Puerto Morelos: Que Pasa? November 14th, 2010 Puerto Morelos newsletter

This Sunday morning we are all a little drowsy, a huge private party on the beach went to 5am with speakers belonging to a stadium (property owner's email click here) and Ceiba del Mar had a spectacular wedding on the beach as well, lots of people around to see the dawn. Remember you can click on any of these photos to enlarge them..

Kindergarten dancer

Dawn at Ceiba del Ma

The big news is about COP16, November 29 - December 10th. The United Nations is holding its annual conference on Climate Change in Moon Palace and Cancunmesse (the new Convention Centre this side of Moon Palace) and many people are staying in this area in hotels and private accommodation. There are spin off conferences as well like the 2000 young people who

Flamingos in Campeche

will be camping at the El Rey Polo Club. Should be a busy time at night here! Our overpass is completed of course and a new one just opened in front of Moon Palace with all sorts of landscaping being hurriedly finished for the

Yum Balam

conference, more information here. A huge crane has been there a couple of weeks and yesterday revealed the installation of an enormous wind power combine courtesy of CFE (the electricity commision). It is rumoured that the resulting treaty from this conference will be called the Puerto Morelos Treaty. Ole Pepe has closed its doors as many years a bar and restaurant and the land at La Petita has been sold to build condos, they plan to move down the block on the beach when they can get the paperwork finished.

La Playita location

Dance Show at Casa Cultura

Casa Cultura staged a wonderful Dance and Film production last month, showcasing the group 'Bajo de Luna' with some wonderful underwater dance footage shot in a cenote! Don't miss the next dance presentation Friday 19 November at 6.30pm at the Casa del Cultura, free entry, bring insect repellant.

Preparing for a hurricane again

The hurricanes passed up by again this year. We did go on red alert for Paula with all the boats coming out of the water and houses all boarded up in readiness but nothing came our way so all the trees and gardens in PM are looking lush.

Celebrating Bicentennial

The Bicentennial Celebrations have been throughout the country for the
year,

Bicentennial celebration

Kinder Cinco de Mayo

I particularly enjoyed the dance and song

Dancer kinder Cinco de mayo

festival put on at the Kinder Cinco de Mayo with traditional dances being performed by all the classes. The charity El Mundo Puerto Morelos has

Aidy in front with mother and teacher

Aidy's house before repair

Volunteers repairing Aidy's roof

sponsored 30 students this year, on the right is Aidy the first of our sponsored students in the Bacchileria which is the

college you attend for 2 years to gain university entrance, the charity helped Aidy with her fees and books. Aidy lives in a shack with her mother and 2 brothers, we found it leaking badly and with the wonderful help of local and visiting volunteers it was recently repaired. We have now launched the PM charity building Team and this week start work on completing cisterns for a
family in the Zona Urbana which will help prevent sewerage run off to the jungle. STOP THE PRESSES Latest project now is building a wheelchair ramp for our much beloved vet Jorge - his house has steps and he has no-one to help him to get up there most of the time, making him a virtual prisoner in his own home 5000 pesos needed for the concreting and rail- if you can help please send via www.emppm.com or to Mama's Bakery.

Guess Who? At Halloween

Halloween was held in the Town Square this year again attracting a healthy amount of interest from locals and children of course. The fun costume parade was a great hit with the children and

Tropical birds at Halloween

parents alike sure to be recurring next year. We receive many generous donations to the charity to

Mary and Maurice's family

supply much needed goods to the schools and clinics, some families opt to visit the schools to show their children how other children the same age live. This is Mary and Maurice's second visit to Puerto and they came loaded with useful items for the children. We also recently delivered school supplies to all 30 sponsored children and we now have 6 kindergarten students and 2 high school students waiting for

Receiving charity school supplies

sponsorship, these are children from a families suffering hardship

Sponsored child receiving school supplies

of one kind or another making it difficult for them to make ends meet - we are trying to keep these children in school. If you would like to sponsor a child please visit our website www.emppm.com or contact Jill Yager directly jill.yager@gmail.com. Are you starting to think about Xmas? Well don't forget we stock some darling items in The Little Mexican Cooking School store with hand made marmalades, high quality vanilla, soaps, hammocks and Mexican cooking spices and now in store fabulous

Shopping for Xmas Presents

Maria's Hammocks in store

hand made chocolates from

Merida - ki-Xocolatl - organic chocolate with spicy flavours and plain dark chocolate by Belgian Chocolatier Mathieu Brees. They are currently building their own cacao plantation in Merida, you can read more about that fascinating story here. mmmm Yumm!

Roger's Cup

The Rogers Cup was recently held at El Rey Polo Club with a team from Canada sponsoring the event, it was a family weekend attracting several hundred visitors, there will be the end of the year tournament held in the last week of December, great event for your visitors to PM to enjoy. Day of the Dead is always an interesting


Canadian family at Rogers Cup

cultural event here. This year the Kinder Francisco Madero, on the

Day of the Dead class

beach, invited guests to a special seminar in Spanish and English on how to erect your own altar and the meaning and significance of the structure and contents of the altar. This tradition varies widely region to region and we were inspired to

Altar at Cooking School

Mero with Frijoles Ranchero in class

build our own altar with my grandmother and Chef Pablo's grandfather being honoured, it was interesting to start the next day's cooking school

Chef Pablo

with the lighting of the candles. Chef Pablo has brought new

Honeymoon couple in class

laughter and a lightness of touch to The Little Mexican Cooking School, adding delightful seafood dishes and tempting desserts. Please tell your guests and friends to book before they come down here to avoid disappointment as we are booking many days out early on. We

Happy Tortilla maker

Listening in class
have had lots of young couples and journalists in the last month

Mm! Making tamales

enjoying the fun atmosphere at the school. We have even broken ground on what will one day be a communal

Grilling vegetables for class

vegetable garden that will showcase Mexican, herbs, fruits and

Dreaming of a garden for vegetables and fruit

vegetables, when we can just get a minute! A weekend trip took us to Merida to enjoy all the sights and sounds as well as do some bargaining for

Buying molcajetes Merida Market

the store at the Cooking School and sample

Fish tacos on the square in merida

Merida's delightful food. It is always great to see old friends return for the season and I bumped into

Daphne and Miki arrive from the airport

Dafne and Miki returning with lots of suitcases, glad to see their smiling faces back home! If you get a chance have a wander around the colonia and Villas Morelos 1 and 2 you will be surprised at all the new little stores that are cropping up, a veritable rash of fruit and veg stores and all sorts of useful small suppliers. There is even a great new palapa built for the Senior Citizens Centre (many thanks to Mayan Palace) next to the newly painted Library! See you around!