We checked out of Hotel Lopez on Saturday morning and grabbed a quick breakfast at 'Old McDonalds' before starting the drive back to Mérida. We had an afternoon appointment to meet up with our friends from EducaTE for another shoot, so we wanted to make it back in time to pack up equipment and charge batteries.
On our way back, as we were about to re-enter Mérida, we came to yet another police checkpoint, but upon seeing our children the guard waved us through. But further on, another guard's newspaper had blown all over the road and he was trying to collect the pages. We drove past as we were directed and some of his pages blew under the car. Apparently, this irritated the second guard, because he called us back to question us and look in our trunk. The first guard caught up to us, pointed to the children, and must have told him to lighten up a bit, because they waved us on our way without further incident. After four visits to Mexico and more than three weeks into our trip, we had managed to be stopped three times in three days.
We got back to the house and organized the equipment for the shoot, then the kids swam while we took a breather. About 45 minutes before Cherie was to pick us up for the shoot, the electrical power to the bedrooms went out. I checked the circuit breakers repeatedly, but the power remained out. We had to contact the property manager, who sent an electrician over to correct the problem, but clearly it was going to take a while. Jenn and Lukas had to stay behind at the house, while Emma came with me and Cherie to the shoot across town.
A large part of what EducaTE Yucatan does is help provide uniforms for students that are unable to afford them. Today, we were going to get some video shots of the students buying shoes at the market with the help of the educaTE program. There were fifteen children plus their parents, along with Aliza, who was overseeing the purchase. Emma was able to play with Aliza's daughters again, as well as a couple of other girls from an earlier shoot.
The shoot was pretty straight forward stuff, no big deal, but when I needed to take a group photo, most of the kids were camera shy. They stood there stone-faced with scarcely a smile among them. Cherie had to pretend to hit me over the head with the tripod in order to get a few giggles out of them.
After the shoe store, we headed to an ice cream parlor to tape some interview lines with Aliza, so she could explain her involvement with the EducaTE breakfast program. The noise level was pretty challenging there as well, especially when a street musician wandered in playing a flute. We had to ask him to come back later so we could wrap up.
With the shoot out of the way, we picked up Greenwood, Jennifer, and Lukas (the electric was finally fixed) and went out for casual Mex food at Tacos Arabe. Delicious tacos, made all the more tasty drizzled with an unusual garlic sauce. Couldn't get enough! And another excuse for the kids to sip Jamaica tea. We dined outdoors on the patio, and across the street, some folks were getting ready for a party, blasting standards by Michael Buble and Rod Stewart. Oh yeah, and Shakira. Where did that fit in? Maybe there was an intergenerational battle for control of the DJ booth.
So that's it. A nice night out with our new friends after a hectic day. 'Nuff said.
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