Open Doorways

Sorting through photos from our May/June trip to Isla Mujeres, I noticed a lot of open doorways.  I usually snap photos of closed doors!

A peek into the laundry on Juarez -- Tim Pho.  The name sounded Chinese to me until a cabdriver told me Tim Pho's Mayan for laundry.  Was he pulling my leg?

A small tienda on Juarez sells the daily newspapers.

There's a cute little restaurant across from the square now -- Q Bravo.  Their baguette sandwiches are very good!

A glimpse into the mini-super on Juarez across from the Navy base.

This doorway's partially open!

I've never passed the doorway into Hemingway's Cantina (sorry I can never remember the new name).  Maybe I'm leery of that cuidado con el perro sign.

Not a doorway into Cafe Cito, but you could step right through that window!

The view through the open doorway at Poc Na is one of my favorites!

Step right into the corner tienda on Hidalgo to pick up cool drinks for the beach!

Finally after all these years, I caught this door open!  It appears to be a dressmarker's/sewing shop.

Happy Saturday!  Try not to labor too much on Labor Day weekend!

Hot Mess

I'm happy to report I passed a pulmonary function test yesterday and I'm normal. I also don't have pertussis, or at least it didn't show up in the blood test taken at the 11 week mark in my summer marathon.  The official diagnosis is -- drum roll -- I'm a hot mess!

You'd think I'd be out singing and dancing to celebrate my normal lungs, but I've lost my Get Out of Jail Free card.  I cannot pass Go (make any travel plans for the future) because I cannot sing (talk) and I cannot dance (walk).  I'm off to the ENT next week for an assessment of the damage to my vocal cords, and hopefully on my way to that office, I can stop off at the hospital for the MRI that was ordered for my knee.

Then on the way home, I'll stop off for some cheese to go with my whine.  (Craig can run in while I sit in the car.)  Enough already!

My husband often tells me that I edit Isla Mujeres down to a gorgeous white sand beach and quaint brightly painted Caribbean structures and fail to show its -- how shall I say it -- funkier messy parts. So these photos are about keepin' it real.

Hey -- I think an orange moto against a distressed blue background is pretty!

Necessity is the mother of invention.  A plastic bucket will do just fine for a flowering shrub, and a propane tank makes a great plant stand.

In all fairness, I think this cart's parked in front of an upholsterer's shop, so it's probably waiting for a reno job. We see this style of golfcart around our neighborhood.  A 2-seater style like this at a home expo in April listed in the $25,000 range.  Seriously!  I'd rather buy a small SUV!

Watch out for prehistoric looking things that crawl.  I almost stepped on this iguana getting off my barstool at the Soggy Peso.

Here's an affordable new casa on the airport strip. It's actually not very gritty.  I like the color scheme!

Island style bike rack.

Painted buckets, conch shells, and painted rebar make colorful front porch decor affordable.

Shops sometimes have scary official signs when they get suspended from doing business for one reason or another (but the guy was still out front trying to lure tourists into the shop)!

This sign looks a little threatening since I only recognize the word policia.

I love a blue door with its own parking space in front.

A kitty squatter on a bed of concrete bags and trash.

Looks like they started to paint?

Meanwhile, back at the carniceria.

Abandoned licoreria (liquor store).


As Porky Pig used to say -- That's all folks!  Hasta manana!
(You do know manana doesn't necessarily mean tomorrow!)

The Saturday P Update

I think I'm at the eight week mark now with this gift and yes, my symptoms are still like a Nyquil commercial.  Add no energy whatsoever and little sores all over my mouth. (Those are probably caused by the big-assed inhaler.)

I actually went to a Kohl's store a week ago because I feared my credit card might expire from lack of use. That or I would miss the last call to buy summer clothes on sale for my next tropical trip.  Yes, I live in Arizona, but they don't sell shorts and tank tops year round.  Anyway, I felt like a 100-year old woman -- wheezing, hufffing, puffing, having to sit down and rest, etc...  Shopping is HIGHLY overrated!

While I originally poo-poo-ed pleurisy because it sounded like an old timey illness out of a Jane Austen book, I now realize my doctor was dead on with that diagnosis.  The crippling knife shooting pains in the upper back are still there and much more noticeable now. Especially if I'm in one of my pity pot moods and actually cry, which brings on the pain. Crying is also HIGHLY overrated!

My favorite ex-pro baseball player from the Dominican Republic who just happens to now be an expert granite installer was in my house on Thursday.  He looked at me and said -- you must have chikungunya.  

I laughed.  That Fausto is so funny!  We love to talk baseball with him because he's friends with Omar Vizquel, who once wrecked his Porsche at the bottom of our street in Bellevue, Washington.  Fausto also used to live in the Seattle area when he played semi-pro ball and his father-in-law is a Hall of Famer, but that name escapes my addled mind.   I also love listening to his Caribbean accent.

Anyway, Fausto explained he'd just been back to the Dominican to visit family and many of them are suffering from chikungunya.  Craig and I chuckled after he left, but I started trying to remember what he'd told me so I could tell my doctor about it next week.  I'm grasping for answers now!  We both thought he said something like chiknpoule.  Sounded like a thin chicken gumbo soup. I finally googled chicken flu in Dominican Republic this morning and found chikungunya.  I'm positive I don't have that, but it's a dengue type mosquito borne illness that has actually shown up in Arizona this summer because our mosquitos just happen to be the same.  I really should just tell Fausto to stop by for a Coke Zero whenever he's in the neighborhood because I learn a lot from that man.  And he keeps us both laughing!  

If you've read my rambling update, I suppose I should reward you with some bonus photos from Isla Mujeres!  Ding ding ding!  Here's some Saturday scenes from Hidalgo!

Never tried this place, but there must be a joke to the man(nequin) behind the menu board.

Men hangin' at the beer store.

Vivian's Qubano cats waiting ever so patiently for her to serve their lunch.

Vendor riding down Hidalgo.

A look down the hallway to the tortilleria on Hidalgo.

The corner store.

  

The Jeep Bakery by the cemetery wall.

Sunset where Hidalgo meets the sea.

Felled by P's

Where did June go?  Where did half of July go?  Prednisone, pleurisy, pertussis, plague -- I've been felled by the P's.

Shortly after landing in the U.S., I was hacked by vicious hacking.  No one knows what it is, but I have many companions.  I'm in the lucky fifth week.  Craig took two weeks to kick it, probably because he can usually kick the flu in three days.  Three rounds of antibiotics, two rounds of prednisone, various inhalers, cough medicine with codeine, breathing treatments at Urgent Care,  and I'm still whooping.  On a visit to my regular doctor on Tuesday, he noticed the telltale pain of pleurisy and ordered up another round from the pharmacy.

At a memorial service on Thursday, Craig visited with a fellow cougher.  His doctor at Urgent Care diagnosed it as possible pertussis/whooping cough/100 day cough . . . .   (I got the female doctor at Urgent Care with asthma who told me I had chronic asthma.)

So pleurisy, pertussis, or whatever the hell it is, BE GONE!  

Until then, I'm like a sleeping dog on the pavement.

Too pooped to post.

Some have suggested maybe alcohol could kill it!  Hmmmmmmmm???  (If that really worked, nobody around here would be sick.)

Everyday People

This moto and cart with mom, dad, and baby girl was headed south in the colonias.

The two brothers are still playing for tips.

Passing Guadalupana, we noticed kids running out of their houses down the sidewalk and stopped.  Regalos! What a happy day! People in a cart (looks like it was decorated for the regatta parade?) were handing out toys.

They're young and it was raining.  What scares me is that they're barefoot!  Ick.

Strolling Hidalgo.

This man spent more than a day trimming all the coco palms where we stay.  Machete, rope, and a ladder. Fronds and cocos come down, then the cocos are carried away to sell.  The less desirable are laid out by the street and people on motos pull up, have a friendly conversation, and take one or two.  Late in the afternoon, we returned to the house and he was sleeping under the tree.  Hard work!

These guys deliver water garrafons.  Set the empty blue container out front on the porch with the correct number of pesos and they do the exchange.  Agua purificada.

Cute little girl headed up Juarez with mom.

A musician headed to a gig on the mainland?

Rainy day people.

Let's twist again, like we did last summer!

Ay yi yi!  Bet he gets dizzy riding that bull all day chasing that turtle!

Sunday Scenes from El Centro

A maletero on Rueda Medina pedaling some poor soul's luggage to the ferry dock.

When we first considered visiting Isla Mujeres, a woman at the gym turned up her nose and said,  Ohhhhh. The backpacker island.  Isla's no longer known as the backpacker island, but backpackers are still welcome!

Peace out policia. 

The corner of Argentine Grill and Hidalgo.

 The former Manana on Guerrero.  They'll be open manana.  Manana may never come.  They're now at Frida's.

The K-Mart Blue Light Special is now located on Guerrero in front of the post office.  The only thing missing is the revolving blue light.

Looking towards the bay from Capitan Tony's house.

Flags over the French Bistro.

Moto swimming upstream.

Sunset on Medina.

Maybe the little truck delivers Coronita's?

Where the street meets the beach.  Ahhhhhhhh.