from the file, “if you have to ask WHY, you’re in the wrong country”

Many months ago, either Solidaridad (the municipality) or Playa del Carmen (the city) installed a tope and a police quasi stop (they hang out in the middle of the road and ocassionally will slow people down) just on the south side of town.  The tope was an absolute killer – double skyscraper Dots Bots – and the entire car would continue shaking for about 15 minutes after we would cross the tope.  As with all topes constructed out of Dots Bots, one or two bots eventually disappeared making the crossing of the tope simply monumental instead of horrific.  Then one day, soon after Semana Santa, the topes (both northbound and southbound) disappeared.  The quasi police stop (that isn’t a stop and is now merely Cans of Fire®) continues and at first, even the taxistas hit their flashers and slowed to a crawl before remembering the axle-eating tope was no longer alive.  Now everyone flies through, though, at the speed limit of 80kph.  So it begs, really and truly BEGS the question, “why did they put it in and then take it out?”  It was put in well before Semana Santa, so I can’t believe it was soley there for that 2-week period.  It was working, and working well – we were all frightened of that damn tope – but why take it out?  There were only 1-2 bots missing so it was still very effective, and it is just one of those thinks that makes you shake your head and realize you’ll never understand the culture.

Jamie and I took a date night tonight and headed to the tourist side of town.  He bought a moka frio at some coffee place but it has already been about a year since we were last in the tourist area of Playa and I got fed up pretty quickly.  I’m just not used to the hawkers and crowds and after re-injuring my 1/4-healed calf in Yoga this morning, I was tired of shuffling down the street.  So we headed to a PAN rally and I got elote on a stick (with limon, mayo and chile) and Jamie got a chicken tamal.  The food cart lady either had never seen a gringa eat elote or thought I was crazy because she sure tried to make Absolutely Certain that I wanted elote and the fixings.  She was cracking up the whole time but had no problem with Jamie’s tamal order.  We sat at a fountain, surrounded by families and kids, with the PAN rally on the right and a martial arts movie projected on a wall on our left.  The perfect end to a perfect date.

It looks like the kids will be taking Judo classes.  I’ve been wanting to enroll them in some kind of classes, to expose them to local kids and to broaden their horizons, but their staunch desire to sleep until afternoon and play only with our (now in Canada) Canadian neighbors put an end to that pipe dream.  They checked out the taekwondo class yesterday and decided today that they much preferred Judo.  The boys will be in a 2-hour class 3 to 6 times a week and the girls in a 1-hour class 3 times/week.  We’ll try it a month but Pike already wants the “uniform” (kimono).  We’re starting to come back around to our routines and life is good.  It is also starting to warm up, but nights are still cool.  81F/27C at 11pm tonight as I post.