ah, only days left to get it into January but the photos are sitting in an iPhoto folder waiting to be edited (indoor photography sucks for that, editing is always a must!) and I have an assignment due on Tuesday and a group paper that I need to also work on, oh and kids to mother and a date, an actual date with Kevin coming up too.  Yay!  

ANYWAY, back to Mexico....

Puerto Morelos.  It was the small town that our resort was closest to.  Prior to leaving for Mexico Kevin had "Street Viewed" Puerto Morelos on Google and so we actually had a bit of a pre-tour prior to actually being there.  When we first drove through on the way to our resort it was neat to actually be where we had only seen online.   

Puerto Morelos was so close to the NOW Jade Riviera that the resort offered a morning bike ride into Puerto Morelos on Mondays, Wednesday and Fridays.  Kevin and I decided to each take our day.  And for even more fun, we opted to turn it into a contest to see who could capture the best photos of the adventure.  

In fact, the judgement has yet to happen.  Truthfully, my Kev is a great photographer. 

Bring it Kev!  Lets see what you got!

Puerto Morelos through Kevin's lens.....

I'm afraid of what might happen to your head if you actually did fall.  ; )

Ah yes, you would find a motorcycle! 

The following bike ride day was mine.  I had asked him not to tell me anything about what to expect and at that point I had not looked at his photos.  I wanted to take it in and see how our photos would compare, assuming that we would have the same tour.

After a lengthy (and I mean all of 15 minutes) tour through the "residential" area of Puerto Morelos, we were brought to the ocean side downtown.  And if I had known that we would not have had time to revisit those streets that we had just been down, I would have ventured with my camera in hand while riding because that was truly where the culture of Puerto Morelos was.  The authenticity of living in small town Mexico is what I was hoping to capture - people painting their homes, moms walking with babies on their hips, uniformed children in the school playground, laundry hanging to dry, etc, etc...but unfortunately I didn't realize our time would not allow me to get back to where I was all wide-eyed and engaged as I rode by.
Anyway, now on to my  photos...
This was our first pit-stop.

Just a little piece of history.....

If I wasn't standing by the water I was strolling through the shops.
Shop after shop, the same product, just displayed differently.

Where each shop owner happily invites you into their store.  

Right in the middle of the "downtown" area is a great park.  These shops above look out onto this park.  Funny that I had to be reminded that yes, it really was the Christmas season.

Of course I saw these kids and just had to capture their presence.  Small town youth.  How awesome it would have been to just sit down and ask them about their experiences...I'm not sure that my "Dora the Explorer" capacity of the Spanish language would have got me far in that conversation!

When I came back to our meeting area our group members were entertained by the presence of this group of woman.  They appeared to be singing or chanting some verses of some sort.  One woman would say something and then the others would sing a verse.  It went on for about 15 minutes or so.  The resort guy that toured us around on our bikes said that they were raising money for a new church in town and that their presence was comparable to Christmas Carollers.   I threw a few pesos into their collection tin.

And just like that my experience was over and we found ourselves riding the 1.5 km stretch of flat road back to our resort.  Now if I could give just one tip to our resort for this adventure, it would be to ditch the mountain bikes and get coaster bikes.  My goodness these bikes were old and uncomfortable.  The ability to change gears was pointless and the pace that we pedalled would have been more enjoyable in an upright position on a coaster.

It was a fun adventure...all of 2 hours, maybe.  But truthfully, I was in the mood for doing more of nothing on this day and looked forward to getting back and lounging beside the pool or the beach.  

*****

Biking wasn't our only venture out to Puerto Morelos.  

Near the end of our trip we opted to go into town for dinner and a walk.  We hopped in a cab, paid our 60 pesos and were there in minutes.  The pier was lovely.  It was a windy night but I was loving how warm the wind felt on my bare legs and arms.   It was one of those "take note" how good this feels moments for me.  

We had originally hoped to get out there to see the sunset on the horizon, but we were a bit late.  The sky was still bright but the sun had already left.  

he was taking this photo....

pushing the tower straight! ; ) 

Kevin had wanted to pick up a bottle of tequila while we were in town so while he popped into the grocery store, I hung out with the girls.

And the grocery store went from not busy like this above to insanely busy.  Every time I looked in Kevin was still standing in the same place in line.  

As Kevin explains, the grocery store got really busy and unlike having the convenience of scanners and bar codes that we are used to, everything was manually input and exchanged.  Oh my gosh we waited for forever for him and his must-have bottle of tequila.    Anyway, the girls and I checked out the nativity scene in the park and walked around but they were beginning to get hungry and starting to feel tired.

This is kinda sorta where our great expectations for the night began to crumble.
Kevin had asked me if I wanted Seafood or Mexican, I said Mexican, he takes us to a seafoood place.  No biggy, I roll (but not very smoothly), and fortunately the place was an awesome little spot.  It was like an outdoor restaurant, but covered where we sat, like a gigantic outdoor patio, and the earth was the ground.  The man who owned the restaurant was very friendly.  He was wearing a Vancouver Canucks baseball hat and so we easily struck up conversation with him.
His children were near us watching a Disney video in Spanish that was playing on a TV that was randomly placed on a table in this outdoor space.  When Kamille and Karis gave the girl's hammock a try, she motioned to us that only one at a time could be in it and that set Kamille off.  She was tired, grumpy and now told not to sit in the hammock.  All down hill from there.
I did my best to order something of the seafood kind with my best understanding of a broken english translation from our server.  We ordered the girls a dinner to share, a fajita.  But by the time dinner came, both girls were exhausted and fussy, they refused to eat, my meal was ok, but I was grumpy because of the way this night was crashing and burning.  Kevin and I ate our meals in silence while the girls took turns complaining and fussing about something.
Upon leaving the restaurant we hopped into a cab to take us back to our resorts but when the cabbie demanded 30 more pesos than what we had paid to get there, we got out and walked to find another.  I think this was Kevin's favourite part of the night.  Dude, even though we were toting two grumpy girls, 30 pesos saved is 30 pesos saved and just on that principal, I was good with ditching that cabbie.  ; ).  Also I should mention that we were running low on the cash we had on hand at this point in our trip and we were trying to stretch it out in the last couple days of our trip rather than revisiting an ATM.

Anyway, ditching our cabbie proved to be a good laugh for Kevin and I and we managed to pull it together enough to get the girls in bed and asleep.  We both admitted that this was NOT the experience were had hoped for with our girls.  I couldn't stand that the girls were grumpy when I didn't want them to be and I just wanted to blame someone so Kevin got the silent treatment from me until we eventually came good.  Whatever.  Shit happens.

So our overall experience of Puerto Morelos was not tainted.  We had taken in its culture in bits and pieces in our times there.   Both of us can saw we enjoyed it.

But I will say that our next trip off the resort was the best!  
That story is next......

Still My Baby

It wasn't until after I downloaded these photos that I was assured once again that Karis is still my baby girl.  

The shape of her face is all I needed for reassurance.  

xo delicious cheeks that are round and full xo

Oh, how I love holding this little face in my hands.  

I cup it and say "Little Head!" to her.  

Sometimes getting in close enough to smell her breath.  

I love so much about her littleness.   

While Kamille was in swimming lessons, my Karis and I headed on outside to take advantage of the gorgeous sun that had made a rare appearance (this was a couple weeks ago!).  The sports field behind the rec centre always has a flock of geese hanging out on it.

And as you walk closer to them, they slowly walk away from you.  Its entertaining.
She squeals and giggles as they look back at her.

I loved just watching her walk around, exploring, chatting......

Hello there my Kari-boo!

She loves wearing mittens.  I mean LOVES wearing mittens.  She would wear them "all day long" (as she says) if she could.

Bummer, they got wet.

She's still little enough that she couldn't quite make the jump.

Her small hands collect small treasures.....

She still climbs using her hands on each step.

2 years and 4 months old.
And she's still my baby.
(Or at least that's what I am choosing to believe!)  ; )