No news is good news.

(Don’t you just love this photo? Wow.)

And now for the news

A month ago, Lyn and I bought a house at the beach near Progreso. Since the initial paperwork, we’ve heard nothing. Until yesterday.

I checked in with our realtor, Jennifer Flores at Buy Mexico Real Estate, who told me that everything was still going along just fine. Then she sent me some papers to fill out for the attorney. Because the property will be in a trust, we have to name a beneficiary other than each other. So, now, today, we are back to waiting. I feel confident everything is going just fine, but I’m ready to pull the trigger on this and get started. Patience has never been my strong suit.

Hurricane update

The recent hurricane in the Gulf did present some flooding in the outskirts of the city, especially in the areas with all the new construction. According to the Yucatán Expat Life newsletter, some of the residential developments in Merida, particularly The Americas, are still under water. The good news is that the flooding has resulted in the city working to develop new building regulations to address the drainage issues.

What is interesting to me is that the coastal areas seemed to do just fine.

Corona virus in the Yucatán

Unfortunately, the Yucatán is still in the “orange” zone relative to the Corona Virus epidemic. That means that government office and other businesses are still limited to being open about 30% of the time with reduced staffing. Merida has a strict curfew, which prevents drunken gatherings. While some regulations are loosening (e.g., the curfew has been moved from 10:30 p.m to 11:30 p.m.), restaurants can only provide take-out or delivery services on weekends. Weekdays, they can only operate at 25% of capacity and by reservation only.

The virus situation has also limited activities around Dia de Muertos, which is my favorite holiday. I love all the colorful decorations, the altars, and the many death inspired costumes and trinkets that are usually so plentiful. I suspect this year there won’t be any indigenous dancers or public altars in the plazas. I’ll really miss that (not that I get out much).

I’m anxious to move

We have a lot to do in preparation to move. A lot has been done:

• We’ve secured a mover and a price with some options for storing our furniture if we need to.
• We’ve told our landlady about our move and she is agreeable with us leaving early if we can find a new renter.
• We’ve posted information about our current home on social media to attract possible renters.

Of course, the real work will come when we have to start packing. Ah. Makes me tired just thinking about it.

We would really like someone to rent the house we’re in so we can save our rent money and use it toward the move. Even if we have to rent an Airbnb for a couple of months, it will be so much cheaper than this enormous house. And, we would rent in Merida in order to be closer to our new house and easily oversee any work we need done.

In the meantime, however, we are still working and living life. I’ve started playing tennis again with a new friend from Germany who relocated here from the Netherlands. We tend to hang out at the pool afterwards, which is also good for my physical and mental health.

Lyn and I have relatively full teaching schedules. I must say I’m not thrilled with my 7 a.m. classes (it’s dark!), but I love my students and understand their need to get class done before work begins.

And so life goes on.