Back to school....Mexican style

What that means is waking at 5:45, leaving the boat on a dinghy to school by 6:30, and even wearing a uniform!  And we thought getting to school on time at 8:20 was hard. Hah!  The kids are seemingly getting much more interested in speaking Spanish, asking every evening about what this or that means. It's fun to hear their stories about how strict or funny their teachers are.  It's also good to hear the complaints...about how hard the chairs are, how loud the fan is or how there is not a real lunch hour.  Makes me hopeful that they will be more respectful and grateful for school in back home in California.

We are still loving Isla Mujeres.  It is a peaceful, safe, beautiful island with whale sharks, octopus, gelato, clear shallow water, great restaurants, insanely interesting expats, other boat families, perfect sand beaches, internet, fresh guava, hibiscus and coconut juice and the kids can ride bikes anywhere or walk to a friend's place in 10 minutes.  We are so close (20 minute ferry) to Cancun where if we must we can see movies in the nicest (by far) movie theater, at the nicest malls I've seen or even shop at Costco.  Speaking of Costco, I'm off mass consumption and Costco shopping.   Now-a-days I would rather go without than stuff my cabinets with jumbo sized cardboard packaging of everything we never needed.  Crackers, chips, cookies, juice, and peanut butter for the year, or enough grapes to feed 5 families for a week.  I never would've noticed whether we really needed or used all that if I didn't have to live in, on, under and with it...literally packed into every nook of our little house (boat).  Nope, no more Costco, just fish from the fishermen next door, mangos from the market and daily tortillas, and just at the very moment, or on the very day we feel like it........mmmm I think we'll have fish tacos tonight now that I think of it..................!

Decided

We plan to stay and wait out the hurricane season for 2 more months until October 30 in Isla Mujeras.  Not an easy decision because our habit is to take the risk and move along.  However our professional boat captain neighbors here at the marina have recommended we stay put here where we have the best chance for serious protection.  It's still hard though because Hurricane Ernesto passed just 80 miles south of us last week and was "a breeze" so to speak.  There are no hurricane "holes" in Belize and it's a slow trip up wind and current, so looks like we're locked-in.  Not a bad place to be mind you.......just not what we we're planning.

Mikai is ALWAYS ready to be First Mate 

     So with this shift comes new possibilities.  The kids will start school here in Mexico on Monday for a bit of language and culture-- if all the paperwork comes through.  That's neat.  However school starts here at 7:00am.  That's not so neat.  It's all good.  Change is good.....and sometimes it takes a breakdown or a hurricane to make us try something new.

Chicken Pizza- by Nikolas

     I've been in Isla Mujeres for about a month now and  it's pretty dang boring. Obviously and especially it had to boring with my fun but pushy moms friend visiting. Anyway about four days ago me and my family went to a place called Chicken Pizza (Chichen Itza) and it was hot and miserable because it was all looking not touching. There was a Mayan pyramid that you used to be able to climb up but now can't.             

A big day of stories at Chichen Itza about sacrificing the most beautiful 15 year old virgins in March, the winning ball game captains in June, and the discovery of chocolate by the Mayans.   It was a hard, hot and interesting day.

     As a souvenir I bought an onyx and quarts chess set. This was my happy and miserable meter, 1% happy, 99% miserable. When we got back it was 10 o'clock at night and when we left it was 6:30am. It was maybe 40% fun 60% not fun. 

The Trip

By: Karina Bauhaus

        So far this trip is going well. Well at least it's not worse than I expected. It seems like everyone else is enjoying it here. My dad doesn't get to say whether he likes living here or not because he hasn't stayed here for the whole six months that us kids have.😒😠😡👿

          I say it's not fair because my mom and dad have gone back home and to New York while we were here, and they got to have higher quality, fancier stuff than we have. Plus, going to New York is like a dream come true for me.😍😰😖😁

         I am grateful that we are able to come here, to a beautiful place and have the experience of a lifetime of living in the Caribbean. I am so grateful that we could come here with our dog, stuff from home, Internet, and a way to do school so that we can go back into the right grade. 😌

        What I am not grateful for is the mosquitos, humidity, heat, size of the boat and that none of our friends can visit us. 😁😰

Karina "hanging out" coping with the heat in Chitchen Itza.  She wasn't impressed.

        Now the most important things to me...the stuff I miss and hope to see when I get back are holidays, my friends, school, school days, making crepes with the crepe maker and eating the crepes and berries and cantaloupe with prosciutto and listening to Renaissance music on Saturdays and Sundays at home, snow, Truckee, sports at home(theatre), and electricity, drinkable water from the faucet, gas for the stove, warm water, two awesome cars, quiet air conditioners (the air conditioners in the boat are as loud as a car driving around!), and a cozy bed all the time. 

The Trip- by Annika

The Trip

                      Right now I'm at El Milagro Marina, in Isla Mujeres, Cancun. 

       Here there is a movie theater where Mikai sets up movies and the Olympics. There is also a kitchen here that everyone can use. Down at the little beach that they have here there is water sports, like kayaks and paddle boards.    

     One day I went paddle boarding and I brought my dog on it with me. Now I do that all the time and he is a great balancer which helps me a lot. Right now there is a lot of construction here and it's quite loud during the day. 

     Occasionally Nikolas and I fish. We only catch little fish here and they are all only under the dock. The dogs are always running around and trying to catch fish at the beach. 

     I don't like writing about what I'm doing.  I'd much rather be doing it.

Life or Bait by Karina

Life or Bait

By: Karina Bauhaus

          There we were strolling along the huge waves with our fishing lines out. They are known as the deep sea fishing poles. Then all of a sudden...What's that? Nikolas caught a fish?! We all run to the back of the boat while Mikai slows way down.

            Wow, he's a big one. After Nikolas pulls him in, I realize that we should not eat that fish. Why? Hm, I don't know actually??? Maybe he would be really tasty, except for the fact that it has razor sharp teeth, is really ugly, more than five pounds, AND HE'S REALLY THIN!!!

           HE'S A BARRACUDA FOR CRYING OUT LOUD!!! BARRACUDAS HAVE CIGARETTE POISON IF THEY ARE OVER FIVE POUNDS! But other than that, BARRACUDAS IN GENERAL ARE DISGUSTING!!!

           First my dad tries to yank the hook out of the barracudas' mouth. Nothing. Then he tries again. Now he's furious. He yanks and yanks trying hard to be careful but also get the hook out. My dad is brave. I totally would have given up by now. 

            Uh, papa? How are we gonna put him back in the water if the hook is in his mouth AND HIS MOUTH IS JUST A GIANT HOLE OF DEATHLY SHARP TEETH!?!?! 

            He yanks one last, hard time. PLOP! PLOP! PLOP! SPLASSSHHH! HURRAY, THE BEAST IS GONE!!! He floats at the top for a while. Hardly twitching. We thought he was dead at first. But then my mom assured us it was just shock. Then he squirmed away knowing what to choose next time.

Life or bait. 

        Once again we put out our fishing lines and not once but five more times we caught another nasty barracuda. They were not so wise, because they obviously chose the wrong thing. Bait instead of life. And I'm sure they'll know what to choose next time.

Life or bait.