Buggers

It's been a great few days for bugs! It started when the weather front was at a distance. Ants came out of the electric sockets, water pipe ducts, drains, from under the doors. Everywhere!
 I was going to Javier Martinez Cen's birthday party Saturday afternoon. My friend Cheryl was late getting here because she was waging war on ants that moved from one space to her bathroom. She had them cornered and couldn't stop.
 When she got here to go, I told her about the two women who rented for a week but left after a night because of the "filth" that attracted the ants. The place was clean..."They were coming out of the electric sockets," they said.
 So, we went to the party but got caught in a flooding downpour. Cheryl was a hoot: Her barricade against torrents was a six pack! We found a spot where the buildings blocked the wind and sat in the golf cart, thinking about opening the six pack! We didn't and Cheryl's blockade managed to keep Javier's present dry.
 Do, we get to the party and initially sit with a group of women. The topic: Three days of ants coming out of nowhere and going everywhere! Made me feel better about my vacant apartment!
 Yesterday, we had a play date for Punta and her best doggie friends. As we people sat inside watching more rain roll across the sea, we watched little twigs turn into dragon flies. Hundreds, perhaps thousands. It was a beautiful sight, one I have never seen before.
 So, if you have vacationed here and never seen ants come out of electric sockets and climb walls before serious rain, you have missed being in tune with island life. Sure, we don't love ants. But it beats living with toxic insecticides in the house. It is part part of tropical living.

Dance with me...

After a four month hiatus, the dance partners were reunited and it was as if he never left! Sergio has been off island for four months thinking in Cancun and working in Playa del Carmen. Now, he is back and ready to be a daddy to a boy due this summer.
And Punta, she's just glad to have him here, taking care of his lady and his dog, Maruka, who has been shuttling around three residences and grabbing the occasional golf cart ride with Punta to exchange stories.
And the plants and pool at Zina's Guest House need tending. Honestly, they've never looked worse! Welcome back!

If I'd had a daughter...

For four months, Anastasia from Vladivostok was my sidekick. She was on the island to be closer to her fiance from Atlanta. Here we are at a Fat Tuesday party and her costume was anchored by the wreath traditional to Ukraine, where girls wear them when they are ready to be brides.
Nastia, as her brothers shortened her name, is that. Ready to be a bride. Her USA fiance visa has been provisionally approved. She is back in Russia to pick up the rest. But...
While she cleared the interview with the US Embassy in Moscow, an x-ray came back with a spot on it and the US wants her to go to a chest clinic for analysis next week. She is sure it must be only a scar from a pneumonia she had last year. So, we wait.
It took a while for her to settle back in in with an internet connection at her friend's house in St. Petersburg. Now we are in daily communication again! Skype also has enabled her to stay in touch with family in Vladivostok during her time in Mexico.
What a relief! One of the joys of having her here was the language. We could go anywhere and not one other person understood what we said between each other. Just imagine that bond! Her last week here, we did encounter Russians who were staying at Avalon Resort. But still....
We went through the December holidays, a pirate party, Carnaval and so much more together. Her with her glue gun making appropriate costumes and head gear for the events. With her yearning for herring! OK, our yearning for herring. With our love of Asian food!
Vladivostok is Far East Russia. It is tomorrow there right now. It is on the border of a piece of China, where she and her family would go on weekends to shop. Japan is so close that now, in peaceful times, there are sushi restaurants in Vladivostok. So we were regulars at Sushi Island here on Isla Mujeres.
We shopped soup bones together, something her American fiance couldn't comprehend. But a good stock is essential! On her Facebook page, she recently posted a new cover photo of camomile flowers on sale in Chedraui. In a store here. Picked along paths yourself in Russia, used the same ways. Her friends in Russia were astounded.
So, that is where I disappeared to. Part of me went with my roots this winter and immersed into Russia, right here in Mexico. And now, part of me is in Russia with woman many here asked, "Your daughter?"