Best Crazy Ever

Okay, I have done some pretty crazy things in my life but this trumps everything. I had my eyes tattooed! No, no, not with some crazy designs. Though, I did find Johnny Depp's eye make-up in the movie "Pirates of the Caribbean" intriguing. I had my upper and lower eye lids outlined. I have wanted to do this for some time, but lacked the courage to do it. Some friends recently went and had their eyes done with very good results. I now had visual references, a studio name and an artist with experience and a solid track record. This was all the encouragement that I needed. An appointment was made. I was still very concerned about my decision. I felt like I was playing with fire. These are my only eyes!  The night before the appointment, I was anxious and restless. By 3:00 a.m. I was on the computer researching the pros and cons of eye tattoos. Even Mayo Clinic weighs in on eye tattooing. "Don't do it"! This startled me. Mayo Clinic is the Mecca of Medicine. They saved my mother's life last year. I value their opinion. I felt sick to my stomach. Still, I decided to keep the appointment. I was going with 3 friends, who were all scheduled for a tattoo as well. I could always back out. On the way to the tattoo studio, I expressed my need to go first. Funny, everyone was in agreement? What can I say, they know me well!

Ricardo, of "Tattoo Rich" (Merida), was very professional. When I stepped up to take a seat in his chair, I clasped my shaking hands together and proceeded to tell him that I was very nervous. He smiled and laughed! There was no hiding. My nerves were visibly out of control. We discussed color and application. I wanted to look very natural. My eyes were prepped . With my friends huddled around the chair for support, Ricardo began. The girls reminded me to breathe. I hadn't realized I had been holding my breath for 2 minutes! There was no pain. There was a bearable amount of pressure on the eye and eye lid due to Ricardo's finger placement in holding the lids still and in place. The tattooing of the lower eye lid was visually weird. You are looking into a bright light and even though you are told to look up, you still have sight of the tattoo gun coming at your eye.. Ricardo was very fast and precise. In less than 10 minutes, I was happily admiring my new eyes in the mirror. Yes, this is the best crazy ever..................

Seriously Up Close And Personal

Natural / Make- Up Free

La Senora

Almost Four Years Later

This September (2012), we will have been in Yucatan for four years. For my husband Jim, who I will now refer to in future blogs as "El Senor", the transition of retirement and moving to a new country has been easy. He enjoys telling me how his feet where meant to be in the sand! As for me, I needed a year to detox from the working world. I struggled daily with the feeling of not accomplishing enough "things" in one day. If I wasn't busy all day long, I must be wasting time! Over the years, family and friends have often asked if we are happy and would you do it again? The answer is YES, on both fronts.This journey continues to be filled with life lessons. The opportunity to look at life through a new window is priceless and I will continue to share the "view" through this blog! We have had the good fortune of meeting and becoming friends with some amazing people. We have purchased a house and have made it home. Visitors are always welcome! We continue to immerse ourselves within our community. Though we still struggle with the Spanish language, we have made great strides over the years. We remain hopeful that one day we will be able to converse in full grammatically correct sentences! I must say, our attempts are always appreciated and usually bring on a smile or a laugh. Currently, the most frequently asked question is what do you do all day? We simply survive. We continue to travel mainly by bicycle. We prefer to shop locally and daily  for our food. Depending on what we want to eat for the day, gathering of the necessary ingredients, may require stopping at 3-4 different tiendas (small neighborhood mom & pop grocery stores). Needless to say, the day passes quickly. I am now ecstatic if I accomplish one "thing" a day! Purchasing and preparation of food excluded. My how life has changed..........

El Senor's Favorite Hangout

La Senora 

La Senora

Wait, I Call Legal

The last piece of the puzzle to our arrival in Yucatan was to register our visas with the local Immigration Office. The Mexican Consulate of Chicago, had told us this is a time sensitive issue and should be completed promptly. Not ones to procrastinate, on day 3 of our arrival we went to the Immigration Office. At the reception desk, it is standard procedure that all paper work and identification be checked and organized before office entry. Our papers were in order but our passports were checked and re-checked? With raised eyebrows and very wide eyes, the receptionist looked up at us and said, "big problema". What is wrong? "Passports no stamp when you come Mexico". We can explain. " Wait, I call legal". Believe me, story or no story, you don't want to be told those words by Immigration! Legal provided us with an English speaking attorney; who held an impromptu deposition in the reception area. We explained the events of our Matamoras border crossing. How we attempted to stop to have our passports stamped and how the Federale would not allow us access to parking. For maximum effect, we used the same hand gestures as the Federale, who would not allow us to park, but shouted go, go, go. What would you have done? "Wait while I talk with my boss". This seems to be a repeating scenario for us within the walls of Immigration! For 2 hours, we fretted over our potential outcome. What will be our penalty? Will it be monetary? Will we be taken to jail ? Will we be  deported? Do we need to call the American Consulate, a U.S. Senator or CNN? The lawyer returned, handed us a 3 page document and 2 pens. "Sign". What is this document? Could you please translate? "It is your story". "Sign the document, we stamp your passports and you are legal". That's it? "Yes". Nothing else is required? "No". There will be no problems in the future? "No". "You already have your visas". You tried to do to it right". "Matamoras was the problem, not you". Having obtained our visas in advance, showed good faith and saved us from stiff penalties for an illegal border crossing. Hail to the Girl Scout mantra of being prepared! Where do we sign and may we have a copy please.............

La Senora

Forts, Borders, Home

September 4, 2008 Campeche, Mexico

Until this morning, I had not realized how much tension I had internalized. Between the topes, road construction and the infamous garage crawl, I have had both of my feet firmly planted on my imaginary brakes and my thighs are killing me!
Construction, construction, and more construction. It had been another long day of travel. Our reward was Campeche! Campeche sits majestically on the Gulf of Mexico. It is an old colonial city, architecturally preserved and surrounded by a fortress of walls. We were so fascinated, that we decided to end our day early and spend the night relaxing in this beautiful city.

Campeche Shoreline

Fortress Walls

September 5, 2008 Progreso, Yucatan, Mexico

At the border crossing  into the State of Yucatan, rather than being waved on through, we were stopped for the very first time. We were approached by several officers. Our passports were requested and the van was visually inspected. Returning our passports, we were asked one word questions (in Spanish). Jim repeated each word, as I tried to find the word in our Spanish dictionary. After 3 failed attempts, one of the officers shouts out in English, "chicken, pig, cow"? Seriously (I think to myself)! Where could we possibly harbor an animal? Smiling I held up our only contraband, water bottles and candy. Frustrated and not amused, the officer waved us on in a celebratory manner, or so I chose to believe!
" Bienvenidos Yucatan" (Welcome to Yucatan)............

Progreso, Here We Come!

Happy To Be Home!

La Senora