The Good. . .The Bad. . and The Awesome. . . .Â
We (my husband - Bill, myself, and our daughter - Rhonda - home on a visit from the Netherlands) arrived home from our trip to Merida and Chelem night before last. . . worn out, frazzled, but excited in some respects and still deliberating in others. . . and again though we were there for six days, that was not enough time to do all that we wanted to do. . .
We had booked the trip through Solar Tours, traveling on Mexicana Airlines and our rooms were at the Hotel Del Governador . . . We had traveled by Mexicana our last trip and had been pleasantly surprised with the friendliness of service - and the fact that we were served ‘meals’ instead of just snacks while on board. . . Again the service was the same - the only glitch in this flight was when we got to our hotel rooms and unpacked our suitcases. . . somewhere along the way in the baggage department of either the DFW airport or in Mexico City (where we changed flights for Merida) - we were robbed. . . There, amidst the chaos of what was determined by the ’slip of paper bearing the heading of the Transportation Security Administration’ to be an ‘inspection of the contents’ - were ‘missing and damaged articles’. . .I won’t go into detail of what ‘all’ these where, only that I have written (email) both the airlines and the TSA with a complaint. . . I have not heard back from either of them. . . . . But, needless to say, I was, and still am, ‘incensed’ at the ‘lack of security’ the ’security’ laws project upon the passenger. . . Whoever ended up with my almost full bottle of Burberry Brit - I hope you are ‘allergic’ to it. . . and I still have not figured out the reasoning in ‘destroying jewelery’. . .
But. . . about the trip. . . Basically Wednesday was the day of travel and after arriving in Merida we were met at the airport by Marlene (I hope I spelled her name right!), Jorge’s wife, along with their youngest child . . Jorge had been detained but met us shortly afterward. . .then it was on to the hotel. . . as we were to meet with Jorge again early the next morning to begin our ‘agenda’. . .
The hotel was typical of older renovated hotels in the Centro area of Merida. . the staff friendly and eager to help. . the rooms tight, but ‘air-conditioned’. . a pool and splendid patio areas . . .and a restaurant. . . and - all within walking distance of the many shops and cafes of this historical area of Merida. . . We ‘tried’ for a good night’s sleep - but, perhaps 
from the excitement of our first night there, none of us succeeded in this. . after a few hours of shut-eye, we hurried to meet Jorge early Thursday morning for a run out to Chelem and to view our new home and the lot. . .We were anxious to see if the small one-bedroom home would accommodate our ‘hoped-for’ stay upon the beach while we were on this trip. . . as one of our suitcases had been packed with items just for this stay. . .
Our first stop was the vacant lot where we hoped to build our new home. . . On one side of this lot is a home and the other side is an access road to the beach. . . It appears that the access road to the beach has been ‘worn’ over to encroach upon the front portion of our lot. . either that or the wall of the house shown on the left is over a bit further than it should be. . . something that would have to be checked out before we would know the exact bounds of this lot. . . then on to the little house. .
We had brought ‘pen and paper’ - for notes on what would be required to renovate this house - a project which quickly took on ‘visions’ of major proportions as we ‘measured’ - ‘mused’ - and ’sketched’ - - relocate the tiny kitchen to a full wall in the dining/living area. 
. turn the old kitchen area into utility and storage. . a second story with two more bedrooms and bathrooms. . extended patio with pool. . update everything. . and we ‘figured’ we could camp out in the home for a night or two. . it had water and power. . But - it was well past time for lunch, so to Progreso we went next. . . for a bite to eat . . beneath the little palapas scattered on the beach with the pier in the background. . .
Next - we headed back to Merida, stopping at several different building supply stores to view tiles, kitchen and bath fixtures, and various other supplies. . Home Depot was one major stop. . cabinets, fixtures, doors and windows - oh my!. . . better than Christmas shopping in my book!!. . visions of ‘kitchens and baths’ danced in my head. .then back to the hotel and a bit of shopping on the streets. . .
Friday morning Bill hoofed it the several blocks away to rent a car. . . We managed to ‘push and shove’ all our baggage into the tiny trunk and part of the back seat (for our stay in the little house on the beach). . . stopped to pick up a few cleaning supplies, ice, staple foods, and lots of drinking water. . . and hurried to meet Jorge and his builder at the house. . . We charted the plans of the renovation to the builder via Jorge. . then after they left, we dealt with getting the home ready for our overnight stay. . . Argh!!. . .the water pump didn’t work!!. .(the below ground tank from the city water was full, but the tank atop the house for the supply was only half full. . .). . . team work and a bucket fixed that. . I stooped and filled the bucket. . .Rhonda perched herself at a halfway point and handed the full bucket to Bill on the roof. . . in short time we had the tank on the roof full. . we would just have to conserve on our use. . .
Bill hung the two hammocks that he had purchased in Merida. . Rhonda and I swept and cleaned. . . we laid out the supplies. . . we huffed and puffed to fill the air mattresses (er - ‘makeshift’ ones - as we had brought along the blow-up type pool loungers). . another quick trip to a local store to get more supplies. . . a tiny plug in one burner ‘thingie’. . a skillet. . a coffee pot. . dishes. . and bacon, eggs and bread. . . then back to the house for some time on the beach. . . .All I can say is that - that evening was incredible. . .
My air mattress deflated that night. . . the breeze on the beach stopped and the bugs came in. . . Bill came in from his hammock and tried his mattress on the floor. . . We all wished we had bought a fan. . . But - it was our first night in ‘our’ home on the beach, and despite these little annoyances I wouldn’t have missed it for the world. . . We feasted the next morning on fresh coffee and bacon and eggs. . . they never tasted this good at home!! . . Bill took an early morning stroll along the beach. . I tried to catch a little shut-eye in his hammock. . . I didn’t succeed. . .
We goofed off. . .played in the ocean. . . . met our neighbor behind us. . then packed it up later in the day to head back to our hotel in Merida. . .to meet with Jorge and his builder . . (and here I apologize for not being able to remember correctly, much less be able to spell!! - the name of this very amiable Mayan artisan who had built Jorge’s home and was now constructing a pool for him. . . and after seeing Jorge’s home we had decided that we did wish to get a bid from him on our project. . .). . We learned at the meeting later that evening that our eyes had been a bit too big on our renovation project. . . (or at least mine had!!. .). . the costs were reasonable, after reviewing all the would have to be done, and the supplies. . . but did we want to put this much into this home and still be able to build the new home on the vacant lot?. . . questions, and more to follow the next day. .
Sunday we went sight-seeing. . driving out towards Telchac Puerto and beyond, then heading back to Merida through inland roads and several small towns in that direction. . coming into Merida from another direction than we were used to, we had to stop and ask directions several times before we finally found the Centro area where our hotel was. . that evening we got a call from our neighbor by our home on the beach. . wanting to meet and discuss something. . .
The lot with our little home on it is a long one, with another home on the back side. . . the lot was divided by the owner we purchased our home from.  . to accommodate an entry alongside the back house for us, and a small path to beach on the side of ours for the owners of the back house. . . but the plats received by both of us did not match. . . uh oh!. . which one was right?. .Meetings with the lawyer who had drawn up the papers, with the lady who had sold us the home, and a lot of discussion took up a lot of Monday. . It ended up that the plat we had received was wrong. . . The accesses were still there, but the line in the center was off kilter. . not that it changed the overall amount of land on either lot, but the neighbor wished to do away with the access paths on both plats - as he intended to purchase part of the lot to the side of his - and he proposed a straight division of the property with access to our lot at the back side of his future lot. . . sounded fair. . but this would involve addition to the trust already in place on our lot. . . how much would that cost??. . . the day was going fast and we still needed to meet with the builder on an estimate on building our new home on the vacant lot. . .
“That” - the estimate on the construction of our new home on the vacant lot - came in at a price that was a pleasant surprise. . . Still, there are contracts to draw up, more plans to be finished on our part. . . still plenty to do to get the project started. . . And we had to catch an early flight back home the next morning. . Tuesday. . . . this was the end our our stay. .
During all this, Jorge MORE than did the duty of realtor. . . He is indeed a truly generous person. . has a lovely wife and family. . . and we do hope we are added to his list of friends. . as he and his family are indeed on our list. . .
