Bom Dia! Back to Peaceful Portugal

Portugal has a special place in my heart!  I spent our first ever two month winter 'long stay' in that beautiful country almost eight years ago. It was the first time we'd drained the pipes at the cafe, found a house and cat sitter for Spooky and Stacia, counted up our hard earned dollars,rented an apartment in Albufeira for a month and another one in Lisboa, booked a flight via Heathrow (no longer necessary to use that roundabout route) packed our suitcases not knowing what to bring, and set off on a snowy day in January for Pearson airport. 

Well!!! What can I say?  The experience changed my life. Waking up to birdsong, flowers, sunshine and blue skies in January!  Eating grilled sardinas and piri piri chicken and that delicious Portuguese bread and pastries and olives in beach front cafes or in the elegant old restaurants of Lisbon. Walking through green avenues to the market. The architecture. The friendliness of the people. The incredible wines costing less than 3 Euros a bottle.We spent the next six winters away from snowy Ontario; in Portugal, in Spain, in France and in Mexico. And we loved them all!

But the time has come to return to Portugal. This time we are exploring rural central Portugal: land of green hills and blue rivers. Its very much a place where time stands still.. Days are quiet and there is time to read, to walk, to eat, to cook, to explore the villages and small towns. But progress is here also, which means that our rental villas have high speed internet, satellite tv, good bus and train connections to nearby cities.Join me in this new adventure. I'll be posting information about the women's small group journey planned for mid February and information for those who might be thinking of a long stay holiday in this lovely part of unspoiled Portugal.  Stay tuned!

Merida, Yucatan winter holiday 2010

Into our second week of our month long vacation here in beautiful colonial Merida, Yucatan. Weather first week was chillier than normal and the locals were bundled up in coats and sweaters. Our casa has no roof over the living room so we had to resort once or twice to (gasp) turning on the heat in the bedroom for ten minutes or so to remove the damp.

Much warmer and brilliant sunshine today as we strode purposefully uptown to solve the problem of our missing tourist visitor card. However, when we arrived at the designated address, no Immigration office!

Yesterday we went out and about for Merida en Domingo which was pleasant with all the local gentry out and about on the streets and in the Plaza.

Progreso, Yucatan,

We took the bus (5.oo return for both of us) to the seaport town of Progreso which is about a forty minute bus ride from Merida. Progreso has the longest pier in the world which enables it to dock mega cruise ships which are fast contributing to the growth and economy of this once sleepy village. Mind you, its still pretty sleepy, although we were here early in the day on a somewhat chilly January day. We walked the malecon and explored some of the streets and looked at the houses for sale before wandering into a thatched roofed restaurant called Buddies which seems to be the equivelent of the Wilno Tavern for the expats of Progreso. Food was good, beer was cold, people were friendly...what more can one ask!!

good food and a visit to progreso

Tom has been cooking at home, as is his wont, and we have had several delicious meals including fresh fish and a Mexican version of beef bourguignon as well as our mid afternoon tapas snack of cheese and chorizo and onion and olives washed down with Sol beer.

more casa in Merida

our casa in Merida

sightseeing, a trip to Walmart,

All of the Yucatan is lamenting the cold "norte" which has settled on this customarily hot and humid area of Mexico. Even we Canadians, newly arrived and possessed of warm sweaters and socks which we wore onto the plane in chilly Ottawa, are sitting under a blanket in our 'open to the stars" living room. Daytime is pleasant for walking or riding on the double decker turisto bus as we did today. First we walked all the way up Paseo de Montejo, past the wedding-cake architecture of the mansions lining Merida's version of the grand boulevards of Paris. (I am putting it this way as I can't recall how to spell Champs d......). Its a couple of miles from our home here in the Barrio of Santiago and we had walked it already yesterday. Our destination: Walmart.
Now, we are generally in favour of shopping in the local groceterias and in fact, did stock up at one of the local Meridian supermarkets but we have been on the hunt for the product "contra fumer" for Tom. I inquired at countless neighbourhood farmacias for the Nicorettes, or something equating that term and each pleasant white clad farmacia clerk shook his/or her head negatively.
Now the Cuban cigar sellers are out in full force and I felt it imperative to replenish the 'contra fumer" supply of gum so off we went to Walmart and sure enough, there it was...and cheaper than in Canada also!!!

While at Walmart which has a sizeable grocery department also, we were able to get Don Simon boxed wine from Spain which is much cheaper and probably more drinkable than the wines in the other supermercados. Cervesa is of course, cheap everywhere and it seems more pleasant to drink beer here than in Canada. And Walmart also has a very good Mexican bakery which has freshly baked bread, buns, pastries and even pizza.

We had planned to have some lunch out today but ended up buying three fresh buns already made up with cheese, ham, lettuce, tomato and mayo, two fresh pastries with chocolate and custard and a bottle of apple juice and one of pepsi. Total cost for this lunch which we ate at a cafeteria style area near the store entrance was 4.00 Canadian.

The turisto bus tour was 100 mx pesos each (about 10.00 each) and wound its way through the streets of the centro historico and then northward along the newer boulevards until we reached the turnaround point just past Sam's Club and Home Depot. There's also a Boston Pizza and numerous fancy car dealerships and high end home furnishing stores. Back downtown, amidst the colourful pastel fronts of the renovated colonial homes, are the traditional cantinas and little convenenience stores and shops of the old neighbourhoods.

We'll go out for lunch or desayuno (breakfast) one of these days but thus far have been cooking and eating at home. Last night, fish with cilantro and garlic, rice and beans and avocado. Tonight it will be beef and potatoes and perhaps the fresh corn I bought yesterday. Trying to remember not to eat unpeeled fruits and vegetables which is difficult as they all look so tasty in the shops.

Forgot my camera today but have taken some photos of our casa on calle 57.