The fair of St Elena

The New Year started off being very busy in the hotel and restaurant which did not give me much time for writing my blog page .As well, the service for internet can be so unpredictable at times. Always great in the morning time but when the time came to write for my blog then the service became really slow.

The service regained its strength by the evening but alas work does not permit that I sit by the computer and if I did I am sure there would be some disgruntled clients, who wanted to chat and ask questions about areas to visit  .

So work always wins out over pleasurable things to do…. Oh don’t get me wrong it is a pleasure having people here and listening about their wanderings where they have been and where they are going and from what part of the world do they come from.etc

Today I am going to make an effort I told myself

This is the time of the St Elena fair (this weekend being the last days of celebrations)

It’s been two weeks of evenings of burning the bull in el centro in front of the church.

The Bull effergie

Firecrackers shooting off into the stars, in all directions .Squeals of delight from the crowd nearly drowned out the sound of the firecrackers. The party bus busy running up and down the tiny village again with squeals of delight from the youngsters and of course loud music which is the norm here .

Preparing the fireworks ready to mount on the bull efferige

The coming out of the church, the statue of Jesus Christ to spend a night in the home of a family only to return to the church the following morning to sounds of firecrackers and an unmelodious band playing  at 4 am .Maybe it was too early for the players too !

The family that hosts Jesus takes on a mountain of responsibilities, cooking special foods for three consecutive days .The first evening consists of coffee for everyone who cares to drop by the house and visit with the family

The second day could be a kind of botanas like chicharro .This is made from the deep fried skin of a pig until you get a nice a crispy consistency along with some of the innards .Cut up small and added tomatoes ,onions,chile,cilatntro and limon  then eaten with fresh tortillas

The next day came the infamous relleno negro .One of my staff Mauricio and his family did their turn this year and he told me they cooked one pig and 24 turkeys for this event and he was kind enough to bring me a sampling along with pepsi to drink and fresh tortillas

He told me the next day at work that  ALL the food was chupe(finished) so one can imagine how many people came to eat or brought their vessels for take away.

Actually it was the best relleno negro I had tasted as usually I just poke at it and say thank you But this had great taste and I walloped it down with 4 tortillas( I normally only eat 2 tortillas)

Like all years the last Saturday is the baile de cochinta or dance of the pig.One gets used to the music they play and I now know when to start walking with the crowd and when the music changes its time for the dance

Its fun times for all but time as well as the serious religious side of it.

To add more excitement to the event apparently according to stories told in the village the statue of the Virgin Mary was shedding tears in the church .Maria, one of my cleaning ladies, was so excited to show me photos she had taken of the Virgin,  with her cell phone .It certainly looked like she was crying and Maria assured me she saw the tear falling.

This will now be talked about every year at this time and  some hoping it will happen again and again .

Seasons Greetings

Due to the high capacity rate of the hotel and restaurant there will be no posts for awhile but I will be collecting things to write about so dont worry. In the meantime I wish all a very merry christmas and happy new year

Another beauty

The 15th birthday party which I was able to attend and felt that I should, turned out to be the social event of the year!

The father of the birthday girl is a local business owner. Louis spent sometime in the states many years ago and when he returned home he opened the only mini super in the village.He also owns a smaller place on the other side of the village. His wife is a taileress  and sews amazing costumes for the celebrations and parades held in St Elena. She is very artistic

Next to their mini super,  his wife also has a clothing business and haberdashery .Upstairs Louise likes to work out and has installed quite a few workout  machines. You sometimes see him running in the evenings.Now his wife has started an arobics class three time a week ……………. i just may pop over to participate one of these days!

They used to have a cyber café too but then the cost of running it  was just too much and the service was not always reliable. I can understand this situation as I have the same problem here too.

Nothing was spared for this event even to the extent of remodeling and painting their home.

As  aforementioned, I was able to sneak out of the restaurant/hotel around 10.30 in the evening to attend. I only stayed a couple of hours but was served with piña coladas which had been added a blue colouring to match the décor of the place and Arleias dress

It was all thought out beautifully and expertly done  even  down to the stage setting and dance routines to entertain the guests

I,m sure it was a great success and a proud moment for the parents .

Kitchen cooking for the staff.

What do we eat in the kitchen for lunch? Well we always eat together, when work is finished in the kitchen, ready for the day.

We eat traditional local fare most of the time like potaje de lentaje (lentil soup) en tomatillo ( pork cooked with tomatoes) pork ribs with ibes. Ibes are fresh beans that are quite soft whitish green but very tasty.

Breaded fish is another favourite for me and the employees ,poc chuc also another favourite.One of my jobs is to figure out what we are going to eat that day .Odd times I will cook for all of us or depends on the  time I have, if not, then Mauricio will do the cooking.

I get a little more creative and they always ask what is the name of this ,Valerie ‘ Mmm I don’t know but is it O:K . it doesn’t matter what you cook Valeria it is always   muy rico ( very good). I think they say that just so that they dont have to cook Ha !Ha !

Every Yucatan dish always comes with a name so we then try to put a name to the food I cook.

Saturdays though traditional food goes out the window LOL as its known here as Happy Saturday due to the fact that its pay day.So what do we eat on happy Saturdays? Here are some of their favourites.

Can you believe :

They love hamburgers!! We make our own here with lean beef and no additives which make for a delicious taste.  They are cooked on the grill with all the condiments added along with  French fries and of course the infamous bottle of Coca Cola. I just have to mention here though that they do make hamburgers in the village in the small stalls in the evenings .BUT they deep fry them Yuck! more fat for the diet .

The next choice would be pizza which I normally prepare . Valerie ,they say, you should open a pizza place yours are much better than the pizza place here in the village……. Oh I don’t think so I have enough to do with the running of the restaurant and hotel without added work…. Laughing.

Well now they have another favourite . I,m beginning to  think they are only favourites because I cook them!

Last Saturday I decided I would cook chinese  by way of a change…….We can get soy sauce here so that’s a blessing.I followed the northern English style of batter ( you know we are famous for fish and chips lol) which turns out crispy( no I wont give you the secret lol) under close scrutiny of the kitchen staff.I added garlic and sesame seeds to the mixture for added texture and taste.

I cut the chicken breasts into bite size pieces and threw then  into the batter mixture.The veggies where cut Julian style cooked on the grill  and then  fried rice, with eggs.

For the chicken sweet sauce I grabbed sour oranges added a little sugar and thickened it.

Wow ! it was a great success ! They loved it (but of course no dish is complete here without chile)It was wolfed down in mins .All of us were more than stuffed!

Home cooked chinese

The plates in the photos filled four stomachs so that’s how much we ate.Again they said, Valerie why don’t you open a chinese? It would be  success with the village people.. Maurico with his expertize of Italian foods having worked in an upscale Italian restaurant in San Fransico ,me with pizzas and chinese and hamburgers… we laughed and talked about this for some time…. Oh yes I said I  and on the side we can cook Salbutes and Panuchos .

Buen negocio! they exclaimed…………. Si todo es posible pero de donde  encontro el tiempo yo!

Eating together makes for a happy place to work with lots of jokes and laughter flying around in the kitchen…………… I love it!

Star trek/X -men comes to the pickled onion

One never knows who is going to drop by for a bite to eat these days.

Yesterday I had a really surprise visitor, with a friend, to the restaurant.

He was charming to say the least and had a wonderful presence about him , I thought..I didn’t recognize him but we had a nice chat with him asking how I came to be here so far out in St Elena and from england, to which I said its better if you read my little leaflet .

A leaflet or little blurb if you like, of how I came to be here in St Elena.So many people ask me and as I was tired of hearing my voice tell the story I decided to write it down and when I remember display it on the tables(now I have it french,spanish and am looking for a german and italian translation……….. any takers?)for people to read whilst we are preparing their food order.It does make interesting conversation to which my surprise guest seemed to be enjoying.

Whilst talking with him and his friend my intuition kicked in and films came to mind but for some reason did not mention anything to him, like I normally do (wish I had now ).

My friend Dr Jorge and his wife Anita were staying with me at time and Dr Jorge came quietly to the kitchen and said in a low voice.Valerie I think that man is in the movies. Oh! I don’t know Jorge but I will go and ask.

Feeling comfortable because the gentleman was from close to the  area of england where I was born, I walked over to my eating guests and asked if I may ask a question.Certainly you can, I have asked you many ,he said.

Please tell me are you an actor because my friend Dr Jorge seems to recognize you ? Yes I am, said he with a radiant smile .Then he went on to explain the movies that he had appeared in.Star Trek X-men and other notable titles.

But in truth I still didn’t know who he was as these are movies I have never seen.But I called over Dr Jorge to be introduced who was beaming from ear to ear.

I apologized for not recognizing him and he was delighted at the fact that I didnt know him.His friend said it was so refreshing not to have people recognizing who his companion might be .

I became quite overwhelmed and asked how did he come to be here in this tiny restaurant. He said my friend organized this trip and did a bang up job and your place was one of our destination points on our last day in Mexico .My friend had read up on trip advisor and liked the comments, so here we are .

He enjoyed the Pollo Alcapparado that is a favourite on the menu and his friend ate the Fajitas de Res and they were   impressed.

We said our goodbyes and upon leaving Samuel one of my staff said Valerie why don’t you take a photo? I had,nt  thought, so we ran out to the parking lot just before they drove away.Quite funny really as his friend said, we wondered why you didn’t ask for a photo.but  the actor didn’t hesitate to get out of the car and very willingly had photos taken with us.

Myself with Patrick Stewart

He is  a very charming, charismatic human being gentle, down to earth person with an aura that shone brightly.I felt so honoured that he visited my place and it will be one of those memories that one keeps for a lifetime.Again I apologized for imposing on him whilst taking photos and he just smiled and said that it was O K .

Fame does come with a price and for well-known actors that want to travel without drawing attention to themselves it must be very difficult to be incognito whilst wanting to see amazing places like Uxmal .

When they left he created excitement in the air and lots of chatter

I went to the computer and looked his name up on Wikipedia and I  was stunned by his achievements . I’m sure I had my mouth open the  whole time I was reading his information .Check it out.

El chef and Patrick Stewart

Oh! you want to know who it was? Sir Patrick Stewart.

Star Trek/X-men comes to the pickled onion

I will be revealing all soon just waiting for some photos to be sent to me then you all will know!!!!

Birthday party and Ticul shoe fair

Sunday I was invited to a birthday party ,the son of one of my employees Samuel better known as El chef.

Daniel is turning 3 years old……… a very bright young lad and if he continues there is a brighter future for him.I know his father spends lots of time with him teaching,reading and learning a few english words.

When I see him in town there is always a cheery VALERIA .The last time I saw him he was on his way to Ticul with his grandparents. I asked him if he was going shopping and if he had some money in his pocket…………He resounded back. Oh Valeria I dont need money I m going with mis abuelas(my grandparents) We all laughed at his quick wit. I must say here though the wit of the local people really reminds me of my birthland England. So quick are we to retort a comment.

When Samuel came last week with the invitation I asked would it be on time or Mexican time.Samuel responded oh mexican time of course….. Well I ALWAYS show up on time or sometimes a little before to find nothing is ready or very well organized.

But on this day I thought I would arrive a little later than normal.

So I did a few things that needed to be done around here thinking I would arrive an hour late……….Well this time I was the one not punctual and would nt you know it! It started on time………but no hard feelings they were just happy I showed up.

Samuel father did the honours of barbecuing . He works at one of the bigger hotels near Uxmal as a chefs helper.I joked with him whilst taking a photo ……….. tocas el carne…. I said to  which he promptly picked up his utensil to poke around the meat and everyone around started to laugh.

I didnt stay too long just long enough to eat a little take a few photos and then head off for the Ticul shoe fair. Ticul is famous not only for its pottery but shoes too………. On every street you will see shoe shops or workshops and people come from all over Mexico to buy.They are not really my style of shoes but at least I thought I maybe able to find some leather sandels.

Its not often I get to go to the fairs but this time I had a chance and not only that I needed some new shoes.Im not sure how many shoe fairs they have in a year but it seems like hundreds…………a bit exaggerated but still its  a lot.

I was surprised how quiet it was in the afternoon not many  people wandering around. Maybe because the clocks were changed the night before and everyone was adjusting to the new time.

I did a quick shuttle around til I found only one place that were selling leather shoes……….. I bought two pairs………..

Then the next booth I really fell in love with some shoes there ,that were made out of jute……….. these will be good for those special outings(guess Ill have these for years to come LOL) and they are actually made in Ticul. I asked for his card so that I can go and by from him direct.The prices are very reasonable each pair costing me equivilant to 10 U S dollars……….MMmmmm cant beat that price.

Hannal Pixan versus Halloween

Its becoming a conflict for the old traditional ways of Hannal Pixan and the Halloween as us northen know it.

traditional altar

It would seem such a shame to loose this tradition for the modern.Soon there will be no distinction between old cultures and the ones that are known all over the world and becomes all the same.I feel like in life we are all the same but individuals which sets one country from another with their customs.

photo google images

Hannal Pixan will just become a thing for the tourists only unless they work hard to keep it going.

Not only that it must be a little confusing for the children as well as the older people but I suppose this is progress but sometimes progress is not always for the best.

traditional Maya ceromany (photo google images)

In Ticul the pottery makers were busy for sometime making ceramics of Pumpkins with less sales of the more traditional pottery .Its good that there is work for them and it may increase their sales for awhile with people wanting the more modern halloween stuff.

You can walk around the stores that are full of Halloween costumes candy and the like.

Maybe next year there will be Halloween dances in the little pueblo of St Elena .The school do try to keep the tradition with exhibitions of altars for one night ,made by the children and older students.But then they used to make an altar in their own homes.

I asked all my staff ….. did you make an altar this year ? and all replied no! Maria the young girl that cleans the rooms did say her aunt and made one in her home. I know her aunt and she is a very tradionalist ,having always an altar set up in her home.

Let me know your thoughts on this too I would love to hear them.

New look casita

The house of Tzab Kan Nah was built firstly as a massage room but because people loved the first house I built and the only one at the time, I thought I would change it to a rental unit.Also with Hermalinda, the lady that used to do massages, having had a slight stroke,she  was no longer available to do massages. This was also another   push to revamp the massage room.

I left the  inside walls as they were. Mud on the inside as well as the outside.Put in the bathroom to which I tiled.It surficed for the time being but then as this place got more popular I had to concentrate on building more Maya casita to rent.

Last week finally came the time to re-do the interior. Hilario my builder,did a great job of cementing the walls . It really does look much better and much easier to keep clean……….no dry mud chipping of the wall.Then I looked at my job in the bathroom and said, you know what; Hilario…. I think we have time to re-do the bathroom before the next guests come along…..  so he chipped away at the tiles on the bathroom floor ready to re-do the tiling.

Like always seem to happen one never  seems to get just the exact tiles one in looking for in the nearby Ticul… well I thought I do need to buy things for the restauarant so I will combine tile shopping and grocery shopping at the same time. I didnt really need much tiling but I knew just what I wanted.

Hilario re-set the river stones as requested and all seemed to come together really well.

ahhh ahhh! not only does Hilario know construction he also knows how to do paint jobs………and clean!!!!….Great! that lets me off from doing it and I can concentrate on other things.

All this done then came the last touches . New homemade  cover for the top spread(again another buy in Merida just not possible around here) then the mosquito netting around the bed  .We put runners on the bottom of the door to help keep out pesky things (not that I have many but it makes the guesties feel more comfortable)and nestleed mosquito netting between the walls and the palapa roof. Added a coffee/tea machine for those early rises and now all looks clean, fresh and lovely..

I am only missing one thing at the moment and that is a painting on the wall.As soon as I have finished and its framed it will be there!

Calakmul

Finally I find time to write about the trip to Calakmul…. Mmm let me see, well I left off gassing up ready for my next days trip to Calamul.Its a long way!!!! From Xpuhil I travelled west( a good hour) on highway 184 and followed the signs to Calakmul .From the main highway take the road south and you find yourself meandering through lush tropical jungle.

The road in places is not the best so one cannot drive with speed and it does tend to meander.

jungle path with howler monkey in background

I saw a few wild turkeys but they ran so fast I couldnt get a photo of them. I came to what I thought was the main entrance to Calakmul straight ahead of me.It looked quite new did the building so I parked and entered thinking it was the ticket both.

Well no, in fact it was a new museum that had been created but right in the middle of the road? I did see a road veering off to the right but thought it was just a pathway and it wasnt well signed… Umm I thought this is a good catch to get people into the museum and leave donations. The staff were friendly enough and I was greeted by a guide all too willing to take me around and spout out his knowledge of flora,fauna and animals etc………. It just seemed strange to me the location of the place.

I tried a few times to make my aplogies but said I don t really have time for this I am on the way to Calakmul and it seems there is still quite a distance to go.

stella with carvings

Finally after one and half hours on a meandering road I arrived at the entrance.There wasnt much in the way of maps or anything of how to get around the site. I felt it was needed as the site is so big.

I relied on some material that I had brought along ……….. good thinking on my part I thought.

If you do go make sure you have good walking shoes and lots of mosquito repellent and also a snack and water(there is no where to buy water of refrescos) again to which I did!

There is lots to see and the walk in the jungle is very nice . I did manage to see one howler monkey,some spider monkeys and a tapir. In this respect I thought I was very lucky….. Not many birds though as the jungle is quite dense.

I finally made it to the highest pyrimid in the whole of Yucatan but by the time I had found it I was a little tired . I looked up and thought to heck with it Im not in the mood to climb. So I sat on the steps opened my can of Tuna ,packet of crackers and ate.! But it was relaxing listening to the sounds of the jungle and no one to interupt AHHH!I watched as the spider monkeys where doing their thing flying from tree to tree.

I cant say that this site gave me the wow feeling as I had hoped. I think after the site of Uxmal and along the Ruta Puuc sort of spoils one with all the ornate work. I am sure in its time Calakmul was a splended sight to behold and it could have possibly had lots of ornamental stucco but now what one sees are ruins and plane stones . Quite a few stellas which reminded me very much of Tikal in Guatamala.

hIghest Pyrimid in the Yucatan penninsula

So all in all I am glad I went,  now I can talk about it with clients who drop by and are interested in seeing Calakmul . I would not really recommend it for children, most, I am sure, would get bored and there is nothing worse than trying to hold childrens attencion against their will. I know cause I did it when my children were small too!LOL

Oh! I did something unusual (or maybe not)looking as if they were on a mission.Not really taking any notice of the path in front   but walking pretty fast. Well further along I could see why!

Ahah ! you thought I was going to tell you of some rare animal or something

No it was Google map people come out to map Calakmul.So maybe there will be a map soon of Calakmul!

My favourite of the three ruins I saw, well it has to be Xpuhil but maybe the next time I am in this area I will check out the other sites and my favourite may change