Xpu Ha Beach in Playa del Carmen

This past Wednesday we flew to Cancun via Interjet, From Cancun, we rented a car and drove down highway 307 to Riviera Maya.

On the way, we stopped at Xpu Ha Beach in Playa del Carmen. We were a bit unprepared for the beach, having come straight from the airport.

But, Xpu Ha was great. There's a restaurant and shop, where you can rent beach towels. The towels were $60 pesos or $5 USD, plus another $60 pesos deposit per towel, which you get back upon towel return. We gave the worker $400 pesos. She said she didn't have change, but would get change and give it back to us...upon towel return. Needless to say, I think she says that regularly...and short changes people, as she did not "remember" when we returned our towels...nor did she give Mike the correct change after he brought it up. But, Mike said the change he received was "close enough", so we let it go.

But, while we had our towels, we took full advantage of them at the beach! There are plenty of lounge chairs and tables on the beach. If you eat at the restaurant, there is no charge for using the lounge chairs. So, that worked out fine. The food was alright - what you would expect from a beach restaurant. Tacos, quesadillas, burgers, etc.

The sand was GREAT, as was the water. There were some boats around, picking up and dropping off scuba divers. But, that didn't interfere with our swimming.

In Cabo, Annabelle was TERRIFIED of the ocean. She clung to me whenever she got within 15 feet of the water. At Xpu Ha, she quickly warmed up to the water and ended up having a great time splashing, swimming and giggling in the waves! She also enjoyed throwing sand on the beach!

In total, we spent about 90 minutes at Xpu Ha. We could have stayed longer, but it was just meant to be a quick spot on the way to Riviera Maya.

We would definitely go back again...but would bring our own towels...or exact change!

Washing Machine Update

After 11 days and six repairman visits, our lavadora (washing machine) was finally fixed. It needed a new pump!

True to his word last Wednesday evening, the fifth repairman came back on Thursday evening "despues cinco" (after 5) and installed the pump!

I wish I knew more words in Spanish to show the handyman my appreciation of his work!

Now...if we could just get our car back from Honda...it has been in the shop since April 25th, due to the flooding of our parking garage. Apparently, the CRV needs new carpeting and Honda has not been able to get it in stock.

Up until last Friday afternoon, Mike's work lent him a Toyota Yaris...that has fuel pump issues - meaning it is fine to drive, but once you stop, it won't turn back on for awhile...which makes it hard to drive to the grocery store, gas station or run small errands. He had to turn that back in on Friday, as someone else needed it (good luck to him or her!) The new replacement car he was supposed to get on Friday had just come back from the shop...and was deemed unfit to drive. So, it was then sent back.

For the time being, Mike is taking cabs to and from work, which could end up being a bit costly if it continues beyond next week! Good thing he'll be on vacation the rest of this week!

In the meantime, we'll just enjoy our vacation and be glad that we can use our lavadora!

Haircuts in Mexico City

My brother is getting married in Riviera Maya in three days!

So, last Friday afternoon, Mike, Annie and I set out to find a place to get haircuts. Annie hadn't had a haircut since early March and she kept pulling out the barretts that I pulled her bangs back with about two seconds after I walked away. Needless to say, we were overdue for a haircut.

Luckily, Mike has an excellent memory and remembered walking past "Mia and George" on Homero in Polanco the previous weekend.

We arrived there and were lucky enough to be helped by several people that spoke English. That helped tremendously when telling them what we wanted done with Annie's hair... and Mike's. We got right in and, with Annie sitting on my lap, were out the door 30 minutes later!

A successful first haircut in Mexico for Annie!

Before:

After:

DHL to Mexico - Package Received

Late last week, Annabelle's birthday present arrived! After agreeing to let DHL "mark" (paint) the toys, they emailed back saying an outfit was made in China and it would have to be "mutilated" (cut).

After receiving a blog comment from someone that lives in Polanco and has been thru the same process, I followed his advice and also asked DHL about the taxes I would have to pay, if I went through Cofepris and got the proper documentation. DHL said it would be $900 pesos (about $80 USD) for the toys, plus more for the outfit. $900 pesos is more than my mother and father in law paid for the toys!

Finally, I agreed to the marking and mutilation and the package was delivered two days later.

The toys looked much better than expected. They were marked with a yellow spray paint that you can see thru. The toys just needed to be aired out for a day, as they still smelled like paint.

Here are a few photos of some items...

Thomas the Trains

Track with yellow paint here and there

Yellow paint on the puzzles

Two+ inch cut in the back of Annie's new dress

DHL - U.S. to Mexico

For Annabelle's birthday, my mother in law sent Annabelle a package via DHL. She said it was very frustrating from her end, as the package had to be re-packed to make it less costly and she was told it would probably be opened at least three times.

She sent me the tracking number, so I saw that it was in Mexico City on June 3rd. From there, the daily updates have read "clearance delay".

Late last week, I got a phone call from DHL, stating that Mike (as the package is addressed to him) had to fill out a document and get an additional document from Cofepris, before DHL would release the package.

When the DHL man emailed the document, I emailed back asking "what's Cofepris?". He gave me their website. And told me that if the Cofepris process is too difficult, we can either have the toys "destroyed OR marked/painted and released as samples".

Apparently, Cofepris is a Mexican government agency. www.cofepris.gob.mx

Their English portion of their website states:

"The Federal Commission for the Protection against Sanitary Risk (COFEPRIS) is a decentralized organ of the Department of Health with technical, administrative and operational autonomy, whose mission is to protect the population against sanitary risks, through sanitary regulation, control and promotion under a single command, which provides unity and homogeneity to the policies which are determined."

So, after getting no where with Cofepris' website, I called them, spoke to someone in English and was directed to a 16 page document. From there, he told me to go to page 12, section 3 and follow the instructions.

These are the instructions:

3. IMPORTACIÓN:

HOMOCLAVE COFEPRIS-01-006

NOMBRE, MODALIDAD Y GUÍA RÁPIDA DE LLENADO

Aviso Sanitario de Importación de Productos

(Bebidas no alcohólicas, cerámica y loza vidriada, juguetes y artículos escolares).

CAMPOS: 1, 2, 3, 4, 9, 10, 14 y para juguetes, 1 2 3 4 artículos escolares, cerámica y loza vidriada 8

además 21 y 22

REQUISITOS DOCUMENTALES

␣ Para juguetes, cerámica destinada a contener alimentos; y artículos escolares: Constancia Sanitaria o Certificado de Libre Venta o Análisis de laboratorio.

␣ Para el resto de los productos: Constancia Sanitaria o Certificado de Libre Venta. Para todos los productos el trámite deberá presentarse anualmente y será válido para todos los embarques dentro de esté período.

The above instructions make no sense to me. But, he told me to follow them, then bring my document into Cofepris, for their approval.

At this point, I have emailed DHL back to ask them if I agree to allow them to paint/mark the toys, will they be released TO ME. Their previous email just said "released as samples".

So, if they agree to release the painted toys to me...I can only imagine what color Thomas the Train will be!

"Did you ever think I would hand wash your underwear?"

I never thought my husband would say "did you ever think I would hand wash your underwear?" ...Nor did I ever think he would.

However, after 8 days of having a broken washing machine, Mike broke down and hand washed some clothing.

I had offered to do it earlier in the week, but I don't think Mike was confident in my hand washing abilities...which was just fine with me!

So, while I was on baby-wrangling duty, Mike broke out the buckets.

Last Sunday, our washing machine stopped draining. I emailed our building manager Ruth, who replied Monday morning, saying she would tell the other building manager. I emailed Ruth (who is the only one that speaks English) again on Tuesday. Again, she replied. She told me that she manages the building on the outside. She doesn't manage the individual units, but that she would pass along my information.

On Thursday, the "individual units" manager Betty was in the lobby. I flagged her down and tried to tell her that my washing machine was broken. She told me someone would come to look at it "manana". However, a few hours later the maintenance man stopped by. He came to fix something...but it wasn't the washing machine. I think he thought he was supposed to look at my dishwasher. But, he looked at the washer, determined he couldn't do anything, and indicated (in Spanish) that he would talk to Betty.

On Saturday, my maid showed up. She looked at the huge piles of laundry and headed straight to the washer...as if I left mounds of laundry for her to do! With my Spanglish, I told her that the washer (lavadora) was broken (no trabaje) and that I wasn't happy (no me gusto!).

Minutes later, she had Betty's phone number in hand and was asking how to work my home phone. A moment later Betty was on the phone and Patricia was on her case!! (Have I mentioned that I adore my maid Patricia?!?!)

After hanging up with Betty, Patricia indicated that Betty wasn't going to do anything and we needed the manual. I pulled out the manual...that was actually written in English...but did not solve our problem, as the hose was not kinked. It is a GE washer and the manual gave us a number for GE...but it was an 800 number.

In Mexico, you cannot dial 1-800 numbers! If you pull out your credit card, on the back, it will give you an international number to call when outside the U.S.

The manual gave us no such number.

But, Betty called back a minute later and said she would send someone out to look at the washer...again. A few hours later, a man showed up and Patricia told him what the problem was. The guy stayed about five minutes and then left.

Patricia indicated that he (or someone) would be back on Monday.

At this point, I am not holding my breath that the washer will be fixed in the next week. But, I am grateful that Patricia will be back next Saturday, in order to get on Betty's case again.

I am also grateful to Mike for his new skill - hand washing laundry!

And, I have realized what a great landlord I am! My tenants get quick responses and repairs! Apparently, the same is not expected or required in Mexico City!

Visiting Annabelle's School

Yesterday was Annabelle's second birthday! So, I emailed last week with the director's of Annabelle's school and coordinated bringing in cookies to her class.

School starts at nine am. I was told to bring the cookies in at 11:20 am.

When I arrived, I went upstairs and saw three separate little classrooms, with about 6-10 kids in each class. In all three classrooms, the kids were sitting at little tables, eating their lunch!

Shockingly, Annabelle was one of these well behaved kids! I couldn't believe it!! As soon as I entered, she started talking, saying "MOMMY! Mommy's here." It was a nice welcome! She's not embarrassed of me yet!!

I was given my own little chair and sat behind Annabelle while the kids ate their food.

Each kid had a place mat that indicated where their plate, fork, spoon and tiny cup were to be placed.

To my amazement, Annabelle picked up her cup, which did NOT have a lid, drank it, and said "mas agua". Then, put her cup back in its' correct spot!

My amazement continued as the kids all continued eating their carrots, watermelon, and their main dish, which has a name, but I cannot recall it. The dish consisted of a piece of french bread, topped with refried beans, then layered with cheese. Annie ate the entire thing...which, again, shocked me, because normally the only thing she eats in full are sweets (a chip off the old block!)

Once the kids were done eating, the teacher instructed them individually to take their plate, cup, utensils, placemat and leftover food to the "dish section", where each kid had to put everything away in it's proper spot.

I think my jaw hit the floor as Annabelle followed her teacher's instructions and took three trips from the table to the dish section, putting everything away!

Next, it was time for Annabelle's cookies! Since moving to Polanco, we have become big fans of Le Pain, a local bakery. They have GIANT chocolate chip cookies that are very thin and taste amazing! So, we got enough giant cookies for each kid to have one. But, it worked out best to split up two amongst the whole class, then send each kid home with a full cookie! Before the kids were allowed to grab a piece of cookie, they sang "Las Manitas" to Annabelle. She smiled and clapped at the end! Then, the kids got their cookie pieces! It was pretty silent in the room as the kids devoured the cookies! Lots of "mmmmm" sounds coming from the kiddos, but that was about it!

The kids then walked up three steps to the bathroom area, where the assistant washed their hands, gave them their toothbrushes, and helped clean everyone up! After seeing Annie's class eat, I now fully understand why each kid is supposed to have a denim smock! I'll be purchasing one of those very soon!

After cleanup, I was invited to stay and go outside for playtime/recess. All the kids were out there.

Annabelle held my hand and the railing as we walked downstairs. With each step she took, she yelled out "Be careful E-A". (E-A is what she calls herself, as for awhile she had a hard time saying "Annie"!). So, the whole way down, I laughed as she kept telling herself to be careful! Once we reached the end of the stairs, she let go of my hand and started running towards the backyard, saying "I play with kids". She went straight to the gardening table, then moved on to the Little Tikes slide and log cabin. She was not concerned with me...which was good because that is when the older kids attacked me!

There were two girls and one boy, around the age of six, that would not leave me alone. They were trying to stuff plant leaves and nuts in the pockets of my jeans, in addition to trying to steal my iPhone out of my back pocket!! I must have said "NO. No mas. No gracias. Estas mal" about twenty times. A teacher came over and yelled at them a few times, but they were persistent. They kept after me! Then, I had about ten younger kids randomly coming up to me, speaking to me in Spanish, asking me my name...among other things that I couldn't understand!

Towards the end of recess, Annie found a soccer ball and started kicking it around the yard, yelling "I play soccer. I kick the ball". So, that was very cute to watch.

And, periodically she would look up and yell "I see my teacher", give her a big smile, and then continue playing!

I can certainly see why she comes home exhausted every afternoon! And, she seems to be very vocal, comfortable speaking English when everyone around her is speaking Spanish, for the most part. So, that was nice to see!

It was very nice to be able to spend over an hour with Annabelle at school today! She seems to be doing very well there!