What did I give up to live in Paradise?

Lawrie, Sparky, a Seahawks game.  

Well, certainly not NFL football! 

We were pleasantly surprised after moving to Isla to discover a large number of avid NFL supporters. 

On the island, there are several personal golf carts decorated with team colours, decals and flags. Many ex-pats proudly wear their team shirts and hang banners from their homes.

By far the largest number of fans support the Green Bay Packers. Being surrounded by a hundred or so Packers’ addicts can be a bit overwhelming for the half-dozen or so Seahawks fans, especially if our team is ahead in the scoring. 

Green Bay fans

Probably the most ardent fans are the folks whose brown and white house is named Casa Bahia Verde after their favourites, the Green Bay Packers. Their golf cart is also upholstered in the green and yellow team colours. Go Packers!

The second biggest fan base is for the Steelers. There are at least three golf carts on the island sporting Steelers’ logos. They are a very vocal and fun group in the sports bars.

And speaking of sports bars, Isla has three popular spots that you can count on to have their many televisions tuned to the NFL games.  

Steelers fans - Carlos's FB page

Barlito’s @ Marina Paraiso has a cool palapa bar on the waterfront with several televisions to watch your favourite team. 

If you aren’t familiar with their location, they are south on Medina Rueda, before the cement plant, and before the school. It’s a great spot to hang out and cheer on your team.

Jax Bar & Grill at Super Bowl, J Walker

Jax Bar & Grill, the big bar on the corner of Rueda Medina across from the Privileges Aluxes, has most football and baseball games available to patrons. 

Frequently, the downstairs televisions will be tuned to one game, and the upstairs to another. Depending on the preferences of the crowd.  

Sign from Nash's Sports Bar - FB page

And last but not least, Nash’s Sports Bar on Hidalgo Avenue is a fun place to watch the games and drink really cold beer. It’s a smaller venue, located on busy Hidalgo Avenue with lots of interaction between the street and the bar.

We are Seahawks fans, but we don’t own a television, so we have to go out to the bar to enjoy the games. Oh, darn. That means we will probably have to partake of a drink or two, and if the Hawks win, a taxi will be needed to take us home.

By us, I mean Sparky and me. Although he is a non-drinker, he can’t drive the golf cart because his paws won’t reach the gas pedal. Lynda and our new pooch, Max, are not football fans. They like to stay home and enjoy a quiet evening.

Dave just might be a Steelers fan

There are probably other locations where the NFL games are available, but sometimes the programming is at the whim of the staff. You might find boxing or soccer (known as football in most other countries of the world) instead of NFL games. Just ask if the bar has the channel, and they might be able to switch to your game.

So, don’t worry about giving up football when you come to Isla. 

Find your favourite spot, kick back, and enjoy the game while relaxing in paradise.

Cheers

Lawrie and Sparky

(It’s the guys' turn to write!)

~

Trouble Isla

Did you get into Trouble yet?

Isla Mujeres Mystery series

Amazon Review for Trouble Isla

5.0 out of 5 stars!

Engaging Page Turner!

By Isla Breeze on August 29, 2017

Verified Purchase

TROUBLE ISLA picks up at a fast pace with mystery, romance, adventure and excitement, which are all brought together in a continuation of TREASURE ISLA.

Taking place on the small island off the coast of Cancun, called Isla Mujeres, those who visit and live there feel as though they are part of the story, knowing the many places and events depicted.

Even if you are not familiar with the island, it is a fun and captivating book. A must read!

Hey, when are ya coming back to Isla Mujeres? We're ready for you.

Visions of Margaritas dance in your heads

The annual winter migration begins soon, and Isla is ready for your return. Restaurant owners and merchants have been busy over the less hectic summer months, preparing for your return this winter. It’s the time of year that you leave the rain, ice and snow, and prepare to be pampered under the tropical sun.  It’s that wonderful time of year, when visions of frosty Margaritas dance in your heads. 

Freddy Medina Independence Day at El Arrecife 

Centro has several new places to enjoy an evening out with friends.  In the spring, everybody’s favourite bartender, Freddy Medina, opened El Arrecife – The Reef. The new bar is a joint venture between Freddy and his cousin Manuel Figueroa. It is located across from the municipal square and above the Paradice Cream shop. The entrance to the second-floor bar is on Hidalgo Avenue, behind the big tree decorated with toy monkeys. The Reef serves good fresh food, and all the fun that you can handle with Freddy.  Their street-view bar stools are a great location to relax with a drink and do some people-watching.

Jax Bar & Grill - the big bar on the corner

‘The big bar on the corner’, Jax Bar & Grill at the northern end of Rueda Medina, recently reopened after their annual staff holidays and restaurant refurbishing in September.  

This year’s big project was to redo the upper deck. Good thing! We think our dancing contributed to the old one’s demise. 

Jax is one of our favourite places for a hearty breakfast and tasty fish and chips.

Javi's Cantina 

Another new eatery is Javi’s Cantina & Tapas Bar, located on Juarez south of Abasolo Avenue.  

Javi’s serves up cold drinks and great food in an intimate environment with live music several nights a week. Check out their delicious fresh tuna, ceviche, and nachos.  The sliders look amazing as well. 

(We were recently caught on camera, dancing in the street outside Javi's, by the local paparazzi.)

Amar Cocina Peruana

Over a few streets, across from La Tablita’s and next door to Pleacorp (the pool supply place) is the new Amar Cocina Peruana.  

Owned by Catherine Benson, Amar features Peruvian cuisine and a fabulous selection of ceviches. The food is tasty.

In the same area, on the second floor kitty-corner to La Tablita’s, is Facebar, owned and operated by Luz Del Alba Hernandez and her sister. It’s already of favourite of locals for its cold beer, good prices and a ton of laughs.

Directly below Facebar is the brand new, bar and restaurant named BE. That's all we know at the moment. We happened to be driving past with a camera in hand and discovered that the day before, the windows were still boarded up, and the next day, they were ready to go.

Heading south along Rueda Medina is the ever-popular Soggy Peso Bed & Cocktail.  Closed for September for staff holidays and renovations, they will re-open this week. Bar service is now also available in the lower area, on the beach.  When you fall out of your chair, after two or maybe three of their famous Margaritas, it’s a much softer landing.  (We don't have any photos, as yet, of the new additions.) 

New and expanded Donosusa

And in the colonias a few blocks south of our house, but before you get to the double ‘highway’ at the Salinas Grande, is Bofitos.  It’s a great neighbourhood location to get simple, yummy food.

Another big change is that Donosusa, the grocery store near the tennis courts, has done a huge remodel. Double in size, new shelving, brighter lights, and a touch of air conditioning.  Good pricing for basic packaged goods, detergents, paper products, with a small deli counter, and a cold beer fridge.

There’s probably more, but those are the ones that we’ve noticed.

Counting down the days until everyone is back in paradise.

See ya soon,

Lynda, Lawrie, Sparky, and Thomas the Cat

Isla Mujeres Mystery series

Or

Death in the Vineyards

Dancin' in the streets, all night long! Carnaval!

Super Heroes Dancin' photo by MM Figueroa.

Carnaval! (In English: Carnival!)

Crazy colourful costumes, pulse-pounding music and exuberant dancers – it's the best time of the year to visit Isla Mujeres. 

The annual five-day event kicked off on Friday night with the traditional coronation of the kings and queens representing various segments of the island population. 

Yadira Medina Velazquez in the middle

Early on Saturday afternoon, I popped out to a Kyra Thompson Drennan and Bruce Saaranen's house to watch our friend Yadira Medina Velázquez and her amigas dance in the street. When I arrived, Freddy Medina pointed out that a latch was open on the bottom of my camera. I looked inside, empty! I had accidentally left the camera's memory card in my computer at home! No memory for my camera – and apparently I have no memory. Fortunately, Janet Davison had a card that I could borrow for a few hours. Saved! Thank you! On with the show!

Dramatic black and purple costumes

Thumping music, smiling people and the ladies swinging and swaying to the tunes. Awesome. The twelve women danced several times in the hot afternoon sun, stopping only briefly for a costume change. The first costume was dramatic purple and black, the second cheerful lime green and hot pink. 

 These impromptu and intimate performances are, for us, the best part of Carnaval. It's a chance to get to know the dancers and their friends. 

Saturday night in Centro waiting to dance

Later on Saturday evening, we trekked down to Centro with John and Maia to watch the Cuban dance band. We arrived around 9:30, and the square was packed with people. People watching the dancers. People buying food from the street vendors. People enjoying a warm Caribbean night. We watched several dance troupes run through their energetic routines until around 11:00 in the evening. By then, we were too tired to wait any longer for the Cuban band and trekked back home. 

Red Devil Angels & White Saintly Angels.

The few taxis that we saw were overflowing with passengers. No chance of a ride that night. Fortunately, we are only about a twenty-minute walk from Centro, but when you are sleepy, that twenty minutes seems like twenty hours.

On Sunday, Alexis and Darren Grabby asked us to stop by their house. A neighbour across the street is in a dance troupe, and her group was putting on a show for the neighbourhood. The ladies were a bit late arriving, but eventually a collection of red devil angels and white saintly angels showed up on a convoy of motorcycles. They looked a bit weary; however, they cranked up the tunes and ripped through several dances with big smiles on their faces.

Kids troupe - dancing on another street

While the red devils and white angels were performing at Alexis and Darren's casa, we noticed a second group arrive just a block away. 

I snapped a few photographs of the young dancers. They were all about elementary age; a dozen young ladies, and one brave young man. He seemed to be enjoying himself: a lot.

Kids, kids, kids!

And then it was time to scoot downtown to see the first parade. We met up with a dozen or so friends on the upper deck at Jax Bar & Grill, settling in to wait for the 3:00 o'clock start time.…...... waiting, waiting, waiting. No one was particularly worried as the time was consumed with eating good food and drinking cold beverages. It's a very pleasant way to pass an afternoon with friends.

King & Queen of Carnaval, heavy headdresses

About an hour past the scheduled start time, we could hear the police motorcycles' sirens clearing the roadway, and luring sunbathers off the beaches and swimmers out of the ocean. Parade time!

The first group to arrive were the reigning King and Queen of Carnaval, toting heavy feathered headdresses and brocade costumes, followed by their feather-bedecked entourage. 

Teenager dance troupe

Then the other groups flowed past – each stopping at the reviewing stand to dance for the judges. 

 Teenagers in orange, black and red. Youngsters in blue, red and gold. Grandmothers in sparkling pink, yellow and purple. 

Lime & Orange costumes - very tropical

Thirty-something women in lime green and orange. Supermen – plural. Wonder Women – plural. 

By the time Carnaval is over, the roads will be littered with small decorations that have fallen off various costumes. Hundreds of brightly coloured feathers are already fluttering forlornly on the edges of the road – so many hues, I wonder if a flock of psychedelically-dyed poultry had recently met its demise.

Grandmothers kicking up their heels!

The five days flow together in a confusion of colour, motion, and music, and soon it will be done for another year. 

Hasta Luego

Lynda, Lawrie, Sparky, and Thomas the Cat

Isla Mujeres Mystery Series

Death in the Vineyards Mysteries

The Adventures of Thomas and Sparky

Colour and confusion, Carnaval 2014, Isla Mujeres

Every year it's the same.  Every year it's different.  Carnaval; it's a chaos of colourful costumes, confusion, and crazy-loud music.  Thumpa! Thumpa! Thumpa!  For the five days leading up to the forty days of Lent, the island reverberates with fun.

The schedule of events normally begins with the Coronation Dance on Friday night.  It includes the crowning of kings and queens from various age segments, and finally, the crowning of the official carnival king and queen. In previous years, there have been two parades on consecutive days, both starting at three in the afternoon, give or take an hour or two. For the Programa 2011, the parades were on Saturday and Sunday as they were in most other years. However, this year, 2014, the two parades were moved to Sunday and Monday.  

Assuming the parade, as usual, would be late starting, we arrived downtown at four in the afternoon on Sunday.  I was told by one of the carnival dancers that the parade was over, finished, done.  It had apparently started on time. "Really?" we shrugged, "Oh well, let's go meet up with our friends at Jax Bar & Grill." 

Just as the waiter placed our cold beverages in front of us, the official Carnaval king and queen and their dance troupe came by! Obviously, the parade wasn't over. It was just starting. Recklessly scrambling down the asymmetrical stairs at the restaurant, I inserted myself into the crowds, hoping for a few good photographs.  

For the next hour, several groups danced past, flashing feathers and flounces, gyrating north along Medina Avenue from the naval base towards the Auxles Hotel.  Again, another change. Normally, the groups congregate at the north end and head south towards the naval base.

Perhaps the Carnaval organizers wanted to shake things up a bit just to see if anyone would notice.

Slipping in and out of the crowd as I snapped photos, I recognized a number of the participants. One very hard-working woman, possibly the owner of a local dance studio, annually leads her large troupe of dancers ranging in age from five to adults. She cajoles, encourages, and entreats the dancers to stay in line, keep moving, stay focused, and most importantly - smile. I am in awe of her patience and talent.  

The costumes for this group were outstanding as always; confections of fur, feathers, pink and blue gauzy fabrics, sequins and face paint.  Her theme this year was jungle cats, big cats, cute and snarly cats. 

Standing on the street and looking back up to the upper deck at Jax Bar & Grill, I noticed one of the patrons tossing multiple strings of Mardi Gras-type beads to the groups below.  

A look of delight brightened the face of the Carnaval queen as she caught one of the flying strands, happily displaying her colourful trophy to the group.  

The man tossing the beads lives part-time on Isla Mujeres, but his primary residence is in New Orleans.  He wanted to inject a bit of Mardi Gras fun into the event, promising to bring more sparkling beads for next year's parade. 

Look what I caught!

Among the other dance troupes this year were several friends: Yadira Velázquez Medina, Jeannie Poot Hau, Bonnie Hamilton and Alexis Graboskie. 

They have had a very strenuous schedule in the months leading up to carnival, with dance practice most nights of the week, and then four days of dancing in parades, on street corners and at the official events. 

One troupe of dancers did a special appearance at Richard and Linda Grierson's Casa Luna Turquesa.  
After a few technical difficulties (someone had misplaced the USB  that held their dance music), their enthusiastic presentation got underway.  

Casa Luna Turquesa on Aeropuerto Rd.

The ladies did a spectacular job in the hot afternoon sun.  It was a bit of impromptu fun for the neighbourhood. 

After a refreshing cold drink or two, they proceeded on to the next location, Brook Prinsen and Paul Ricker's house, Cas-a-Beer, for more dancing.  These extra dances are how the participants earn money to pay for their elaborate costumes.  The hat, or bucket, or box is passed around through the crowd. Dig deep, folks, and help them out! Carnaval just wouldn't be Carnaval without the various dance troupes.

I am not having fun.

Later in the day, when I downloaded my photographs to my computer, one in particular made me laugh aloud. One young lad, who was at the head of the largest dance troupe, had an expression that said: "I am not having fun. And you can't make me!" 

I realized his cat costume and annoyed expression perfectly matched my fifteen-year-old cat's expression when he is annoyed.  When the youngster is older, he might find the whole parade-thing amusing, but on that day, he was not pleased.

Tommy - looks like the young lad in the cat costume

But now everything is finished, the fun, the festivities, and the crazy music. Only eleven more months until the next Carnaval - February 11th to 17th in 2015.  

It's the same, and it's different. Similar events, different dates. Similar groups, different costumes, and possibly different parade dates, times and routes!    
We can't wait.  

Hasta luego
Lynda, Lawrie, Thomas, Chica, Sparky

Lawrie dancin' with the ladies at Casa Luna

Murder. Mayhem. Revenge. Romance.

Isla Mujeres Mystery Series

Death in the Vineyards Mysteries

The Adventures of Thomas and Sparky

When romance comes knocking: Nora and Henry

Nora and her son Henry

There was a light knock at the door of his mother’s house.  Henry opened the door, saying Hola, but thinking: Wow!  She’s beautiful.  I wonder who she is?

 

The pretty stranger at the door was his mother’s neighbour, Nora Perez Sosa.  

Her mom owned a little business – part restaurant, and part grocery store – but Nora liked the tortillas that Henry’s mother made better than her mother’s. It was her normal routine to pop over and purchase a few tortillas from Señora Sarita Cruz.

After living and working for a few years in Santa Rosa, California, Henry Cruz was back at his family home in the Municipality of Peto, located in the Yucatan, 135 kilometres southeast of Mérida.  One of nine siblings, Henry’s name really is Henry. His mother heard the name on a radio program and liked it well enough to give her son the same name. Henry laughs when foreigners ask him his name and he says: Henry. No, what’s your real name? Henry. No, I mean, what is your Mexican name? He smiles good-naturedly and tells them it’s Enrique, but it isn’t – it’s Henry.

Henry at Jax Bar & Grill 

Eleven years ago, when Nora completed her certification for teaching, she was offered a position on Isla Mujeres at the Gabriel Mistral kindergarten in Centro.  It was a very good opportunity for her, so she accepted, leaving her hometown, parents and five siblings behind. Henry waited a short time before visiting Nora. Once he arrived, he quickly decided that if Nora was on Isla Mujeres, then he needed to be on Isla Mujeres.

Fluent in English, Henry easily found a job working for Jax Bar & Grill. He’s a well-known fixture at the restaurant; personable, efficient, and always smiling.  In the ten years since he started working at the restaurant, he’s done just about everything - except the cooking.

Nora at Isla Mujeres Artist Fair

Even though Nora is busy with her kindergarten teaching position five days a week, plus raising two active young sons, she finds time for her hobbies – or as she says, her obsession. Nora crafts wonderfully quirky accessories, earrings and decorations. On the first Thursday of every month, you will find her at the Isla Mujeres Artist Fair with a large display of her creations. 

We recently asked Nora to decorate forty-eight rather plain beer koozies as a jokey birthday gift for Lawrie’s brother.  (Koozies are those neoprene bottle covers that keep beer cold longer – vital in the tropics.)  The finished product was fun and fabulous. The beer koozies are decorated with pink and orange, blue and red, yellow and pink, purple and pink – depicting the newest little-kid craze, the Angry Birds. My favourites are the six decorated in formal white and black that look like Angry Birds wearing tuxedos.  Too much fun!

Lawrie and Nora holding Angry Bird beer koozies

Because Nora enjoys her obsession so much, Henry is happy to help out anyway he can around the house and with the boys.  

Their oldest son, age seven, enjoys his Taekwondo lessons, and the younger one is a happy, busy little guy.  

The funny thing is, Henry’s oldest son is named Henry just like his papa. And his youngest son? His name is Enrique.  Somebody has a good sense of humour in this family.

Henry Jr, Henry (proud papa) and Enrique

Luckily for Henry, all those years ago when he was visiting his family in Peto, he was there to answer the knock on the door.  It was the knock that led to romance and happiness.

Hasta Luego

Lynda, Lawrie, Thomas the Cat, and Princess Chica

Murder. Mayhem. Revenge. Romance.

Isla Mujeres Mystery Series

Death in the Vineyards Mysteries

The Adventures of Thomas and Sparky