Evolucion Animal A.C. and the Chelem Curry Club

Evolucion Animal A.C.

Evolucion Animal A.C. is a local dog rescue non-profit who saves dogs and is the only shelter where the dogs are not euthanized to control numbers. There are over 200 dogs in the shelter and from November to March the dogs are sent to adoptive families in Mexico, Canada and the USA.

Yesterday I was fortunate to meet Patricia and her husband Ken. Patricia  and Ken are actively involved in this wonderful cause. Patricia spends a lot of her time organizing fundraisers for this worthy cause. They are not scared of getting dirty and regularly help to clean, walk, wash and feed the dogs . It is an excellent place to donate your time if you are around, and their website provides some days for dog walking and washing etc.

Over the past week they hosted an online art auction and I was fortunate to get one of the paintings. This will be my first local artist's addition to our new house. I am very excited about this.

Artist: Edith Eloisa Martinéz Covián

I will be spending some time volunteering at Evolucion as soon as we are settled into our new house and will share regular updates about them. In the meantime if you want to adopt a dog or donate, please do so on their website.

Herman also discovered the Chelem Curry Club on facebook this week and they had a curry take-out night last night, so he ordered some of the chicken curry.

Before collecting our lovely dinner, we stopped at the beach in Chelem with Xena for a quick cooldown. The houses are built so close to the ocean and you can see the damage done by the salt and the fierceness of the water. We enjoyed walking on the beach a bit.

After some bundu-bashing over sand and down tiny side roads we managed to find the Curry Club, and it was absolutely worth the drive and the effort; the food was excellent!  They are closed now for a month, but we will be there again once they open.

We also saw this cute guy right next to the street and he wasn't phased by our closeness and just stared back at us...

Mexican iguana: ctenosaura

Yema-Yá - The goddess of the ocean & nature

On May 18th, we visited Yema-Yá in Chelem. This social not-for-profit organization was started by local Mayan women to preserve their culture through empowerment of women. They also have school tours visit their facility for education about the environment. Like everywhere else, the Mayan culture is challenged by modern progress and the knowledge about local plants and their medicinal value is one of the areas these women are trying to pass on to the next generation.

Yemayá hosted its first workshop on medicinal plants and Herman and I attended. There were quite a few other Canadian expats who live in and around Chelem and it was really nice to talk to them and hear some of their experiences. I was reminded again that Canadians seem to always be involved in good causes. Go Canada!

We were intrigued by the many herbal remedies that can be found in nature, aloe for weight loss, skin and hair, basil for eye health, mint water to rejuvenate, moringa leaves which are high in Vitamin C, A, Calcium, Potassium, Iron and Protein can be used in salad, in tea and is beneficial for stress, digestion as an antioxidant, etc. Many more plants were discussed which benefits digestion, can be used to heal wounds and so on. Jenna and Dimitri helped with the translation. I will receive an electronic copy of their medicinal plan guide and then I will plant some of these plants in my own garden.

Jenna and Dimitri are two young American teachers who have spent the last year in Chelem to help this initiative get on its feet and they are going home next week. It is now up to these women to keep the project going. If they are successful, it will not just potentially ensure new funding but it will also be a big win for the Mayan culture and these women can be proud that they are part of such an amazing initiative.

During the summer they will have a market every Monday from 9 - 11 where you can buy their fresh produce, including eggs from the chickens they keep on the back. They also sell herbs, spices and tea.

Some of the goats in their pen.

The ladies from Yema-Yá sharing their knowledge at the workshop.

Some of the women who help run Yema-Yá.

Mayan Hammocks

Who doesn't like a hammock?

In the Mayan culture it is traditional to sleep in hammocks. No Sealy Posturepedics or bowling ball mattresses thank you. Also no linen to wash; what's not to like! Adults and babies enjoy the rocking equally and overall you get a great night's rest. Or so a recent Swiss study showed. According to many websites sleeping this way is much better for your back. Of course you do not sleep in a hammock like a banana, but you  lie diagonally across the hammock, so that your body is straight. There are some YouTube videos out there showing the correct method, but please, even though the chick in the itsy-bitsy mini bikini or the hunk with the six pack may be more enjoyable for some of you to watch, the traditional Mayan's way will be the one you really want to follow...

This is not the reason why we decided to get hammocks mind you. We just wanted to get hammocks because they are fun to chill in. After some dilligent research we decided to get the Mayan cotton "grande" version so that we can try to sleep in them. Man oh man - are they great or what? In this heat these hammocks are amazing to keep us cool!

So now we are swinging away in our newly purchased hammocks from Hamacas El Aguacate Pensiones a local store in colonia Franciso de Montejo (not the one in Centro).

Herman's hammock packed away on wall hook.

Denise's hammock ready for use. Except usually without a pillow!

All the houses here have hammock hooks in most rooms as well as outside so you can fold up your hammock in the traditional twisty way and take it with you. It is the only way I can handle the heat in the afternoons and with the larger hammocks you can easily wrap yourself in the material if the winds gets a little chilly (however, this has not happened to me yet).

If you buy a hammock for outside use only, the nylon ones will last longer, but the cotton ones are softer. The Mayan's are the best weavers of hammocks, so buying one in the Yucatan is apparently the best place to buy one. The prices vary dramatically and especially when you buy in the tourist areas you can pay up to $500USD for the large hammocks. However, you can bargain with vendors, so please do that and be realistic; how much is it worth to you?

The Town of Seyé

Today is the 10th of May and we decided it was time to drive out to the town where we hope to live soon. We could not resist to go to our hopefully future home. We knocked on the door, but no one was home, so we snuck along the outside to take some pictures for those of you who have asked for pictures of the house.

Front yard.

One of our neighbours.

Tree outside the front door.

View from the front to the street.

Front gate.

Wall along the length of the property.

Front gate and door.

Back porch - the roof is still to be built over the patio.

Pool and backyard.

Herman and I loved being in the small town as well and we did a walk-about of the main square and the market and compared some prices of food and appliances etc. All in all the town compares well with Mérida prices, except that the market is cheaper and the groceries are more expensive, which we expected. Luckily the larger grocery stores on the outskirts of Mérida are close enough to make a bi-weekly run for the staple supplies and then the local market is awesome for all the fresh veggies and meat that we eat.

Main square in Seyé.

Park in the square in Seyé.

Seyé's cathedral.

We are excited to move to our house and cannot wait for the paperwork to be finalized and the ownership to be registered etc. Six weeks from now, we should move in; if all goes well.

The countdown is on

Cinco de Mayo

As mentioned in my blog before, this day is a non-event in Mérida and most of Mexico, because it celebrates a battle against Napoleon III, which was won in Puebla and is not independence day.

We decided to go out for dinner and went to our favourite family chain: Eladio's. It was great, as usual, and we ate a little too much. My first Margarita (hopefully of many) since arriving here, was amazing! After dinner we went for a little stroll in our favourite local park. I am so excited to move to our new rental house on Sunday where we will have the place to go ourselves.

It was a really lazy day, but a good one with much cooler weather and we spent it outside most of the day under the trees in the courtyard.

The new rental

It was as if we arrived at the taj mahal - seriously! The small things that matter when you haven't had it for a long time: Since we left Canada in March, we have not had a real couch to sit on or a dining room table to eat at.

We are across from the school, so it's busy in the mornings and at lunchtime when school starts and ends. Down the street is a local park where there is Zumba in the morning and lots of people out exercising before work. Just on the other side of the park there are restaurants all over the place, and we've had our first barbecue chicken from a local chain that was excellent. We visited the local butcher and bought some fresh pork and chicken. A really nice area close to many shops. It is Francisco de Montejo and is a suburb of Mérida.

Yema-Ya and Lol-Ha

Lol-Ha

Today was really great because we decided to drive to Chelem Puerto along the coast and attend the meet and greet hosted by Lol-Ha for Yema-Ya the organic farm run by local women. There were some treats, seeds, small trees, information about the organization and entertainment included a saxophone player.

Lol-Ha is an interesting sweet savoury café and gift store combined. It is along Calle 21 (between Calle 24 y 26) in the fishing village of Chelem. You can find really awesome artwork and crafts to decorate your home or buy jewellery for a friend back home. The coffee was great and the menu also features savoury breads, desserts, and light lunch and breakfast items. The hostess is super friendly and the creator of most of the artwork in the shop.

If you have a small business speak to Lol-Ha to host you. We will definitely be back for another visit. 

Yema-Ya

Yema-Ya is a local organic farm - non-profit - that was formed three years ago to empower the local women and has become quite famous for its innovative farming. They grow their own organic vegetables, are planning to start a seed bank and have regular market days. They will be hosting workshops later this year to teach people to start their own gardens.

They are located further down the road from Lol-Ha towards Chuburna, and is an awesome place to visit. Any volunteers are welcome to come help out with whatever skill you have and learn from the women about the medicinal values of the local herbs. They are open Monday to Friday from 4:30 to 7pm.

I also bought my first tree which I plan to plant in my first garden here in the Yucatan. It's a Moringa tree which has a lot of medicinal value and provides a lot of shade when it is large enough. 

Jenna, a young woman from California is helping the organization manage the funding they received from an organization in the US for women's agricultural projects. We had a nice chat with Jenna and her boyfriend Demitri. We will definitely volunteer a few times (until we move to our home) at Yema-Ya to learn some more about the local plants and practice our Spanish with locals.

The drive to Chelem Puerto was about 45 minutes from Mérida, but it was just great to get out of the city, talk to some people and smell the ocean!!

It is interesting how organic labels have become more popular since our last visit to Mexico. Recycling has also increased with organic and inorganic pickup from residences. Mexico is the world leader in plastic recycling. Seems like Mexico is really making an effort to go green and here is another example: The new electric police vehicles are used in Mérida.