Visit to Chetumal

Over the weekend 6 of us went to Chetumal, about 5 hrs. south. Our friend Pio was scheduled to give his first  away public talk, so we went along with them. We stayed with his sister Norma and her husband, they live about 45 min. west of Chetumal in the middle of nowhere in the country/jungle. Out there are snakes, tarantula's, big cat's(can't remember what kind), bug's galore, among other thing's. When we arrived to Norma's house, she was not home, so we drove to the Kingdom Hall, since they had meeting there. Nobody was at the Kingdom Hall, but next door is where a brother and sister live, and they were all over there eating and visiting. Pio and Claudia know most of them because they used to live here before Puerto Morelos. We all got out to say hi. Despite the language barrier they welcomed us with hugs and kisses, and many smiles. They almost immediately fed us dinner, drink, fruit, coffee, tea,etc. They are so incredibly generous and hospitable. This night was for me the highlight of our weekend. A true taste of our brotherhood:)

Notice this kitchen area is pretty much outdoors. I noticed alot of the kitchen's were outside.

These twin's were so sweet, this one really liked Nate and just kept staring at him. 

This is the room we stayed in at Norma's house, this is pretty much the house, a cinder block room with concrete floor and a bathroom. There was 2 bed's, one where Nate and I slept and one for the Lynn And Larry, while Pio and Claudia shared the hammock. I don't think they slept too good. 

Before I got into bed I had to make sure there were no spiders, snakes, or cockroaches under the bed. Thankfully I didnt find any.

Baby ducks!! They had a little a farm there. And they raise pretty much all of them for food, even the duck's:(

This is where Norma cooks, over open flame. She made us delicious homemade flour tortilla's with egg's mixed with tuna and onions. It was quite tasty:)

Where the ducks, chickens and geese are kept.

I can never resist holding the animals:)

This is the second room off the main room where we stayed, as you can see, dirt floor, palapa  (thatch) roof,  in the open air. Norma and her husband used this room, and truly gave us their very best.
It is a real eye opener to see how other people live around the world, and see what thing's are true necessities and what aren't.

The kitchen.

A poisonous snake that they killed after breakfast. It was still moving although it was dead.   

This is where they wash their dishes. Kinda like camping!

Homemade broom! Not a bad idea!

 Here we are on our way to see the ruins and go swimming. The kid's were very excited, I don't think they had ever been to the places we went to.

The room we stayed in.

Beautiful countryside.

Hopefully you can spot them, we saw monkey's up in the tree's!! About 4 of them with 2 babies:)

Mayan ruin's

Here we are at a spring to go swimming and eat lunch. It was packed out because it was Easter weekend, with a band and everything. It was quite loud.

 

This is in what's called the "Free Zone", in between  Mexico and  Belize. They allow Mexican's to cross over without a passport. In the free zone there are ton's of cheap stores that sell alot of imitation brands. Like walking thru NY city and buying cheap knockoffs. Everyone was under the impression that we could go here without our passport's also, but that was false as I will soon tell you. 

We thought we were soon on our way out.

To get back into Mexico, the line was atrocious!! Being that it was a holiday, it was like shopping on Black Friday.  

Still in line after about 2 hrs. When we crossed the bridge we get stopped.  Might I add all 4 of us from the States did not have our passports or paperwork/registration for the vehicle, our's was at home and Lynn and Larry's at Norma's. To make a very long story short, thanks to a good relationship between a local brother in Chetumal and immigration, we were allowed back to Mexico after about 5 hrs. It was very stressful and I will NEVER forget to bring our passports again!!!!!!

We still had to show paperwork for the vehicle so Nate, Pio, and I got a taxi to go to Norma's to get Lynn and Larry's  passports and vehicle info.  And to take the children home. While the others stayed behind with the car. We packed up everybody's thing's, since we decided to stay in Chetumal because it was getting late and we had to be at meeting the next morning at 10am. A couple in Chetumal let us stay at their house, which we were so grateful for.      
We got to bed around 12:30, we were completely mentally and emotionally exhausted, to say the least.

The guy's each had a hammock, Lynn and Larry in the bedroom, Claudia on the couch,  and I made a bed on the floor since the other couch was super short.

Enjoying hospitality and a very good meal. Notice the kitchen is also outside.

In the small towns you drive thru, there are topes, which are large speed bumps.  At the topes are people trying to sell you thing's. Like fruit, juice, coconut, etc.

On our way home, and ready to get back to our little town and our own bed:)