Bingo, transvestites and fish!

The time is passing by so quickly as we have been here almost a month. It seems that as each week passes we become more immersed in the life here and can't think that we have only another month left before we move on.

This week started with a game of Bingo in support of the Food Bank...




Don won 200 pesos and said that he had his mother's luck!


Another day this week when it was not too hot for a long walk we made our way back down the beach to see our old neighbourhood from the last time we were here. On the way we stopped at the local fishing pier and had an opportunity to talk with some of the people who were fishing as well as taking a few pictures. People here fish for a living but in the case of these people they were supplementing their own food supply.




Checking out the action...




This lady seemed to have a lot of patience as she was using her line instead of a fishing rod.




This guy was throwing out crab pots and doing very well with his catch.





She was happy to show us her mother's catch for the day.

We noticed that the town had done a long extension of the malecon on the other side of the pier down past where we lived before.It had started two years ago and they have done a good job with it as they have added a km or two to the malecon.




We met a lot of people walking and riding their bikes along the way.


They are also doing more work to connect the old and new under the bridge by adding a wooden walkway.





A few scenes from our beach walk...




El norte has washed so many shells on the beach,we see a lot of people collecting them.




The fishing boats hauled up on the sand. As you can see this is not a manicured beach, rather a working beach.





Another type of fishing boat...





Mending the nets...


The transvestites were in town making their rounds and showed up at two different places that we happened to visit. Once at Miramax, a local restaurant that has a buffet and entertainment on Fridays...




I can't really tell if she is a woman or a man.





This one yes, she is a man!


Then on Sunday we were invited to another party for John and Jean who are getting married soon and their friends decided to throw them a party and the transvestites were there again. Though I thought the cute Mexican dancers were better.







But I don't know about Don...










We have continued with our conversational Spanish lessons twice a week and are picking up some words and making a lot of new friends...




Here is Don and a few of the other participants. Sharon, our facilitator is talking with Martita who had a birthday that night so we had cake. She is an accountant here in Progreso and has learned good English by attending these sessions over the last 8 years. She is also a great teacher.




I have started one on one Spanish lessons with a teacher just down the street from me. We sit on her porch and she laughs at me trying to pronounce things in Spanish. However, it is fun and I feel I am learning new words every day. Hopefully I am not too old to learn!



Went to Zumba as well this week but no pictures. I stay at the back of the class and try and keep up with all those zumbaing bodies! Maybe a pic or two later.

Ended the week with Sunday supper...






I tried to fiqure what to do with these but no luck yet!






And of course no blog could be complete without a picture of what type of fish we are eating this week.


We ate at EL TORO restaurant which is a fish place, go fiqure and I had wonderful shrimp grilled over the charcoal.It was delicious!












This place was so busy after we were there a few minutes that people were lined up out the door. A very popular place with the locals and others who are lucky enough to find it. We were the only non Mexicans there.





Cameron brochote



So ends another week in Paradise! Nos vemos la proxima semana!

Location:Progreso, Yucatan