It is freezing cold outside, and the yelping coyotes out on the cranberry bog just woke me up, so I thought I would get out of bed and write something. Something warm.
Upon arrival to Playa Norte (North Beach) -- think white sand, eighty degrees in Febrero, palm trees and Windex-color water -- and after the Welcome Back To The Island hugs, we asked Davido, our beach chair rental amigo, how was his familia. He replied that his wife Minerva was very ill, and that the tests alone cost 1500 pesos. His English is not so good. Our Spanish is worse, but somehow we communicate. At the end of that winter vacation, Tom & Eileen &Sandy and I decided, as a propina, to pay for Minerva's medical tests. It only cost us $75 per couple to solve his grande financial problem. One that would have taken him 25 days or 300 hours to pay back.
Minerva recovered, and we never did figure out what she recovered from. The following year Sandy got sick on Isla Mujeres. Really sick. It was the first time in 46 years of traveling to Mexico that she took ill. Our amiga at the Hotel Cabanas, Clara, was alarmed at seeing Sandy finally seated outside on the piazza, especially with intravenous attached to her arm. She sat down next to her and told her every thing would be OK. And it was. Enrique from the restaurant at Zazil-Ha made her his special chicken soup. Mexican people there are so sweet.
Yesterday we received the health insurance reimbursement check from Blue Cross. It took nearly a year, with special help from Clara, but we got it. In the explanation of reimbursement it mentioned that our nurse, Eric, who came to our hotel room 16 times in three days, was paid the equivalent of $7.40 per visit. Doesn't sound like much, does it? On Isla it is muy bien. The average Mexican for 12 hours of work makes $6.00 per day. That is not a misprint. $6.00 per day, and that has not changed in the 26 years that we have been vacationing on the island of women.
So I guess we should all count our blessings, shouldn't we?
Feliz Navidad.
I am glad to be your friend,
Roberto Francisco Tocino
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