Haha...Tierra Maya! And I thought my first house (in SM 521, Villas Quintana Roo) was far! That was a good set up...we lucked out when looking for a place and a guy from work was moving to DF for a year, so we got that house at cost for $1800 a month, furnished, with Sky TV included. Though I'd always take taxis in the AM to get to work on time which definitely ate into our budget, plus taking buses back and forth (especially for my second shift) took up to an hour and a half a day total. The best place was a small two bedroom house with a HUGE patio for $3000 a month. The week after we moved there, they started a new bus route which went right by the house frequently which saved the long-ish walk to Lopez Portillo. And the best part was that about five co-workers with cars would drive down Av Chichen at 6:30 am so I usually got picked up by one of them before the bus came! Never had a toilet seat, and just learned to cope! Also, never had hot water...the period of time when I didn't want cold showers was so short, I found it less of a hassle to heat water on the stove and fill up a bucket to bathe. Our eating out pretty much consisted of tacos from street stands, comida corrida, and tacos and beers on Yaxchilan. All of the people I associated with were pretty much in similar situations, so it was never an issue. However, there are many, many people (expats included) who live in much better circumstances and I would often feel the odd man out because of my bus-taking, bucket-bathing, peso-counting ways. I also had to go to Amerimed for a kidney stone and I didn't spend the night, but I think my bill ended up around 1500 pesos plus the follow up visits were free and all the medicines could be bought quite cheaply. Limejello: just curious, based on your huipil in the picture...did you end up bringing your partner to the US?
gabacha: Yes, I did bring my then fiance/now husband to the U.S., we came in on a K-1 visa. I can relate to the bucket bathing thing! I lived with him in Buctzotz in his parents' house. We slept in hammocks (I'll still take a hammock over a bed any day), flushed the toilet with a bucket, and bathed with a bucket (with a bare bulb illuminating the concrete block bathroom). I DID get used to it, it was just a little difficult lugging a bucket while hugely pregnant, and kind of embarrassing having other people do it for me :-/ I really miss the smell of the candela, enjoying evenings in the park, walking to the corner store, many, many other things about small town Yucatan. Tierra Maya was cheap, but FAR from everything. I also lived in the 3a etapa, so I was at the very end of the very last phase in the last house in Cancun (practically in Leona Vicario lol) It took me an hour and a half and two buses to get to work in the hotel zone. When I had to work on Christmas Day, the buses weren't running, and you're very hard pressed to find a taxista that will go that far. From Ave. Tulum to Tierra Maya, it can easily cost $60 pesos if you're in a hurry and NEED to take a taxi. I can 100% relate to feeling the odd man out. I worked in timeshare, and wasn't very good at it. My American co-workers were doing really well and were able to shop at Plaza La Isla and the nicer stores in Plaza Las Americas, they could go to the movies, go out to eat at nice restaurants, and spend their days off at beach clubs. I never approached the job like it was the door to affluence; affluence wasn't what I was after, but if you have the right personality, you can do quite well in a timeshare job.
I also brought my then boyfriend/now husband over on a K1. Just got the ten year green card a couple of months ago. When I was living in his village (ten years ago) they didn't have a toilet at the time, so the "bathroom" was a walled area in their solar. They just got a toilet, which is nice! I would have failed miserably at selling timeshare!
Ohh, squatting would have been a real challenge! My in-laws also didn't get a toilet until a few years before I lived there. I can't remember for the life of me what the Mayan word is for squatting behind the wall to use the bathroom. I'll have to ask my husband. Edit: It's "ho tok ba". ha ha. He laughed when I asked him.
Haha....squatting several months pregnant could have turned ugly! Especially with your balance all off. I just tried that phrase on my husband and he giggled. He added another phrase that is similar but I won't try to write it here, as I have no idea if your husband is conservative! Would be amused if he blushed, but not if he were to be offended!
You've piqued my curiosity... my husband can curse like a sailor (the Mayan "p" word comes out of his mouth at some point on a daily basis). Do tell!
It's sexual. Lemme see how I do writing what it sounded like: Ho kin tza ba. I haven't heard the P work in quite some time...he's gotten out of that since nobody would understand. But there are several Dominicans and Colombians in Rhode Island who now say stuff like "pinche vato."
My husband got a big grin on his face when I said that to him. I asked him what it meant and he mimed it ha ha!! He responds "tengo una adivinanza: que esta pachacba de dia y k'atacba de noche?"
Hahaha....there was also some miming in our kitchen on my husband's part. I will ask him about the adivinanza tonight but I have an idea! :0
Finding love.... gbchayctca, limejello and Gringation, you all seem to be ladies who have found your one true love here, in Mexico. I wonder if you have any advice to give to others who might like to do the same, with an emphasis on any special issues you face/faced in partnering with a Mexican man. Perhaps you could consider starting a thread with a title that captures the subject, and gives you a chance to tell us more about your experience, if you care to "play along" with my suggestion.
