An inkeeper's life

I am sitting here in wet clothes, waiting for my hot water heater to make the water hot enough to warm me up. I am a landlord and I turn my own hot water off when not using it.
Anyway, It all started in a downpour last night, when my house guest Marte and I toughed it out to go to happy hour at Villa la Bella. We had thought the weather broke, but alas, it didn't. Once there, we had hurricane-style fun, the locals amongst us telling the guests that it's like this in hurricane season.
When the weather did break, we took Anastasia home and Marte and I made a break for home. This morning looked iffy, but rather that go into town, I talked Marte into having a nice French breakfast at LoLo's, where I had coffee macaroons were reserved for later.
The breakfast was fantastic, with a natural yoghurt with fresh berries, nuts and dates, followed by an egg casserole with a French bread stick accompanied by juice and coffee to our liking.
LoLo broke a $100 bill for me so I could top off my cell phone at Chedraui, and off we went. While we were inside, the downpour began.
After much debate in which I took a break to go back inside to use the restroom, and nailed a sales associate for no answer on the issue of motorized shopping carts, I returned to find Julianne, ready to nail the same sales associate with the same question.
We lingered, debating whether to make a break or not because we were in the golf cart, not the trusty VW.
After a while, we did and it wasn't to bad until the BIG PUDDLE that literally flooded the engine. Rule of thumb is never take your foot off the ignition to matter how it sputters. That failed to work this time.
Suddenly, a group of people in ponchos appeared and pushed us into the beer drive-thru, Modelorama. They were French, so in gratitude, I started offering the macaroons. No no. But then a woman tried one and learned from me they were make by a French chef. LoLoLorena. The 10 macaroons disappeared just like that. The rain stopped and the French were off with their leader, a man from Cancun Sailing, who gave me his number for renting a pirate boat for next December. It's in my cell phone!
So, that is the life of an inn keeper. Marte bought a bottle of wine in Chedraui, my shower water is ready, and my next check in, Richard, landed 10 minutes early at 11:59. We'll be on our second glass of wine when he enters as the rain continues. That is the life of an inn keeper on Isla Mujeres. Not so bad!

Punta explains a lot

Mom went to the new super store - Chedraui - yesterday and didn't buy me anything. So excuse me if I choose a baby picture from June for my blog entry. I think it's attractive, which I was not at all yesterday. But I was stressed. Let me explain.
Mom took me for my morning run and before I got any real energy released, we got stuck in school and new store traffic. We were in front of a school and traffic was rerouted from near the new Chedraui store and there were kids on motor cycles with their parents and trucks and noise, I couldn't take it.
Then I ran along the salina and Mom stopped to visit her future car. I saw this dog, an old dog but I knew he had been a bad dog in his life by the way his balls clanked. So I got mad and started to growl and chase him. Once. Then again. And the second time he ran in front of a moto. I ran to Mom.
He howled and howled for about 10 minutes, maybe more. And Mom just made me sit and watch. He kept being petted by the old lady he was with and then they slowly walked away. The moto driver also had a sore thigh.
I hurt for that dog. I was ashamed. I went under the bed and stayed the whole day. Well, I did come out for lunch. But I was sorry and so scared.
Street noises scared me, ceiling fans scared me. They reminded me of the traffic for some reason.
Then Judy, Ticker and Baby's mom, took my pet carrier away.
Hey, I hadn't been inside of it for a month, but it was mine. I don't care if it bothered Mom so near the dining table. And I am an adult. But that was mine!
I was afraid Mom was going to give me away for being bad and making that big dog get hurt. I just didn't know what to do.
Then she left. She said she'd be back and she always brings me something when she goes like that, right? Well, she didn't come back with anything for me.
But she had stuff that made her happy and quick got me a treat from near where my kennel used to be,
She put things away, fed me, and then insisted I go to my bed in her room. Yes, the one in the closet. Then, she called me to her bed and held my paw while petting me and telling me how beautiful and good I am and that none of it was my fault.
This morning, she waited until after rush hour to take me out. I ran by the sea and the salina and stopped near where the big dog lives to buy juice. I feel myself again, chewing rawhide and wagging my tail.
But change is hard for me. And yesterday was a day that changed everything here on the island.

All's well!

Folks have been asking me how the kitchen turned out, why I have disappeared. Well, the team effort and all the dust took a lot out of me. I am about done coughing it up.
But in addition, there is the getting ready for high season business and busy-ness of inquiries, bookings, and remodeling other parts of the property. And enjoying my new kitchen!
There is also a Russian woman staying on the island until her fiance visa clears in the US. She speaks very little English and virtually no Spanish. I am teaching her both languagues. We hang out together a lot and wait for her commuting fiances to return. He'll be back Friday for four days or so.
So, yesterday, I opened a can of small smoked fish, sprats, and we cooked potatoes, ate sugarless yoghurt, and Russified our food as much as possible the whole day!
It is a beautiful day and I hope to get to the rooftop and show you the new design there. And you may have heard, our new super market/department store, Chedraui, opens today. It is a big deal! I'll go there after some of the hubbub dies down. So many things. Hardly any time! I promise to do better!
I am also looking to sell the golf cart and looking at a Mexico VW Beetle, nicknamed the Vocho, for my high traffic needs. So much stuff going on!

Look at slow Mexican construction!

I'm gone a week, we have a hurricane when I get back, and what pops out at me while making the rounds today? The progress made on the new superstore!

Paved paradise?

This will be a shocker to those who've been away from the island since last high season. Watching it develop over the last weeks has me wishing I'd taken photos daily, because it has moved along so quickly that a slide show would be like watching a movie. Workers 24/7.
Chedraui is building what zoning commissions in the US call a big box store. This one boxy and a couple stories plus under roof parking.
It will make most of the trips to shop in Cancun unnecessary. It also threatens to force many of the mom and pop tiendas into closure with its lower pricing to Mexican liking and variety and imported food labels from the US.
It will inevitably bring amazing traffic jams to the middle of the island, right across from the baseball and soccer fields, so busy on weekends as it is. A traffic light or a 24 hour transit cop is inevitable.
Chedraui will open its superstore on Isla Mujeres in December. Conventional wisdom has it happening in time to buy Christmas and New Years turkeys and hams and yams and sparkling cider.
In addition to the neighborhood mini supers, it is questionable that the island would be willing to support two SuperXpresses owned by the San Francisco supermarket chain. And the one nearest to me, that doesn't have an ATM and a good assortment of vegetables, can just go away. No one will mind after the Chedraui opens. I am sure.