The Rosas-Standring Family

We had a great little surprise this past weekend. Our very good family friend Jordan came into town with her littlest of babies, Avner. She lives in Oxkutzcab about 1 hour outside of Merida. We have been friends for a very long time first in SF, CA and now here. She needed a little break from an ALL Mayan lifestyle and ALL of her husbands family that lives on the block! hehehe. I love it because we are each others sanity escape.


Plus she loves to come visit or have me visit because we can bring each other all of the things that we cannot get in each others towns. She always needs natural vanilla and we have fresh ginger here!


Anyway. She came in on Friday afternoon and we just came home and made dinner and hung out. We made a really good fish recipe it was called pina colada grouper and it was a great name for the recipie. I will be putting it on my cooking blog. The next day I had been invited out to my friends place on the beach with the kids. It was perfect because the friend that had invited me is that great woman that we met recently, Georgia. I knew instantly that her and Jordan were going to get along really well. Their personalities, interests and very specific beliefs are so similar and I knew they would really like each other.


It was even better then I had hoped. We packed up our watermelon, guacamole and water and headed off to the beach. It was great because my friends had access to this great cabana right on the beach. The baby was able to sleep in the hammock and all the kids (4 girls and Akilean!!!) They were climbing trees, running all over the beach and playing in the water. It was a really great day. Georgia had put together this whole treasure hunt for the kids and it was really cute to watch them run all over the place with the little puppy, Cherry, chasing them all over the beach.

The little casita was so nice too. It was a large open space on the first floor that had a small table, a little place to put cloths, a little chair and a bed. Under the bed was a sand floor but there was a hardwood walkway along the edge of the room. The stairs to the 2nd floor showed an open platform with a bed and a great little window that looked directly out- unobstructed view of the ocean. I could only imagine how great it would be wake up to that. The place is for rent too so if you are interested, please let me know.

We have gotten to know more people here that we really like. There are also a lot of people here in my neighborhood and that is really nice. We all got to hang out and chat while the kids just went nuts. It was a really fun day. I think it is the first time that we have ever been to the beach when Ruben did not build a massive sand castle. It was a great day.

I think that Ruben and Juan's favorite part was all the ladies took the kids on the treasure hunt and they got to sit and relax in the hammocks.

Okay... this is a learning day for me. I got up like usual and made breakfast for the kids. Today... it was going to be oatmeal. So everything was all set, the oatmeal is ready, the kids are back from the little store with the milk and everyone is at the table.... and then

Lena starts to get very upset because there are ants in her cereal. Now for one - ants are simply part of our lives here. There are so many of all sorts of sizes and they are everywhere. But when I went to look at her food there were so many bugs. I went to the bag of oatmeal and it was completely covered in bugs. They were not ants but it was awful. The I looked in the fridge and they were all over the food in the fridge. HORRIBLE!!!!

I had to throw out a bunch of food. This is horrible in general but even more so right now because the axe finally fell on Ruben. Not too bad but he has the next 4 days off. We paid our rent and that took all the money we had which is fine but then to unexpectedly have 4 days off. That is not good.

Oh well. At least it is only 4 days and not a month like a lot of other people.

One thing I have learned about the rain here in this area of Mexico is that it comes in fast, it comes down hard and it feels amazing. It has been very dry for a few months now and we were really starting to notice. Well, the other day we were sitting at "the office" also known as Pariso Caribe on the main road in Tulum. It is just a block before (North) of the HSBC. This is one of our favorite spots in Tulum. The food is consistently good, the drinks are a great deal and the service is amazing.

It is the same few guys there all the time. We also have some friends that come here almost every afternoon so we always know that we will get to see them. Well, This day was no exception. David, Barbara and Bruce were at their table when we got there and the poker cloth quickly came out. Sometimes it is chess but more often it is poker. The guys from the restaurant also play when there are not customers. It really is a good time.

Well, the cloth came out and everyone got out their 20 pesos. You got to love a poker game where all you are going to lose is a $1.50!!! Some tourists from Switzerland walked by and the game caught their eye. They sat down with us and we all had a good time. The kids gets to watch their cartoons and eat ice cream while we all chat.


Bruce and I were talking about gardening when we started talking about how dry it had been recently and when this rain that we could tell was coming would get here. Well, it took all of 5 minutes. I took this picture just as the rain started to come down (which means you have about 15 seconds to get under cover)


The kids walked across the street to throw something in the garbage and got caught! Luckily the water that falls from the sky is very warm and refreshing. Everyone who lives here did the usual routine... grab everything and move it inside and wait the few minutes for it to pass. It passed in about 5 minutes. By then the crew was already all set up inside and decided not to move back outside.




As the night continued the street musicians came out. This is one of my favorite parts. I am not a huge mariachi fan especially on small sidewalk cafes because it almost too much music to be so close. But here in Tulum there are a lot of drummers and guitar players and we love that. Kennedy and Akilean always get really into it.


The people here love and embrace kids and the kids feel very comfortable. The kids get to really be involved in the environment which I really love about living in Mexico.

I am also discovering that Akilean is the perfect little Mexican Aztec little trainee. He is really into fire dancing. And the other day he picked up a piece of bamboo and started swinging it around like a Bo. I think that is what they are called. You know, the long sticks that people fight with. Anyway... he was really good at it. I was really impressed.

Well, the biggest piece of news around here from the past few days is that Kennedy has finally lost her left front tooth. It has been loose for many months now. It was getting really loose this past week and then these past 2 days it was a foregone conclusion. Well, I told her not to worry about it... that it will come out and that she should just play like normal. Low and behold... she came in to tell me something and I noticed that it was gone. That lead us on a 5 minute hunt in the kids pool to find it. We did!!! Momma- you will be happy to know that Kennedy was set on the fact that her tooth had to go into her San Francisco box. It was really cute.

What is particularly funny is that the other tooth is also very loose. It is about a month behind this one. But it is loose enough that it does not hold it's place so she is having a hard time eating and in pictures the tooth sometimes looks like it is in the middle of her mouth or that it is sideways. It is pretty funny in some pictures. She is very excited. We gave her 50 pesos (abt. $3-4) Enough to buy a little toy at the store.


We have got our backyard set up pretty well now. We decided to put the kids mini pool in the backyard and organize around it. it is just way too hot here in the summer not to have a little water to dip into. It is a bummer because they always get holes in them. We really want one of the little hard plastic ones. The kind we ave is the one where the water holds up the sides and here there in not much that is level. Oh well, it is doing okay. Te kids got their first snorkel lesson the other day. I really want to get some snorkel masks for the kids and for Ruben and I.


The sun has also changed direction a lot in the past few months. Our backyard area now gets a lot of direct sunlight for many hours in the afternoon. We had put sticks across to hold up our chairs so I just took some extra sheets and window sheers and clipped them with cloths pins. It makes for a very nice little area now.

Now that the sun is getting so much brighter and hotter we are eating a lot more ice cream. I have decided to try to make some sorbets and stuff. I really want and ice cream maker. I made a mango/pineapple sorbet the other day.... Ruben came home last night and ate it ALL!!! What a PUNK ASSS!!!! Oh well. He said that it was very good. The recipe is on my cooking blog Cooking 1 Handed.


We have also been very lucky in the past few days to meet some new friends. There have always been a big group of little boys on the corner, but now we have met a few little girls in the area. One of the little girls, Naomi, speaks only Spanish but both her parents speak English and are both from Mexico City. And the other little girl, Ananda speaks English and Spanish as do both of her parents. I am also becoming good friends with her mom as well. She has lived here for 9 years, originally from England, and is such a sweet person. We are so alike in so many ways. I am getting to know Naomi's mom as well and she is a very cool person. I am excited to be making friends in the neighborhood and the town. Especially friends that work with the whole family... husbands can be friends(and in the case of Naomi- the dad's is how we all met) the moms all can be friends and the kids all are similar ages and have a blast.



It is so funny, for the past several days they run all around between the 3 houses- jump ion the pool- change run to the park, run to the other house's pool, change run back again, ride bikes play dress up--- I mean all our houses are trashed but oh well. It is really nice.

Well, there is no way... unless you live under a rock that you are not aware of this whole swine flu fiasco in Mexico. I must first say how proud I am of the Mexican gov't for taking fast decisive steps to stop the outbreak and control the problem and the hysteria. Now if we could only have gotten the rest of the world to stop reporting that all of Mexico is lethargic and dying in the streets by the thousands then maybe it would not have been so bad. I mean, for the Mexican gov't to make such a drastic decision- shutting down gov't offices for a week, closing major tourism sights, keeping kids out of school for a week forcing parents to adjust work schedules- all in the attempt to curb the outbreak. These were major decision that they knew would drastically effect the people of the nation. And it has had a drastic effect on the people. Especially those of us that live in a tourist based economy. Mexico has easily lost millions and will lose billions of dollars because of this whole thing.

Now, I am not upset about the shut down that gov't did, I am not upset that the world was scared and worried... what i am sick of is fear mongering new media whose only goal is to keep you locked to your television and buying the next paper. Before the swine flu is was all about the cartels and how people are getting gunned down in the middle of the streets all over Mexico.

When I first started this blog I never thought that anyone would read it. I did it for me as an online journal well, people have started to read it and are genuinely interested in what is happening in our lives. and we love it. We have made so many friends from this. But what I love even more is the community of expat bloggers that you end up becoming friends with. We are all sharing a common experience and are coming from similar points of view or lifestyles from north of the boarder. We have all been reporting on this whole thing.

My traffic went from about 25 a day to 80 a day when the reports about how safe it is to travel here and how there is little to no crime or violence in my area to 189 a day with the reports of the swine flu stuff. What I do love is that there are at least so many people who are not going only on the news reports from the states and are getting information from those of us that actually live here. Anyway... that is my 2 cents. :)

There is a glow of light at the end of the tunnel. There is currently a "flu free guarantee" that is being issued by many of the big hotels in the area. The info is below from an article in "Por Esto" I took this post off my friend's blog Life's a Beach in Playa del Carmen. She put it very well so I figured... copy and paste worked best.

Thank you to everyone who has looked for your own information. For those who have researched, emailed those of us down here and have seen that this area is as amazing as it was before this whole thing.


"Whether you already have a trip planned to visit the beautiful Riviera Maya or are considering taking advantage of the fabulous deals now available in the wake of the Swine Flu scare, this article in today's "Por Esto" newspaper will be of great interest to you. A link to the online article is above and I have taken the liberty of utilizing Google Translator for your reading convenience. The translation is not 100% grammatically correct, but it is reasonable enough to follow.

With the emblem "guarantee free of influenza" (Flu Free guarantee), assures the traveler three years travel free if they have symptoms of human influenza eight days after they return from their trip by Olivia Vázquez Hotel chains in the Mexican Caribbean began a more aggressive campaigns that have been internationally to revive international tourism. With the emblem "guarantee free of influenza (Flu Free guarantee) that assures the traveler three years travel free if they have symptoms of human influenza eight days after he returns from his trip, which seeks to demonstrate the confidence that exists by destino.Dentro of health promotion strategies, the hotel sector in coordination with the Resort, this week will be sending a personalized letter to U.S. President Barack Obama or Hilary Clinton Secretary of State, to be published in the U.S. newspaper circulation where it is requested adjournment of the alert (warning) indicates that travel to Mexico only if absolutely necessary because it inhibits the influx of tourism. Zalvidea Fernando Garcia, director of the Grand Resort Hotel and the Best Day tour operator, said that at least five thousand hotel rooms as Secrets, Royal Resort, Charisma and others who joined the campaign, but it is estimated as we go on to join other hotel chains to strengthen advocacy in Mexico. This promotion started yesterday and will run through the main cities of United States and Canada in order to revive the tourist markets, since it is in promoting the confidence of the Mexican Caribbean operates to the highest standards of hygiene and safety and ensures the health of the destination. Additional to this promotion, special packages are added to the hotel is offering value-added as a free night, tickets to recreational parks, archaeological sites, free dinners, spa services, etc. The hotel considered a leader who is now the best time Mexican travel to the Caribbean, and that excellence in service is reflected directly in the personal and the atmosphere of trust that is generated. Hence also be sought this week to lift the warnings issued to the passenger who was referred to visit Mexico, and that still prevails announcement issued two weeks ago, and that conditions be changed. In fact it as well as shipping and airlines already provide for the revitalization and have started to sell the destination. The letter is prepared in the state's Tourism Council is expected to be released this week to further accelerate the process of recovery and moving on reservations, which for now remain at the minimum levels, although it began to flow.
By May 25, with the celebration of Memorial Week which is held in United States, you could earn points in hotel occupancy, which is still at levels 20 to 24% in most developments.

Please contact your local travel agent for more details, restrictions and information from the hotel chains participating in this interesting offer.

Looking for Real Estate in Playa del Carmen and the Riviera Maya?
Visit our website www.BuyPlaya.com."

Well, first I must say that I thought that it was sort of funny that Mexican Mother's Day and Mother's Day in the USA fell on the same day. In Mexico it is always on the 10th of May and in the USA it is the 2nd Sunday in May. It was sort of strange that they landed on the same day. I mean not really because it is bound to happen but still.

Yesterday the day had gone like so many others. We woke up, had breakfast, cleaned the house, walked to town with Ruben and the kids, kissed Ruben goodbye, went to the park, went to the fruteria for a bunch of mangos and then sat at what we call "the office" to sit and talk with some friends. So far... a totally normal day. While I was sitting at that table watching my friends play poker, I heard Ruben's voice behind me. This was a total surprise because I thought that he was at work. I guess that he had been asking to get Sunday off but they were not able to give it to him. When he got to work yesterday they had 1 extra person and said that he could take the night off. It was a really nice surprise.

We headed to the house to get all cute. I wore a little black dress that I actually have not worn since my 24th or 25th birthday- when I was very pregnant. I do not remember if it was with Kennedy or Akilean but I was very pregnant. It looked pretty good still. And I really love the fact that I bought in the first place for a crazy good price (under $10) Man I just love Ross. The kids helped me pick out which dress I was going to wear on my date.

Anyway. Ruben's friend agreed to watch the kids and so they got to go to our friends drumming preformace in centro and dance and have a fun time, while we headed down to the beach. We were going to try to eat at Playa Azul but it was closed. We headed over to the next restaurant and found that it was open and totally empty. I love when restaurants are empty. It feels like a private dinner just for you.

The name of the cabanas and restaurant is Puerto de Cielo It was beautiful. We sat just outside of the bar area and had an amazing view of the ocean and a full moon. It was stunning. The moon was so bright and reflected so much on the water. The water was very near the hotel. We walked down and put our feet in the water a few times while we sipped our 2x1 margaritas. We split an appetizer and 1 meal and just hung out and talked and laughed and had such a fun time. There is more information on the restaurant on my Tulum Living Blog.

While on one of our little trips down to the water Ruben surprised me with a very beautiful necklace. This came totally out of the blue and was a total surprise. We have been very tight on money and he has been setting a little aside in order to buy me this. I thought that was so sweet. What was even cuter was that he said, "I know that it is a little different then a lot of the other stuff I give you but I know you didn't have anything like this and I know you like quirkier things." The fact that he even thought about it like that was very sweet to me. We talked and laughed and he gave this whole speech about how he feels I have it all and that he could not thank me enough for being a great mom to his kids and that he knew the moment he saw me that he only wanted me for the rest of his life. It was so romatic and amazing. We kissed all night and told stories and laughed.

After we ate, we took our margaritas down and sat on the beach chairs down by the water. We then took a walk on the beach and the water was just so amazingly warm we had to go for a swim. It was so much fun. It was well lit by the moon and warm and deserted. there was 1 or 2 groups of people that walked by the whole time. It was great. We laid in the surf and... well, stuff ...it was seriously amazing and romantic. Ruben commented this morning during on of the many times we talked about how much fun we had last night that it felt straight out of a movie. The whole evening was totally magical.

Then this morning Akilean woke us up bright and early and we sat and drank coffee in bed and watched the West Wing on dvd. Ruben woke up and made me my favorite breakfast- or well, the closest version that you can with the stuff we have around. My favorite in eggs Benedict. He made a great version with toast and thick sliced ham. But he makes the BEST hollandaise sauce from scratch (with all of its like 5 ingredients but still- he makes it so well and he knows exactly how to poach my eggs. It was wonderful.

Sadly he is at work now and it is just the kids and I. But we have a bunch of mangos to keep us happy. It is sort of crazy the amount of mangos and bananas we eat. And we are doing one of my favorite things to make for dinner... breakfast. The kids really want pancakes so I thought- hey banana and mango whole wheat pancakes... yeah- that sounds perfect for dinner. :) It is going to be a nice quiet evening in with the kids!

Tulum is such an amazing place to come visit. There are so many people that already know this and come often and there were many that were about to find out but canceled because of the hugly overblown threat of swine flu that has happened recently. Now, I realize that a lot of people made their own personal choice not to come and I understand but I think that so many people were either forced by companies (canceled vacations or planes for example) but our occupancy has dropped to about 20%.

At Ruben's hotel- Dreams Tulum they laid off aver 180 people on the waitstaff for the following week and will bring them back as occupancy raises. But to a family who are making hardly anything at all and trying to survive it is detrimental. We were very lucky that Ruben was one of the 15 who were asked to stay but now we have the opposite problem of working everyday, in some cases doubles. No one is really sure what is going to happen next week.

There are some amazingly good deals to be found right now. There was a great article in the New York Times.


The kids and I are spending a lot of time at home. They have some friends that live around the corner and all the kids meet up on the corner and play together. Itis really cute.

And then, of course, there is always the daily staple of the kids running to get soaked in the little pool in the front yard.

This was also the staging point for Akilean's first mechanics lesson. He had a good time playing around with Ruben's tools.

Okay, so let me first say that my house at this exact moment is as clean and organized that it could possibly be. This is in and of itself an amazing feeling. And it is freshly deep cleaned and staged because our landlord was coming by to take a look and talk about our lease. We get a really great deal on this house and it is a very cute house and our landlord is really nice.


I love not having a single load of dishes or cloths, totally folded and put away wardrobes, and all of those little fix it things done. The house is looks awesome. Plus we got to keep our place at the same great part for another 6 months and the landlord will fix a few things we want done!!! Great start to the morning- plus we finally bought more coffee at the store. We have realized that this is not a luxury that we (mostly me) cannot cut.


For some reason, after we got home from the park, the fruteria and the pescaderia BOTH of my kids sat on the sofa and took naps ATT THE SAME TIME!!! Any mother of more then one knows the rare beast that this moment is. This called for a celebration.

Then we have highlight number 3... My brother Ryan by way of my amazing mother gave us the greatest gift. It is a hard drive full of almost any artist that you can think of and many cd of each artist. We get to listen to Jimmy Buffet and Bob Marley ALL day. One of my all time favorite songs is One Particular Harbor and Changes in Latitude, Changes in Attitude, pretty much is our families theme song! And there is no better music then Jimmy Buffet especially when you are here in the heat, sipping on a margarita...


which brings me to great part 4... Ruben had gotten a little margarita fixings for our cinco de Mayo dinner. And this is a particularly great treat because a well- and correctly made margarita is my favorite drink of all time. And on our budget we never get to have evenings with cocktails anymore. So I have a ice cold margarita to sip on while the kids are sleeping. Even now as I finish this post, they are still sleeping!!!


So to recap... totally clean and cute house, ready for dinner, BOTH kids sleeping at the same time, margarita... Yeah-- these are the moments that make life worth living. And all of this while living in a tropical paradise.

I think life might work out for us!


Yep.. This song is our families theme song.

Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes

By: Jimmy Buffett
1977

I took off for a weekend last month
Just to try and recall the whole year
All of the faces and all of the places
Wonderin' where they all disappeared
I didn't ponder the question too long
I was hungry and went out for a bite
Ran into a chum with a bottle of rum
And we wound up drinkin all night

Chorus:
It's these changes in latitudes, changes in attitudes
Nothing remains quite the same
With all of our running and all of our cunning
If we couldn't laugh we would all go insane

Reading departure signs in some big airport
Reminds me of the places I've been
Visions of good times that brought so much pleasure
Makes me want to go back again
If it suddenly ended tomorrow
I could somehow adjust to the fall
Good times and riches and son of a bitches
I've seen more than I can recall

Chorus:
These changes in latitudes, changes in attitudes
Nothing remains quite the same
Through all of the islands and all of the highlands
If we couldn't laugh we would all go insane

I think about Paris when I'm high on red wine
I wish I could jump on a plane
So many nights I just dream of the ocean
God I wish I was sailin' again
Oh, yesterday's over my shoulder
So I can't look back for too long
There's just too much to see waiting in front of me
And I know that I just can't go wrong

Chorus:
With these changes in latitudes, changes in attitudes
Nothing remains quite the same
With all of my running and all of my cunning
If I couldn't laugh I just would go insane
If we couldn't laugh we just would go insane
If we weren't all crazy we would go insane

This morning started like many other. Akilean came into our room and curled up next to me and Ruben curled up on the other side. It was quite the Rosas boy sandwich. After a little while of my not being able to move I made them both get up, although I did wait a while because we ran out of coffee the other day and there is no rush for me to get out of bed when we do not have coffee. First thing out of Ruben's mouth, "Happy Cinco de Mayo" to me.

Now first of all, I am sure everyone who reads this knows, but Cinco de Mayo is not Mexican Independence Day. That is on the 16th of September. Cinco de Mayo is a celebration from when Mexico defeated the French army is 1862. This is also important for America as Mexico kept the French, specifically Napoleon III, out of the United States who was already very busy fighting its own Civil War. Had Mexico not been successful at defeating the French, the end of the Civil War could have gone very differently.

the kids and I walked to town, stopping off to pay our water bill. Here the bills are not delivered via the post office. The are delivered by a company hired driver to drop off each bill. When you want to pay, you go to the office and pay in cash. You can also pay at the bank. This is very different then in the USA. But I really like it. Then it was off to the park.


The kids and I had a great time at the park in town. This park has become one of our all time favorites. I am so glad that something was finally done with the space. When we first moved here it was a broken down park with hardly any working equipment that was all old splintery wood and a dirt parking lot. Once the election had been won and the former head of Tulum was on his way out, this park and the road through town got transformed with lightning speed. It is now a great space. We came here to see the Governor speak at the transition of power.

After playing for well over an hour the kids and I went to go ask the nursery a question about our tomatoes and why nothing seems to be growing. The were so nice and gave me a whole can of fertilizer. These guys are always so nice. They also gave me a house plant for Kennedy and Akilean's room which made them very happy.

We were walking over to the polloria to buy our chicken, we were all the way at the other end of town and here there are many pescaderias (fish stores) I decided that since Ruben was going to be home for dinner tonight (he was asked to come in and help for an AM shift) I thought that I would make his favorite fish Red Snapper. WE are trying to buy as much of our food as possible from only the fruiteria and the polloria or pescaderia. That way we only need to stock up on the milk, brown rice, wheat pasta, yogurt and coffee at the regular super. Although I am really excited because all of a sudden our super has brown rice, wheat pasta and now even wheat flour. YEAH!!!! the guy at the pescaderia cleaned and gutted the fish for me and gave me the idea of stuffing it. I then bought a fillet of grouper for the kids.

When I was visiting my grandmother in Fresno her gardener gave me a beautiful cookbook. It is actually called Mexico, The Beautiful Cookbook. I made a corn pudding, a zucchini something or other and the fish. Recipe and details are on my other blog

I got everything all set to put in the oven and waited for Ruben. I started to get really scared because he was not home yet and I thought that maybe they had asked him to stay. We do not have a Mexican phone number so he would have no way of calling me and telling me. But soon after I started to worry, in he walks.

The kids loved every bite of dinner which was great because it had tons of veggies and good foods. With a big "Salute!" we all finished our dinners. One thing that I am just getting more used to is that with the fresher the items (usually meat) there is a lot more work involved. We are much more used to ripping the chicken off the bones and sucking on the tiny fish bones. But that is a small price to pay for fresh caught Red Snapper. To finish the evening we had a dessert of vanilla ice cream, fresh mango and cajeta sauce which is a Carmel type sauce that was made famous in Ruben's state of Guanajuato.

Well, that is certainly the question for so many people right now. There is so much media reporting on the outbreak (both accurate and some fear mongering) that this is a really hard decision. It really is a personal decision.

Personally for me, I would still travel. Here in Tulum, other then being a little light on people things are running pretty much like normal. Most of the people I know are not concerned with getting sick and are not changing too much in their day.

I know many people who are going to travel here sort of unexpectedly because there are some good deals to be found right now. Airlines, I am sure will be offering some good prices in the near future to help rebound their lost profits and hotels here really want bodies in them.

So for all of the people that are on the fence... I hope that you do decide to come. In my opinion this whole thing is not nearly as scary as it is being made out to be. What is scary is that this is a new illness that no one is vaccinated for. That I understand. I see why that is scary. But the images that people have of thousands of sick and infected people wandering the area like zombies is not the case.

The only part where I would even think of getting nervous is the airplane and I almost always get sick after being in an airplane.

I am really happy about the amount of people that are doing their own research and asking questions in order to make their decision.

The tourism here in Tulum has really been effected by this whole swine flu situation. I just found out from Cancuk in Cancun that there are now 3 cases here in Quintana Roo. Here is her update "Just to update you, there are now 3 confirmed cases in QRoo, one in Chetumal, one in Felipe Carrillo Puerto and one in Cancun. Sad, but true and not unexpected. I just posted an update on my blog. Sigh....
" The tourism has been hit hard. Yesterday Ruben showed up for work on the bus and a rep from the hotel got on the bus and said that the following people were to stay and that everyone else was off. Ruben was very happy that his was one of the names. They had a meeting and were told that the staff for restaurants just went from 200 to 15 for the next week. There are only going to be 2 restaurants open each night and they will rotate. They were told to keep it up as they were selected for being the best. That made me feel really good. I always knew he was great but it is nice for him to get recognized for it.

The good news is that because there will only be 2 restaurants open each night - then they for sure will be busy. That is very good news.

Ruben got really lucky the other day because he has a table of 6 that just adored him. They were there for a wedding when their party went from 40 people to 6. But they had a great time and were a really fun table for Ruben and they tipped him very well which was really nice. He also had another table that came in at the very end of the night that was really nice, easy and tipped very well.

He ran into both of those parties again last night. Thanks goodness. With so few people at the hotel getting 2 good tables each night is nice.

In other news I finally got my roof blocked off with fabric. With all of the winds here I do not know how long it will last but I am loving it. I know that this seems strange but we are probably going to put the kids swimming pool up here. It is a great spot to go and hang out.

I am really wanting to get more into yoga. I thought that in the mornings on the roof sounded like a nice idea. We will see how it turns out.

My garden has taken some serious turns. Check out my diosa domestica blog How to Cook 1 Handed for all of the pics.