The Rosas-Standring Family

Well, Ruben came down with the same illness as the rest of us and I hate seeing Ruben sick.  He is such a strong man and takes care of all of us that to see him feel sick kills me.  I told him that he had to take a day or 2 of of work because he was no good the hotel sick and he needed to get better for himself and for the family. He did and slept ALL day on Saturday.  That was really good.  We just stayed in bed and slept and watched movies. 

Sunday is usually Ruben's day off and he was able to have it off this week even though he was sick the day before.  Cesar wanted to go to a Casa Cenote.  This is one of my favorite cenotes around Tulum.  Now we have all been feeling better which is great but I was not sure if going to a cenote was a good idea.  It was sort of a 2 sided deal.  On one hand we had all been cooped up in the house for several days now.  Lena and I and Akilean for almost a week.   And simply being in the house could be contributing to us being sick. 

They emptied the French drain in the street in front of our house and the fine powder dirt that they have in the street gets blown up behind every car and the light dust comes into the house.  Not very helpful when you are trying to breath fresh air.  ALso, the fresh cenote water mixed with a little salt water is really good for your sinuses.  Not to mention that the cenotes are simply magical and lend a lot of healing energy. 

On the flip side- when you are sick it makes sense to just stay in bed and try to get well.  Well I made the choice to go to the cenote.  I am glad I did because not only did it really lift the kids spirits- which can almost heal you all by itself- but the density of mangroves that surround this cenote create a very dense fresh oxygen that is so wonderful to breath.  You can feel it in your lungs.  It is a very fresh air that I can almost feel absorbing into my lungs and blood.  It was very nice.  The water was a perfect temp and the sun was out but not beating down on us. 

It has been so hot here and we are down to just 1 fan so we moved our mattress to the living room and we all slept in the living room with the front door open and the fan on.  There was not too much of a breeze but it was better then the bedroom. 

Ruben did not have to work again today because he is sick and I am so glad.  There is nothing worst then trying to speed a recovery and not really recovering.  So today we are all going to just watch movies curled up together on the mattress on the floor and eat some soup. 

I made some of my veggie soup last night and so we have some of that left over.  It should be chicken noodle soup but I did not have enough pesos for the chicken so it is just veggie and noodle soup.  But it is still really good.  I use a few drops of my favorite hot sauce- Melinda's XXX in all adult soups- It will clear up any sinus block you have that is for sure.  jaja

I have really been slacking on my projects- I have no energy to work on them.  I really need to spend sometime on m y school project.  I have all the pieces in place- I just need to get it organized and get the word out. 

You will hear more soon.  Hopefully today I will do some.  I have a classic problem... when Ruben is home I want to do nothing but be with him.  This is the same problem I have with going out.  I told him, and I know that I need to get out of my house- away from the kids and Ruben and be by myself every now and again. And Ruben is totally supportive of me going out with my friends and taking time for myself, but every time he gets home  I want to curl up and watch movies, make dinner and kiss him.  I guess that is a nice problem to have but...

Okay- well I better go- I am getting tea requests from the kids.  Thanks again all for the good wishes. 

Today we took the kids to visit Casa Cenote. Cenotes are the kids favorite thing to do here and there are so many to visit. It is our goal to visit as many different ones as possible. Casa Cenote is just north of Dreams Tulum off of the main road, 307.

We took a collectivo from town to the road where the cenote is. The collectivo cost us 15 pesos per person. The kids sat on our lap so they did not cost anything. Once we got off the collectivo, there was a very long walk to the cenote. We were not ready for that long of a walk but it was not too bad. There were also some beautiful houses on this road on the beach. Some of these homes are for rent.

We finally came to the cenote. It was beautiful. It was very near the ocean so you could hear the sounds of the ocean and the water was much more salty then some of the other cenotes. The water extends about 200 meters back into the jungle. It is so beautiful.

You could clearly see the bottom of the cenote and you could see tons of fish. The person who was running the cenote did tell us that we were welcome to swim as far back as we wanted but did say that we needed to be aware that there could be crocodiles. It is possible that they are there but they said that they check every morning and every night. We got to swim a lot and had a lot of fun.

We got hungry and had only brought a few things to eat. But Akilean, as always, was hungry. Not surprising. That kid is always hungry. We ate across the street at the Casa Cenote restaurant. It was right on the beach under a beautifully done palapa. The food was very good and we had a wonderful day. The kids and I went swimming some more while Ruben headed to work.

After a little while we got tired and started to long trek home. That road was much longer the 2nd time but that was okay. Once we were on the main road we waited for the collectivo and headed home. All of us have a bit of a red face but we had a lot of fun.

Today the kids and I really wanted to get out of the house. Around 12:30 we decided to head out to a local cenote. These 2 cenotes that we went to today were Cenote Cristal y Cenote Escondido. Payment into Cristal gains you entrance into Escondido as well. We took a 40 peso cab ride to the entrance of Cenote Cristal and payed the entrance fee. The guy at the front was really nice and only charged me for one of the kids. It was 40 pesos for me and 20 for one kid. This is a really good price for the cenotes. There are some here that cost as much as 80-100 pesos just to get in. And if I were a diver I would totally get it but that is a lot of money just to go in and swim.


After walking down the pathway we came upon the cenote. It was beautiful. I thought that it was funny that the clouds had started to come out a little. That always happens when we head out to the cenotes. But it was still very nice. In the beginning there were very few people there. We had a lot of fun swimming and playing and chasing fish. We ran into some people who had a 6 year old son so the kids had a good time playing with him.


After a little bit we headed across the street to Cenote Escondido. Once past the old wood gate there is a long walk down a dirt road to the water. It was well shaded and a nice walk.



This cenote was also beautiful. There was a short little cliff area you could jump off and that was a lot of fun. There was a family with 3 boys in their early teens doing a canon ball contest. That was really fun to watch.


There was also some locals there and they got a kick out of the fact that the kids spoke Spanish to them and were laughing with them. Akilean continues to be famous for his hair. He looks so cute. I love his hair. Ruben really loves it now too. I was thinking of just cutting off all of Akilean's hair when he got lice but Ruben was like "oh no, that is not happening." And I must say that I am glad because he looks so cute with it. I will be sad when we have to cut it for him to go to school. Oh well.


After the kids had swam all they could and splashed me as much as they could we headed off for home. The kids were starving so we stopped at Gusto's to split a plate of nachos. The restaurant is on the south side of town and is again a very small place with only a few tables. It was a nice little place. We ate and headed off home. A very tired crew. I should clean the house but I am just too tired. So instead we are going to eat lime ice cream (it is really good- like a sorbet) and watch a movie.

Jordan and Sammy (our friends originally from SF but now live in Oxkutzcab) and their kids came to visit us. We had such an amazing time. At first we just hung out at the house and caught up. It has been many years since all 4 of us were together. Then we decided to head down to the beach to get in a few minutes of ocean and make a fire for dinner.
Well, when we got there- the kids wasted no time running in to the waves and dancing on the beach.
And the boys wasted no time hauling boulders and large pieces of wood and things that we needed for our fire. As for us wives (and Lola :) we got right to the business of setting up our cozy little area to sit in.
It was great. The boys made a terrific dinner and a perfect fire- the kids were having a blast - covered in the sand and even though it was long after sunset- the moon gave this bright blue light on the beach. And it was really warm. It was great. We ate pork, chicken (possibly turkey legs - not sure)hot dogs and a huge steak. All served with tortilla, grilled onion and salsa. The boys had set up everything that we needed to make a larger bomb fire closer to the ocean and it was a beautiful fire. We even had people come and ask us for our logs so they could start their fire- it was a really fun time.


The next morning after breakfast, we headed off to a cenote that I have really wanted to go to, Cristalino. It is one of the least expensive to get into and considered a local spot more then a tourist location. You can take your cooler, food and everything. It was amazing. So beautiful and as you can see the kids had an amazing time. The water was so clear that you could see all the way to the bottom as though it was 3 feet down. In fact at many places it was much much much deeper then that. There was a beautiful little cave that the kids kept hunting for treasure in. The kids made friends with many locals that made their way though and swam and hung from the rope for hours.


Ruben has as much fun as the kids while jumping from high points to the cheering kids below. It was amazing. The water is fresh and you can feel the minerals in the water. My skin has never felt better. I cannot wait to bring my mom and brothers here when they come. They are going to love it. Kennedy and Akilean (like usual- had all the people oooing and awing over them) it is so cute.

Man, after the typical Mexican 6 day work week my husband was finally off for a day. After living here as long as we have we finally headed off to a cenote. We went to Grand Cenote which is definitely one of the more popular ones. It was very beautiful and we did love going to see it. One thing that sort of surprised me what there was no discount for locals. Almost every where you go, even restaurants, you usually get a local discount. When I am with my husband there is no issue. If I am by myself some people try to charge me so much more. I had a cab driver try to tell me that my ride from the beach to my house was 20 pesos more then it was. I did not have the energy to argue with him. I just told him that he was a liar and got out of the taxi. I did see him another time and refused to take his cab even though he was rightfully next in line. I mean, it was not like he dropped me off at a hotel in town. He dropped me off in a neighborhood that is not for people who are visiting. Oh well, that is his karmic problem not mine.

So anyway, after getting to the cenote- which was stunning, we had a hard time keeping the kids in the water. It has been soooo hot here and so humid all week but today???? Nope, not today. Today was overcast and cold. we finally stopped torturing the kids and headed home. But I cannot wait to go back on a warm day. I would have taken pictures if my camera worked but here are some images from the internet.

***FOR MORE INFO & PHOTOS OF CENOTES IN THIS AREA- SEE MY OTHER ENTRIES ON CENOTES-

I must say that I am surprised about how much resistance I get about my move to Mexico. I mean I am moving to a place that people wait and save for years to go visit. My friends that live there LOVE it. I mean first of all - it is a wonderful country full of amazing people and culture. Is it the USA?- no--- Are the financial concerns fair--- yes. But the things that people focus on is so different. The things that are important to people are different. I mean- it is not like I cannot come back. I want to at least try it. I have a very good and dear friend who lives there - near the same area that we want to move. And she loves it. She does not have everything in the world- but even better- she does not want it. Her life is simpler and she is happier. And she made the comment to me recently that things seem to fall into place the less she focuses on making that way. On a regular Sunday afternoon- she can go hiking around the Mayan ruins-
and go swimming in the local cenotes. The city that we are moving to is Tulum. It is considered to be a pretty local town compared to is near by bigger cities of Playa del carmen (the latest resort area) and Cancun- which is a very diverse place to live. Tulum also has some great ruins.

"The ruins of Tulum (Mayan for 'fortress') are remarkably well-preserved -- built in 967 C.E., the temples on the site have survived almost entirely without upkeep. This was a small Mayan city; at its height only about a thousand people lived here, as opposed to 40,000 at a midsize city like Tikal. But it's the most popular Mayan ruins site, with almost two million visitors a year -- probably because it's the only Mayan city to be built on the ocean. The Mayans didn't sail; they only found out about boats after being conquered by the Aztecs." - I am sorry I am not sure what web site I found this infor from!
Here are some pics of the city...

Not to mention the cenotes. Here is a great Blog about where we are moving- http://www.yucatantoday.com/destinations/eng-cenotes.htm. Check out some of these cenotes

Cenote, (say-NOH-tay) called dzonot (ZO-note) by the ancient Maya were defined by the Motul dictionary, a dictionary of Mayan hieroglyphics, as "abysmal and deep" or "hole filled with water" - from playamayannews.com