It’s a day late, but welcome to the Winter Sabbatical 2022 blog post series! If you saw my Facebook post last night, you know that things haven’t gone quite as smoothly as I’d hoped in Mexico this year. We are currently without WiFi, and God knows when it will be restored. This is an issue only the power company can fix, and they get in a hurry for no one out here (except for those with the best bribes). I try to limit my time on social media, email, and other apps so I don’t use up my cellular data for the day before the sun goes down. Yesterday I was unable to connect to the internet on my laptop by using my phone as a hotspot. This morning, I’ve had success; fingers crossed. Even so, I’m typing up the blog post offline to copy and paste on the website, so I don’t waste any data unnecessarily.

I’ve been here a full week already (WHAT?!). Tim flew here with me on December 28th and left on New Year’s Day. We rented a car while he was here, and this allowed us to pick up lots of supplies in the big city (Merida). Our stove was broken when we arrived; Tim discovered this on his trip here in October. But there was some miscommunication about repairing or replacing it before my arrival. Of course this stove is some weird custom size that isn’t stocked in any of the stores here, so a new one is on order. Tim bought a smaller stove for me to use until the new one arrives. Without him here, I guess I would’ve had to eat sandwiches, cold cereal, and microwavable meals for a couple of weeks. The washer/dryer combo was also busted, which we didn’t discover until New Year’s Day, a few hours before Tim’s flight back to Nashville. He shopped Facebook Marketplace from the airport and found a unit that could be delivered. I didn’t have enough cash on hand to pay for it, so I had to take a shuttle into Progresso on Sunday to find an ATM. The unit was delivered and hooked up late yesterday, so I can finally do some laundry today. It has been very windy here since Sunday afternoon due to El Norte. Not much rain, just gloomy and windy. I lost power during a storm like this last year, so I’ve been trying to keep my cellphone charged at about 75% just in case it happens again. It looks like the sunshine should return tomorrow. I’ve already experienced one power outage during my stay. On New Year’s Eve, we lost power for about an hour that night. I really want to get a generator. Because I live in the plant world and know nothing about how electricity works, Tim had to explain to me that it’s a much more complicated process than just buying a generator and some propane. Not to say it can’t be done; we just need to figure out the logistics. 

That’s the not-so-great stuff. There have been some glorious moments here, though. I have so much more beach access this year! I’ve already found some excellent specimens to add to my beach glass collection. Being on a bigger beach means more people. It was pretty busy for the first few days we were here, but it was also the holidays. I suspect there will be fewer people on the beach Monday-Friday. I’m amazed at the number of expats I’ve encountered at this location. One restaurant owner in town told us that the population has increased significantly over the last couple of years with word getting around about what a great place this is for Americans and Canadians to retire. There are a handful of American-owned restaurants/cafes in town. Tim has made some connections out here through the lengthy buying process, and it’s comforting to have these American contacts close by if/when I need them. I’m only a half mile from town, and I have a bike. Owning a place allows me to easily keep a bike in storage during the months I’m not here. I’d planned to ride it to the farmer’s market yesterday, but the strong winds made me nervous. I’ll give it a go after El Norte blows through.

There’s so much I want to write, but I’ve probably lost a few of you already, so I’ll stop here for now. I’m trying not to be disappointed that I can’t binge Netflix, catch up on Bates Botanical Boot Camp videos, Zoom with friends, or start the virtual gardening course I signed up for until our WiFi is restored. I have lots of books and garden plans to keep me busy. When I looked back at last year’s blog posts, I saw that I didn’t turn on the TV at all during those first two weeks…and I was perfectly happy. How soon I forget.