Where the Sun Shines Bright and the Wind Blows Free

This summer we traveled by train from Amsterdam to Berlin, to Prague and Vienna, then back to Frankfurt, Germany.

Everywhere we went, there were solar panels on houses, barns, apartments, and businesses. There were wind mills everywhere. I mean they were just ubiquitous.

Why can't we in the USA use this CLEAN,ABUNDANT source of natural fuel? Especially here in TEXAS, where the sun shines bright and the wind blows free. It makes sense!

Where Are the Bees?

May 4, 2007

Today, as I sit sipping my cup of tea, looking out the window at the green lushness - after all this rain - that is our organic, pesticide-free, herbicide-free, backyard , I see our cliff covered with blooming white star jasmine (trachelospermum jasminoides) framed by the red-orange blossoms of our pomegranate (punica granatum) bushes So lovely.

Then, I get one of those prickly feelings on the back of my neck. Such a lovely scene, but something is wrong. I open the door and walk close to the abundance of jasmine blooms. The musky scent is lovely - not as intense as prior years. Did the rain have something to do with that?

Then I notice: nothing is moving. I stare at the jasmine blossoms. I concentrate, looking for a sign of movement. Finally, about 2 feet above my head, I see a blossom move. A small yellow jacket comes into view. A little higher up, I notice a short, fat, dark insect land on a blossom. A bee? No, a huge horse fly. I walk around a bushy crepe myrtle (lagerstroemia indica), not yet blooming, hoping to see bees feasting on all this abundant jasmine and pomegranate pollen. A small moth dangles from a jasmine blossom. That's it. Three flying insects in a large yard filled with beautiful, scented, pollen-laden blossoms.

I look at the eaves overhanging our back door - for decades the Springtime homes of dirt-dobbler wasps and paper wasps. No homes, no wasp activity.

I have been reading about the honey bee die-off. Colony collapse disorder (CCD), it's called. I have read that CCD is affecting not only honey-bees, but wasps and Bumble bees; not only all across the USA, but in Canada, Europe, and South America, as well. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, about one-third of the human diet comes from insect-pollinated plants, and the honeybee is responsible for 80 percent of that pollination.

I am alarmed. If you are seeing bees in your yard, I would like to know about it. Kind of a neighborhood bee watch.

Here are some websites if you would like more information about the honey bee die-off.

http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2007/05/03/bees_ani.html?category=animals&guid=20070503103030&dcitc=w19-502-ak-0000

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=UTF8&ned=us&q=honey+bee+die+off

Vadalia's Response to Alberta Phillips' Feb. 26, 2007, Austin American Statesman Editorial Supporting Gov. Perry's Plan to Vaccinate Girls Against HPV

February 26, 2007

Dear Ms. Phillips:

You make some excellent points in favor of helping to improve women's health. However, there are several reasons why not only social conservatives, but we bleeding heart liberals, are opposed to Perry's order to vaccinate all 11-12 year-old Texas girls using Merck's new HPV vaccine.

The long-term may prove that Perry is absolutely correct, and that the benefits of the state providing this vaccine to all our "girls" outweigh anything negative. However, Perry absolutely gets a failing grade for the way he went about making his decision and presenting his "order." On Perry's report card, we can write, without compunction, "Perry did not work well with others."

Based on the 2006 elections when Perry was elected with support of only 39% of Texas voters, we can surmise that the majority of Texas voters do not believe that Perry has a mandate to be a "decider." If anything, the 2006 elections prove that the voting public want less "deciding" and more "participating." We are no longer willing to put our lives and the lives of our children and our grandchildren in the hands of "deciders."

Perry should have respected Texas' legislative leaders enough to discuss this issue with them. He should have been consulting with the medical community. He should have been talking with educators, and, especially, with women leaders. He should have been talking up the HPV problem with the media, encouraging them to help him get information about this virus, and its prevention, out to the public. Perry could have built a broad web of support and enthusiasm for this project. We all know why we need flu vaccine, tetanus vaccine, and polio vaccine. Who of us, prior to Perry's order, had heard of, or knew why we needed, this vaccine? Because we did not know why we needed this vaccine, legislators, political committee heads, the medical community, and those of us who are news-hounds, and yes, even Perry supporters, were broadsided by Perry's directive.

2006 elections show that voters don't trust politicians. We don't trust our government, either state or federal, the way our parents did - or even as we did prior to 9/11. A lot of us Texas voters do not trust Perry, or his motives. The entire HPV vaccine issue has the appearance of Perry's "jumping in bed" with Merck. The question going around is, "How does Perry benefit from this deal?" In fact, the tip of the iceberg jumped out of the water when the Associated Press writer, Liz Austin Peterson, reported on February 21, 2007, "A calendar for (Perry's) chief of staff Dierdre Delisi obtained under Texas' open records laws shows she met with the governor's budget director and three members of his office for an "HPV Vaccine for Children Briefing" on Oct. 16. That same day, Merck & Co.'s political action committee donated $5,000 to Perry and a total of $5,000 to eight state lawmakers."

After "thinking long and hard," Perry is hyper-concerned about women's health. In the meantime, according to the chair of the Texas Healthcare Trustees, Harold D. Samuels, in an Austin American-Statesman article December 20, 2006, "While there is much Texans can be proud of, we also lead the nation in the percentage of our residents who lack basic health care coverage. There are 5.6 million uninsured Texans, a statistic that is staggering, sobering and definitely not something to brag about." Might Texans ask, "Why the concern about the one, and not the other?"

Then there is the vaccine itself. We don't yet trust it. Why should we? The HPV vaccine, which was approved by the FDA in June, 2006, has no long-term history. Too many of us remember Thalidomide, prescribed in the 1950's for pregnant women's morning sickness, resulting in the birth of thousands of deformed babies. We remember Diethylstilbestrol (DES), a hormonal drug prescribed to women between 1940 and 1971 to prevent miscarriages, causing some of their daughters to develop cervical cancer.

Some Americans don't trust the FDA because, increasingly, this agency is seen as too political and too quick to approve medications based on cherry-picked research results. Recent examples are the antibiotic Ketek, approved by the FDA in 2004 to treat sinus and upper respiratory infections. Ketek, 2 years later, after 4 confirmed deaths and links to liver failure in a dozen patients, has been relabeled with a side-effect warning of sudden liver failure and EVEN death, for use as a back-up drug, only, for "community-acquired pneumonia."

Another recent investigation of the ADHD drugs, universally prescribed for our children to prevent "hyperactivity disorder," including Adderall, Concerta, Dexedrine, Ritalin, and Strattera, produced a warning that they can cause serious heart problems, psychotic behavior, and SUDDEN death. How many of our children have been stuffed with these pills for years?

Then there is the $13.5 million verdict against Merck, maker of the pain medication Vioxx, which was approved by the FDA in May 1999, and which was widely prescribed until September 2004, when the trail of heart attacks and strokes could no longer be ignored.

A quick Google search shows other drugs, with serious side effects, which are currently being investigated are Accutane, Bextra, Celebrex, Celexa, Cytotec, Femara, Fosamax, Ortho Evra, Paxil, Prozac, Seroquel and Trasylol. Do we dare trust a new, unproven HPV vaccine to be injected into our young children, for a virus to which they may never be exposed?

Then, there is this question: why vaccinate girls only? I think it is safe to say that it's mostly boys who are infecting girls with HPV. In some instances, boys are also infecting boys, so why not vaccinate boys instead, or boys also? Why just girls?

Finally, many of us would not dream of buying a car (or a computer, a TV, a camera, a stove, etc.) without doing thorough research to make sure it's the right product for us. Personally, I will not "pop a pill" without researching all the possible side-effects and interactions to determine whether I'd rather live with the symptoms I have, rather than the side-effects I might have. Why would I allow my child to be injected on the say-so of a man with no medical training, and no sign that he ever talked to the medical community about this? Why the rush to "git-HER-done!" (pun intended)

If the Governor had brought the legislators on board, respected the citizens, consulted the medical community, worked with the media - in other words, "worked well with others," more Texans might be delighted that the HPV vaccine was going to be provided, and there might be a ground-swell of enthusiasm with (to paraphrase your first paragraph): "Parents and state leaders standing and cheering Gov. Rick Perry for making a bold decision regarding girls' health. Instead the Republican governor is catching all kinds of hell..."

Follow up 29 August 2008: http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/08/29/blaming-the-media-for-gardasil-hype/

Rockin' and Rollin' in Hawaii on October 15, 2006

Honolulu, Hawaii Oct 16, 2006

We were rockin' and rollin' yesterday morning while visiting our children and grandgirls at their new home in Ewa Beach. A 6.7-magnitude earthquake* off the Kona Coast of the Big Island of Hawai'i at 7:07 a.m. Oct. 15, 2006, was the most powerful seismic event in the United States last year, and one of largest in the world, according to U.S. Geological Survey data.

This earthquake was noisy – a noise that sounded like a huge dog scratching vigorously on our door. We were awakened by that noise, and by our bed jumping and shaking – a more hearty version of those "magic fingers" massages found in motels in the 50's and 60's. Seven minutes later another jolt, of 6.0 magnitude, shook me out of bed. Hubby, who was already outside, said he knew I had a hard time waking up, but this took the cake. I replied that I was awake, but figured if we had a tsunami, I’d rather be on the 2^nd floor.

Only one radio station was working, and the DJ was just as confused as we were. I called my son in Austin, TX, and asked him to turn on the news and tell us what the heck was going on. Lots of other folks were making similar calls, then calling the DJ who put out the callers’ messages over the airwaves.

We knew our electricity (in an all-electric house) was off. Son in Austin said CNN said electricity was off on the entire island of Oahu.

All six of us decided we were hungry, so we piled into a car and found a KOA Pancake House http://hawaii.kulshan.com/Hawaii/Honolulu_County/Ohau_Island/Waipahu/Restaurants/Koa_Pancake_House.htm with a gas grill. No coffee or soft drinks (needed electricity) but we enjoyed great pancakes and eggs in the darkened dining room. We beat the crowd. When we left, the line of customers was winding down the street.

As we drove home, stopping to try to buy ice at every convenience store or market that was open (99% of businesses were closed), we decided those late eaters must have been out buying all the ice on our side of the island – ‘cause we didn’t find any.

Later we learned that Oahu’s electric grid, having no other grid, or contiguous state grid to draw electricity from in an emergency, had been programmed to shut down all stations whenever one station shut down in an emergency. Because an emergency had never shut down a station before, they weren’t quite sure of the sequence needed to bring them back on line without blowing a transformer or something. It took all day, until 8 pm to bring the stations back on line.

About 8:30, after a lazy day of non-electricity-using swimming and reading and playing with the dog, we ventured out to an Aiea area restaurant, The Dixie Grill, http://www.dixiegrill.com/ to wait in a long line of other hungry earthquake experiencers, who were all pretty much in a party-mood, which the Dixie Grill promoted by bringing us complimentary drinks.

Thinking back, all during the past week, we have had "vog," (volcanic smog) blanketing the islands. The trade winds have not been blowing as they usually do. Also, we have had an extraordinary amount of rain falling on this, the leeward, side of the island, which is normally arid. The weather people say there is no connection, but, who knows???

This was my second earthquake. The first was in an office building in downtown San Francisco in the late 1970s, sitting in a meeting. Suddenly I felt really dizzy. I looked up. The chandeliers were swaying. It was over in a second.

Even though the October 15^th earthquake was pretty strong, causing major structural damage on the Big Island, including the historic Kalahikiola Congregational Church,

http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2007/Apr/04/ln/FP704040407.html

I haven’t learned of any deaths directly related to the earthquake. Having the “earth move under your feet” may be fine when you are in love, but I would rather not have this type of movement again.

*There were only four other earthquakes in the United States that measured between 6.0 and 6.9 magnitude in 2006, all of them in Alaska's Aleutian Islands. http://earthquake.usgs.gov/

Tribute to My High School English Teacher, Annie Pearl Long Crockett

Mrs. Annie Pearl Long Crockett, 95 years of age, a native of Marshall, TX and a long time resident of the Eastern Shore, died Wednesday, April 19, 2006 at a local health care facility.

Mrs. Crockett was a graduate of Livingston State Teacher College and taught 32 years in public education in Alabama including Sumter County, Choctaw County, Alexander City and State School for the Deaf and Blind.

Mrs. Annie Pearl Long Crockett was my English teacher during my sophomore, junior and senior years at Benjamin Russell High School in Alexander City, Alabama. Mrs. Crockett was, without a doubt, the most difficult, most demanding teacher I have ever had. Every day in her class was a challenge. Every night meant preparing for the next day’s English class. No student wanted to go into Mrs. Crockett’s class unprepared. One steely glance from her eyes could send shivers down the spine of any student. We used silent prayer not to be called on when we were unprepared. God usually ignored us.

During the years since graduating in 1964, I have thought of Mrs. Crockett often. I have spent my life in careers requiring professional communication skills. Knowledge of English grammar, literature, research and writing taught to me by Mrs. Crockett, has been the foundation of my working life.

Back in the 1960’s, however, when I struggled to learn Chaucer in “Olde English,” or to type my research papers on a Remington portable typewriter, I must confess that I was not too happy with Mrs. Crockett’s requirements for excellence. As a teenager I could not imagine what possible use I would ever have for memorizing Chaucer in Olde English. However, I still can recite it; and more than once, I have amazed young English majors who seem never to have had to memorize anything. As for typing those research papers: no typing errors on any page! No erasures! There was no “wite-out” back then, either. Even if there were, Mrs. Crockett would not have allowed its use.

Mrs. Crockett was a stickler for proper research. We used Warriner’s English Grammar and Composition: Complete Course, the resource I continue to use today.

After choosing a research-paper topic from Mrs. Crockett’s list, we sought her approval for our outline. All our research had to be recorded on 3 X 5 cards, and properly documented, under the appropriate outline topic. Then all those cards had to be bundled and turned in for approval before we could proceed with the actual writing. Mrs. Crockett read every one of those cards! More often than not, my outline and my cards, were marked with red ink – suggestions, commands, really - for additional, or more in-depth, research. Then came the laborious writing and typing of the paper. Every quote had to be documented. Every non-original idea had to be attributed. Every source had to be listed in the bibliography.

I remember once laboring over the typing of a paper for Mrs. Crockett. In my tiredness, my trashcan was filling up with wadded-up typing paper, each containing one typing error. Long after my bedtime had passed, tired and stressed, I was still typing away. Finally, I was on the last page, the last paragraph, the last footnote. I hit the wrong typewriter key! Maybe I can erase and she won’t notice. Ha! Better type the final page again. Another try, another page – finally that page and my paper were ready for Mrs. Crockett’s scrutiny. I have that paper still: “CHRISTIANITY, BUDDHISM AND CONFUCISM: A Comparison and Contrast.” When Mrs. Crockett marked an “A” on that paper, I knew I had earned it. And, I knew that I knew how to write a research paper.

I still have many of the papers I wrote for Mrs. Crockett. One paper that I wrote, about the death of my grandfather, entitled “Pa,” Mrs. Crockett asked if she could keep. Heady with Mrs. Crockett’s hard-earned praise for my paper, I agreed. It seems strange in today’s age of instant communication, with copies from printers, copiers, emails and faxes flying back and forth, to think there was only one copy of that paper. I often have wished I could reread that paper; however, it has been a point of personal pride to me that Mrs. Crockett wanted to keep it.

As for English grammar, we parsed, we diagrammed, we memorized, we practiced over and over the rules of usage. We practiced so much, that, to this day, hearing incorrect grammar is like hearing the screech of nails on a blackboard.

Mrs. Crockett has been a life-long source of inspiration to so many of her students. To others, she remains a source of deep-seated dislike and disdain. She asked too much. She interfered in our personal lives. Once she came into the hall where students congregated between classes. She walked up to me and my "steady" and announced, "You are standing too close. Move apart." We did.

Mrs. Crockett let her students know that she expected us to succeed – not just in her classroom, but in life. She forced us to work hard; and when we succeeded in her classroom, we knew we had earned it. She instilled in us the desire for excellence.

Mrs. Annie Pearl Long Crockett was the best teacher that I have ever had. For that, I thank her and I praise her.

Europe 2003: I think this Sagittarius horoscope I have taped to my computer says it all: "There is no known antidote to the travel bug..." *

Hubby and I, and Son and Daughter-in-law, went to England and Europe, Dec 15, 2003 to Jan 1, 2004

We had a fab time in London - except Hubby got the flu, and spent a couple of days in the hotel watching TV. I doctored him with Chinese herbs and England’s version of TheraFlu. We stayed in this funky hotel (old converted house at 153 Sussex Gardens, near Paddington Station) called Hotel Adare, in which our bedroom floor creaked every time we walked. No quick, silent trips to the loo in the middle of the night for us. Sussex Gardens reminds me of EastEnders (my favorite TV soap that has been taken off the air by BBCA, even though it is the number-one rated show in Great Britain) with a couple of pubs, a couple of fruit and veg, a laundry, a fish and chip shop, a cafe and a central square. There are hundreds of old converted townhouse hotels in the area, and most of the hotel workers are Eastern Europeans who know nothing about London, or even the areas around the hotels. They are nice and friendly, however.

I bought some Ahmad English Breakfast Tea No. 1 - my FAVORITE, in London, but have already used it up. Once we got out of England, we did not encounter any real tea and I had to use my stash to get my tea fix, morning, noon and night.

We saw the Lion King and Tonight's the Night (Rod Stewart musical) on stage in London. We spent one day at the Tower of London, and all day and night (on winter solstice) in Windsor, Bath, and at Stonehenge. I think that was my favorite day. We ate at the George Inn at Norton St. Philip http://www.thegeorgeinn-nsp.co.uk/ which is 700 years old. Saw lots of countryside and blue skies and fluffy clouds (and sheep.) Finally got to the British Museum and the Tate Modern. The Queen was out of town, so we didn’t get to visit.

There were hundreds of thousands of people in the streets of London. It looked like Shanghai, with the crush of people shopping for Christmas. Trafalgar Square had a huge Christmas tree and choirs singing. One day Hubby and I were riding on the top of a double-decker bus. We were stopped on Oxford Street in the mass of traffic. Out of the corner of my right eye, I noticed a motion on the bus stopped beside us. It was Son and Daughter-in-law waving to us! I got a photo. What are the odds of that happening?

We took Eurostar to Brussels. Anything we asked the Brussels INFORMATION BOOTH attendant, she didn't know - like "Where is there an ATM, please?" or "How can we get change to put in the lockers, please?" or “Where can we find a taxi stand, please?” Her answer to everything was, "I don't know that."

After two hours trying to see a bit of Brussels besides the inside of the train station, and failing, we gave up and boarded a train to Trier, Germany - which has a Roman gate - the Black Gate, made of sandstone. Son had used this gate as a location in his last game, Deus Ex II: The Invisible War. The gate is still standing because those crazy Romans bored holes (okay, their slaves bored holes) though the stones and poured in molten metal. The birth of rebar! We loved the town and the friendly people, and the pub, and the beer and the apple wine. Also saw the results of a recent car accident. A guy in a BMW sped around a curve, hit a low wall, flipped and landed upside down in a fountain. Luckily for him, there was no water, or rather ice, in the fountain, and he had airbags all around.

Then, on to Frankfurt am Main. We had a new, non-squeaky hotel in Frankfurt http://www.scala.bestwestern.de/ (staffed by Germans) with feather comforters and the most wonderful breakfast buffet ever. And, we were having a wonderful time, sightseeing, shopping and eating, until everything CLOSED at 4 pm on Christmas Eve.

In Germany, everything is specialized. There were no all-purpose places to buy things - like 7-11's, or the fruit and veg in London. If you want a cough drop, you have to go to a pharmacist (all closed.) I started getting a terrible sore throat in Germany, but the hotel folks kept telling me I couldn't get sick there because medical care was too expensive and I didn't have German health insurance. Before everything CLOSED, I went to a Health Food Store to get herbs, but they can sell only food herbs, not medicinal herbs. Have to go to the pharmacist for that (all closed.) I did find some Lima Brand Rice Cakes that are so crispy and good that I want to start importing them. So, in Frankfurt, even the few businesses that were open - Muslim meat shops, for instance - were of no use to us.

We had spent Christmas Eve in Switzerland, and didn’t find out everything in Germany would be closed until we got back at midnight. We rode the train beside the Rhine River Valley to Lucerne, Interlaken, then took another train to Grindelwald. Once we got back from Grindelwald, we found the last train for Frankfurt had gone. But, the nice man at the train station routed us a different way and got us back to our hotel in time to find everything CLOSED until December 27 (Dec 26 is St. Stephen’s Day – a national holiday.)

After sleeping and watching TV most of Christmas Day, eating the buffet breakfast at the hotel, and having fruit and crackers we had stashed away, for Christmas Dinner, we boarded a train to Lyon. Found out the train had to go through Paris, so we got off there. Spent the night at the Gare d’Est train station hotel, listening to the trains come in all night. Sounded like jet engines beneath us. But the hotel had those huge tall French windows that opened with billowing curtains blowing in the breeze, and a marvelous view of Parisian life ouside. Eurail trains are GREAT to ride – most days, the four of us were the only people in the first-class train cars.

I was continuing to have the worst sore throat I have ever experienced. I had used all my herbs and meds. In Paris, the only Chinese medical shop we could find was closed until Jan, so I decided I had to have a WESTERN doctor. Medicine in France is so NOT EXPENSVE. The doctor charged 70 Euros to come to our hotel and examine me. The four prescriptions he gave me cost 13.70 Euros total. Two of the meds were made by Bristol-Myers Squibb.

Anyway, remind me never to vacation in COLD countries in the winter-time again. Next winter it's either Club Med in the Turks and Caicos, Mexico, or Hawaii for our December-January cedar-pollen escape.

The trip home started with snow in Paris, leading to flight delays. Then, @#$%&*^ passengers in the seats in front of us who insisted on reclining their seats the entire trip. They would not even raise them when they got up to use the loo! Their seats were 5 inches from our faces. Hubby, still recovering from the flu, coughed on them a few times after we had politely asked them to raise their seat backs when they left them, but they wouldn’t. 25 hours later, we arrived in Austin. The cats were overjoyed to see us, insisting on snuggling all night long.

Even though the dollar is extremely weak against the Euro and the Pound right now, Hubby and I have a serious love affair with Paris and London, so we are going back for two weeks in April. “April in Paris. Chestnuts in blossom. Holiday tables under the trees.” In London, we plan to buy more Ahmad tea, go to the National Gallery, visit some book stores and see Dame Judi Dench - a favorite of ours - in All's Well That Ends Well - fifth row center. I hope to go back to the Tate Modern with Hubby because he missed it due to the flu, and I would love to have another look-see, too. I am excited about that and am thinking of hanging out at the stage door to try to get Dame Dench's autograph.

*I think this Sagittarius horoscope I have taped to my computer says it all: "There is no known antidote to the travel bug, so your're dealing with a lifetime affliction. If you're not away from home now, then in the back of your mind, you're planning your next getaway." Is that ME or what!

Aventura Palace on the Riveria Maya, Mexico

We stayed at the all-inclusive resort, Aventura Palace (one of the Moon Palace resorts) on the Mayan Riviera (60 miles south of Cancun), the first week of May, 2000. http://cancun-all-inclusive.com/aventura_palace.html This is billed as adults-only. However, one time-share owner brought his 2 teens and one 40ish couple brought a new baby. Our travel arrangements were through Adventure Tours 1-800-305-5072, www.atusa.com

This was my first time at an all-inclusive. The positive points are: The resort itself is delightful. The setting is beautiful. The buildings and grounds are well-maintained. Our room was clean, clean, clean. The air conditioning, and everything else in the room worked. Our room had a two-person Jacuzzi, satellite TV, hairdryer, data port, in-room safe, AM-FM clock radio, a balcony with a hammock, a refrigerator stocked with all types of alcoholic beverages, soft drinks, and bottled water at no extra charge.

There are three restaurants and a pool snack bar to choose from. There is an on-site water purification plant for all drinking water and ice. The food was very good, including Mexican cuisine (the best guacamole I have ever eaten), Continental cuisine, French pastries, and English afternoon tea. The Bahama Mama and the Midori Freeze drinks were excellent.

There is a free shuttle to the other Palace resorts in the area. (Pay for one, party at all six.) There is a daily listing of resort activities and personnel to help plan side trips. There is varied entertainment nightly. The swimming pools cover a couple of blocks. There is an artificial lagoon, all types of water sports, scuba lessons, volleyball, billiards, foosball, tennis courts, and a gym. Golf courses are nearby.

The spa (fees not included in the inclusive package) provides massages, hair care, nail care and henna tattoos. I highly recommend the masseuse Roberto who "cured" my painful jammed knee and hip joint that, for 6 months, modern medicine had not been able to help. Spa fees are similar to USA rates.

The well-stock resort gift shop had better prices for T-shirts than we paid (after hard bargaining) in Playa del Carmen. There are plenty of sofas and chairs in cool, breezy porticos to take a snooze, chat with friends, enjoy a smoothie, or read a book from the take and share library.

The resort staff went out of its way to make everything pleasant and relaxing for the guests; in fact, the staff was the friendliest I have ever encountered. The resort provides employment for locals, and others from Mexico who otherwise might not have jobs.

The negatives are: It's kind of like being at Disney World or Las Vegas. You know its not real and there is not much of Mexican culture. One could be anywhere really. Phone calls to the USA - $84.15 for 14 minutes - are tremendously expense. (This was a collect call using the international operator.) The only other complaint I had (and this is such a nit that you can see I really had nothing to complain about) is that the blankets on the beds are too thick and heavy. I just took mine off and used the bedspread instead.

On a broader, and long-term, scale, I am concerned about the fresh water issue in the Yucatan. There is little surface water. Rainwater is stored in underground aquifers. There are thousands of hotel rooms in the area, and more being developed all the time - many with those two-person Jacuzzis that use a tremendous amount of water. I hope someone is planning the conservation of the water supply.

Would I go back? Yes!