Last Week in Mexico

Last week we did the unthinkable. We took a vacation from our vacation. The idea evolved as a way to celebrate my 68th birthday on November 28th. A friend mentioned about this place in Cuyutlan on the Pacific Ocean near Manzanillo, where she had just stayed with a friend for 3 days. They loved the place, and the owner was only asking 550 pesos a night which translates to about $44. What a deal! Who could resist?  The man who owned it also ran a B and B establishment in nearby Ajijic and since like so many of these expats he failed to answer his emails (due to too much free time sprawled around some swimming pool, or having way too much fun at some restaurant/bar with the other expats) we decided to drop by in person and book our own little holiday on the beach. Steve, the owner, turned out to be a youngish (meaning anything under 68) Irish fellow of casual and likeable countenance, who took our deposit and then emailed us the directions to our own little casita in the sun and surf.

As you can see, it was a small unit, but perfectly outfitted with comfortable bed, complete kitchen, sitting area, satellite TV and best of all things, a very nice lap pool. Since the climate on the coast is considerably hotter and more humid than where we are on the lake, the pool was a wonderful way to stay cool during the day. The unit also came air conditioned which we (especially Molly) really appreciated at night.

The unit sat directly on the beach with its own access through the security fence. In true Mexican fashion, this security fence was cleverly constructed of ordinary white plastic sewer pipe, set into a low stone wall and filled with concrete...it made us secure, but at the same time left us some view of the palms just outside, and the beach beyond.

From here we watched local men throwing nets into the surf for fish, and later we saw sharks cruising through the same surf along the same beach doing the exact same thing for the exact same reasons. Thankfully none of them intersected at the same time.

The village of Cuyutlan was well positioned from which to visit several beautiful sights on the Costa Allegre. Just 30 minutes away on the free road, was the large port city of Manzanillo, not only a major commercial centre but also the location of many very high end hotels perched on a huge vertical rock at the northern end of the crescent beach. The most famous is probably Las Hades, the pure white structures forming the backdrop for the movie "Ten" with Dudley Moore and, oh yes! Bo Derek!! Now how could anyone forget her!!!

Although I liked Manzanillo, the small town girl in me wanted to go further up the coast to check out the smaller spots I knew were favoured by western Canadians for their winter playground. As we entered Melaque I knew I was in the right place when I saw every other license plate was either from Alberta or BC. Then even better, and just 5 km away around the bay, was the charming village of Barra de Navidad...so far my ultimate spot for a Mexican beach experience.

I think Barra would meet anyone's expectations of what a Mexican beach village ought to look like. And for me, the absence of any large resort hotels just enhanced that positive first impression.

The three day holiday went by in a happy blur of self indulgence, between the lap pool, sea food restaurants, a few explorative road trips and a lot of sitting and gazing at the ocean.

On the way home, as usual there were a lot of interesting sights on the cuota (toll road) to keep us alert and amused, like this.... Bimbo is a national Mexican brand of bread, by the way...

And this. Unfortunately, there are limits to my ability to capture roadside sights as they flash by but here is a portion of a load of equipment for a Mexican circus..

And under every overpass, a colourful collection of fruit stalls..

Vast panoramas of jungle and coconut plantations...

Odd things sharing the road with us....

And even a steam-venting volcano or two...

It all made for an easy 2 hour climb home, from beach to lake, from the lush, green humid tropics, to the cooler but arid central plateau, from zero elevation to 5300 feet. Mexico has the most diverse environment of any place in North America and this was just one small slice of it. I hope you enjoyed the trip..

Casa Maintenance Pt. 2

There were several maintenance items on the list and we have made progress on some of them. It is unusual in Mexico to get 100% done in the first go around. Jose Luis finished clearing the brush along the driveway on Wednesday. He did a good job of that which was expected. Jose Luis is always very thorough in his work. He always does the job better that we asked for.

At the same time Jose was working on the brush, we had Antonio arrange for a tractor to come on Monday and do some work on the driveway. Much of the fine material had been washed down to the bottom of the driveway or into the ditch on the uphill side. He pushed it back up and cleaned out the ditch at the same time.

Here the Tractor is pulling material out of the ditch.

And scraping the top surface and pushing the excess up the hill.

The operator spent about 5 hours working and here is the result looking down the driveway from the curve at the top.

And looking up at the curve.

It's a lot smoother now, and should do fine for the rest of the dry season.

Another of the job's we had set aside for Antonio was to rehabilitate the steps at the front of the house. These steps lead off the front terrace down onto the grassy area at the front. They were made from rough stone and the treads were covered with just a thin coat of mortar. We wanted to make the finished treads out of flagstone which is plentiful and inexpensive down here. Antonio suggested that we extend the bottom step to create a landing so you don't just step off into the grass. Here is a photo of what we started with:

Antonio started by chipping off the mortar treads with his pick and then he dug out the area in front of the step where he was going to build the landing. He set up guidelines tied to pieces of rebar to level and define the shape. Many Mexicans use the old fashioned water level method using clear plastic tubing filled with water to set levels. They are able to level a wall for dozens of feet to within a 1/16 of an inch. It uses no batteries, and is cheap.   Using some left over rock from building the walls several years ago, he built the base of the landing following his lines.

Here is Antonio mixing a quantity of mortar on the ground.

Below is the finished landing. While he let the landing set up he proceded to put the new flagstone on the top two steps.

The next day he started to laydown the flagstone on the landing leveling as he went and then filled in the middle part.

 We have decided the leave the natural stone on the risers as it complements the flagstone. Around the outside perimeter of the landing we had Antonio apply 4 inch mexican tiles to give it some color. Below is the finished product.

Since we still had some left over tile mortar and grout, we also had Antonio tile under the little gate through the stone wall into the back garden area. This was just plain cement before.

Things are coming along, we still have a few small tasks left to do and Antonio should be finished this week.

Thats all for now so until later,

Rick

Catching Up

Where has the time gone?  Not just the time either. What day is it? No kidding. This Mexican life style has a very negative effect on my normal mental capacity. Days flow into other days. The present tense overcomes my usual structured approach to life. I think these are some of the benefits of spending winters in Mexico. It takes awhile to sink into it, but once there everything assumes a rosy relaxed glow.

What have I done?  Not much. At least I don't remember much. I remember puttering around a lot, a few trips into "town", eating a lot of fish tacos at our favourite Mexican fast food place, doing a lot of paperwork for new visa, and planning out various small projects for our pocket-sized garden. I am seriously trying to get more into my serious reading, but have only touched the surface of that. Everyday life just keeps intruding. So if my blog is a little disjointed, it is because I am a little disjointed.

The process of renewing my Mexican visa has been somewhat interesting. I had until the 13th of November to renew. Meanwhile, the Calderón outgoing government had made substantial changes to the whole Mexican immigration system with a whole new set of laws and structures, and guess when they were to be implemented?  On the 9th of November of course. This gave me the most awful choice of either applying under the old set of laws, or under the new, untested, and completely incomprehensible new laws. Under the advice of a local facilitator, I chose to go the old route and was immediately advised to get my renewal in ASAP as the local office was cutting off the date early. My renewal went in, was accepted, and I got the receipt. All I needed to do next was wait to be notified to go pick up my new visa. However, chaos now reigned in the local expat community as rumours abounded. Apparently, the local Immigration office was so swamped with renewals that it ran out of forms. Later information claimed it wasn't the forms, just the paper they had run out of.  As with all crises in Mexico, the key is to remain calm at all times and wait for the dust to settle. So I am. If the stars are in alignment, I will soon get my new visa. If not, well.....it will be something else instead. This IS Mexico after all, where all is possible, one way or another.

Since the above adventure required several trips to Chapala, the main administrative centre for our area, we took some time to enjoy the trip back and forth along the north shore.

Some people think the north shore is like the French or Italian Riviera. I personally feel this to be an enhanced image, but it is quite pleasant with the villages snuggled up against the mountains, and a lovely southerly view of Mount Garcia across the lake. The trip, although a mere 15 miles or so, takes almost an hour as we pass through several traditional Mexican villages along the way. The expat housing is easily recognized, as they do like gated communities, but they also live in the villages, or in walled villas along the lakeside.

In all it is usually a pleasant trip, except for passing through the madness that is Ajijic. This village is considered the crown jewel of all the villages and the centre of expat settlement. It is the home to many retired artists and writers, and sports frequently unexpected and quirky finds.

 Colourful painted Mexican casas and casitas, lush flowering trees and vines spilling over the walls, identify this as a quaint and special place.

However, it is over-run with expats and visitors, traffic clogs the tiny streets, and for out of town locals such as us, a general pain in the neck to get through on the way to Chapala.

Just past Ajijic, a major by-pass forks off from the road along the lake. At this major intersection, an American style development recently added a Walmart, a reasonable sized strip mall and in behind a Pemex gas station, hidden completely away from the hurly burly, the best fish taco place outside of Baja.  We always somehow manage to be there right at lunch time. Amazing how that seems to work out (wink wink).

In any case, it is only $1.60 for a fish taco and a mere ten cents more for a shrimp taco (indescribably delicious).

The lady who runs the place speaks fluent and rapid English and the atmosphere is mixed between Mexican and expat clientele. The restaurant itself is an open air palapa, or thatched shelter...a true dining experience!

On the way home, we take our usual "back-road route" from the town of Jocotepec, along the historic Camino Real (The Royal Road) that passes through the agricultural fields to our pueblo of San Martin Obispo. The handwritten sign on the next photo says "Camino Real a San Martin".

Today, expats blithely drive out this cobbled track to buy fresh raspberries, unknowing of the historic significance of its birth by the arriving Spaniards in the early 1500s.

When we leave the Camino Real we follow a dirt track along the base of the mountain towards our property. From a slight rise we can see the edge of our lot. It extends from the tree at the top of the hill (marked by a red arrow) downwards to the track.

Everything we do here has its own rhythm, and there is a joy in the smallest of things. We have a laundry inside the casita (or little house) with modern washer and dryer, but I never use the dryer. We had a friend living in the house who couldn't manage (or even imagine managing) without a dryer so we installed one for her. But I hang my clothes to dry across the terrace. I confess it is a Canadian thing. I know that Americans are horrified at the mere thought of clothes on a clothes line but with apologies to our American family, I just don't get that. The British countries love clothes lines, and love hanging clothes out. We love the smell, we love the sight, we just love it. In New Zealand, there is nothing prettier than a Monday wash day in Auckland with strings of white sheets flapping in the breeze across the hills. In Australia, same thing. In Canada, my own mother showed us by example, the art of hanging out clothes. For an art it is. The longest to dry are rolled out first, heavy jeans and jackets and such like. And the quickest to dry are hung out last. Because one clothes line is usually not enough for the entire wash, then the order of the washing is somewhat dictated by the same principle. Even in winter, my mother hung out the clothes...jeans froze into solid panels, but after a suitable time were taken in and thawed and much to my amazement, were completely dry. In Mexico this is what my clothes line looks like....

Well I apologize to the readers for writing a "lot about nothing", but really this is life here. It is a very simple affair. Hopefully before the next blog, we will have some form of Mexican crisis to brighten up the story.

Barbara

Casa Maintenance

Things are still quite busy down here which is funny when you think that we come down to relax. Yesterday, Jose Luis arrived to do some cleanup work for us. He is a local man that owns a small plot of family land just down the road from us on which he raises a few cows. He is an albanil (mason) by trade and he along with his two brothers were the masons that built our house under supervision of a builder. He lives in town, but rides his bike out to his land to tend his animals as his father did before him. Jose Luis and his nephew built the stone walls for us that are shown in the photo's below. Jose Louis did all the wall building while Alehandro made the mortar from cement, lime, and sand and keeping his uncle well supplied. 

Nov 2009

Here is a view showing some of the new walls and planting beds before they were filled with soil. This photo was taken in January with the grass all browned out. It is in the middle of the dry season and it was a construction site. Not good for grass.

Jan 2010

And the photo below taken the next year, with things filled in a bit with new plants. This photo was taken looking the reverse direction and was shot in October when things are still green from the summer rains. 

Oct 2011

After the heavy rains over the summer the brush grows up along the edges of the driveway and we have Jose Luis clear it back about 3-4 ft on each side. The driveway is about 500 feet long so it will take him several days to do it. Jose Luis speaks no english so we communicate with sign language and a dictionary. If things get real tricky, we have a friend we can call and translate for us.

Nov 2012

In the photo to the left, Jose has cleared on the outside of the curve from the drive way edge back up to the tree line.   

Here is the remainder of the hill where the work has yet to be done. Along the right edge of the driveway all the way down is a drainage ditch which needs to have the brush cleaned out of it.

Nov 2012

In addition to that cleanup job, we are having another local man, Antonio, come out to do some work on the house for us. Antonio is an electrician/plumber by trade but can do just about anything. He speaks reasonably good english and did the electrical and plumbing in the house when it was originally built. He has many contacts in town and can arrange to get anything done, if he can't do it himself. The driveway surface needs some repair work after the summer rains and Antonio will arrange for a tractor to come out and smooth the surface and if needed, several truckloads of gravel mix added to fill the ruts. 

Nov 2012

Antonio is also going to refinish some rough concrete and stone steps at the front of the house with flagstone. The cement surface on the steps will be chipped off and then new flagstone cut and put on the top in a mosaic pattern. There wil be colorful tile on the risers. We will also add a semicircle landing in front of the bottom step.

Antonio also knows a bit about gardening and will help Barbara with some gardening projects. The vine in the photo below is planted in the ground and last winter it had not reached the upper terrace railing yet. Over the summer, with all the rain it has engulfed the railing and has run for about 30 feet along the terrace. It is now in need of some serious pruning and we know Antonio is familiar with this vine and knows it growth habit and therefore know how much he can whack it back with out killing it. I suspect though that it would be impossible to kill at this point short of digging it out of the ground.

Nov 2012

Antonio lived in LA until he was about 16 and helped at his uncle's landscaping business at the time. Like I said, he is a jack of all trades. He is very reliable. Several times in the past I have had to wire him money via Western Union for emergency repairs and he sends photo's before and after on email showing what he has done. Antonio lives in the local town of Jocotepec with his wife and young son. Two years ago we were invited to his sons first birthday party which was more like a block party as it was held in the street in front of his house. There were many people there (all relatives no doubt) along with a handful of gringos with whom he had worked for in the past and had remained friends with. 

As Antonio gets started, I will take before and after photos to send along.

Rick 

First week in Mexico.

We have been at our property at Lake Chapala for a week now doing the usual things when setting up house again after an absence. Re-inventoring housewares, from brooms to garbage bags and making lists of what needs to be replaced or supplemented.  Trips to the grocery store to restock the kitchen shelves. Last Sunday we made a major shopping trip to the "Mega Store" and Costco on the outskirts of Guadalajara to get some food in the house. The Mega store is a chain of large supermarkets similar to a WalMart Supercenter in the the US except the grocery section takes up about half the store, with housewares, clothing and pharmacy occupying the remainder. One difference though is the Mega store has a full service meat department with 2 or 3 butchers on duty and a full seafood section with a variety of fresh seafood and shrimp on ice to choose from and a full bakery department.

Sunny Skies

Overlaying all this activity has been a power outage lasting for a day and a half and iffy weather. It seems the summer wet season is not quite over yet. In fact it has lasted about a month past the normal end to the wet season which should be around the end of September. We have had sone nice days as evidenced by the photo to the right. But then there have some bad days such as last Sunday night when we had the thunder and lightening storm that took out the power and gave us bucketfuls of rain. Then there is yesterday and today. Yesterday it was grey and murky all day but the temps managed to get up to 22c or 74f. That was ok even if we didn't see the sun all day.

This morning there was this:

Grey Skies over Jocotepec

Notice the wet tile on the mirror and the threatening black skies? We had rain last night for several hours and it has continued to rain off and on all day. This is not the Mexico we signed up for! The weather map shows a "System" moving onshore from the Pacific and it should pass within the next day or two. We shall survive with and an endless teapot, nice mexican coffee and the Satellite TV we shall be comfortable.

Rick