Escape to Mexico

My family and I have just returned from a two month break away from Malaysia. Most of the time was spent in or around Playa del Carmen, Mexico. Yes, it is very commercialised but there is a lot to do if you want to get away from the shoppers and drinking crowd.

We visited Merida, which was culturally delightful but apparently feels like an oven during the summer. During the evenings the climate was perfect, meaning that we needed light sweaters but were just as comfortable without. The beach at Progresso was … ok but crowded as it was Valentine’s Day when we visited. I got a nasty shock when I was pulled over by the police and breathalysed. This was the first time in my life and happened after two marguerites. They must have been weaker than I thought!

The main reason for mentioning Mexico was not to mention its beautiful beaches, blue seas and even bluer skies, gorgeous food or …  It was to give myself an excuse for not writing anything here for such a long time.

Well-travelled book

Perhaps sadder than the need for an excuse, is my lack of book writing over the past two months. It was not for the want of trying. We lugged two versions of the Kimberley Process and the latest version of the farm book all the way to the UK and then, much to my wife’s horror, onto Mexico. The idea was to spend the evenings checking the editing notes I had been given. Needless to say that did not happen and all three volumes were dutifully repacked and dragged, first back to the UK and then onto Malaysia. So far as my wife and daughter were concerned the loss of 3kg baggage allowance was an outrage.

Our arrival back in Malaysia was met with heavy smog, which has not abated in the past few weeks. On some days it reaches unhealthy on the Malaysian air quality scale, which is widely discredited as it does not show the dangerous 2.5 particulates. We brought back our own air monitor and on days the official scale shows moderate, we register up to 3 times the WHO safe level. There is not much we can do, except stay indoors and write.

Every cloud of poisonous smog has a silver lining?

And it has made us ever more determined to spend more time in Mexico.

Update

We did return and got stuck in Mexico during COVID for 2 years! We managed to get back to the UK but have returned several times since.

If you want to learn about our latest exploits in Mexico, go to www.wonkycompass.com