Off the Grid

 Here is a photo of our awesome hermit neighbor in Espita. 

He is one of the original "off the grid", "back to the land" people. He is 71 years old. He divorced his wife, took his dogs, and moved out to the jungle to live by himself 40 years ago. He made that hut in the photo from jungle materials. It is just an outpost next to his corn field. He has another hut closer to our hacienda that he also made from jungle materials. He eats and drinks out of a gourd, makes his shoes from rope and an old tire. He grows corn and walks for at least an hour & 1/2 to Espita to sell it and buy a few necessities. Drinks water from the well. Wakes up with the sun and sleeps when it's dark. Cooks over a fire, uses candles for light. Has 4 dogs and some chickens. He is a comfortable, satisfied man. "Que mas?" is what he says every time we see him: what else could you want?

PS When I told him that Henry had been bitten by a snake, he said he never had been bitten in 40 years of living out there. He has seen plenty, and his dog had been bitten (and survived), but he has been lucky. He also says he never gets sick.

Suburban Snapshots: Why Having a Toddler is Like Being at a Frat Party*

Suburban Snapshots: Why Having a Toddler is Like Being at a Frat Party*

I never liked titles, actually

I have been terrible about writing in my journal and sometimes find Facebook a little too soundbite-y, so I guess that is why I am doing a blog. 
I moved down to Merida on Jan 5th with my husband, Kam, & 3 kids:
Exie (6 1/2), Mary (4), & Henry (21 months). 
We are down here because my husband is an archaeologist studying the Maya at a site related to Chichen-Itza and I work on his project as an archaeological conservator (mainly washing and mending broken pots, but also some fairly challenging other projects & materials).  My husband is away all week long at his site, located about 1 1/2 hours from the city of Merida, so we only see him on weekends.
The 3 kids go to school in Spanish here in the city, while I "work", blog, bake, email, research, & our live-in nanny, Pati, cleans & cooks.  It is really a terrific life, especially now, when the weather isn't too hot. 
I was just interrupted by the water delivery guy -he comes by about 2 times a week.  There are lots of delivery people here -it's pretty great- each person has a different sound they make when they go by so that you don't even have to go out and look to see who is there. 
Oops- here comes the knife sharpener guy now with his cool whistle.  If he comes closer, I'll film him.  I think I'll make a little series of video clips of all the different vendors.  There is also a bread seller who comes by every night with his horn.  What else- some guy on a motorcycle selling brooms, mops, & assorted cleaning instruments.  Ice cream vendor, milk vendor (makes a recorded "Moo" sound!).  And, of course, the chatarra man.  Most of these people come by on triciclos, but that seems to be changing over to motorcycles somewhat.  The water guy has a truck.
When we lived in Honduras, there was a beer delivery truck that would come by the house.  And in the little town where Kam lives there is a little butcher's cart that makes the rounds on a trici.  I'll see if I can find a photo I took of that awhile back.
I need to do a little work before I go pick up the kiddos from school, so adios for now...

Future posts to look for:
a sample of daily life in Merida
example of a conservation treatment
Mexican birthday parties
video sampling of Mexican vendors
cute kids doing ridiculous things
Parque las Americas, zoo, biciruta
education dilemmas
explaining the Mexican drug war to a first-grader
and much, much more!