Turquoise water!

Finally - the sound of the surf, sea breezes, turquoise water!  I literally felt my skin shrivel in Merida.  While it was already pegging at 116, I was told - it's not really hot yet.  Even for this Texan - that's hot with a humidity in the 90 percent range.

So, back to the bus, then ferry and finally the surf.  I admit to having felt fairly flat since being in Mexico except for those unexpected moments of pure joy that erupt over some random sighting, smell or experience. The fact that I've still been dealing with getting Peter in school has contributed to the malaise.  More on that later as a way of responding to queries.

However blue water has a way of healing most maladies in my book and the instant I saw the arch over the highway announcing CANCUN my heart lifted  and when I caught just a glimpse of ocean I knew I was home in the way the soul recognizes:  a place where memories are kept, mysteries abide and the ever changing tide speaks to life. 

Still, I had to disembark and find the ferry to get to the good stuff.   The gods must have been favoring me because I had the good luck of discovering Renaud, a French Canadian who knows his way around Cancun - and more specifically from the bus station to the ferry landing!  Even more to my delight he was headed to Isla Mujeres for his ritual few weeks of escape from Quebec's winter, this - his fifth year.  Like many folks who come and fall in love with the spirit of the Mexican people, the food, the sea and the cost of living, he plans to live here permanently in the not too distant future.  He been my intrepid guide for the week and here are some of the sights.

Fisherman mending his nets

It has been good to tap the well of fond memories:  having lived on the water discovering the sailor within,  summers on sailboats with the kids when life seemed easier, terrifying storms that did not - after all send us to the sharks,  blissful full moon nights where I saw starfish on the sandy bottom at 40 feet.  With a complicated life in between, recovering the wheat and throwing away the chaff was good therapy.   The technicolor hues of the houses, fanciful grave yards, a fishermen mending nets... colluded to reaffirm my love affair with islands and sea side life.

Fisherman's grave boat and all

I was on this island in the early 80s when there was little here but a few buildings, no lodging save a few hammocks that could be rented for $1 per night and the only approach was the single ferry that wallowed its way across the channel from Cancun - and as I recall has engine failure half way across, making everyone aboard green with seasickness.  In the intervening years it's become a tourist Mecca but a little more "real" than Cancun, retaining its spirit and charm.  Five ferries run the gamut from the high end tourist rig with live music to those meant for cars and finally the slow boat that most of the locals or people immune to sea-sickness and with more time take.

Punta Sur (southern point f the island)

 Tomorrow I head for Tulum, known for world class cave diving, postcard perfect lagoons,  Ce
otes (sink holes filled with sea water) and a few World Heritage ruins.  It too has been discovered, but less so.  Will be good to get out of the tourist bustle of Isla Mujeres and with low season starting things should quiet down everywhere.  Looking for a place to hunker down for a while with the key word being cheap.  Naturally I want an ocean view where I can sit and write, meditate and stop moving.  Hmmm - an ocean view for cheap? We'll see how that works...  But luck has been in my favor so far.  I met a couple of women about my age in Merida and discovered they have been interested in applying for Peace Corps! Naturally, that got the conversation going and it ended in one of them offering her condo in Playa del Carmen as a place to stay when it's empty in June.   Can hardly believe my good fortune and intend to take full advantage of what I hear is a spectacular beach.  That will probably mark my final month here, but that leaves April and May to explore and continue with the Spanish!

Peter in his new school uniform

On another front, Peter - about whom some of you have asked:  matters deteriorated by an order of magnitude over the summer as Peter's housing arrangement fell apart and he succumbed little by little to the gravitational pull of his old street behaviors of being the victim and keeping an entire collection of mentors across several continents in chaos.  Certainly Peter has been a victim, but he has also been the recipient of much good fortune. It's been said, "You can take the kid off the street, but you can't take the "street" out of the kid." With each event, I become more aware of how this plays out in Peter's life when things get out of kilter in the slightest.  And they were in full tilt over the summer.

The friend who offered him a place to work and stay was only in it for the money he thought he could extract from me – to help him start a business.  When that did not manifest, he used Peter as a work horse.  Peter left, but left his one metal trunk with all of his belongings there and lost them all when that same “friend” went crazy and burned down his village…  Peter reverted to his old  stir-the-pot behavior and ultimately refused to stay with the friends who offered him a bed.  He preferred instead to sleep in random places, getting sick in the process. Even as all of his belongings were being replaced and school interviews were  imminent, his sullenness, failure to show up to meetings and erratic behavior resulted in his being dropped from the program I thought would mentor him through this year.  Through the consistent help of the one remaining local mentor things came together at the absolute last minute.  A good friend in the States funded this term and it is now up to Peter to make the best use of this opportunity and do it will less drama, because we are all wearing thin.  So, those of you who are interested - stay tuned. Second term is just around the corner, Peter is in a good school that he likes.  The one month term break is nearly upon us and that - once again -poses the challenge of where he will live.    Well - one challenge at a time.  This connection serves as a continued reminder of the privileges most of us enjoy.  The events I mentioned here are not unusual and constitute the daily fabric of life for millions of people.

On that note and one of gratitude, Iwill close because a final walk around the town and a seafood dinner beckon!  

Hasta luego.  Next stop Tulum!