I have lost so much weight in the last few months.  So I bought new trousers, now I am shocked to find what was tight a couple of weeks ago is now slipping down, and I have lost a couple more inches yet. Good news, but how was it done? First thanks to Isabelle I started to eat better, and to take some exercise. After she went home, I continued, but I also picked up on the Atkins diet. DISCLAIMER: I am not a doctor, do your own research, but it worked for me.

The basis of the diet is low carbs. So very little of rice, break, pasta, potatoes etc. Lots of meat, cream, eggs, cheese, pork scratchings, fried bacon, hamburger… you get the idea. Lots of meat, so a common supper dish is to go down to the local meat shop and get some roast pork. These places buy in a couple of pigs a day, and cook em. They sell all the bits, including something dubious, which is all the liver, kidney, eyeballs etc all cooked up. Actually this is also delicious.

So here’s a picture of the meat. You get a half kilo of roast pork, 15 tortillas, pickled red cabbage, and chillie sauce. A feast! And the cost? 80 pesos, about 4 quid.  I only eat one tortilla plus half the meat, and I feel stuffed. Here’s a picture of the meat counter.

the meat

It’s monday 2nd of Novenmber, and it is “dia de los muertos” again. Yesterday I went out with my business associates Varon and Jorge, Jorge being Varon’s dad. Jorge has lots of great advice, but the best being, “Ahh pero este es Mexico….”. I will try not to forget that.

We went out scouting premises in the execute transport, which I like very much. Apparently this sort of thing can be got for $500, and will run for ever and cost hardly anything to keep on the road.

love bug

Yes, so this is Mexico, and it keeps getting more interesting.

Salt and vinegar?

Buying fried fish in a Mexican chippy.

Long time no blog.  Fact is I’ve been very busy the last few months. I have been adventuring here in Merida, around Yucatan and down to Guatemala with my friend Isabelle, who since went back to The Netherlands. My camera exploded in Bacalar, and she has all the photos! If anyone sees this girl, please reminder her to send me the snaps, and I’ll try to blog some of the last few months up.

On another note, life in Merida has suddenly got more interesting. One strand of my efforts is involvement with The Merida Project. The ultimate aim is to mount a fusion arts festival. At the moment we are in the recruitment and awareness phase. There is a website at http://meridaproject.com along with a blog and forums. This should explain it to the curious.

The other strand is the desire to open a business or two or more here in Merida. I came here for two days and I am still here after a year, so about time to stop swanning around i think.

Gratuitous image of a swan

I am linked up with some great locals, it’s going to be a lot of fun. Front runner is a chip shop, or an icecream van to start with, then who knows what empire can be built! I am currently perfecting the chip, and apart from what you could imagine, this is NOT a simple thing. I am aided by my degree in chemistry, and I always knew it would come in useful one day, so the taxpayer’s money of four years at university has not totaly been a waste.

OK, so now, onwards and blogwards!

I am now back in Merida. I suffered a bad belly bug in Guatemala, but I feel a lot better now I am home. Maybe it was altitude sickness?

My recent posts have been “sans photos” since my camera exploded.

Isabelle has about 10,000 photos to put up online. She is currently on her way back to the Netherlands, so as soon as she uploads the photos I´ll post up a selection.

Overnight bus from Merida, on which I actually slept some thanks to a red rubber thing I bought for 60 pesos. Woke up in Palenque, and was wisked away in a fast car to “the ruins”. These ruins are very impressive, but at the end of the day I´ve seen so many pyramids now, I`m getting pyramid blindness. The afternoon we went to some very impressive waterfalls, and had a swim in icey cold water. A bus then picked us up and off we went on a nightmare journey to San Cristobal. The driver was a fat guy with a death wish who overtook anything that moved or didn´t on blind corners and at great speed. I guess though he was a lucky driver, as at about 10 30 we arrived in the city and took a taxi to our hostel. A quick turn around the block for a leg streatch and off to bed.

I slept like a tronco, and I now enjoying the morning here in San Cristobal. The city is over 2km about sea level, and cold at night and nippy in a morning.  At about 11 it heats up, and the contrast is fantastic.

The new Harry Potter is on the menu for tonight, along with roast chicken, if we can find a cinema.

On our way to the zoo a few days ago we were given discount fliers for the circus, and being in the habit of taking what comes we decided to go on Sunday night. I remembered the circus I had seen as a kid, lions, elephants, bareback riding etc, and how the last circus I saw as an adult had nothing more exciting than a troop of performing budgerigars.  We noticed that one of the trucks had tigers, lions and elephants painted on it, which gave me great hope that the animal rights lobby had not yet spread to Mexico. I was very excited as we arrived by taxi and saw the “big top” and a queue that went well around the block.

I marched up to the ticket office and ordered two of the best seats in the house. The guy in the ticket window seemed shocked, called me “caballero” and charged me 100 pesos a head ( 5 pounds ). Into the tent and there were ushers screaming to people to go left or right, but on seeing our super tickets a flashlight appeared and we were escorted to our seats, which were literally “ring side”. In fact about 2 feet away from the action. What´s more the ring was caged in, which I took as a very good sign. After a bit of dancing from a troop of “gogo” dancers the main acts started. First up were six full grown tigers and a chubby guy with long hair, dressed in black with a very big whip. He got them up on stools, off the stools, up a scaffold, in a pyramid formation, rolling on the ground, and even boxed with one of then while it growled at him like it was real mad! This was fantastic, the crowd went wild!

We were then treated to clowns, trapeze acts, a contortionist ( very skinny girl ), a reconstruction of Michael Jackson´s Thriller Video, more clowns, more acrobats, and a fantastic juggler. Then came on 3 camels and 3 lamas and the same fat guy with the whip. The camels danced, did twirls, and swapped places with the lamas like some bizarre Scottish country dance. I was well satisfied when the called a break and we went to get a snack, but the best was yet to come. The finale was an elephant that did all sorts of tricks, but my jaw droped when I swear to God the thing did a hand stand! It finished off sitting on a chair with its front feet in the air and the fat guy sat on its knee.

Beat that, Billy Smart.

(Off to Guatemela tonight, to see what´s there).

I am in catchup mode, so blogging after the fact. Before the road trip we made a visit to the museum of popular art. The museum stands by a park called Mejorada, which means “made better”, implying that it was a poor park beforehand. We went on Sunday, as many museums are free on sunday, as opposed to the 20 pesos on other days. This was my second trip to the museum, and of all the museums in Merida, I would say it is my favorite. It is a grand old colonial building, marble columns and floors, it would not be out of place in France or Spain.

The museum is devoted to handicrafts, which at first glance you might think of as those rubisshy things carved from wood, and often made in china. The nice thing though about this museum is that as well as the boring old “traditional” handicrafts, you can see up to date stuff, much like “pop art”, which is for me exciting and interesting. Here are some examples of figures which illustrate the Mexican obsession with death. They are made of wood and painted. These photos were shot from behind glass, so some have reflections.

I have just returned to Merida after a week’s roadtrip with my friend from the Netherlands ( always avoid the “D” word as it makes them shirty ), Isabelle. It has been a thrill packed week in which we have entered into a deadly enclosure containing jaguars, lynxes, and crockadiles among other stuff; naffed off on a jet scooter for 30km; played top flight bingo for big money ( one of us won, guess who…); been quizzed by men with machine guns; and taken a dangerous trip into the underground caves.

We have eaten all sorts of food, stayed in some fun places, and generally had a good alround time of it. My camera blew up on day four, Isabelle’s camera failed the same day, but was resurrected from the dead. There are lots of photos, some of them good, and a lot to “blog up”. So after lunch I’ll be getting onto it!

Oh and my domain name expired, but I seem to have been able to renew it anyway. Isn’t the internet wonderful?

The rates here in Merida are very reasonable, in fact I don’t pay them at all, but I’m told it is about $200 US per annum. But money is money, so what do you get for that here?

For starters they will take away your rubbish. Three times a week all you do is leave the bags in front of your house and overnight they are gone. No separation into “normal”, “green”, and “toxic” is required, just leave it out and it goes. Got an old arm chair? Just throw it in the street, and away it goes. Now I’d say this alone is worth the money, but it does get better.

As I have written before, most nights there is something free in the streets, and by that I really mean free, none of this begging with a hat before and after. “No fees either way”. This is great for your tourist, but if you live here you would quickly tire of people dancing with trays of beer on their heads, no matter how skilfully done. But now I’ve discovered a whole new layer of stuff to do which is free, thanks to the local council of Mérida.

Each night there is something which is culturally uplifting given free at about 8:00 indoors in the Olimpo center in the middle of the city. I had expected these things to be a sell out, but they are very sparsely attended, including those folk who go in there just to be in the air-con. This week I have seen a singing folk music duo, some students passing out classical concert, and a version of Macbeth in Japanese ( as a film Trono de Sangre ( with Spanish subtitles ) ).

All in all a pleasing way to pass a couple of hours not involving sitting in a bar drinking beer.

( P.S. We usually go for a beer afterwards ).

For those who would complain that there are not enought photos of food nowardays, here’s a bowl of tripe which I ate in Barcelona on my way back to Mexico.

So, I am back in Merida at last. I started out in Barcelona, many days ago, and my arse has been stuck in a plane seat or a coach seat or a car seat , or and airport bar ever since. I stayed in a hotel when I got back to Merida, as I had to collect my keys the next day. When I got home the electric cable was in the street, but this was due to a storm Thursday, which I experienced in a 747 coming into Miami. It was a “we are all gong to die” moment. I was lucky to get seated next to Lionel, a black guy in a suit, who was so interesting that we did a straight four hours conversation, which may well be a record. Thankyou Lionel, and I will email you when I find the card you gave me. Hope you have a good holiday in Jamaica.

My power is now fixed, thanks to Rosario, who works in the local filling station, ( these people do not read my blog but anyway…. ).

I am enjoying the ceiling fan and the fridge is getting back to being cool.

Looking forward to meeting up with all my Gringo and Mexicano amigos next week.

Oh and a special thanks to Michael Faraday ( you know who you are ).