October 2007 - Posts
Anyone that knows my family also knows that we have had some amazing ups and some not so great downs. Throughout most of it we have had an absolutely wonderful church home at The Heights Baptist Church in Richardson, Texas. It is the church where I became a Christian. The people there have been family and friends to us. I say this all because as we move to Merida, I have not been really excited about leaving our church home. It has been the only point of contention. But as is always the case, God says to do what He commands and He will provide. The Heights recently started publishing the videos of the sermons on a site called Truthcasting.net. In addition to videos from The Heights, there are other churches and some bible lessons on there as well. God is faithful and provides.
I say all of this because of the sermon I just watched, "It's everywhere you want to be". We are doing a sermon series entitled "The Green Elephant", about money and how we are called to be good stewards, not consumers. This is not a series on tithing, it is about taking care of what God blesses you with and then using it the right way. It is about not digging yourself so far into debt that you have more month than money at the end of your paycheck.
In the sermon, Gary, our pastor speaks about 1 Timothy 6:18.
Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share.
Who is "them", well in the series "them" has been pointed out to be rich people. And who are rich people? The bible describes rich people as someone who has more food, clothing and shelter they they need for one day. We describe rich people as having a house for their car, called a garage, people whose boss says "hey take two or three weeks off this year, and I'll still pay you", we call that vacation.
I want to take a little time and challenge/ encourage the people who trip upon this blog to follow God's command. Do good, do good deeds and be generous. When I teach I like to ask questions, "What are you doing to follow this command?" "What am I doing to follow it?"
I am challenging you to find some thing, some cause that needs your gifts, talents, blessings.
One such "thing" Stacy has found in our new home is the Apoyo Program for Students in Progreso. A woman by the name of Kitty has started a program to sponsor poor children with school clothes, books, supplies and such. For $250 per year or less (depends which grade of student you chose) you can sponsor a child to go to school and potentially not only improve their life, but also their family's lives. In addition we have friends, the Sanderfords, from our Sunday school class that have become missionaries in Keiv, Ukraine. They are members of The Navigators. They volunteer to teach conversational English at a local university and then they just invite the students to interact with them. Letting the students see Christ through them, answering questions as they arise. There are always ways that you can help out. Go volunteer anywhere, it doesn't matter. Just get out and be God's hands and feet.
So I'm sure there are people that are not Christians that are reading this, even if you don't believe in God, or believe in a different god you cannot argue the benefits of lending a hand to those less fortunate. Make a difference in the world, in your world.
My name is Rob and I want to change the world, will you help?
I just want to start off by saying this blog isn't about bashing Merida, Mexico or the people here. I want to detail the activities that transpire so that I can a) remember them later and tell great stories (over and over) when I am old and senile 
, and b) share the experiences with others so that they can get a laugh out of it too. Throughout almost everything we are going through with getting the business setup down here, because I was forewarned and prepared it has been amusing rather than aggravating. For the most part the people you will deal with on a daily basis here don't intentionally lie to you. However, the best way I've heard it put is that they tell you what they wish they could do for you, rather than what they really can do for you. The problem is they substitute "I will do this..." rather than "I wish I could do this...". That said we don't have electricity anymore, it is a long and complicated story, but suffice it to say our contractor actually turned on the electricity, not CFE. When CFE came out to actually turn it on they weren't happy. So now we are working with a different contractor and Luis, the VP of Operations, is dealing with CFE himself. Perhaps one day we too will have electricity...
So on to the good part, how to defur your leg in 1 second.
The apartment we are all staying in uses propane to run the water heater, stove etc.. Up until the other day we hadn't made the time to get the propane filled and we were putting up with cold showers and eating out. We finally got the tank filled in the morning and then we left for work. When we got home in the evening we tested for hot water and ooops, theres was none. First thought, "hmmm pilot light didn't get lit." Of course it isn't the gas guys job to go light out pilot light, we just forgot. Good thing the gas wasn't open on the water heater. We were headed out for the evening to go see the local "national basketball league" team, the Mayas.
Side note: For $15US you can get VIP floor seats, just like Jack Nickleson has with the Lakers. However, I'm pretty sure my high school gym was bigger than this place. It was fun but the other team stomped all over the Mayas. I think Emily would love to go see it, as she really enjoys watching people. So I'll make sure we get to go a couple of times after she gets here.
Ok, back to the story. It was dark outside and our water heater is outside. I was holding the flashlight while Luis was trying to light the pilot light. It wasn't lighting so we figured that there was alot of air in the line. The propane tank is on the top of a two story apt and the water heater is on the ground level, so the line is pretty long. We agreed that turning up the gas flow to purge the line was the right thing to do, right = fast. So we turned it up until we could hear the flow and waited. After about a minute Luis turned the gas back to the low flow point and lit the lighter well away from the heater. At this point all was well.
Luis being a smart guy, waved the flame in front and around the heater prior to sticking it inside to make sure there wasn't too much gas and still everything was fine. Then he stuck the flame inside the hole to light the pilot light. WHOOOSH There was a very fast flash fire (seriously just a micro second or so) as all of the built up gas sitting in the bottom of the heater decided the best place to be was outside of the heater, and the best way to be was lit. I was standing close enough that is singed the hair on my right leg and obviously Luis was close enough that it burnt the hair off of his hand. Other than that we were basically ok. Like any responsible adult men, after that we stood around laughing about it and making sure the pilot light was really still lit.
So, if I can make recommendations of how to light a pilot light:
- Don't wear shorts
- Keep your face away from the hole (we followed this one thankfully)
- Don't prime the line by putting the gas on high and waiting, turn it on low and keep the flame close to the ignition point
- Hire someone else to do it.
As I have said before, I'm really enjoying Merida. It is a great city, but it is not the US, you can't come here and expect everything to happen like you would want it to happen in the US. It is going to happen like you are in Mexico, because you are.
Hmmm Daniel Chapter 3 just kind of jumps out at me here. It isn't short, but is well worth the read.
Daniel 3
The Image of Gold and the Fiery Furnace
1 King Nebuchadnezzar made an image of gold, ninety feet high and nine feet
[a] wide, and set it up on the plain of Dura in the province of Babylon.
2
He then summoned the satraps, prefects, governors, advisers,
treasurers, judges, magistrates and all the other provincial officials
to come to the dedication of the image he had set up.
3
So the satraps, prefects, governors, advisers, treasurers, judges,
magistrates and all the other provincial officials assembled for the
dedication of the image that King Nebuchadnezzar had set up, and they
stood before it.
4 Then the herald loudly proclaimed, "This is what you are commanded to do, O peoples, nations and men of every language: 5
As soon as you hear the sound of the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp,
pipes and all kinds of music, you must fall down and worship the image
of gold that King Nebuchadnezzar has set up. 6 Whoever does not fall down and worship will immediately be thrown into a blazing furnace."
7
Therefore, as soon as they heard the sound of the horn, flute, zither,
lyre, harp and all kinds of music, all the peoples, nations and men of
every language fell down and worshiped the image of gold that King
Nebuchadnezzar had set up.
8 At this time some astrologers [b] came forward and denounced the Jews. 9 They said to King Nebuchadnezzar, "O king, live forever! 10
You have issued a decree, O king, that everyone who hears the sound of
the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp, pipes and all kinds of music must
fall down and worship the image of gold, 11 and that whoever does not fall down and worship will be thrown into a blazing furnace. 12
But there are some Jews whom you have set over the affairs of the
province of Babylon—Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego—who pay no attention
to you, O king. They neither serve your gods nor worship the image of
gold you have set up."
13 Furious with rage, Nebuchadnezzar summoned Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. So these men were brought before the king, 14
and Nebuchadnezzar said to them, "Is it true, Shadrach, Meshach and
Abednego, that you do not serve my gods or worship the image of gold I
have set up? 15 Now when
you hear the sound of the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp, pipes and
all kinds of music, if you are ready to fall down and worship the image
I made, very good. But if you do not worship it, you will be thrown
immediately into a blazing furnace. Then what god will be able to
rescue you from my hand?"
16
Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego replied to the king, "O Nebuchadnezzar,
we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter. 17
If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to
save us from it, and he will rescue us from your hand, O king. 18
But even if he does not, we want you to know, O king, that we will not
serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up."
19
Then Nebuchadnezzar was furious with Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego,
and his attitude toward them changed. He ordered the furnace heated
seven times hotter than usual 20
and commanded some of the strongest soldiers in his army to tie up
Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego and throw them into the blazing furnace.
21 So these men, wearing their robes, trousers, turbans and other clothes, were bound and thrown into the blazing furnace. 22
The king's command was so urgent and the furnace so hot that the flames
of the fire killed the soldiers who took up Shadrach, Meshach and
Abednego, 23 and these three men, firmly tied, fell into the blazing furnace.
24
Then King Nebuchadnezzar leaped to his feet in amazement and asked his
advisers, "Weren't there three men that we tied up and threw into the
fire?"
They replied, "Certainly, O king."
25 He said, "Look! I see four men walking around in the fire, unbound and unharmed, and the fourth looks like a son of the gods."
26
Nebuchadnezzar then approached the opening of the blazing furnace and
shouted, "Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, servants of the Most High
God, come out! Come here!"
So Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego came out of the fire, 27
and the satraps, prefects, governors and royal advisers crowded around
them. They saw that the fire had not harmed their bodies, nor was a
hair of their heads singed; their robes were not scorched, and there
was no smell of fire on them.
28
Then Nebuchadnezzar said, "Praise be to the God of Shadrach, Meshach
and Abednego, who has sent his angel and rescued his servants! They
trusted in him and defied the king's command and were willing to give
up their lives rather than serve or worship any god except their own
God. 29 Therefore I decree
that the people of any nation or language who say anything against the
God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego be cut into pieces and their
houses be turned into piles of rubble, for no other god can save in
this way."
30 Then the king promoted Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego in the province of Babylon.
Let me just say, obviously we were in no way protected as Rack, Shak and Benny were, but God is protecting us, is caring for our needs. How we live our lives is a testimony to the people that see us, one way or the other. We always provide a testimony by the way we live, it is up to us to determine what that testimony looks like. Will we stand firm and show unconditional faith to God, or will we sway like palm fronds in the wind whenever the situation changes?
Via con Dios,
Robba
The title grabbed you didn't it?
On our most recent flight down here we ran into a problem. We flew Mexicana Airlines from DFW to Mexico City. The flight was great, and we met a nice guy, Jim, that was also heading to Merida. The airport in Mexico City (MEX) is old and doesn't have enough gates to support the amount of traffic it has, so they employ a bus type vehicle that take people from the plane to the terminal. This process, unloading the plane and driving to the terminal, takes 15-20 minutes. When we got off of the plane we saw that the line for immigration was VERY long. I mean like two hours long. But, Tony knows where there is another immigration check point in the airport, so off we headed to it. We ran into Jim again and told him to follow us. We got through it very quickly and then we had a quick 2 minute meeting with a client to drop something off. Then we ran to the gate to catch our next flight. Here is where our problems started. It seems that they plane we were catching also was using one of those bus type vehicles to load it and the bus had already left. We only had one hour between flights, so there was no way we could have made the flight.
Our immediate thought was "No big deal, they will get us on another flight to Merida." UMMM, not so much. We went to the passenger assistance counter to find out about the next flight. The flight was full with 20 people on the waiting list. What about the next flight you ask? Nope, full too. We were told to go upstairs to another counter and they people there could help us find another flight, even if it was with a different carrier. UMMM once again, not so much. Then we went to AiroMexico to see if they had anything. Nada. We decided to go take a look at the gate of the next flight to see what it looked like. (this has taken about 1 1/2 hours so far and one flight has left.) At the counter they said the flight was full, but they could put us in line just in case. This still wasn't looking good. At this point we thought, "Let's go to the American Airlines Executive lounge to see if they can help us." Yes, they are a different airline than what we were flying, but it was our last shred of hope. In the lounge they said they couldn't help us, but to try the Mexicana lounge upstairs. Up we go to talk to them. Nope, they couldn't help us either, but we were told if we went back down to Gate 15 they could help us out. Off we jog. HMMMM This looks familiar. Gate 15 is passenger assistance. Nope still no help here.
We decided that this wasn't getting us anywhere, literally, 
so we went to the AA lounge again to use the internet. Now, I said the airport is old, but it isn't small. It is long and we were running/jogging back and forth. BTW MEX is over a mile high and the air is thin. In the lounge we got online and started looking for flights. We landed at about 4 and now it was 6:00. We found no more flights headed to Merida that night. At this point the we are pretty convinced that we're not catching a flight tonight.
Hey, what about catching a plane to Cancun and then a hop to Merida? Well, we could get to Cancun, but there weren't any hops to Merida. We think, what about driving from Cancun to Merida? I veto that option as the flight to Cancun was at 8:45 putting us in at midnight and then renting a car and driving for 3-4 hours. We wouldn't have gotten any rest at all. We check local hotels to see what options we have. YEAH!!!! there is a room in the Hyatt at the airport.
Off we go to the passenger assistance counter, again, to tell them we want a voucher for the hotel since it wasn't our fault we missed the plane. Interestingly enough when we tell them we want the airlines to pay for a hotel, they found 3 seats on the last flight to Merida. You would think this would be the end right?
No. Now we are told we have to go back up stairs to convert our electronic tickets to paper tickets for some reason. And yes, this did cost money to do that. Throughout this entire process I've been pretty mellow about everything, but that one really irritated me. Well, we paid and got our tickets. The time is now 6:30 and our flight is at 8:55.
We were hungry. We ate, went back to the AA lounge to use the internet access again and then went to our gate early. Our boarding passes said to go to Gate B. HMMM B? But all the gates have numbers. Well, when they don't know where your bus will pick you up they just send you to a holding area. Ours was B. Once they had a rough idea of where we would load from they announced it over the intercom. We were supposed to board at 8:11, and it was 8:30 when they announced which gate to go to, 14A. So we go to 14A. 20 minutes later we board our bus type thing at Gate 14B. The flight to Merida was pleasant.
Throughout this whole ordeal Jim is still with us. He is a geophysisist and had some work to do on a client project. He showed us some natural gas well soundings that were pretty neat. It is cool how they can determine whether or not the location is a good place to drill or not.
During this process we are sure our luggage did make the earlier flight to Merida, unlike us, and when we get to Merida we ask to check the back room for our luggage. It wasn't there. We are told that in Mexico they now do not load luggage if the person owning it is not on board the aircraft. Out luggage actually came around on the luggage carasel with everyone else's. We were absolutely amazed!!! 
Throughout the entire time we remembered that there is always a plan, we just don't always know what it is. We got to meet Jim, a nice guy from Dallas, who gets to travel here to Merida occasionally. We did make it home and with our luggage. We were all very thankful.
Jeremiah 29:11 is one of my favorite passages:
For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to
prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.
We're all really looking forward to our future here in Merida, and we're excited to see how God uses us to further His kingdom.
via con Dios,
Robba
OK OK, it's been 9 days since I last posted. Chris gave me grief tonight for not posting recently, so I thought I'd shoot a quick one up here. I've been here in Dallas since last Friday. We've been waiting on electricity the whole time. Evidently it was determined that the "provisional" setup that was going to be installed shouldn't be installed, but they were supposed to have completed the work to get the permanent connection in today. I'll find out by Monday if it really happened or not.
I'm heading back down soon, this time for a while. Fortunately Stacy will come down a couple of weeks after I get there and we'll look for a place to live. Then as soon as all the paperwork is complete we'll get Stacy and Emily headed down. We're all pretty excited about getting down there together, as the long times apart are difficult for us all.
We continue to feel that this is where God is wanting us to be. There are days that things seem frustrating, but He continues to remind us that He has a plan and a path for us. We're only supposed to have faith in Him, and follow that path one step at a time. There are times when He sheds light on the path a couple of steps in front of us, and there are times when we only have enough light to see the step we are on. No matter what He always provides for us though. Matt 6:25-39 has held a great deal of meaning for Stacy and me for quite a while because in it He reminds us that He will always care for our needs.
Matthew 6:25-39 (New International Version)
Do Not Worry
25 "Therefore
I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink;
or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than
food, and the body more important than clothes?
26 Look
at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in
barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more
valuable than they?
27 Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?
28 "And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30 If
that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and
tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O
you of little faith? 31 So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' 32 For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
Amen and blessings,
Robba
It's been a couple of days since I posted, so I thought I'd do a quick update.
On Saturday we did finally get cable in the building. We were supposed to get the "provisional" electricity yesterday, but that didn't happen. Maybe we'll get it tomorrow. That obviously is a big show stopper for us. Once we get electricity then I have to get the network and the call center set up. I'm really ready for that. We're all ready to get the business moved and settled so we can start getting our families situated.
I actually got to come back to Dallas on Tuesday. Unfortunately it was a short visit filled with errands as on Wed. morning I had to travel down to Houston. It was great to see Stacy and Emily though. Emily came running up to me yelling "MY DADDYYYYYYYYYYY!!!" when I got through the customs door at the airport. Then she gave me the biggest hug and just didn't let go. Oh boy did I miss her. I think she missed me too. 
We had a great day even though there were errands to run. WOW she is getting big and very vocal. I know I was only gone a couple of weeks, but she just seems to be talking more and more articulate. BTW, she is 3yrs old. I'll be in Houston until Friday, and then back to Dallas. We're meeting with some clients here.
Soon I'll be heading back to Merida, still working that time frame out.
Well, like I said, just a quick update.
Via con Dios,
Robba
Let me just say this is not a bash on the local system at all, just my observations about our experiences so far. First of all the people here have been amazingly friendly. I have a developer named Mario that is just great. He offers to do just about anything for us. Everyone else I have met acts in a similar fashion.
In a previous post I related how we were trying to get electricity, and internet and cable. Well, we still don't have any of those. Let me relate the story. I joke that if I wanted patience I would have been a Dr. I think that
by the time we have everything installed in the building I will be half
way to owning my own practice.
The internet connection via the E-1's (btw an E-1 like a T-1 in the USA except it is 2Mb) is expected to take 30-45 days, so here everything is OK. We're not expecting anything from that yet.
The guys actually came out on Wed afternoon to turn on the electricity. While they were looking at it they determined that we don't have 220V coming into the building, but rather 500V. Well, they weren't equipped to install the 500V so they gave us the phone number for their boss. We met him at 10PM that night to look at the system and determine what needed to be done. He said that he would have to call in an engineer to look at everything and give it the blessing to re-connect. In addition to the engineer we also needed someone from the actual electric company (CFE) to come out and agree that what the engineer said was correct. We finally got the engineer and the rep from CFE to come out on Saturday. Turns out there has been a change in the regulations since electricity was last turned on in our building. We need to have the meter moved from its current location to the outside of the property line. That is going to cost a little chunk of change and time (30 days). We might be able to get "provisional" power while that process is happening. We should know more about that later today.
Cable, arg Cable. I mentioned that we were going to get cable to use as a temporary solution for internet connectivity. I'm not sure we'll actually have it in before we have the E-1s in. As I mentioned previously we were told that they would be out to install last Tuesday, the 2nd, and they never came. Then they said they would be there Thursday and I waited all day again. And Friday and Saturday. Count em, four days of waiting on cable guys. I'm sure we will wait a few more. On Saturday we even called to confirm 3 times. After the second time I was fairly certain they weren't coming though. The first time we were told between 9 and 2, then 3 and finally 4. We left the building at 6:30. I have been pretty mellow about the whole thing until Saturday. That one really irked me. I understand that things aren't going to move at the same speed as in the States, but when we verify 3 times that someone will be out and they still don't show up...
Let's talk about some good things now. I asked Mario about less expensive places to shop and he introduced me to Chedraui. It is like Walmart here, but cheaper. I'll try to go by and do the price comparisons soon, but I haven't had time this past week. I found propane tanks here like in the states, so now I know I can bring my grill. I'm excited about that.
We eat out alot here, as we haven't bought much food or things to cook with. Face it, there are four guys living together right now, and not alot of urge to cook for each other. So with that, we have found some really good food. Across the street at the little cafe where I was working in the picture they have pretty good tortas (sandwiches) and tacos. Tacos here are generally soft tacos, either flour or corn. BEWARE the green salsa!!! 
It is habanaro and is known to spontaneously catch fire. I have seen 3 shops burn down because of habanaro salsa.
I stayed in yesterday, as I had alot of work to catch up on and the guys went down to the beach for a couple of hours. They were kind enough to bring me back dinner and WOW was it tasty. Shrimp ceviche and beef tips with steamed vegetables. I could do that all the time.
Today we are working out of the apt as it has both electricity and an internet connection. We just called the cable people and they said they would be there to do the install by 11am. I'm not holding my breath, but I will remain hopeful.
I've been reading Isaiah during my quiet time lately and Isaiah 55:8-9 is really sticking with me.
For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord.
As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.
I know that God has a plan for us, my family, and we trust Him to know what is best for us. We began this as a journey of faith and we are well aware that there will be stumbling blocks along the way. It is our duty to remain faithful and follow even when we don't know where we will end up. God doesn't promise a perfect life here on earth, but if we remain faithful and do as He asks He will provide an amazing adventure that will glorify His kingdom. It is our prayer that He gives us the strength and fortitude to remain faithful even in the difficult times.
Blessings,
Robba
Well, I've been here in Merida for about a week now and the place is really nice. Not the typical border town people think of when they think of Mexico. Merida has about 1 million people and it is a very metropolitan city. There is a zoo and many museums here, as well as an American library.
However this is still Mexico so I have to tell some tales...
We started working to get the power and E-1s set up a couple of weeks before we even came down here, but once in town the realization hit that pretty much nothing had been done yet. In Mexico only the owner of the company can sign the paperwork to get anything done. I mean anything. I can't even get cable installed in the building without the president (Tony) providing paperwork of who he is, that he really is the owner of the company and one other piece of paperwork. It can be very frustrating. So on Friday we spent the day running around town to find the right TelMex (phone company) office to get the E-1's installed. Well, that wasn't so bad. We finished in the TelMex office at 9PM and it will only take 30-45 days to get the fiber that is in the office turned on. Unless of course we want to spend $4500 to expedite it down to 10 days. I can tell you we weren't thrilled about that.
Then of course we have no electricity yet. We do have a generator and that allows the workers to finish remodeling and cleaning up the building, but isn't enough to run AC and power the server room yet. Getting electricity here is also an interesting affair. First we discovered that the building has both a 110 and a 220 run going into it. Whats wrong with this you say? Well...only one can be active at a time and the building has to have 220 to run everything. The landlord had the 220 turned off and 110 installed when the last tenant left. In order to get 220 running we have to go to the electric company and request the bill. Then the NEXT day we go back to get it and pay that bill. Then we can have them upgrade the 110 service to 220. We paid the bill yesterday. Today we were supposed to get the electricity, supposed to. One thing about Mexico, no one seems to be in a hurry to make an appointment.
On to our next hurdle. We decided that since it will take TelMex so long to get in our E-1s that we would use cable internet for the interim time period. They advertise that it can be installed the next day here, even business class. Well, let me just say that it probably can BE installed the next day, but it won't be. So we signed the contract and I agreed to wait at the building from 9-2pm the next day. Did I mention that we have no electricity yet? Did I mention that this is the hot and humid season of the year? Well, I kinda cheated, I stayed across the street from our building at a little outdoor cafe and worked on my laptop. Here is me working: 
I know this doesn't look so bad, but I waited and waited and waited. Did I mention that people here don't necessarily keep appointments? It turns out our order hadn't even gone through yet. But hey, it was a nice cafe and now I have a place to go when my office gets stuffy.
So maybe tomorrow we'll get electricity or cable or both, or neither. Those are the options. I'm really not sure which way I am leaning on this one.
On Sunday I decided I wanted to go exploring. I really like getting a map and walking around a new town to check things out. Merida is a big town so I focused on walking to a couple of grocery stores to compare prices of things against the prices back home as well as just walking around and looking for places to rent a house. I decided to go to the Mega store and to Super Walmart as they are popular grocery stores here. The prices were about the same as in Dallas, but I've been informed of a couple of other stores that have much lower prices so I'll go check them out this weekend.
Here are the pictures of the town I took on my travels. One of the pics shows a sign on a wall for a vet. I thought it was odd to advertise artificial insemination for dogs, but that is just me, I had a laugh at that. While I was out I also stopped for a bite to eat. I had a HAMburger. Seriously, it was a burger with a piece of ham on it. I love this place!!! And then when I went into Walmart a guy stopped me and showed me that I had to check my backpack. hehe I got a claim ticket for my backpack at Walmart. It just strikes me as odd. Oh yeah, I have to explain the bump pictures. My wife found a site yucatanliving.com that mentions the speed bumps and how they just appear out of nowhere. So I took a series of pictures showing the Bump warning sign that is usually about 30-60ft in front of the bumps. Then a pic of the sign that is right above the bumps telling you there are bumps on the road, and finally a pic of the bumps.
So in all, I signed on for an adventure here and it is living up to my expectations. I am really enjoying the city and the people here and I would highly recommend the place. Just remember that everything here happens on its own special schedule, unfortunately we may never know what that schedule really is.
Adios y via con Dios,
Robba