It has been a while!

Finally we got to try the beach of Playacar Phase I, close to home, unknown to the general public and deserted even on Sunday. They have a little beach club where they let you take your own food as long as you also order drink from there. Too bad on Sunday the cook did not show up and we did not have that much food! We find a Mexican way out of starvation, the waiter called the restaurant of the time share houses (Fisherman’s: our first encounter with Time Share sharks) near by that provided the required calories for our little group. On the beach there are mango tree (I think it is mango) where the kids had a lot of fun and we felt less guilty to let them under the sun in the middle of the day.

I little geo-social history of Playacar: they build Playacar Phase I attached to Playa del Carmen as an exclusive residential area with beautiful villas overlooking the beach. Well it is at least great for the villas right on the beach, the one on the back have no panorama been the terrain very flat. Later they developed Phase II, attached to Phase I, built around a golf course. There are villas, apartments, row houses (like ours), for residents and tourists. The hotels are by the beach and the residents of Phase II have free access to the beach and the facilities of the hotels.

So the beach club of Phase I was initially for the residents of the Sunset Fisherman Time Share. Not having enough business with them they open up the place to people from outside (but no one knows… and we are not about to tell!).

November 12, 2006

First we had a week busy with a failed adoption of a baby cat. A little kitten than we discovered 3 weeks old that become for 5 days 9and nights) part of our household. She was cute, determined and very vocal. I took her to the vet, we bought milk, bottle and all the paraphernalia and then the mother come and claim her! I was not home but Alain open the front door and the mother heard her baby calling she come pick her up and took her. This “overprotective mother”! Ah!
We were sad to see her go, our Benny and especially Isa could not believe that finally they had possession of the house again, she did not like the arrival of the intruder….


We went through our first Halloween in Mexico full of American flavor. We went trick and threat in the residential neighborhood in Playacar, Matthias as a Knight and Oscar has a Pirate, even if he kept on saying that he was Oscar and not a pirate!

In Xcaret the eco-park close by home they were organizing a free cultural event about the day of the dead tradition. They were people dressed up as dead people, crafts, food and shows. Well we were pretty exhausted.

The first week of November was a pretty rainy week and the “nonni” arrived. The indoor activities are limited at the movie and indoor playground activities.

On Saturday finally we made it to Tulum, the archeological site is in a beautiful spot overlooking the cost but we had such a different memory of that visit. The place was a lot more organized, but we got there with the tourists and most of that archeological construction could not be climbed. We did not even swim at the beach down the there, way too many tourists! So we went to Playa Paraiso that really deserve its name! Splendid beach with coconut tree and a fancy beach club.

Accident and finally getting mad at Mexicans

October 14, 2006


One morning very diligently, as every morning, I take M and O to school, I just pass the gate at a speed 2 km/h and I hit a man on a bicycle. Ok I had the scare of my life, I hit his leg with my bumper but he seemed ok. I offered to take him to the doctor, bring him some ice but he say he was ok and he asked me my phone number in case something was wrong. Well, off he goes with his bike… but sure enough in the afternoon he calls me saying that he is at the doctor, he needed 5000 pesos (500 dollars) as a deposit for the medical bills. Ok the “scam” antenna start going in function. I run at “Julieta to the rescue” to try to understand the unwritten law. Anyway, after some brainstorming we call the insurance, the insurance guy “deus ex-machina” arrives, solves the problem with the injured person and pays all the damage. The poor injured guy was standing up but clearly something was not quite right with his leg. He was nice and I hated to have been the bad foreigner who hit him but it was clearly a stupid accident and that’s why we have insurance (which are not compulsory in Mexico).

We need it to do a double of the car key. It required an overnight stay that was stretch out to a 72 hours stay and for the first I got mad in Spanish. I said that they were free to keep the car but I would have a rental paid by them. Julieta added another speech few hours later. The difference is that I get really frustrated she is just pretending! Anyway WV at Playa del Carmen now fear us…

Turtle go!
Saturday night after an afternoon at Paamul with the Taormina’s and the Casco’s (Lorenzo family) and at night we went to release the baby turtles to the sea. It involved some waiting and commotion and music way too loud (tecno liberacion, how my yoga instructor named it, she was also there but I did not see her). Each of us got a turtle, Matthias named his/her "Cancun", Oscar “Baby” and then we release them and hoping they would survive the wilderness. Out of 1000 only 2 survive! The kids were cheering for their turtle to get into the water. Lorenza’s one "Dynamite" was really fast. It was a great moment…

Few accidents

Friday night, I went with Julieta and Eli to another social event, the opening of Ultrafemme (a kind of Sephora), we got our usual, at this point, pictures from various local papers…it’s very funny and we finished the night at Carlos and Charlies a restaurant/dancing/pub/whatever/ favorite hangout.

I will mention our trip to Soliman Bay famous for a great restaurant on the beach (Oscar y Lalo) and for the lagoon where you can kayak. Well, the water was calm as a lake until we did not decide to start rowing to the next creek and there menacing waves out of nowhere started coming, it did not take long for us to flip over. The kids had life vests but they were a little confused about what was going on. Matthias was not happy and he did not want to row row anymore. Well we were able to get back in, by that time we were at the shore of the lagoon in between rocks and various vegetation. We manage to row a little further from the shore until we were back in the water. Well this time we put only the kids back in the kayak and we just swam. At that point, the rescue team arrives via land and via sea and we were saved!!! We compensate the kids for their courage with a brown ice-cream.

Should I mention our flat tire in the middle of the Carretera (Mexican highway ) fortunately not too far from home, the best part is that the spare tire was flat too…Julieta came to the rescue and after a pilgrimage from tire store # 1, to garage place, to store #2 back to the garage place where of course we were still missing a valve. We were able to solve that last problem with the guy at the garage that sent his helper to buy a valve down the block. After all that we were back with a new tire. At this point we decide to go to Mamita’s to eat at the beach and enjoy a calm afternoon under the sun after so much commotion.

Be aware of the word “Ahorita”, means in a little bit but my radar are always in action when I hear ahorita, it is a indefinable time between 10 second and 1 hour.

Birthday week

It is getting difficult to keep up with the blog but I really have to tell you about the lagoon we rediscovered in Akumal. We were in this Yal-ku lagoon in ’97 and we could not remember where it was. Alain bought on ebay Le Guide du Routard of '97 and at the same time in a website I found the name. So we brought the little inflated boat and we swim around the green emerald water. After the lagoon we went to join Vito’s family on Akumal beach. We went snorking and saw a turtle….huge turtle. On Sunday we discovered another beach north of Playa Sangri-La… well the blue blue water was there but on Sunday you get more “pueblo”, Sunday in every country you get the pueblo! (as Julieta says).

Matthias and Oscar went through their Mexican birthday, they had a little party in each of their classes (very unpractical for me) without mentioned that I had to buy 60 cupcakes and equal number of goody bags. It was nice to check out the classes atmosphere and see them integrated in their new school. Then on Friday we had a mini-party at home and Matthias loved to be 5, no more that business of been 4! Oscar enjoyed the multitude of little and big cars he had as presents.

Today we went to a new beach Coco Bay and after enjoy a quesadilla on a beach restaurant we went sailing for one hour. It was so relaxing that the kids were falling asleep even if the water was splashing on their faces. There is an incredible coral barrier but it was a little too wavy to real do good snorkeling. We are doing all the tours so that when the visitors show up we know the good spot.

First confirmed visitors Esther and Victor from Dec 1- to 12
My cousins more or less from middle of December to middle of January
Chiara and Family to be confirmed sometimes before December and so Stefania we hope pretty soon. Steve to be confirmed beginning of November.

Everybody else needs to confirm. The Alaimo-Jacquot is a popular destination!

Homework vs fun

This week we went through the homework drama, but finally they got done with whatever means were necessary: no homework…no swimming pool, no homework…no trip to the “big store” worked also. Saturday we were all relax and ready to go but the car indicated problems with the batteries. We went to a pilgrimage from Volkswagen dealership to a “big” garage to the pap and mom repair shop were actually the job got done the same day. Clearly the wife was in charge of money and communication, the men were just doing the job silently and obey the wife’s order to give us a lift back at home. I love this country! They are no argument and no “but” and “why me and not you”…everyone knows his role: wife talks husband executes.

So here we are on our way to Paamul to join Vito, Julieta and the kids. The beaches was beautiful, we did some snorkeling and only 15 min. away from Playa. we will definitely go back. On Saturday we were on out way to Puerto Aventuras, a new build town/resort/community I don’t even know how to defined it. It’s built around artificial lagoons and then there is a beautiful semi-deserted beach of white sands. In a way the place is totally artificial but pleasant to walk around with little stores and restaurant.
The big experience of Puerto Aventuras was to be with the dolphins. On our way there, Oscar had to do his usual drama but once we were in the water with dolphin "Valeria" everything got to be so much better. The kids were totally into it and I have to say that the animal is not intimidating at all. We got to do the real tourist stuff like buy the video and the picture of us with the dolphin.

Aktun Chen

We have been talking to the kids about going to see a "cave with no bears" all week so, here we are, Saturday 9.30 a.m. ready (finally) in the car on our way to this eco-park south of Akumal.

It is about 3 km off the main road in the middle of the jungle and we got to see 3 enormous cenotes full of stalactites and stalagmites. For details check http://www.aktunchen.com/. The kids loved it and of course the animals in the small zoo right outside the caves were the best part.

In the afternoon, we stopped at Akumal and relaxed on a beautiful beach with palm trees. It is an incredible bay: the water is super calm protected by a coral reef. It is Alain’s favorite beach so far because he has some shadow, and snorkeling is right there. Plus the kids can entertain themselves in the shallow water.

We had lunch by the beach and eating with your feet in the sand always feel like a vacation.

Yoga... for stress release (yeah right!)

I started my first yoga class with Antonella. The atmosphere is very pleasant, people take it seriously but they have no attitude. I like because there is a minimum chanting and maximum workout. I just drop the kids at school at 8AM and 2 blockd away there is a mini mall where the classes are. Now I have to find a Spanish language class and then I will be set.

Crococun Zoo

We went to see this incredible petting zoo nearby, not to be missed by anyone who has kids! You get to pet crocodiles, snakes, iguana, deers, monkeys, Mexican dogs (a sort of dog with no hair). M & O were super excited, as you can imagine.

Of course we had to put the snakes around our necks, which I hated but I had to do it to show the example!

After the zoo, we went exploring Puerto Morelos, a town with little tourism but still a small beach club. We ate on the beach and it was a first for the kids.

In the evening, I went with Julieta (Vito’s wife) and Eli (Lorenzo’s wife) to THE social event of the week: a competition of bartenders for the best new cocktail.

The event was on the beach at Mamita’s and they were presenting all kinds of very colorful and interesting looking drinks, I had to take some pictures for Vito’s paper and take some notes. The VIP of Playa del Carmen were all there!

First week of school

The first week of school ended with no drama and I still can't believe it!

Today, I discovered a little one-man garage sale/flea-market close to the school run by Ronny. He is an Englishman who has been living here for 10 years and does not speak Spanish but his wife speaks seven languages so she compensates. So every Fri-Sat-Sun, he organizes his little business across the street from his house. We bought for 300 pesos ($30) a piece of furniture that can be used as kids shoe storage that I really like so we will carry it back to NY.

Second day of School

We have our new 6:30 a.m. routine: Oscar has to wear his sport uniform and Matthias his regular one, so we have a crisis because M. also wants to wear the white shirt, white pants, white shoes, white sox. A chocolate egg kind of solved the issue today.

No probems at school today either. They said they liked school so they deserve to see a movie… we went to see Bully Ant… the positive message of that movie was: bullies end up with no friends.

First day of School

We survived! Oscar left the classroom a couple of time to explore the courtyard, but Matthias was more in line. The parents are not allowed beyond the entrance, so I just drop them there, and after that, they are on their own. I don’t really want to know more than I have to. When we went to pick them up, Oscar wanted to stay in class, I guess he was mad that for leaving him an entire morning.

Cozumel

Finally we made it to Cozumel, the island that we see from Playa. It took almost two months to decide to take the ferry. The night before, we were walking on the beach and Oscar wanted to go to the boat, we went through a small crisis and we promessed we would go next day.

The island is wild comparing to Playa. There are some hotels, a main square in the center with shops and restaurants, but half of the island is a natural reserve. I have to say, some of the hotels, probably built few years ago, are kind of ugly. They are so tall, you even see them from Playa.

We rented a car and decide to drive around the island. We stopped for horse back riding at the Mr. Sanchez Beach Club. We did a tour in the forest and on the beach, my horse wanted to eat all the time, and Alain’s did not want to walk…but the kids loved it.

After horse back riding, we continued our tour until Punta Sur where there is an ecological park with a large lagoon on one side and the beach on the other side. We toured the lagoon with a boat and we spotted two lazy crocodiles. The trees around the lagoon were destroyed by a recent hurricane. The tree were literally burned by the excess of the sea water.

After the lagoon tour, we went to the beach which had clear water and more clear water!

Bye Bye Dengue

Finally the Dengue Fever is over! These are the times when you wish men would go through child birth.

Yesterday, we all went to Mamita’s beach again. There was little waves and the kids had a lot of fun with the buggy boards.

It felt like being in Italy, the conversation were about which cell phone to use, which restaurant to go and of course who has the better tan! Sorry to make fun of my compatriots but sometimes the stereotype fits…

Mamita’s Beach

Today Vito’s paper and other local businesses were sponsoring a beach volley ball at Mamita’s , a beach club on the northern tip of the Playa del Carmen main beach.

Finally I got the kids interested in the beach! The water was transparent, no algae, no rocks, no waves…. I think they did not see the difference with the swimming pool. They had a blast!

I think Mamita’s will be my beaches of choice… by the way located very close to the kid’s school.

Dengue Fever

It is Alain’s turn to be sick... when will it ever be my turn to do nothing?

He has fever and back pain and no other symptoms. So we went to the Cuban doctor recommended by Julieta, who confirmed what she had predicted: he has Dengue Fever!

You Dengue through mosquito bites. There is a dangerous version and benine one – the one he's got - but still annoying because you are feverish and generally weak. Alain is clearly a city person, too much nature never agrees with him too well!

First BBQ in Playa

It was time to continue the BBQ tradition in Playa. As usual there were as many kids than adults. The kids managed to play with the TV box all night and the adults… well food and alcohol usually are sufficient to make everyone happy :-)

The Perfect Storm

We were all set for our first BBQ but we had to postpone because of a *huge* thunderstorm. Alain got stuck at Sam’s Club (what a distress for Alain!) and the thunder sounds were really scary. It felt like the sky was opening up over your heads.

The storm blew up the cable modem and the Vonage box, so we lost Internet and phone.

Julieta (Vito’s wife) hurt her ankle going down the stairs (which were soaked wet from the thunderstorm) and now she has a cast.

The Storms in Playa are not a joke: the basement of the Office Depot parking was flooded, there were lakes (not puddles) everywhere…

Alain managed to be an efficient shopper regardless: DVD player, plastic white table for outdoor, office chair to work, drawers to organize toys.

It is scary how much stuff we are accumulating: we are going to need movers in a year from now.

A full academic schedule

Today I went to buy books and uniforms for school… This school is very nice, but the curriculum is crazy! The program for pre-K is more advanced that Kindergarden in New York. They have seven books each, homewoek and exercise to do, they will learn to write *both* upper and lower case and will have to master all kinds of logic exercises.

Wow, I would be happy if they just agreed to sit down for one hour!

I hope that they exposed children to all these materials without expecting everybody to perform. Otherwise my kids will not graduate from Mexican pre-K.

In the afternoon, I talked to Cecilia at the swimming pool who is the mother of Sofia, a fierce 3 ½ year old, and she was telling me that they start this drilling of writing already at 3!

Okeeeeeeeyyyyyyyy this is going to be really interesting!

The Kid and the Cat

Oscar is the human version of Isa and Isa the feline version of Oscar. I feel I should expect the same level of anarchy from both of them. The problem is really when they decide to act on it the same day!

We went to school at 8 a.m. sharp, and that’s is a real challenge for us! We presented the documents; we are only missing the CURP (a kind of social security number) for the kids.

The boys had to take a small test, which of course Oscar refused to do. We do the same thing at home and he enjoys doing it, but in school, where he was expected to do them, it was a lot less fun!!!

I talked to the English teacher, a very sweet person from Albany NY (!!!), who did not seem surprised by his behavior. I cross my finger that she will know how to handle him. Matthias was conforming and telling Oscar “you have to do the paper”. Their little friend Luna, the one we met at the pediatrician, was there and it is clear they were a little gang.

This same morning, Isa did not show up for breakfast. She must have gone out the house the night before exploring the area. So here we are again looking for Isa, but this time we are a little more confident that she will come back, like she did in Brooklyn. At dinner time, she realized that in our house had food and thus showed up just in time for her meal. Benny gave her the big welcome.

Superman

Matthias and Oscar both have an ear infection. Lisa, Lorenzo's wife recommend a pediatrican and I went to see him yesterday. Apparently it's too much swimming pool! They need antibiotics and, for Oscar, also ear drops. The doctor gave us a prescription, which looked a bit like a shopping list on the back of a regular piece of paper, but we got what we needed from the local pharmacy.

At the doctor, I met Lara, an Italian woman with a little girl of M & O age who is going to attend the same school.

The problem now is: how to keep these kids two days out of the water?

Well, we went to the movies today. The choices are limited so I took them to see "Superman Returns". That should tell you how little I know about the whole "Superman" thing... that movie was *not* for kids!

Some scenes were pretty scary for 4-year olds, so I had to reassure them through the movie that, no matter how bad the situation seemed, Superman was going to show up real soon. But at times, it was so intense that they were literally jumping off their seats! Maybe it was a bit too much going from "Dora The Explorer" to "Superman" without proper transition.

On the way back, we met Anjelica, Angeliquita and the all family. We promised to visit them as soon as the ear infections are over.

Viva Internet!

FINALLY! The tech guy from Cablemas, the local cable company, came today to hook up our Internet connection. We had been going through a week of missed appointments and delays so we are so happy to be finally connected.

At the same time, we also have SKY, the satellite TV. We did not get TV from the cable company because they do not have yet the "Paquete Internacional".

Since our phone is with Vonage, we can now call our friends in the US and Europe just as easily as if we were in the US. The good partis that we can be in touch with everybody, the bad part is that the telemarketers are following us here...

Finally in the new house!

We moved in the new house, we love it! He took us some packing and sweating and reorganizing but by now we are trained!

The house has a large living area and roomy kitchen for whoever wants to come and is in need of cooking, the rooms upstairs are spacious. Only the cats seem upset that they to changed environment again…oh well!

The outdoor space is shared with the neighbors but it has a good amount of plants and flowers which gives a good feeling.

We also tried the new swimming pool, which is this time a bit further away: we have to cross the path in front of the house. Around the pool there are deck chairs and tables under the palapa where you can sip a margarita or play cards.

At the new swimming pool, I met Martina from Palermo, she is the daughter of Benedetto, the guy of Café Gitano. She is 9 years old but wise as a 19 year old. She gave me same tips on which beach to go and told me about the clientele at Cage Gitano.

Believe it or not, the technicians from Sky and from Cablemas are both here at the same time. I hope this time we are finally going to get connected. That is going to change our life.

Xaman-Ha

This morning we finally went to see Xaman-Ha, a bird sanctuary in Playacar that we had planned to visit for a while. It’s not very big but you can see flamingos, pelicans, macaws, tucans…and many other local birds whose name I forgot. M & O loved it: they just want to see more, more and more animals.

After the “jungle tour”, we went to Sam’s Club to get stuff for the new house: sheets, towels, pots and pans ($50 dollars for 17 pieces, not bad). It is kind of refreshing to be in a country where they sell product made in that country. “Hecho in Mexico” instead of “Made in China” is a nice change! We are looking forward to be in the new house and to make it homey.

Playground

Alain spent most of the day at the Internet Café, so I took the kids for the afternoon stroll with our now traditional stop at the beachside playground. Our new routine is very much like in Brooklyn, except that here, they get to breathe the air from the Caribbean Sea while they play.

At the playground, a woman started to talk to me in all kind of languages until I finally figured out she was Italian. She was selling handcraft jewelry so I felt obliged to sustain her effort by buying something. I did not really like anything she had, so she went home and came back a little later with the bracelet I wanted. She had traveled all over Mexico and finally settled in Playa with her boyfriend. She is from the province of Sondrio (close to the Suisse border) and she does not want to go back (who can blame her!).

Xcaret

Xcaret is a must-see for tourists with kids. It's an eco-park with all sorts of animals in an amazing setting. See their website for details: http://www.xcaret.com/. What it is amazing is that even in such a touristy destination, you have a total respect for nature and the all constructions are totally immersed in nature. The restaurants have a delicious buffet, and everything is organized, but without been obsessively organized.

We saw plenty of tropical birds, turtles, and all the animals that M&O see in “Diego” their favorite TV show. We bathed in a natural pool while a big rain storm came down on us. It was fun until the thunderstorms started so we decided that it was better to get out and run for cover.

After the thunderstorm experience, we were kind of tired and we could not decide what to do next so we started to follow a large group of people that were all going in the same direction. We got into a huge theater where we saw an impressive 2-hour show. It was about the history of Mexico, starting with the Indians, the Spanish conquerors, all the way to early 20th century Mexico, all with dance and costumes.

The first part about the Mayan culture was the most intriguing: we show a game that was sort of ancestor of hockey, but he ball was literally in fire! The kids were fascinated.

Life like in Cefalù (minus the Cathedral!)

Living here is like living Cefalù: you go somewhere and you meet someone you know, you stop by for a little chat and go on with your day. Today, I went to Monex again to give them the rest of the information they needed..

On the way there I met Vito, who was at Café Gitano just across from Monex. Café Gitano is owned by Benedetto, a guy from Palermo… I am sure soon I will find a long lost cousin.

I forgot to mention a major improvement in my life: I do not do laundry anymore. One year of no washing, drying, ironing, and folding sounds pretty good to me. I guess I could do this in the States as well, but here, I trust the Italian guy who owns the local Laundromat, I know he’ll use the good Mexican soap and not some cheap version of Tides. Plus the folding is impeccable. On the top of that, I get a discount!

In the afternoon, we discovered a new beach south of Playa, close to the Copacabana Hotel. There were few bungalows with some hippy French tourists and a family of Mexican and basically that’s it. The water was warm and clear. I also came to this sad conclusion: Oscar is like Alain, he prefers the beach at sundown!

Music and Carnival

You know that you have extra time when you can plunge in a book and not let it go until the end. My friend Elin gave me this great book for my birthday, which brought me back to Brooklyn, complete with its odors (!!!) and the city’s mugginess. Well for now I don’t miss the city, but I do miss the people….

Jorge, M & O little friend, went back to Mexico City today, so we all said goodbye and took few pictures. Matthias found his class album, and looked at the photos of his friends from Park Slop. He said he misses Bianca and asked me if she will come and visit. We hope she does.

In the afternoon, we took the kids to the “carnival” (small amusement park) again, and on the way we did a late afternoon stroll on the beach.

The beach at Playa is not just a place for tanning and bathing: at sun down, you have all kinds of activities taking place right on the beach, a real social life. There are a lot of bars with tables, tourists, and late bathers and just people walking around.

There was a local band playing on the Plaza Principal. They were pretty good and Oscar was dancing to the music. We got closer and discovered that the audience was 100% Mexicans, not one tourist! No one was dancing yet, and there was food and drinks but I did not know what the occasion was.

At that point, Matthias was putting pressure (as only Matthias can!) to go to the “Carnival” so we left even though I would have liked to stay longer. The rides are not expensive (10 pesos, 90 cents) but they give you a lot of value for your money: the Merry-go-around last forever, like a good 15 minutes.

Another woman in Oscar’s life

Oscar seems to like all the women of Mexico. We met Carolina, a very cute and sweet 17 year old, here in vacation with her older sister and her niece Anjelica, a very determined 2 year old. But Oscar loves Carolina and he glued himself to her all day at the pool. I made sure that Carolina was not annoyed by him but she kept saying that it was ok. She seems to like children, and she is taking good care of her niece.

Carolina wants to study medicine but, this year, she is going to go to Canada for 6 months to learn English. Jorge’ cousin also went to Canada to learn English, so I asked her if it was a coincidence, but it’s something else. In the States, people look down on Mexicans, not in Canada. Keep him mind that these two people are the White Mexican and they do not fit at all the physical stereotype.

The amazing thing it is that she is clearly from a right wing family and she considered the leader of opposition party to be as communist as Castro, but still she does not like Bush.
I clearly have to understand more about this country’s political and social make up.

We receive the lease from our new landlord: 18 pages long! Much more than the 4 we had in the lease we create to rent our own house. Oh well… all that redundancy in official documents really reminds me of Italy. Same love for important words, the abundance of sections and subsections, etc…

At least Alain will now stop asking me all the time to call Raul. This is how it works in Mexico: if someone tells you something is going to happen tomorrow (like an email), that means it is going to take a few days. Once you know that, there is no need to panic.

Vive la liberte, vive le Mexique!

I know it is suppose to be a French celebration but Mexico feels like real freedom right now. For having been part of an over-ruled world for so long it is good to know that you don’t have to wear the seat belt all the time, and you can talk on you cellular at a traffic light without having to pay 90$ fine, and you can double park for a second or two without paying 130 $ fine. Sorry Bloomberg you will not get my contribution for a year! That is the proof that sometimes, bending the rules makes life easier for everybody.

I spent the morning running errands (it’s beautiful word that my friend Cary originally thought me… I always wanted to lightly translate in Italian with “errare”). You know you are not a tourist when you have to give up few hours under the sun to do stuff.

First, I went to Monex (a kind of upscale Western Union) and the lady in charge is actually my neighbor. Every morning, even before M & O, she is swimming doing laps. I did not recognize her because she is swimming with a cap and goggles, but she recognized me. I have been here not even 3 weeks and I can’t even think about doing something anonymously.

I called my friend Stefania from the Internet Café, I can’t wait to have broadband so I can have my regular evening phone conversations and my daily updates, so it would feel more like we live in a different neighborhood than a different country.

While I was running my errands, Oscar was shopping for another mother at the swimming pool. Apparently Alain said that he fall in love with Jorge’s mother, and he was hugging her and did not want her to go. These men are all the same: anyone’s mother is good enough! (I told you that Oscar has a thing for “older” and “latino”). I guess, after he got reprimanded yesterday, he realized that maybe he did not have such a good deal. He also changed his name to “San Diego”. I fail to see what my son has in common with a Saint but that is what he answered when his newfound mother asked him for his name…!?

Talking about names, I don’t even attempt Veronique anymore: I go straight for Veronica (or Beronica as they pronounce it) and I suddenly realize that my life is so much easier.

In the States I used Veronica for the restaurant or the dry cleaner. Here is for everybody, and it is part of the general rule of relaxation. Why I do want to explain all the time that I am Italian but I have a French name and all that blablabla and now that I am thinking about it, I should have done it long time ago… who knows, maybe I haave some missed opportunities because someone could not remember my name.

Alain tonight felt patriotic (Bastille Day) so went for a stroll (the famous “passeggiata”) on the Quinta. It was very pleasant, there was a little breeze and tourists are starting to fill up the restaurants and bars. The kids had ice-cream but after an entire day of swimming, they were exhausted.

The Movie

After a quiet morning practicing jumping in the pool, I thought that I should take the kids to the movies. They deserved it since they were dragged through administrative tasks this past few days. Alain stayed home to get some work done.

Here we are, mother and two kids in the car going to “Pelican Plaza” for our first movie in Spanish. We went to see “Cars”, and I was thrilled, as you can imagine. Well at least I got to listen to some Walt Disney in Spanish.

On the way out from the theater, there was a inflatable castle-trampoline. Of course, Oscar had to do an Oscar “thing”. First he wanted to go in, but then he did not want to wear the paper bracelet and he put his shoes back on, in sign of defiance. Then he came back, reluctantly put the bracelet, got in, cried the all time and did not want to jump.
I could have killed him so I decided that it was better that he stayed in the trampoline for his own sake.

On the way back, he got a major reprimand, and we start taking away privileges and see how it will work! Or will not… What will he be at 15???! Matthias was also defiant because I was reprimanding his brother. Alliances are nice but you will have to live with the consequences.

Car Insurance

The rule is everything bureaucratic takes half a day. Today, we had to buy car insurance, which, by the way, is $400 dollars per year!!!!! That is A LOT less that what we pay in Brooklyn. Anyway the lady from the insurance company had big boops and fake white flower is her hair, but was super nice. She made all kinds of phone calls, she sent faxes, she gave candies to the kids… all this took almost 3 hours.

Finally we went to pick up our gray Pointer Volkswagen. So I met the famous Amir, Israeli, part owner of the Internet Café, part owner of the car, part real estate agent. A tall, bold, muscular guy, that plays domino all day with his Mexican associate. He told me he was born in a kibbutz, which in itself does not tell me much, but he continued saying that he was playing professional basketball in Italy and then he also lived in NY and Atlanta. So I told him about my Israeli athletic connection to Vlad and his brother, and he said he knew them. Go figure… I have to double check!

I also had a long conversation with the Italian guy who owns the cleaning store next to our house. It is interesting to know every life story, because every story is a bit different. He moved to Playa not long ago and before that he was living in Belize for four years and before that in Texas. He gave me few tips about life in Playa and the Italians he knows here.

The kids finally realize that “Mexico” is not only a beach, and that we are “in Mexico” even if we are not actually at the beach. Sometimes when they get reprimanded, they say they want to go “home” (which they also refer to as “the trampoline house”). I feel a little self-conscious but I know it is just a way for them to refer to a place where they feel cozy. Friendship is something that already means something to them, so I also say that I will not move them around from 12 to 18 years old and I will try to hold to that promise.

We are in the paper!

I just bought “Il Sole d’Italia” (Vito’s paper) and we are officially mentioned in the article about the celebration of the World Cup in Playa del Carmen. I guess a French-Italian family watching the match at his office was news-worthy!

It is finally sinking in that we are becoming Mexican residents. Up to know, I have been amazed by the fact that so many things that are the same as in the States. But today, driving in the Calle Benito Juarez (a busy commercial avenue) we could see street vendors, men riding bikes with a sort of cart in front, mothers crossing the street with sleeping baby in their arms, and flocks of tourist who appeared a bit overwhelmed by the heat and the new environment… it was more than obvious that we were *not* in the United States!

We put in a deposit on the new house, and we are really looking forward to move on August 1st. Alain wants to buy a desk and an office chair and even a TV with a TV stand! I could live with the TV being on a chair, but Alain said we don’t have to live like students… I think we can… we are student of a new life.

The house search is over

It is 8:30 a.m. and the kids are playing the pool with Jorge, who knows Oscar’s name but he cannot remember Matthias’ so he calls him “amigo”. There are no language barriers when you are jumping in the pool.

I had a “bank” morning again to get some money to pay for the car; everything is in cash and in dollars! Viva los pesos!

In the late afternoon, we chilled out a little, Oscar had a bit of fever, but around six, everything went back to normal again. We decide to do a little trip to Sam’s club (since we are in Mexico, I think we’ve been going food shopping every other day). It is incredible; the only difference between trips at Sam’s Club and Cotsco is that my friend Elin is not there with (and she is also a Costco aficionado). Even the food is organized in the same way, and I found the same prosciutto of the same brand…it feels very exotic!

At Sam’s Club, I also like to buy the grilled chicken that I always snubbed at Costco, since I discovered that the kids like it, so an evening without cooking feels good to me.

On the way back, we stopped to see if there were any “For Rent” signs in our favorite block of houses, which is close to our present home. Actually there was one, so we called the number and 20 minutes later, we went to see the house.

We liked it, it felt more like a real home and there are a lot of kids around so M & O will have friends to play with after school. In Playa, you do not organize playdates as in the States, you play with the kids in your neighborhood so you better make sure than there are actually some around.

There is a little guest room downstairs with a mini private bathroom; we will make it cozy for you all!

Also, the house is cable-ready, so we can have broadband Internet and feel connected to the world again….
Our new landlord is Raul and lives in Mexico City. I guess it corresponds to what a New Yorker is to United States. He has an iPod, he is cool in an urban type of way, but the difference with your average neurotic New Yorker is that he is very pleasant and relaxed.

Italy won!

Back in the pool, the kids are now definitely swimming. They made a new friend: Jorge. He is a real sweet kid, the cousin of the brother of the French teacher who lives close by (are you following?).

Jorge is 7 years old, he lives in Mexico City but he is here on vacation. He likes soccer and he was hoping Italy will win, so he is also my friend.

We went to Vitto’s office to follow the game. Oscar was wearing the French soccer team t-shirt and Matthias the Italian one. The game was excruciating but finally Italy made it.

We took a walk on the Quinta half an hour later and the Italian supporters were still hugging each other.

Vito’s wife, Juliet, told us about this other area called Campestre a little further away than Playcar where there was a big house for rent, so we went to see it. In a way, the place looks more authentic in the sense that there are Mexicans living there instead of tourists. The house was big but unfurnished. So we don’t know we are still searching!

Searching for a house

The house situation is consuming most of our energy. We have visited a few alternatives through a real estate agent, but none of them we really liked. We decided to take the bull by the horn and drove went around Playacar, writing down the phone numbers of house for rent or sale (sometimes they agree to rent yearly) but I guess we will have to visit a few real estate shops as well.

We bought a car

To live here, we will need a car to go back and forth between Playacar and Playa del Carmen, to go grocery shopping and starting next month, to take the kids to school. There is no public transportation available besides taxis that charges tourists 5 dollars for the smallest ride. Let’s face it, we’ll always be taken for tourists, thanks to my blond child.

To make a long story short, Alain bought the car (a 2004 Volkswagen Pointer) from the owner of the Internet Café where he goes every day. The guy is Israeli. Israelis, like Italians, are everywhere! Anyway, we hope to have it in the next few days, assuming Chase does not make it impossible for us to transfer money to our Mexican bank account.

In the afternoon, the kids wanted their share of “brown ice cream”, so we went to La Quinta and visited the local Hagen Daaz. Their prices are crazy: 4 dollars for a single scoop chocolate ice cream.

We also went looking for Corto Maltes, the cabanas complex where we stayed during our vacation in 1997. Well no more! They are now building 15 luxury apartments on the beach. The two French guys who owned the place at that time were complaining about the expansion of Playa, I guess it is now their turn to take advantage of it. It was a bit disappointing; we had such a good vacation there! But at the same time, it is prime real estate, so who can blame them? For consolation, the condominiums (always only three stories high) will be called Corto Maltes as well.

On the way home, I finally found the little Italian grocery store I have been hearing about. I chatted with the owner, we talked about soccer, obviously, and, as always, he enjoyed the fact I have a French husband on the eve of the WC Finals!

Back to the Bank

Strangely enough, I am a lot more patient here. Things take time here. It’s not a lack of efficiency or sloppiness, it’s just the way things are.

Today we went to open a bank account. The process took a good two hours. But now we have a debit card and it now feels like we are officially and financially here. We immediately made good use of the brand new debit card by going grocery shopping in one of the many superstores the city has to offer :-)

Life is hard, even in Mexico, so we needed help. We now have a cleaning lady and my status of exploitative expatriate is now complete. It costs us 200 pesos ($20) to clean the 3-story house. Alain was questioning whether we really needed a cleaning lady… I said “Hell Yeah! For 20 dollars, even if we are unemployed, we need cleaning lady!” I know that you think, and I feel totally self-conscious but it is true that we pay a cleaning lady a lot more in NY but here at least she does not have to emigrate and suffer the harsh NY winter and discrimination.

Talking about discrimination, Lorenzo was telling me that the Mexican of Hispanic (white) origin threat badly the ones of Indian origin. It seems such a rotten fate to be discriminated both inside and outside your country.

I also asked Lorenzo about my previous socio-economic concern: how come there so many superstores around? Apparently the standards of living here are pretty compared to the rest of Mexico (thanks to the booming tourist industry). A waiter can make up to $2,000 US dollars a month. Assuming he does not live on La Quinta or Playacar, rent will be cheap, and he will definitely be able to afford the goods at Walmart and Sam’s Club and a small car to carry the good back home.

Back to the pool and the kids are now swimming for about 2 meters on their own. They are really getting a kick out of it!

Finding a school... that will accept Oscar!

This morning we had to register the kids at the school. We went to the closest one, the Escuela Manuel Acosta located at the entrance of Playacar. The director was nice and professional, but unfortunately the kids had to do a test. Two teachers came to take them to separate rooms to take the test, and I was surprised that M&O left with them without saying a word. Did they finally mature into law-abiding students? Our hope was short lived. Turns out that Oscar only agreed to participate to the first 3 exercises and just wanted to flip the pages to see what’s next. Matthias was more cooperative but still borderline. In the end, the director told us they could not accept Oscar, and recommended another school with a more “liberal” approach to learning, called Papalote.

On our way to Papalote, we made a mistake and entered into another bilingual school just a few blocks away, called Yats’il. The building was beautiful, with a lot of tropical character with wooden shade and a big internal courtyard with a playground and green everywhere. Once we realized the mistake, we went to check out Papalote but I did not like it so we went back to Yats’il (which we found later, has an excellent reputation).

School starts sometimes at the end of August. The kids will wear a uniform: short sleeve polo shirt and short pants but closed shoes! I had a very good impression of the school director and her daughter, who seems to be in charge of admissions. They had lived in Paris when the daughter was in Kindergarten and their French helped my Spanish. It was a good connection. Anyway, we decided to pay monthly. You never know with my kids how things are going to turn out!!!!

We also had to renew our car rental while we are still looking to buy a used car. By the time we got home, the France-Portugal had already started.

During the game, the kids were playing in the pool and were looking at a bunch of teenagers who gave them their first taste of life at 16 years old: cigarettes, French kissing, etc. Well they could not have learnt that at the Red Hook pool because there, you are not allowed to kiss!

France beat Portugal without glory, so we will have to figure out how to watch the finals on Sunday. I hate France-Italy games because many times the French just get lucky without making too much effort like today against Portugal.

After the game, the kids wanted to practice swimming on their own, like “big boys”. Oscar was jumping into the big pool, almost touching the bottom then swimming back up to me. Matthias was going back and forward between Alain and the ladder. They were really excited about learning to swim on their own. Maybe they will not be corporate executives but they seem to have potential with physical activities.

We are not BBQing

Alain went to work… which, in our Mexican lifestyle, translates to driving a couple minutes to the Internet Café and sipping coffee while uploading yesterday’s work.

While America is BBQing, we are just floating in the pool. Summer vacationers have started to arrive in our little neighborhood and unfortunately the first batch was not very pleasant. An American father and his two kids came to the pool. I said “hola” to the father who did not even acknowledge my presence so I decided to ignore him and his offspring. The little boy was just as obnoxious as his father. He said to M&O “so you *do* speak English?” and continued on ignoring them. The little girl seemed nicer and Oscar played a bit with her although, let’s face it, she was no match for his new Hispanic playmates. For the icing on the cake, here is what the kid told his father as they were leaving the pool: “Father, by the way, I wanted to thank you for taking time off to come with us to the swimming pool”. Yikes… what type of family is that? Would they thank each other for flushing the toilets?

M & O are starting to get some good colors and are looking more and more like the players in French national Soccer team (you know what I am talking about if you have seen the games). Talking about soccer, Italy just beat Germany with a spectacular game ending in 2-0. (Sorry Dirk! But imagine how your life would be difficult in a final Germany vs. France. By the way, Alain might have a problem. In fact if Italy is playing with France, he will have to watch the game at Walmart).

I will take a moment to congratulate myself and all my Italian friends for supporting Italy in these grandiose moments and for criticizing it the rest of the time. For me, who cares about soccer only on during the World Cup, I think it’s good to be patriotic for a month every four year and then be international the rest of the time.

Later on that day, we went to visit an incredible Spa and hotel just down the street from our house. The Spa is inside a Maya Pyramid style construction (a little kitsch), but the inside is very luxurious and they have all kinds of way to pamper their guests: from water therapy, to massage, and including been wrapped into chocolate. For the people who want to generate a minimum of effort they also have a gym, spinning classes and a climbing wall…but we are not going to be climbing walls, are we?

It is funny how living in New York takes away the wow effect… the guy who gave us the tour was still impressed by the place even if he works there. Meanwhile we felt we had to look a bit impressed and not let the New York “done it seen it” transpire. But hey, I was just happy to get a half hour of listening-comprehension in Spanish…

Back at the pool, I met brother of the woman who teaches French at M&O’s future school, hopefully he put a good word for them.

The Bank

This morning, I thought our laundry was piling up a little too much so I went to the Playcar laundry. The owner was Italian, so I think he will treat our clothes with respect.

In the afternoon I went to run errands just to get the feel of a resident’s life. I went to check two banks to see what I need to open a checking account. Once again, I was reminded that I should take a book with me at all times to make good use of my waiting time. Even when the line is small, there is still a good amount of waiting because people chit-chat and they are not in really in any hurry. Plus today was pay day, so everybody was lining up at the bank to cash their check (direct deposit seems like a foreign concept).

La Quinta

This morning we finally found the courage to stroll down La Quinta (5th Avenue). It was hot but there was a little breeze, so we went for it, a real stroll, like the Italian “passeggiata”. La Quinta is a pedestrian street parallel to the beach with little stores, cafés and restaurants. It’s clearly touristy but pleasant. We stopped for “brown ice cream” and expressos then went on and discovered a playground just across the Cozumel ferry docks.

Today is the presidential election in Mexico, and I am telling you this country is committed to democracy. The voting polls were under huge tents, some sponsored by Corona…is that really politically correct? ;-) The hot sun did not prevent people from lining up for hours. If it was the States, we would have a 1% turnout. On the top of it, no one was showing any sign of impatience or irritation. Some women were chatting under a huge umbrella, one man was playing guitar and so on.

Sorry but I have to mention another superstore shopping experience: we went to Mega, which is sort of a Mexican Walmart, located just next door to…Walmart! We bought cell phones and beach towels. Mega has an incredible selection of food, pastries and pretty much everything else.

I really need to ask someone about all these huge stores in such a small town. In Brooklyn, there must be at least 5 million people, and we have one Costco, a (new) Fairway, and a few C-Towns and Key Foods, but that does not come close. In Playa, there must be 10 to 20 thousand people and FOUR megastores. It maybe 30 to 40% less expensive than in New York… but average Mexican wages are probably way less 40% of NY wages… I need to figure out the local economy a bit better.

Walmart

It is a routine already: 8:30 a.m. and the kids are in the pool. It has never been easier to take care of them. Mothers of the world unite… we need a pool in every house!

To complete yesterday’s shopping experience, today we went to Walmart. We needed some extension cables, plus floaties for the pool and more varieties of pasta (absolutely!). We ended up with two carts full of stuff. If you ever been in a Walmart in the States, you have not seen anything like *this* Walmart. The food is fresh, the service is excellent, the air conditioning is at the right temperature and you can’t even believe that you are in Mexico… it is surreal!

In the afternoon we watched Brazil-France (Alain reclaimed his French citizenship… for one day). After the game, Alain went to an Internet Café to work a bit, while I was dedicating myself to be a good mother in the swimming pool with M &O (I still want to be in the competition for Mother of the Year).

The AC in our bedroom does not work so we moved in the middle of the night to the guest bedroom. Lorenzo stopped by to take look and he called his Italian friend repairman to come fix it on Monday.

By the time Alain came back the kids were already in bed and completely exhausted. I don’t get how we are going to be able to fit a school schedule in this. After dinner, Vito stopped by so we finally got to meet the person who inspired us to choose Playa. He is really nice and we hope to see a lot of him.

The Reef

This morning, I decided that the place was too messy with all the suitcases opened up on the floor and it was time to put a bit of order in this house. I can’t believe how much clothing my kids have…and they are boys!

We loaded the kids in our tiny car and headed for The Reef, a hotel-resort 5 minutes away from the house. The resort is in a beautiful okra-red color, surrounded by trees and nature (we even went by an iguana enjoying a ray of sun).

There are two pools and obviously the beach, with turquoise super-warm water. The biggest problem of the day was to choose between the beach, pool number 1 or pool number 2, where the kids made friends. Pool number 2 had also the advantage to be around a bar, so we had easy access to pinacoladas and mojitos. We had lunch at the restaurant by the pool. This was actually the first time M & O ate “grown-up food” in a restaurant without making or scene or without Nazi-Mom needed to force feed anyone.
The boys are almost ready to swim. Oscar was getting cozy with Emily, an Hispanic-American girl coming from Texas. Maybe one day he is going to live close to Uncle Steve, happy as can be in beautiful Houston, TX!

It is incredible to see the consistency of Oscar’s tastes: always Hispanic, always older and always with personality. Emily (or “princess” as she likes to be known) was asking me why was Oscar grabbing her all the time. I told her it was because she was good at jumping in the water. I am sure she was looking for a more flattering answer. I got to talk to the parents who seemed nice. I think we’ll need to go back to the Reef to get better acquainted with the potential in-laws.

Time Share

We woke up as in a “mid-night miracle” with all four in the same bed. It is funny to see that our wondering kids figured out immediately their way to our room. The cats also seemed to have finally settled, but the suitcases are still opened and our stuff is all over the living room.

I am spending some time with M & O in the swimming pool and trying to socialize with the neighbors to find out who has a wireless network (we NEED a password). That is my mission otherwise Alain is going to take advantage of the situation to socialize with the waitress at the Internet Café...

In the afternoon, we went looking for a car rental in downtown Playa. We were walking around and it was totally unrecognizable compared to our 1997 visit. It is impressive how they have built so much but yet everything is still pleasant.

Lorenzo had advised us to look for big companies like Avis or Herz because sometimes with the local companies you get rotten deals. But a nice guy with a big smile came out of his shop offering us a great deal on a car if we would be willing to take tour of a nearby resort. We were thinking “ok we have a year to spend here so there is no harm wasting 90 minutes visiting a resort”. Plus we would get a free buffet lunch and the great deal on the car.

We went there, had lunch, toured the place and got swallowed in mutitle sales pitches for a time-share deal. We went through three salespeople with three different degrees of aggressiveness. I had a headache. First we got the nice Mexican guy from a good family, then the tall, blond, stylish, US-educated Mexican woman, then the aggressive American with a gold watch and a gold college ring. On the top of it, we were expected to commit *on the spot* on a $70,000 purchase with no option to think about it overnight or the deal was gone. Finally after 3 hours, we managed to get out.

Later, Lorenzo stopped by and told us that the timeshare trick it is like a rite of passage for all foreigners … well we feel better :-)

The Departure

After a 24 hours packing spree…we finished at 5 a.m. in the morning, the taxi-van came to pick us up at 6 a.m. Well the timing was perfect and we did not have to worry where we had a mattress available to sleep that night (as our friend Shai had predicted). We were pretty tired but now we had to gather all the adrenaline necessary for the trip. The flight was unusually smooth, the kids behave well and the cats were super quiet, to the point that my neighbor did not notice I had a cat until we got to Cancun. Even our 30 minutes layover in Houston turned out to our benefit because a little motorized cart came to pick us up. And if you know Huston airport, you must know that is a huge advantage. There were at least three miles between gates.

The plane was packed with well-behaved Americans. It arrived in Cancun on time, the immigration was a long, but fast moving line. Apparently once in Mexico people know which line to choose by themselves, in fact you do not need an obnoxious individual shouting at you or a big fat yellow line. We were able to figure that out just as easily!

The kids were running on the conveyor belt (which fortunately was not on) while we filled up the immigration paperwork …and no one was saying anything. No one accusing Matthias and Oscar of terrorism or more appropriately drug traffic! Anyway I went to pick up my uncontrollable kids and Matthias ask the custom office if we were in Mexico? Just checking…

Believe it or not the 5 pieces of luggage and two car seats were there waiting for us, the paper work for the cats was reviewed rapidly, and in no time we are in a giant van on the way to our new home.

I called Lorenzo, our local savior, that was going to meet us at the house. I had to come all the way to Mexico to experience a trip with 2 kids, 2 cats, 1 husband, 2 huge suitcases, 3 big bags, hot and humid temperature and a sleepless night and still be in a good mood…

I am writing it so that I will believe myself one day.

The house we are staying this first month it is very fancy, there are three floors and on the top floor there is bedroom with a huge king size bed, with huge bathroom and a walking closet as big as my Manhattan apartment, middle floor the kids room, the guest room (ding ding), and another bathroom and the ground floor is a large living area with big kitchen and an half bath.

The cats, after few hours under the sofa, got possession of the house. Lorenzo bought a scratching pad with a game and litter for them… I told you he was our savior! He gave us interesting information. For instance: the resident of playacar (the residential area where we live) have access to an hotel close by and can use the facility of the hotel (beach, pool, kids activities, etc) for free. Wow! That is life as it should be!

We have a common pool 5 meters away from the house, and of course as soon as we got here the kids jumped in it. That is guarantee hour of peace and from my living room I can see them and enjoy a moment of peace while the monsters jump up and down in the water.

We went to a local deli to buy little things for breakfast and we ordered a pizza for dinner but we got two for the price of one, it is like the margaritas! We had a little not up-to-standard margarita bought at the convenience store but, at this point of the night, we were really really tired so we gulped without a problem.