The first few days (or weeks!) after moving to a new country are always so busy. There’s so much to do including figuring out your food, transportation, telecommunications, picking up items you didn’t pack, and then trying to do a few fun things like exploring your new town. The last few days have been pretty crazy so in no particular order here’s a few updates:
**Zoe got the stomach flu. It was a 24-hour bug that seems to be over now. No es bueno.
**Aunt Kim has arrived from Canada! She’s along for the ride and is great at keeping the kids entertained and fed while Dan and I are off tending to more important matters, like finding a place to sleep in exactly one week.
**We had to turn in our rental car and get a new one because it wasn’t working properly. It’s a low budget agency (EZ Rent-A-Car) but the process was quick and painless and I had a nice chat with a worker while I waited for Dan. However, even with the lower cost car, we have determined that we will be buying a car. So that task is now on our “to do” list.
**I have eaten my weight in guacamole. Es bueno.
**We have been to the hospital twice, unrelated to Zoe’s stomach flu. A friend of a friend had a medical emergency while on vacation here. He did not have any family with him so we were asked to go check on him and figure out what was going on. We successfully located him on our 2nd try and verified that he is in good hands. All is well that ends well.
**We continue to be shocked and amazed at how nice people are here. From the friendly wait staff or the people tending the store to random people in hospital waiting rooms who voluntarily give us info that we didn’t know. They are just so NICE!
**There has been no sweating since we arrived other than the first day when we spent all day on the walking street. It’s awesome! There has been a lot less AC usage than we are used to as well. We are really enjoying the weather.
**Dan got pulled over by a cop for “speeding”. But this time he really wasn’t. The cop offered to make it easy and allow Dan to pay “the fine” right then and there, or he said Dan could go to the police station and pay it. Not born yesterday, Dan said he’d be happy to go to the police station. The cop rustled some papers around and offered one more time to take care of it for him there on the street but Dan reiterated that he would be paying the fine at the police station. At that point the cop gave Dan a warning and let us go. Yep, that happens here.
**We found a permanent place to live today. Es bueno!!! It has a LOT of advantages, and a few disadvantages, but overall we think it’s going to be great. There will be a lot more info to come on this exciting development.
**Mexican traffic authorities seem to use only one technique to control speed: speed bumps. Humps, bumps, big, small, axle-breaking or just noise-making. They are all over the place. And not always very noticeable until you are up on them. We have narrowly avoided a serious rental car emergency more than once. You cannot own a low riding car here, it just does not work.
**They have a lot of the same candy that we have in the USA but in different packages. Or maybe we’ve just been gone for too long? It’s fun to see some of our old favorites again.
**We have been here 4 days and have seen 2 parades. “Parade” is a strong word. More like a truck with a statue of the virgin Mary and some people walking behind it reciting prayers. They could learn a few things about parades from Panama. I know of a great baton twirler if they need one.
**The shopping options in Playa del Carmen for tourists is mind-numbing. And it’s much too easy to buy stuff when you have no idea what anything costs. Mistakes were made, I will admit. And for a girl who loves manger scenes, this is a dangerous place.
Well that’s about all the updates I have for the moment. Stay tuned for more info about our new casa when we have some details to share. Adios, Amigos!