Back home we tend to ask people "what school did you go to?" or "where did you grow up?" In Playa del Carmen, a tiny percentage of people are actually from the area. Foreigners have relocated here to take advantage of the weather, business opportunties and/or have married a Mexican and Mexicans have relocated here to take advantage of employment derived from foreigners vacationing and/or living here. Over the last 10 years the city has BOOMED and that is highly due to people such as neighbours we have met over the last 25 days.
The area where we live has two common pools~one right outside our back deck~its here that we've met most of our neighbors. I want to share a little about our own little cultural Mosaic.
We met the couple right next to us a couple years ago actually ... Gary and Carol are from Winnipeg and live here 8 months and there for 4. They have a dog that Paris dislikes, they work from their home and brought us crackers, bananas and a bottle of wine the first night we were here! Carol is fluent in Spanish and has acted as my translator on a couple occasions when I needed to tell the maintenance guy what was wrong with our gas and a maid that I didn't need or want her services!
Next we met Tony, a 59 year old divorcee originally from Portugual but has been living in Vancouver for 40 years. He has been wintering in the tropics for the last 12 years but returns to Canada/Europe from May to November. Tony speaks excellent English and has been a huge help! He grows fresh basil, has a papaya tree and is attempting to grow figs. He is in the "know" of all the neighbors: who fights, who has had plastic surgery and who to talk to if you want a tree cut down, listens to jazz music and goes to the gym at 6am!
Tony introduced us to the neighbors on the other side of us ... Julianna and Rogerio, a beautiful couple from Brazil, reside here full time. They have a three year old Raphiel (don't know the proper spelling of all these foreign names!) who looks and acts like he's 5 or 6~he can swim, read and write. His parents are glad we only speak English to him so he can practice but he still speaks a mouthful to us in Spanish, or maybe its Portugese?! Julianna is a banker and strongly reminds us of a friend back home (Rhonda Bennett) and Rogerio is a home builder who loves wine, cooking and is a vegetarian. He introduced Jay to octopus and debated with me that Canada has scorpians! Both Julianna and Rogerio speak excellent English and love to entertain!
I met Lena from Montreal and her husband is originally from the USA. They arrived the same day we did and will also stay 6 months. She is very friendly, gentle and sweet! Albeit having a strong french accent she speaks English nonetheless!
I met Mark from Calgary on day two and discovered that his wife Stephanie is originally from Weyburn and knows a dear friend of ours. They have been in Mexico for one year but have extended their stay for another. Both work from home transcripting for Alberta's department of justice and their two kids are homeschooled doing the Alberta curriculum. They have 10 year old Jada and 13 year old Jacob and 2 older sons that stay for periods of time as well. Its nice to talk about hockey and snow and other prairie commonalities!
Guy, originally from the Philadelpia area, and Roni from California lived in Puerta Vallarta for years prior to moving to Playa. Roni, late 50's, got a tattoo the other day and had the tattoo artist come to her home to give her adult son a great, colorful tattoo. My kids were intrigued, asked if it hurt and wanted me to show the guy my cheesey dolphin!
Across the street is Willem and Marcy (whom I've yet to meet) from Holland and their two huge labs Angelina and something I can't properly pronounce or spell, and they understand English, Dutch and Spanish. Willem is also a home builder and is outside in his yard working all day long. Willem sees me daily at 6am when I take Paris out for a pee ... he likes my attire of pajamas!
Yesterday I met an incredibly nice family from Italy who has been here for 4 months! Matthew (pronounced Mattao), Angela, Marco (6) and Elena (4) opened up an Italian pastry shop Sabrina and do I wish I had met them a few days earlier when I was frantically searching this city for an apple pie! Matthew speaks very good English and explained that they wanted a change in their lives, wanted their children to learn another language or two and wanted to explore and live an adventure. Their story sounded quite familiar to ours!
We have been told another couple from Toronto will be arriving on December 12 and will stay until April, that the neighbours get together for Christmas and New Year's parties under the common palapa and that during the winter months the ladies get together for lunch once per month.
Friends we have met here over the years also have a lot of cultural content! Phil is from England but has lived here for years and is marrying Mary Cruz, originally from Mexico City. Nick is a Greek Canadian from Toronto and is married to Jeannette who is from Mazatlan, Marisol is from Mexico City, Helmut is from Switzerland and Sylvia from Campeche, Mexico, Hugo from Mexico City, Johnny from Detroit and his wife somewhere in Mexico and Alejandro and Valeria are from Spain.
These people make our life so interesting on a daily basis and our life sabbatical/adventure so worth it! I love learning new things and love meeting and getting to know people ... so far it seems like a perfect place to do just this!
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