Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Hear me purr. We found the park we were looking for. I think that the reason Marcia (in Catemaco) recommended it was that Robin is English, and there were a couple of English people helping to run the park. As it turns out, they aren't around. Antonia, the owner, is running things. She doesn't speak English, but I can manage in Spanish (a little better, every time I try). The park is less fancy - and less expensive - than where we were last night, and friendlier. There's a great swimming pool - twice the size of the one in Zihuatanejo, but with no basketball hoop. There is a water slide. Heh. The wi-fi here works better than at the more expensive place.

There are four rigs, apart from ours. One of the rigs is occupied by Bill and another is occupied by Bill (to save confusion). There is one of the ubiquitous Mexican 'stray' dogs here, this one a female who looks to be about three months old, black with a white bib. I suspect she has a home - maybe she belongs to the park - but comes around for the odd snack on the side. She's quite adorable. We've put out a bowl of water for her, and I've fed her some leftovers. We'll have to buy a can of dog food. I call the puppy Chica, because that's sort of generic, and I don't want to get too attached.

I understand why we couldn't find the park last night. We were looking for the RV park attached to the Hotel de Alba. As I said, we found the hotel, but it was nowhere near the RV park. Furthermore, the sign in front of the park reads Hotel (in small letters) at the top and de Alba (in tiny letters) at the bottom. In the centre is the word YURI, whatever that means, in huge capital letters. I hardly managed to spot the place in broad daylight. Somehow I had missed the YURI part when I wrote down the particulars.

Never mind, though. We're here, and we like it here, and we've booked in for a week. We may even stay two weeks. I get to sit still for a while. Hooray!

Now. This morning, back at the lovely Hotel Torre Molino, I went to check out the facilities. Traditionally, Robin showers in the park facility, and I use our own, because I feel creepy about public showers. I have been trying to change, but I'm just not a public shower sort of lady. Today, in the interest of openness, I did walk over to what turned out to be a clean, well-kept washroom. There were, I think, three shower stalls. They were lined with white tile. I ended up not examining them as closely as I had intended, because when I looked into the first one, I saw that there was a drain about four inches across, with a slotted plate on top. A couple of inches from the plate, there was something moving. I looked more closely. I have no idea what the thing was, but it was just about as long as the drain plate was wide. It looked like an earwig to fit an elephant. It was lying on its back and waving its legs in the air. I went back to the RV and got my camera. When I can finally upload photos, I will post a picture of whatever it was, to demonstrate Why I Don't Use Public Showers. Can you imagine? You're washing your hair, lathering away, and you get a bit of shampoo in your eye, and while your eyes are closed, you feel something touch your foot, and you scramble to clear your eyes, and you see - THAT? oh.my.god.

EDIT: I found out what I saw in the shower. It was a giant water bug. They bite. Tonight, I walked out to the swimming pool in our new park, and I saw one floating in the pool. When Robin went to look at it, it swam to the bottom of the pool.

I am still in the tropics, as witness that last paragraph. But we have turned north, and I am glad we made that decision. Yesterday, when our brakes failed, we thought about how much worse the situation would have been if we had been on some twisty little jungle road in the Yucatan. (Actually, we also thought about that downhill curve that went on for six miles, and how it could have happened there, but there are some things that don't bear thinking about.) We have come far enough north now that, as I write, there is a cool breeze from the Gulf blowing through the window, and the air conditioner is not running. Not even the fan is running. That horrible buzzing noise in my head is quiet, at last.

We like it here. Did I say that? We are only two days from the Texas border, but we are still in Mexico, and I do love Mexico, so that's a good thing. We may even add the Emerald Coast - and Hotel de Alba - to our itinerary next year. As for the Yucatan, we got close enough.

I thought I was finished writing, but then I remembered that it's time to go get my laundry, and that reminded me - While we were out driving this morning, we dropped our laundry off at a place up the road run by a lady named Margarita. Margarita is a very small woman with a huge grin. She and I ended up chatting for a few minutes while Robin sat in the RV, wondering what had happened to me. I got the feeling that if we stayed here for any length of time, Margarita and I would become very good friends.

And that, my friends, is the best part of my visits to Mexico.

5 comments:

Kathryn Magendie said...

I'm smiling at the image of you and the woman chatting away like that!

Sandra Leigh said...

Ah, but there's more. When I went back this afternoon to pick up my laundry, Margarita's husband was there with her, and the three of us talked for a few minutes. They asked where I was staying, and I told them. Where was my car? Oh, I'm taking a taxi - whereupon Margarita insisted on driving me home. I invited her in for coffee, but she had to go back to work. I'm starting to hope we stay for two weeks!

Unknown said...

Really enjoyed your poem over at Found Poetry Project today-- & the story about Margarita is great. This post was an enjoyable read as always.

Debbie said...

No wonder you want to stay. Sounds lovely.

Sandra Leigh said...

John - thanks for checking out my Found Poem; and Debbie - yes, it's very calm and mostly quiet here - but I do take a really good look now, before I get into the pool!

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