Quiet Yucatan

I have often been asked where to find quiet places in Yucatan.

I always find this question amusing: “You have got to be kidding. Have you ever been to Yucatan before?”

I love Yucatan, but after forty plus years here quiet is something that has nearly eluded us. The locals love their lifestyle, and if you have a good positive attitude you will too.

At times it seems to me that the Yucatecan mentality holds two things sacred above all else: smoke and noise. Their ultimate success in life is an ear-splitting motorcycle emitting a cloud of impenetrable smoke. Do they possess a genetic predisposition to racket and an aversion to silence?

Vehicles rattle, clatter, squeak, and incessantly honk their horns while mufflers seem to be a superfluous annoyance.

Petite vehicles marauding city streets sporting enormous megaphones powered by mammoth amplifiers relentlessly blast deafening clatter that will vibrate the fillings out of your teeth.

Ear-splitting fireworks are incessantly detonated for festivals or business promotions, day and night. Dogs desperately try to cover their ears and escape.

In most places in the world this sonic trash would be prohibited…not so here; the government happens to be the major delinquent.

If ultra high decibel racket drives you to distraction beware of the salon de fiestas, also known as party palaces. I swear these all night establishments are capable of shaking you out of bed even from several blocks away.  Many times they magically materialize in hotel lobbies around midnight.

You may locate an upscale restaurant to enjoy a special occasion in tranquility. The waiters are sure to turn on a giant screen TV even if you are the only clients. A Mariachi band is liable to trumpet their way through and an industrial strength blender will be revved up that cannot be screamed above. Coffee grinders are sure to pick up when noise generating is slack. 

One day I went to the neighborhood grocery “tienda” and had to scream in the owner’s ear. A large bank of mighty speakers left from a previous night’s fiesta was terrorizing the neighborhood. I asked if they had requested the volume to be turned down. The owner replied yes and was told he was too nervous and if he listened to the music he would like it. The next retort was “if you don’t like it, you don’t have to listen.”

Looking for tranquility we have stayed in a typical Mayan hut down a dirt road located far out in the jungle and with no electrical service. Before the first glimmer of dawn crowing rosters broke the relative silence. They were joined by squealing pigs, barking dogs, trucks honking and screaming with bullhorns selling bottled gas and coconuts. We didn’t know if we should laugh or scream.

If you can hear dogs barking it is considered quiet.

We travel with 33 db foam ear plugs. Dampen them, roll tightly, and press into your ears. Allow them to expand slowly and their effectiveness is increased.

We happen to live in a relatively quiet neighborhood with a canopy jungle ecologically friendly home where we can actually hear birds singing in our fruit filled trees and crickets chirping.

This is the real Yucatan. Arm yourself with a positive attitude, be happy and if you don’t like the noise, don’t listen!

 

PHOTO TOUR OF OUR HOUSE

 PHOTO TOUR OF OUR HOUSE

2 Our spiral stair ascends into a seven meter tall domed chimney that beams in reflected sunshine by day. By night this has 125 watts of illumination that is ingeniously generated by a single 25 watt bulb reflected off of four mirrors. This chimney day and night silently extracts heated air using thermal siphon like a hot air balloon rising and expels it out vents adjacent to the domed top. The hot air departing sucks in cool fresh air from below making for economical natural air conditioning.

3 This ceramic tiled room that opens onto the street is far more than a sitting area or parking place. This is our super solar dehydrator where the sun heats and dries the air. Employing large black doors and a tin roof to soak up the suns energy thus setting up a temperature differential and sending the hot air rushing up through the covered gap you can see running the entire length of the building adjacent to the steel girder. The rising dehumidified air that exits sucks in cool fresh air from our jungle garden and low louvered vents.

In the cooler dry season of the year this room is used to heat the house. The only difference then is that the windows and doors to this room are opened during the day and the northern exposure garden side is closed. In warm weather we do just the opposite and close out the heated air of this room and open the tree shaded garden side.

We call this downstairs house our “gruta” or cave because it is refreshingly comfortable.

Our location here in Mérida at nearly twenty one degrees north latitude is ideally suited to the seasons. At the very hottest time of year in May, June and July the sun passes to the north of our ecology home for about two months so that our super solar dehydrator does not overheat especially at a time when it is not needed.

4 Hammock hooks abound everywhere in our home.

Even the little wall mounted coach lights have mirrored reflectors to double their luminescent efficiency.

Another feature we built into our ecology home is sloping tiled floors throughout that make cleaning a breeze where water naturally flows out.

5 Our seldom used ceiling fans are all equipped with silicon controlled rectifier controls that optimize their efficiency at all speed settings.

6 Within our cool “gruta” downstairs home natural light is reflected off of large wall mounted mirrors that also enhance our view of the jungle garden beyond our screened in patio room. This is where in our hammocks we spend warm afternoons reading until our books become too heavy and then we tranquilly snooze.

7 Nearly all year many pleasant tropical evenings are spent in my computerized office with the doors and windows wide open to capitalize on the delightful garden fresh air before going off to enjoy our hydro therapy Jacuzzi prior to turning in.

8 In the downstairs cool “gruta” wife Jane in her active office produces computer miracles with her multitasking abilities.

9 Viewed from our cool shaded hammock equipped screened in patio room our jungle garden flourishes in natural composted soil where wild birds and butterflies freely fly.

10 The dry season sees the foliage thin while nature adjusts to drop seeds waiting for rain.

11 When the rain arrives the vibrant foliage exuberantly springs into harmonious action.

12 Seasons are all part of the natural cycle of life that makes our secluded sanctuary special.

13 Looking in from our lovely cool screened in patio where we sling our hammocks you can easily see the natural illumination flooding in from the tall chimney in our super solar dehydrator room.

14 Enter our canopy jungle garden where pleasant shade abounds from our towering tropical fruit trees. Everything in the garden was started from seed and only nourished by natural composted soil using no chemicals or insecticides.

15 Amazingly our ecology home sanctuary and canopy jungle garden are well within the city where plentiful public transport is twenty meters from our front door and we are in the heart of Mérida’s “restaurant row” one block away on the famous Paseo de Montéjo.

16

17 Not a day goes by without harvesting fresh fruit, vegetables and herbs from the insecticide free jungle garden that is now self-perpetuating.

18 This is our upstairs looking in from the screened in patio to the living room and kitchen beyond. Designed to capitalize on temperature differentials to either heat or cool the fifteen foot, five meter high vaulted ceiling is equipped with easy to open and close louvered windows that are the key to this process. When the French doors in the foreground with their one-way mirrored glass are opened in conjunction with the upper louvered windows the natural air flow is so intense it feels like you are in the prop wash of an airplane ready to take off. This incredible air flow is natural without using any fans. The process is exactly like a hot air balloon that hoists its load aloft.

In the cooled times of the year we reverse the process closing the upper windows and French doors. Then we extract heat from our super solar dehydrator room below through the door you can see where the natural light is brightly beaming in. That warm air is then trapped here to take full advantage of nature.

All of this thermo siphoning is accomplished merely by the opening and closing of the proper windows and doors.

19 A sanctuary of serenity and relaxation on our upstairs screened in patio that overlooks our jungle garden is equipped with the essentials to optimize priceless moments. While wild birds and butterflies find a home in the garden we have the requisites to capitalize on this unique ambiance. Seated at our dinning table or rocking in our rocking chairs or just reposing in one of our many hammocks makes our many options heavenly.

20 Looking out from our upstairs screened in patio this is the tranquil view we take pleasure in. It is incredibly easy to totally forget that you are in a major city and not far off in a remote jungle while taking in the serene tropical rain forest below. We are serenaded by a cacophony of wild avian confabulations and blessed by the sweet essences of tropical flower scented sea breezes.

21 Our upstairs patio takes advantage of the salubrious tropical climate where the French doors are open most of the year. Here you have a view of the entrance to our bedroom and walk-in closet. The closet is illuminated and ventilated by its own dome topped chimney, making it the driest place in Mérida. Another feature we were happy to incorporate into our ecology home is the partially covered side patio you can see through the door at center. Besides one of the six bathrooms in our home we also have a clothes line where we have the option of hanging things out in the sun or even drying them under cover in case of rain. From this little patio we have a built in ladder that leads to the rooftop. At the peak of the roof you can see the cathedral in the city center five and a half kilometers away to the south. Also incorporated into this little patio is an opening railing where the built in pivotal boom crane makes it very convenient to bring in or take out large objects such as a refrigerator.

22 Looking out to the patio from the bedroom and viewed through our vanity mirror that runs the entire width of the room you will see more hammocks and the dinning table beyond. We have capacity to swing twenty-five hammocks on our premises. They can be furled and unfurled in seconds, used as seats, recliners, loungers and of course beds.

Another interesting feature we incorporated into our ecology home is that all of the ceramic floors are inclined all the way out to the end of the patio where we have scuppers to discharge wash water that naturally goes down hill and ultimately waters our garden.

This room has a high vaulted ceiling exactly like the one in the living room

23 Here you have another example of how light and bright our ecology home is where the natural reflected sunshine is dispersed gently and evenly throughout. If you observe the ceiling you will see one of the several domed and vented chimneys that not only keep the air exchanged without the use of fans but illuminates with no electricity. Along the far west wall you are looking at are located two bathrooms, a walk in closet and book shelves. Each one of these areas has its own domed and vented chimney plus the outside wall is painted gray to absorb the afternoon sun. The net effect of this is bright very dry rooms with natural air exchange and plenty of ultra-violet to insure fresh no-mold storage even in the wettest of seasons.

24 Looking the other way from the same spot as the last photo you have a view of the living room from another prospective. The light in these bright rooms is all reflected and gently gives our home an easygoing ambiance. French doors leading both from the living room and bedroom out to the patio are equipped with, (reflect-a-sol) mirrored plate glass that allow a nice view of the patio and garden but also give a measure of privacy within when closed.

We employ lots of mirrors in our home that make it much brighter and also provide a spacious open sensation. Even the china cabinet you can see on the extreme right is lined with mirrors along with all of the small light fixtures.

25 Here the (reflect-a-sol) mirrored plate glass in the French patio doors is evident on the left looking back into our living room in the opposite direction of the last photo.

26 Natural air cools and natural light floods our home and amazingly our electric bill is one seventh as much as our friends with a conventional house half our size.

27 Apart from our main garden we have another sanctuary isolated and independent containing a microcosm garden and guest house where we luxuriate in our Jacuzzi with hydro-therapy with cool well water in summer. This is one of our favorite features of our ecology friendly home and on occasion we may indulge in the Jacuzzi half dozen times a day. After an exhilarating bicycle ride or just before bed time this is pampered treatment at it’s finest.

The guest house in this little sanctuary is the coolest location on the entire premises because of the thermo siphon heat exchange coupled with dense foliage shrouding the upstairs patio garden where we frequently swing in our hammocks. The roof top shade is provided by a variety of vines that reach up from the garden below and cover a trellis that forms walls and ceiling above the roof. The beauty of this is that the flowering vines change color with the seasons and in the cooler part of the year I merely trim them back to let the sun beam in and heat the house along with our solar hot water heater.

28 This light bright room with its doomed chimney above and mirrored walls incorporates a pleasant view of the jungle garden from our hydro therapy Jacuzzi. The ultra violet light you see beaming down into the Jacuzzi is entering one of the domed vented roof top chimneys.

29 By night our hydro therapy Jacuzzi gives yet another view. Using numerous small wall lamps you can see in the photo with reflector mirrors and a dimmer control we enjoy romantic times viewing our garden with its subdued luminescence. Notice the large louvered window that opens in three different parts to naturally optimize air flow.

30 Ascending to our roof-top getaway sanctuary garden is like stepping beyond the jungle and into a haven of refuge. Mornings here are like solitude supreme only with all the amenities of civilization at our fingertips. Evenings here begin with year round spectacular sunsets and are followed by celestial gazing with gentle onshore sea breezes.

The density of foliage nearly conceals the stair leading to the roof top garden and above it you will notice the lush mass of pink flowered vines that gives soothing shade. Shortly the season of vibrant blue morning glories will change our roof-top getaway sanctuary garden…a natural process that is ongoing.

31 In the springtime before the pink coral vines you see above enshroud the rooftop we employ a roll-out canopy to give us shade when we desire it.

By July the vines have enshrouded the rooftop trellis and the canopy is no longer needed.

Wife Jane has collected eight different types of indigenous climbing vines that flower in various seasonal colors to keep our roof-top getaway sanctuary garden decorated. All of these climbing vines are planted in the ground below so they can benefit from the water we recycle from our Jacuzzi. In the dry season it sustains them.

33 This is a real jungle. Looking down from our roof-top getaway sanctuary garden you can see through the dense foliage our palapa roof to the right and the main house beyond.

34 Above our guest house a second roof of brightly flowered vines casts a heavenly shadow down upon our remote jungle sanctuary where we have our morning tea and read. Many times we linger here to have morning coffee while listening to audio books or just enjoying each others company while listening to the wild birds singing.

35 Here you get a good look at the density of foliage enshrouding our garden that is the product of natural composting and no chemicals.

Another plus we enjoy as a result of our seasonal vine covered roof top is cool showers in summer and warm in winter. We have not ignited our water heater in years thanks to these lovely flowering vines we trim back in winter making our home environmentally friendly. Ascending from our roof top garden the view of tropical lushness is astounding. The bright pink coral vine or San Diego in Spanish you see in the foreground is indigenous and flourishes seasonally rebounding in summer and fall. Wife Jane has planted eight different kinds of vines that are native to Yucatan and each has its own distinctive season and color. Soon the brilliant Dutch blue morning glories will appear. We have three different colored varieties of morning glories. The different climbing vines naturally come and go with the seasons.

Our ecological designed home didn’t just fall out of the sky.

This is not for everybody.

Link to Ecology Friendly Jungle Garden Sanctuary

Runs on Fat

 

It is curious that with the advent of the automobile and the airplane, the bicycle is still with us.  Perhaps people like the world they can see from a bike, or the air they breathe when they're out on a bike.  Or they like the bicycle's simplicity and the precision with which it is made.  Or because they like the feeling of being able to hurtle through air one minute, and saunter through a park the next, without leaving behind clouds of choking exhaust, without leaving behind so much as a footstep.   Gurdon S. Leete

Finally the book for traveling adventures who want to see more than just trinket shops and crowded tourist traps has arrived.

Just launched — our new book, Yucatán’s Magic – Mérida Side Trips: Treasures of Mayab

–Built one stone at a time like the Mayan pyramids–

Over a quarter of a century of inspired exploration and recording of our travels in captioned photo stories has led my wife and me to compile an impressive collection of outings that are the foundation for this book, built one story at a time.

We present the best of the best after over twenty-five years; places, excursions, and outings. Each place we have visited we liked for different reasons; tranquility, history, view of village life, and connect with the Maya past and present, change of scenery and a look at a uniquely distinctive region.

Available at amazon.com for Kindle and in paperback.

To download an EPUB e-book edition, click here.

ECO TIENDA & CAFÉ YA’AXTAL

ECO TIENDA & CAFÉ YA’AXTAL is a newly opened ecological everything store on Prolongación de Montejo (Calle 30, No. 9) between 23 and 25 in Col. Buena Vista on the west side across from Blockbusters.  This is also a coffee shop with hot and cold food plus snacks.

Featuring ecologically friendly organic foods, cleaners, coffees, vegetable seeds, snacks and even locally produced compost. They are bicycle friendly.

 Clean, neat, nice, new and friendly…check them out!

www.yaaxtal.com 

Tel. 999-926-4989

Hours: Monday - Friday: 9am to 3pm and 5pm to 8pm

Saturday open 9am to 3 pm

DRAG AND DROP COMPOSTING:

Simple, quick, effective and low cost.
Here you see one of our three compost bins that we recently moved to begin a new cycle. Adjacent is the previous location and one of seven bags of compost generated.
Here another compost bin is beginning to fill as green material begins its transition.
Resting but working this full compost bin is soon adorned by jungle vines that actually help hold in moisture, an essential part of the process. If the contents are continually moist the break down of organic material is greatly accelerated. Add water as often as needed to keep the material moist but not soggy (like a wrung-out sponge). Don’t pack materials too tight as air is essential.

The compost is ready to use when you can no longer recognize the original ingredients.

To harvest:
Pry off the compost basket ring and place it in your next location. Remove all of the material that isn’t fully composted and place it in the new location to begin the cycle again. We like to bag and dry some of the composted material for later use and the rest is put directly on the plants that need it most.
A note; to discourage rodents we never place kitchen scraps containing animal grease, bones or flesh…this is kept in the freezer until garbage pick up day.
We do however dispose of almost all paper and light cardboard that we have torn in to strips or small pieces.
Only small green branches break down well. Sticks make a tangled mess and should be avoided.

We can expect a yield of six to eight bushels of compost in about three months.

Materials and dimensions: Each compost ring is 1.1 meters, 44 inches in diameter and .85 meters, 34 inches tall. (The materials available may dictate your ultimate size.)
The top and bottom stiffener rings are of ¼ inch mild steel rod. The mesh is what ever is available. We used ¾ inch galvanized chicken wire.
For the vertical stiffeners, we used ½ inch PVC plastic pipe. Again sticks or whatever you can get will work. We tied the compost bin together with soft 16 gauge wire. Use whatever you can recycle…string or whatever to tie it together. The rewards of this economical environmentally friendly approach to recycling will soon be apparent when you see first hand the end result…a happy garden that benefited from drag and drop composting.

A website with more advice on composting: Compost Made Easy

More tips from Compost Made Easy:

Good Compost Ingredients:
Leaves and other dead plant material
Fruit and vegetable trimmings
Herbicide-free grass clippings
Manure from horses, cattle, goats, poultry and rabbits
Paper or cardboard, torn into strips or hand-sized pieces
Do NOT Add:
Meat scraps
Very fatty, sugary or salty foods
Chips or sawdust from treated wood
Clippings from herbicide-treated lawns
Manure from omnivorous animals (dogs, cats, humans, etc.)

For more on Eco Living Yucatan, click here for our web page.

Ecological Concept House

Our ecological concept house didn't just fall out of the sky!
For more details and more information check out our new webpage: http://www.bicycleyucatan.com/ecologyconcepthouse.html

Ecology Friendly

First the contrast;
Some people are color blind, no amount of explaining will ever get them to see red.

Still others are garbage blind and likewise no amount of explaining will ever get them to see trash.

The ecologically blind are a hopeless lot that are entirely incapable of living in harmony with nature. These are the PPP or ecology enemies that pave it, pollute it and poison it.
The PPP are often times found to be smokers that drive black gas guzzlers.

As George Bernard Shaw so aptly put it; “an art gallery is a dull place for a blind man.”
Being ecology friendly is not for everybody, but for those that embrace this kind of unpolluted untainted world the reward is incalculable.