Settling in to Cell Block 7

With so many changes, it feels good to get everything  put into place and feel like home.  Although its starting to feel like our home, we still miss all our family, friends, and routine that we were used to.

Even in our short time here we’ve had to adapt to the ways of life here in Cozumel.  We thought we’d share one of these today…………Laundry.

I asked our very kind neighbor Carina about doing laundry since we don’t have any facilities in the apartment.  She said the laundry place is around the corner.  I was expecting to see what we’re accustom to seeing in the usual laundry mats in Iowa.  NOPE!  Here is the Lavandería….

No washing machine, no dryer, no vending machines with detergent.  Instead.  a nice lady at the front counter, and a very large hanging scale.
At around 12:30 I meandered about a block to the blue house Carina had described……twice….I forgot the towels.  In total, I had 2 baskets of laundry and a bunch of towels.  After chatting a bit, she had me dump all our laundry into a large basket and she weighed it.  It was 35 pesos per kilo.  I forgot the total, but it was around $5.00 USD.

“Come back after 6:00 today” she said.  Very weird!  Are they just gonna dump the clean clothes in to my baskets when I return?  WHO KNOWS!  Are they gonna look at my underwear?????  SO WEIRD!

NO to the first question, sadly YES to the second.

At 6:00 I returned, gave her my name and she plopped down a huge plastic wrapped pack of our clothes.  AND THEY WERE ALL FOLDED!

 

Ok.  This is super cool!  For just a few bucks someone washes, dries, AND folds your clothes!  The only weird part is that they fold the clothes to fit into the bag, so things are kinda folded weird.  But TRUST ME,….I can live with that!

 

 

We also finally took some pictures of the our neighborhood.  We live in a 3 story apartment building.  It has some parking for a few cars.

We can get some really nice breeze and great views from the roof of the 3rd floor apartment.  You can see for quite a ways since the island is pretty flat.  Right next door is the airport.  The tower is the tallest thing on the island most of the time.  “Most of the time” you wonder???   Yep,  its the tallest thing on the island until the cruse ships arrive.  They are huge and stand above everything else.  You can see it in the background here…

 

And some views all the way around our apartment roof….

 

Also a little store across the street for all kinds of stuff you might need.   If you think there are a lot of Casey’s Gas stations, or Walgreens on every corner, there are WAY more of these little stores.  THEY ARE EVERYWHERE!  Its really nice because you don’t have to drive anywhere, just right down the block and you buy a coke for 15 pesos.

 

This little store and the guy who sells bread we call the “Pan Man” who drives by everyday on his tricycle clapping to let you know he’s in the neighborhood have come in very handy!   We had problems getting taxi’s lately so we feel a little stuck. Especially since we don’t have a car.  Its starting to feel a little bit like prison.   Maybe its the frequent rain, or the all cement construction, or the iron bars on all gates and windows, and doors????   But I can’t wait to get a car and escape Cell Block 7!

 

 

 

Blog Credits: Author- Johnathan Paxton;  Photography- Johnathan Paxton