Goodbye PM!

Seventy Four Year Old JJ Singing Pavarotti

My Life Mate and Travelling Partner - Sweet Lorraine

Watching the Pelicans Fish!!

Receiving my "Honourary Rapper" Award

Our Beautiful Beach - the Surf Breaking on the Reef in the Distance

I beg forgiveness from the people of Puerto Morales for bring the wrath of Zeus, Lord of the sky, Rain-God, Cloud Gatherer, and Zeus of the Thunderbolt by joking about how it never rains in Mexico.  Ever since that post, it has rained every day.
One of the biggest musical events in the area is the annual Festiva Musica, where I was honoured to be asked to play not once, but twice.  Guitar with David Rodriguez on Thursday night, and bass with a local blues band fronted by John Cooker, who were headlining Friday night.  It absolutely poured rain all day Thursday, and the organizers cancelled the whole thing, after setting up all the tents and sound stages.
Nonetheless, we still love PM.  We take long walks on the beach during sunny breaks, or we ignore the rain and go anyway.  Tonight I will play at a restaurant with David.
As we get ready to leave PM, I reflect back on the things that made this such a memorable stay.
The beach – protected by the beautiful reef that creates a shining crystal-white surf a hundred metres off shore. We walked for hours every day.
The weather – warm and breezy, with lots of sun – even on the rainy days there were sunny periods.(Shhh Zeus will hear!)
The people - equally warm and welcoming.
The pelicans - watching them swoop and glide on the wind, suddenly tucking their wings and diving into the water like a dart, coming up with a fish lunch.
Our Villas Clarita - clean, great pool, quiet, well equipped - what's not to like??
The music scene - of which I am now an honourary member.
The food – Sweet Lorraine and I ate fish today that had just been taken off the boat (we saw the fishermen) with salad, chips, salsa and cold Mexican beer for $20 Cdn. Can't afford NOT to eat out!
Our pets – Popcorn and George.  I hope the next guests in our room feed them as well as we did.
What we miss when we are here is our family: Melissa, Geoff, Mia, Kingston, Cadence, Jocelyn; our good friends, our new house, the band and the sub-zero temperatures (just kidding).
We have already made plans to return next year...

La Musica!

Playing Bass with Vertigo 777

Sharing a Dance During My "Break"

Play That Funky Music White Boy!

With David at La Choza

Margaritaville Was a Huge Hit!!

Our New Year's celebrations at El Cid were wonderful- it is not often we get a chance to catch up with the family for several days in a row. El Cid is an all-inclusive, and while I would recommend this arrangement for anyone trying to plan a large family vacation, it was sorely lacking in music. I went vainly in search of some live music each night, only to be disappointed.

On one of our first nights in PM, we came across a really good band at the Habanero, and I began talking to the guitar player at the break. He then asked me if I would like to sit in, and, reluctant to take the only guitar spot in the band, I said I would be happy to play bass, but the bass player was left handed. He responded “No! He is left-handed, but the bass is a right-handed bass he plays upside down!

So I played “Roadhouse Blues”, on the bass, and took a few liberties with the bass line and Antonio, the guitar player, who is really good, went along with me and we jammed on the song for about 5 or 6 minutes. The crowd loved it, and the bass player just laughed and said he was going for a beer, and I should keep on playing.

Check out “Salvame” by Vertigo 777 and you will hear how good these guys are.
 The next night I played with a different band at the same bar. There were two guitar players in this band, one of whom was the lead singer, who played more of a rhythm role, so I didn't mind taking up a guitar spot. Again, I didn't want to overstay my welcome, but the band kept asking me to come back up, even in the middle of a song. They were performing "Play That Funky Music White Boy", and the singer was just holding his guitar – it's interesting R and B groove that he obviously wasn't comfortable with. He looked at me, held out his guitar, pointed to it, then at me, so I took over, and then stayed on for a few more songs.

The next night I was invited to play with David Rodriguez at another restaurant "La Chaza Chaman", where he was doing a singles act. The owner and crowd really enjoyed it and asked me to return. I have now played there three times, and have been invited to play on Thursday at "La Festiva Musica", a three day music event.

I am enjoying the notoriety of being "the guitar player", as I am being referred to when we go out at night, and I know that I will miss the open friendliness of my new Mexican musical friends.

Puerto Morelos

SL with her Newest Friend at the Habanero.

Our "Local" the Habanero"

Our Cat Popcorn

Sweet Lorraine at the Dock.

George - Our Pet Iguana

If you read the last post in our adventure, you will be interested to note the result of our hubris with respect to the weather. It has been cloudy and rainy since.

We remain undaunted, still taking our walks for miles along the beach, exploring the locale, meeting new friends and appreciating the fact that we are not trudging through snow.

We have two pets – George the Dragon, an iguana, and Popcorn, the cat who has adopted us with all of the eagerness of an NFL scout chasing RGIII.

George joins us most days for lunch – he LOVES bananas – and Popcorn cries pitifully each night until we let her in, upon which she eats the fish which has somehow appeared in her dish, drinks her milk of equally mysterious origin, then cheerfully climbs into our bed to join us for her beauty sleep.

Puerto Morales (PM to the initiated) is the mosquito capital of the world. They have discovered my blood in much the same way as a kindergarten class might taste ice cream or chocolate for the first time. We come home each night absolutely covered in very, very itchy bites. Want to make these little buggers laugh? Show them your Deep Woods Off... I swear that I saw a swarm of them carrying little tiny placards that said “Menu” at the top, with such items as “Cream of John's Ankle”, and “Chateauneuf de John” written in disquieting blood red.

Still, we love this place and are already booking next winter here.

One of the things that makes PM special is the music scene and the attitude of all the musicians here. One of our favourite restaurants is Habaneros, where there is live music almost every night, but I will detail some of that in my next post.

A great massage on the beach is $16 for 30 minutes. The bus costs 40 cents. Happy hour features beer for a buck each, and you can have a terrific fish dinner with drinks and wine for under $50.

Oh, Mexico!

Pool at Villas Claritas

Our Kitchenette

Bedroom

Our Little Private Patio

Our Bedroom - Note Travelcaster on the Bed!

My dear sister Barb toasted SL (Sweet Lorraine) and I on New Year's as to be congratulated for arranging our lives so that we could spend our retirement in travel. I had never thought of it as an accomplishment, more the result of good fortune, but there it was, we WERE spending New Year's Eve in Mexico, with a total of 17 Luberts, in-laws and outlaws.
We ushered in 2013 (the Year of the Snake!) at El Cid in Puerto Morelos, near Cancun Mexico with all my sibs except Brother Geoff, who needed to stay in Canada to run his snowplowing business.  Although he was sorely missed, my sister Sandy had made a cardboard cutout – christened  “Flat Geoffrey” who attended all the events as Sandy's photo journal shows.
We tearfully said goodbye to all our sibs and relatives, who headed back to maple syrup land, while we moved on to the second leg of our Mexican adventure. 
We are now ensconced in Villas Claritas in Puerto Morelos,  located along the beautiful Mexican Caribbean coastline in the state of Quintana Roo abut 20 km from the Cancun airport. This original coastal fishing village is now a quiet, mixed-use neighborhood of private homes, hotels, condominiums, restaurants, and tourist shops.  The town is named after Independence leader Jose Maria Morelos. Population about 10,000.
One hundred meters off shore lies the Puerto Morelos portion of the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef System – the second largest coral reef in the world. You stand on the beach watching the waves break offshore on the reef, protecting the waters and shoreline inside
If I were just a bit more naive, I would describe it as a “typical Mexican village”, but of course it is not – it knows that the tourist trade is its bread and butter. Still, many here do not speak English – even some of our waiters, which makes it easy to close your eyes and believe you are in old Mexico.  Of course it is a bit awkward when my waiter keeps asking me “Por que cierras los ojos, Signor?” - Why do you close your eyes, sir?
You also are reminded that you are not in Kansas, Dorothy, when you need to wash your market vegetables with a special disinfectant, and drink only purified water.
Our “B and B” is delightful: a bedroom, bath, kitchenette and private patio.  We have a pool where we get breakfast everyday.  It is a 10 - 15 minute walk to town and restaurants.
We have been here almost a week, taking in live music almost every night, shopping at the local markets, eating fish at the local restaurants, going for long walks on the beach, playing guitar, and exercising.  We have been careful with the hot sun, using sun block when needed, but still we are getting bronzed..  (these are after all, our golden years) 
Footnote:

 The strangest weather phenomenon occurred today.  Long ago, before we realized the nature of tequila and beer, we used to drink water.  Today, some of it fell freely from the sky!  People who have lived here for many years say this has happened before in the past.  My tan was no darker when we got back to our villa than when we left??