Calderitas, Mexico

Last year, Papi & I spent a couple weeks exploring southeast Mexico. An easy adventure as it's just over the Belize border with so many places to choose from within an hour radius of Chetumal. We prefer the coast so we explored Calderitas, Chetumal proper & Baccalar Lagoon. Of the three Calderitas was our favorite. A bayside town just northeast of Chetumal, it is known for its boardwalk stretch of Seafood Restaurants, friendly people and good traditional Mexican music. The sunrises & sunsets are spectacular!!

What is unique, to us anyway, is that during the week, by 7pm most of the restaurants close and by 8pm the only sounds you hear are children playing in the parks.  For the party people on vacation, this may not be appealing but for us old quiet folk it is quite refreshing. On weekends they stay open a bit longer, and is home to many who come to enjoy beautiful beaches, great food & a little revelry.

This year we wanted to stay an extended period of time and as fate would have it a couple we know from Hopkins were looking for a place to rent for the month of January. They were expecting their first baby and planned a home birth attended by our good friend Gail Johnson (http://www.midwifewithoutborders.com). This was a God send as it would give us a "house sitter" in exchange for rent free accommodations while they wait for their bundle of joy. BUENO!!

Part of the desire for an extended stay had to do with improving my Spanish speaking skills. I know a hand full of words but that's it. The hotel we stayed last year has apartments for rent by the month, so before we left I took a tour with the manager. The apartment in the main hotel building on the top floor with a kitchen seemed perfect. Papi came back a few months ago and paid a visit to secure the apartment only knowing the "top floor" part. The hotel also has a separate building of apartments so when he came that's where they took him. After climbing four stories of stairs (NO, there is no elevator), he viewed a two bedroom apartment with living room, a dining area and nice size kitchen. The view was great and breeze even better, so he locked in the reservation with a deposit.

I returned from my trip to the states with a meager three days with Papi before he would head to Calderitas, set up the apartment and wait for my arrival on the 5th or 6th. I delayed my departure so I could spend a day or so with Cheryl who would arrive on the 4th, get her settled in and acclimated. With her mom & sister arriving on the 7th everything was going as planned. She & her husband run a tour operation in Hopkins and with this being the "busy" season, his arrival would be closer to the due date as to not miss out on high season.

Papi mentioned he was having a few issues with the apartment getting the gas hooked up, but when I arrived 5 days later and it still had not been hooked up, plus being the "woman of the house" I saw some other issues that most definately need to be addressed. Not that he had not been diligently reminding them daily about the gas, but by the time I arrived, enough was enough, so off to the office I go with my limited Spanish skills. Lina had a favorite word, "Horrible" (pronounced har-eb-lee) when describing something terrible or completely unsatisfactory.

By the time I left the office, the girl at the desk knew I found the apartment horrible with no gas to cook, but since the details were "lost in translation" I indicated I would come back with "mi amiga" to help translate. As it turned out a friend named Elizabeth from Peru with perfect Spanish and an understanding of the culture and customer service skills went back with me to talk to the office staff a couple days later. After a tour of the apartment and notepad in hand, the office receptionist understood clearly that there were many maintenance issues and indicated she would talk to the general manager about moving us. She also came to the knowledge that I had expected to be in the main building, but said those apartments were a great deal more and she wasn't even sure there was a "monthly rental price".

The next day we stopped at the office and the General Manager generously offered us an apartment in the main building at no extra cost. The fridge was a small one and the open floor plan meant if we had visitors that wanted to stay overnite it would be more like a pajama party (a second bed but not in a separate room), but the furnishings much nicer, a TV, better internet, a private balcony, ... well let's just say we smiled, said "mucho gracias" more than once and planned a raving review on Trip Adviser.

Mean while, back in Corozal, Cheryl went into labor within hours of her mom & sister arriving and a "hurry up & get here papa" call made to her husband. The birth went very well and these two diver parents delivered their 6lb 14oz baby girl underwater in a pool birth, .... in our living room. How awesome is that?!!!! Now they have a leisurely 3 weeks to bond as a family before returning to Hopkins were it will be non stop visitors as they have many friends & associates that will be anxious to meet Khaya.


Stay tuned for my next post which will describe more of our adventures in Calderitas!