We have a dear friend whose brother owns a bed and breakfast in Tlaquepaque, an "old town" section of Guadalajara. We always take visitors there because he has a beautiful atrium filled with tiny monkeys, marmosets, to be specific. They are not more than 8 inches tall, with sideburns that stick out... Some of them are in cages either because they are blind, or because they have a tendency to pee on people, but most of them are just loose, climbing in the trees, and going in and out of the rooms. They never run away, because monkeys are not stupid, and they know they will get fed every day if they stick around, with an occasional marshmallow as a treat.
Those of you who know me at all, know I have a passion for monkeys, and have always talked (half jokingly) about getting one. I know all the reasons why this is a bad idea: monkeys smell, some get aggressive as they hit puberty, they bite, and in the US they are illegal to own. And yes, I have seen the killer monkey episode of "Dirty Jobs". Here in Mexico, you are "not supposed" to own them. More of a suggestion, like a one-way street sign....
Anyways, last week we went to visit the monkeys with Walt's sister Margaret and her husband Dan. The monkeys have never come too close to us before, but this time they crawled all over me. The babies were sure that my bracelet was good to eat, and they wanted to crawl into my purse. So I asked the young man who had just fed them, if they would sell one or two. He thought maybe, but said I'd need to ask the owner.
Yes, I did smell like monkey all day, and yes, one of them did get a little enthusiastic in tasting my shoulder. Still, my question is, is this possibly the dream of a lifetime, or just a very bad idea? I already know what Eddie would say....
Monday, October 22, 2007
Saturday, September 8, 2007
Getting electricity to the work place
We have mentioned several times the creative way electricity is obtained for the work place in Mexico. We have seen the techniques used in Thailand as well, clearly an international standard exists. We thought we would let you see how it is done. We tried not to get too close. (Survival Camp starts to look like an CAL-OSHA training facility.)
If you are at a construction site and there is no power? Easy, the first photo shows how you connect bare wires into your neighbor's junction box. The neighbors place will be too far away, so you will have to have extensions. Also easy. The second picture shows how - just twist the bare wire ends together to make the cord the length you need. Ok, so now you have power in the construction site. Well, you may need to have a splitter, to direct your power to various places. Very easy. A piece of wood with two nails and the wires twisted around them. In this case you want to have the splitter act as a switch, so just disconnect one of the wires, like the white one in the third photo. The black wires leave the "splitter" and go to an extension cord. Oh wait, the extension cord isn't long enough to reach to the splitter. Again, an easy task. Just remove the plug and twist the bare wires together again as shown in the fourth photo. The fifth photo shows that it is, in fact, an extension cord. Orange for safety. And speaking of safety, be careful not to overload your new set-up...nothing more than a light bulb.... guess again... Viva la México!
You can see all of this for yourself in the attached photos. Do not attempt this at home.
By the way, we have seen welders take bare wire ends and hang them on the public power lines to power their arc welder. We have seen another welder insert two bare wires into the hot contacts of our spa breaker box. That's when we back away slowly, and disconnect the TV for a while. Just in case...
If you are at a construction site and there is no power? Easy, the first photo shows how you connect bare wires into your neighbor's junction box. The neighbors place will be too far away, so you will have to have extensions. Also easy. The second picture shows how - just twist the bare wire ends together to make the cord the length you need. Ok, so now you have power in the construction site. Well, you may need to have a splitter, to direct your power to various places. Very easy. A piece of wood with two nails and the wires twisted around them. In this case you want to have the splitter act as a switch, so just disconnect one of the wires, like the white one in the third photo. The black wires leave the "splitter" and go to an extension cord. Oh wait, the extension cord isn't long enough to reach to the splitter. Again, an easy task. Just remove the plug and twist the bare wires together again as shown in the fourth photo. The fifth photo shows that it is, in fact, an extension cord. Orange for safety. And speaking of safety, be careful not to overload your new set-up...nothing more than a light bulb.... guess again... Viva la México!
You can see all of this for yourself in the attached photos. Do not attempt this at home.
By the way, we have seen welders take bare wire ends and hang them on the public power lines to power their arc welder. We have seen another welder insert two bare wires into the hot contacts of our spa breaker box. That's when we back away slowly, and disconnect the TV for a while. Just in case...
The Arroyo
There is an arroyo next to our house. Most of the time it is just a way for 4 Mexican families to get to their houses; a narrow track of dirt and rocks. Now with the rains we see its real purpose. It is a path for the water in the saturated mountains to flow down to the lake. It comes out of the mountain like a creek, being joined by other water flows, including one very large one from some nearby waterfalls. At the entrance to our development all the arroyos join and pour down next to a church, normally a shortcut to the village. Today anyone using the shortcut will need boots.
For us, on the dry side of the fence, it is charming. It sounds like Rocky Creek, a favorite camping spot of my childhood. It even smells like Rocky Creek did, along the California coast past Carmel.
It can't be all that charming for the four families that live there. I watched their kids play in the torrent in their yards like we used to play in the creek. Kids are always going to be kids. But the mothers are careful not to drop their laundry in the mud when they hang it out. Babies must be carried, the puddles are very deep. Keeping the dirt outside is not possible. If it didn't come in on its own, the dogs would bring it inside. There is no pavement on the arroyo, and as the water rushes down, it carries big rocks and brush with it, making deep trenches. The people who live in those four houses have no other way to get to school or to work - there is only one entrance to the street. The kids wade through the arroyo to get to school. The old cars, radios playing loudly, drive over the rocks and through the water. None of them are four-wheel drive. Sometimes I hear them take a few attempts to get around the narrow curves between walls. One night, someone got stuck. I lay in my dry warm bed listening as over the fence his neighbors came outside to help. At moments like that I feel very gringo.
You can get a glimpse of the arroyo in some of the pictures .
For us, on the dry side of the fence, it is charming. It sounds like Rocky Creek, a favorite camping spot of my childhood. It even smells like Rocky Creek did, along the California coast past Carmel.
It can't be all that charming for the four families that live there. I watched their kids play in the torrent in their yards like we used to play in the creek. Kids are always going to be kids. But the mothers are careful not to drop their laundry in the mud when they hang it out. Babies must be carried, the puddles are very deep. Keeping the dirt outside is not possible. If it didn't come in on its own, the dogs would bring it inside. There is no pavement on the arroyo, and as the water rushes down, it carries big rocks and brush with it, making deep trenches. The people who live in those four houses have no other way to get to school or to work - there is only one entrance to the street. The kids wade through the arroyo to get to school. The old cars, radios playing loudly, drive over the rocks and through the water. None of them are four-wheel drive. Sometimes I hear them take a few attempts to get around the narrow curves between walls. One night, someone got stuck. I lay in my dry warm bed listening as over the fence his neighbors came outside to help. At moments like that I feel very gringo.
You can get a glimpse of the arroyo in some of the pictures .
Wednesday, September 5, 2007
Exploring with Eric
We had the fortune of having Eric and Kirsty visit us over Labor Day weekend. Kirsty was here for almost three days and Eric for almost five. Since Kirsty primarily wanted to check the place out for her wedding next year (September 27, 2008), we didn't spend much time exploring areas that we had not been to yet. However, her assessment was an emphatic "Yes" that our garden and the local area will be perfect for the wedding. And we found the most delicious cake for the wedding, and also had an open house, so our friends could meet the kids. (Nancy believes it to be the first party she has ever thrown for adults) We still have some work being done in the house, and will post pictures when it is all done. But the painters have finished, and we are totally impressed with their talents - we miss them already!
We took advantage of Eric being here a bit longer to explore some other areas and were pleasantly surprised by what we found. After dropping Kirsty off at the airport dad and Eric decided to hike up to a shrine in the mountains behind our house that has a fantastic view of the lake. Ten minutes walking distance from our house is the trail head to some local waterfalls but not to the shrine. It had rained most of the night before, and the road leading to the trail head for the falls was actually a river pouring all the way past the highway. We thought a water main had broken. But Eric and dad found out that it actually was that the waterfalls had overflowed. We took photos of the river running down the road and then the waterfalls. In these pictures you can see the "road river" and the three waterfalls we got to see. The climb up the trail from the trail head is only about half hour and not a very strenuous climb at all. The only problem was that the water crossed the path several times and it became tricky trying to "stone-step" across. Dad gave up first and just started wading through the water. The waterfalls are so close to our house and it is a very beautiful hike up to them. Now that the rain season is approaching its' end, you can see how sparkly blue the sky is becoming again.
Then the next day we decided to see what it was like on the other side of the lake. From our terrace it always reminds us of Kauai, our favorite family vacation spot and "almost" retirement spot. So we drove over to the other side and found, as we drove down the highway, it reminded us even more of Kauai. Now we have seen some of the other villages first hand. You can see a church from our terrace and in one of the pictures, you can see part of the church. We didn't actually go all that far around, the lake is much bigger than it seems. Plus we were hungry, and had a craving for real Angus hamburgers and rock and roll music, so we headed to "60's In Paradise" in Ajijic. As we continue our explorations of this incredible area we will keep you posted.
We took advantage of Eric being here a bit longer to explore some other areas and were pleasantly surprised by what we found. After dropping Kirsty off at the airport dad and Eric decided to hike up to a shrine in the mountains behind our house that has a fantastic view of the lake. Ten minutes walking distance from our house is the trail head to some local waterfalls but not to the shrine. It had rained most of the night before, and the road leading to the trail head for the falls was actually a river pouring all the way past the highway. We thought a water main had broken. But Eric and dad found out that it actually was that the waterfalls had overflowed. We took photos of the river running down the road and then the waterfalls. In these pictures you can see the "road river" and the three waterfalls we got to see. The climb up the trail from the trail head is only about half hour and not a very strenuous climb at all. The only problem was that the water crossed the path several times and it became tricky trying to "stone-step" across. Dad gave up first and just started wading through the water. The waterfalls are so close to our house and it is a very beautiful hike up to them. Now that the rain season is approaching its' end, you can see how sparkly blue the sky is becoming again.
Then the next day we decided to see what it was like on the other side of the lake. From our terrace it always reminds us of Kauai, our favorite family vacation spot and "almost" retirement spot. So we drove over to the other side and found, as we drove down the highway, it reminded us even more of Kauai. Now we have seen some of the other villages first hand. You can see a church from our terrace and in one of the pictures, you can see part of the church. We didn't actually go all that far around, the lake is much bigger than it seems. Plus we were hungry, and had a craving for real Angus hamburgers and rock and roll music, so we headed to "60's In Paradise" in Ajijic. As we continue our explorations of this incredible area we will keep you posted.
Monday, August 6, 2007
Other insights into Mexico
Hola nuestros amigos. ¿Cómo están? Hacemos muy bien. La vida es mejor cada día. Nuestra casa está más a más como queremos. El trabajo será completo en una semana menos los gabinetes. El concreto está completo, el escritorio de Nancy está completo y media del cuartos son completo con pintura. Hablamos con los trabajadores sólo en español. Nuestro español está mejor poco a poco cada día.
Ok, back to English. This posting is a continuation of some our first hand impressions of Mexico.
One of the things we knew we would need is a "village car". Our Ford F-150 pickup is a real challenge to negotiate down extremely narrow cobblestone streets. Several times we have had to back up to get out of a tricky situation. So we've transfered the money, and it is in transit (yet another slow process) and checked out the local (and only) used car dealer. We would have gone earlier, but they were closed for a week's vacation. (Can you imagine a used car dealer shutting down to go on vacation? However, that is typical this time of year because it is the low season , so what better time than now?) He'll help us find the right little car, with good air conditioning and good suspension. Those are the priorities.
Since we can't be weaned from our US television shows, we have Dishnet. To get the standard network channels, we had to go through a somewhat "underground" fellow that has us registered with a New York address, so we are watching news from the Big Apple. We have a whole lot of channels, and we can watch Law and Order or CSI anytime of the day or night. We get a lot of movie channels that we didn't want, and don't pay for (because we didnt want them) However, one down side: every time a rain storm moves into the area we lose our signal . Luckily we brought our personal video store with us. And the rainy season will be over next month.
As most of you know, we are getting our house painted. The painter speaks excellent English because he lived in Santa Cruz for ten years. He learned painting in the Bay Area. Some of his clients included Joe Montana and Ronnie Lott. We are honored to have Joe's and Ronnie's painter painting our house. We are having many of the rooms painted with a special "faux finish" and his crew are real artists at this. (No, it is not like Trading Spaces) It is a wonderful thing to paint the house to make the art look good, especially since a lot of our art was done by the kids. So the walls now highlight the paintings and photographs we have hung there, as well as some cool architectural features. The process of adding wiring and preparing the walls for painting is very interesting, not to mention messy. The outside walls are about 14 inches thick, brick and concrete, and the inside walls are almost a foot thick, also of brick and concrete. So to run a wire for new lights you simply carve a trench in the concrete, place in the new wire and then cover with concrete to match the original. Some of the pictures show this process for lights we are adding in our bathroom.
I mentioned that we have had a number of severe lightening, thunder and rain storms but mostly at night. Well, yesterday when returning from our Spanish class at 5:00 pm, a hailstorm hit for about twenty minutes. We have never seen anything like it. Since our roofs are flat, the water runs out of spouts that dump water over the yard and the lawns. Yesterday this included hailstones dumping out on the lawn, so Walt made a "snowman". There is a picture of the snowman in the attached photo album.
As part of our Spanish class we have to ask local Mexicans questions so that we learn to listen and to speak to native speakers. One of the questions dealt with discipline and whether they spank their children in Mexico. Walt asked our maid the question since she is a mom and ought to know. She replied of course they do. I said that in the US you aren't allowed to any more. Her immediate response was, "Well, you will only end up with bad children". No, really????
We love it here.....
Ok, back to English. This posting is a continuation of some our first hand impressions of Mexico.
One of the things we knew we would need is a "village car". Our Ford F-150 pickup is a real challenge to negotiate down extremely narrow cobblestone streets. Several times we have had to back up to get out of a tricky situation. So we've transfered the money, and it is in transit (yet another slow process) and checked out the local (and only) used car dealer. We would have gone earlier, but they were closed for a week's vacation. (Can you imagine a used car dealer shutting down to go on vacation? However, that is typical this time of year because it is the low season , so what better time than now?) He'll help us find the right little car, with good air conditioning and good suspension. Those are the priorities.
Since we can't be weaned from our US television shows, we have Dishnet. To get the standard network channels, we had to go through a somewhat "underground" fellow that has us registered with a New York address, so we are watching news from the Big Apple. We have a whole lot of channels, and we can watch Law and Order or CSI anytime of the day or night. We get a lot of movie channels that we didn't want, and don't pay for (because we didnt want them) However, one down side: every time a rain storm moves into the area we lose our signal . Luckily we brought our personal video store with us. And the rainy season will be over next month.
As most of you know, we are getting our house painted. The painter speaks excellent English because he lived in Santa Cruz for ten years. He learned painting in the Bay Area. Some of his clients included Joe Montana and Ronnie Lott. We are honored to have Joe's and Ronnie's painter painting our house. We are having many of the rooms painted with a special "faux finish" and his crew are real artists at this. (No, it is not like Trading Spaces) It is a wonderful thing to paint the house to make the art look good, especially since a lot of our art was done by the kids. So the walls now highlight the paintings and photographs we have hung there, as well as some cool architectural features. The process of adding wiring and preparing the walls for painting is very interesting, not to mention messy. The outside walls are about 14 inches thick, brick and concrete, and the inside walls are almost a foot thick, also of brick and concrete. So to run a wire for new lights you simply carve a trench in the concrete, place in the new wire and then cover with concrete to match the original. Some of the pictures show this process for lights we are adding in our bathroom.
I mentioned that we have had a number of severe lightening, thunder and rain storms but mostly at night. Well, yesterday when returning from our Spanish class at 5:00 pm, a hailstorm hit for about twenty minutes. We have never seen anything like it. Since our roofs are flat, the water runs out of spouts that dump water over the yard and the lawns. Yesterday this included hailstones dumping out on the lawn, so Walt made a "snowman". There is a picture of the snowman in the attached photo album.
As part of our Spanish class we have to ask local Mexicans questions so that we learn to listen and to speak to native speakers. One of the questions dealt with discipline and whether they spank their children in Mexico. Walt asked our maid the question since she is a mom and ought to know. She replied of course they do. I said that in the US you aren't allowed to any more. Her immediate response was, "Well, you will only end up with bad children". No, really????
We love it here.....
Saturday, July 28, 2007
Learning to live in Mexico
We have been here for two months now, and have learned a lot of the ropes of living here. Mind you, we are sure there will be many more lessons to be learned, but we thought we would chronicle them as we come across them.
One of the first lessons we learned was patience when dealing with people who you want to hire for various projects. Innumerable times we have heard that we would be called "tomorrow" or that someone would come to give an estimate, and several weeks later it may happen, or in one case it never did happen. This particular instance had us laughing. We wanted some wrought iron curtain rods, and went to a local fellow who was having a grand opening of a new shop. Let's call him R. R took Nancy's phone number and said he would call the next day. We heard nothing for a week. So Nancy called, and made an appointment for R to come out on "Monday at 3:15". He never came. We went to his store and spoke with him again. He wrote down what we were looking for , and the measurements, and said he would call the next day to give a price. He asked Nancy for her phone number. Nancy spotted her number on a list on his desk and said, "Use that number right there". So he laughed, and said he would, and we have not heard from him yet! The next day we went to a local ironworks and ordered the rods, and got them in two days. Probably the same place R would have gone to.
We had new awnings made to shield both sun and wind on our terrace. After taking measurements, the lady called to make sure she had the right phone number. So we asked when she would be coming up to install. She said, "next week". Four weeks later they came up and installed them! No phone call, they were just suddenly there. (the awnings are beautiful, tho)
Mind you, not all contractors are time-challenged like that. But we are learning that either no one comes, or everyone comes at the same time. Friday we had painters, concrete layers, the maid, and our friends the Almanzas, all at once!
There are a couple of things of note. The craftsmanship is absolutely of top quality. Many of the trades that you can get here are no longer available in the US or only at a very high cost. Because many of the conveniences available in the US are not available here, the craftsmen have talents that are essentially lost, or too costly in the US. For example, painters that can mix paint by eye and match precisely what you are looking for without the aid of a computerized machine. Or how about highly skilled masons and bricklayers, who mix their own cement, cut the stones to size or make a domed ceiling of brick? We have noticed that each trade is typical of many years ago in the US, where you have the master, the journeyman and the apprentice. For example, we had a concrete terrace installed and the apprentice graded the area with a shovel, the journeyman laid the concrete, using a cement mixer, and the master put in the stone steps and gave early morning instructions. It definitely is like the 1950's, and we love it.
Also when you have contractors come in, they give you an estimate and then request a deposit that essentially covers purchase of any materials. Then, they WILL NOT take final payment until the job is complete and you are satisfied. Since this is a cash society, you give them their payment in pesos and invariably they never count it, trusting that you gave the correct amount. They work 8:30 to 5:30 Monday through Friday and then 8:30 until 2:00 pm on Saturday. They are very hard working and very considerate. We are very happy with the work that has been done so far.
The painters finally arrived this last week and have begun cleaning up the walls and painting. The prepping of the walls is messy and time consuming, as they scrape, and dig out and fill any areas they think are not up to par. (Our walls are not sheet rock, they are brick and concrete) These guys are real artists, and our challenge is to keep up with their suggestions for colors. They can view a color, put a large sample on the wall to give you an idea of what it will look like all over. They don't mind doing it over and over. In one case they have given us six samples on the wall for us to decide. Oh, and when we say sample, we mean a swatch about six or more feet wide and ceiling to floor. It isn't just a little chip on the wall. So you can get a good handle on whether you can live with what you thought you wanted. But now we have to decide, and it definitely is not easy. Many of the final decisions we will leave with them because they are true "maestros".
Speaking of a cash society, we enjoy it because our visa account is generally around zero and there never are any checks outstanding to forget about when checking your bank account. The only problem is leaving the house with sufficient cash. Today we went to Walmart and we thought we had plenty of money with us, but when we got to the case register we realized we had barely enough. And it is the rare store that takes credit cards.
Now for the major thing we learned. Utility bills, electric and telephone, are your your responsibility to pay, whether you get the bill or not. Typically the bill is delivered to your house, or in our case, to the front gate. If you don't get your bill on time and are late in paying, they cut your power or telephone off without notice. No grace period. And it will usually cost you a penalty to get it turned back on. Last week we received our first electric bill on a Tuesday, and the power was turned off two days later, and it took five days and many phone calls by different people to get it turned back on. It turns out, when we received the bill, it was already overdue. But we didn't know that. And they didn't care. Now we know that our next bill "should" be here mid-August. Whether we see it or not, we are going down to pay the bill before the end of August. Being without power is not fun!! Oh yeah, you don't ever pay your bills by mail, you go somewhere (maybe a little booth set up in a paint store for a week) to pay it. But many things that we would have paid monthly can be paid annually here, so there are really only a couple of bills to remember.
The other significant thing we have learned is that a large portion of the people we deal with do not speak English. You can get by without Spanish but you are really limiting yourself and what you can get done. And you will never be part of the culture. So we have begun taking Spanish classes with a language school for missionaries. It is three hours a day four or five days a week. There is homework and there are exams!! It is difficult getting back into doing homework again after all these years. However, we anticipate, because of the accelerated rate of this program, that by the end of this calendar year we should be quite fluent in Spanish, at least that is the hope. After being in class for only two weeks we already have been successful in negotiating with various contractors what we wanted done. Our gardener is grateful that we are willing to learn Spanish and has taken it upon himself to help us by expanding our vocabulary as well as perfecting our pronunciation. We find that most people are like that here.
A fascinating and comforting lesson for us is the weather this far South. People generally believe that when you are only 20 degrees North latitude of the equator, that the weather at this time of year would be intolerably hot. We looked at the weather forecast for Lake Camanche in California, where right now they are setting up Survival Camp. It looks like the temperature there will be in the low 100's. In comparison, on our way home from church today around 12:30 pm, the outside temperature was 62 degrees and we are almost 2,000 miles closer to the equator! Go figure. We see another value of cobblestone streets - they focus the water (rivers of it) when it rains.
To give you another glimpse of things going on and views of the area, here are some more pictures for your entertainment.
One of the first lessons we learned was patience when dealing with people who you want to hire for various projects. Innumerable times we have heard that we would be called "tomorrow" or that someone would come to give an estimate, and several weeks later it may happen, or in one case it never did happen. This particular instance had us laughing. We wanted some wrought iron curtain rods, and went to a local fellow who was having a grand opening of a new shop. Let's call him R. R took Nancy's phone number and said he would call the next day. We heard nothing for a week. So Nancy called, and made an appointment for R to come out on "Monday at 3:15". He never came. We went to his store and spoke with him again. He wrote down what we were looking for , and the measurements, and said he would call the next day to give a price. He asked Nancy for her phone number. Nancy spotted her number on a list on his desk and said, "Use that number right there". So he laughed, and said he would, and we have not heard from him yet! The next day we went to a local ironworks and ordered the rods, and got them in two days. Probably the same place R would have gone to.
We had new awnings made to shield both sun and wind on our terrace. After taking measurements, the lady called to make sure she had the right phone number. So we asked when she would be coming up to install. She said, "next week". Four weeks later they came up and installed them! No phone call, they were just suddenly there. (the awnings are beautiful, tho)
Mind you, not all contractors are time-challenged like that. But we are learning that either no one comes, or everyone comes at the same time. Friday we had painters, concrete layers, the maid, and our friends the Almanzas, all at once!
There are a couple of things of note. The craftsmanship is absolutely of top quality. Many of the trades that you can get here are no longer available in the US or only at a very high cost. Because many of the conveniences available in the US are not available here, the craftsmen have talents that are essentially lost, or too costly in the US. For example, painters that can mix paint by eye and match precisely what you are looking for without the aid of a computerized machine. Or how about highly skilled masons and bricklayers, who mix their own cement, cut the stones to size or make a domed ceiling of brick? We have noticed that each trade is typical of many years ago in the US, where you have the master, the journeyman and the apprentice. For example, we had a concrete terrace installed and the apprentice graded the area with a shovel, the journeyman laid the concrete, using a cement mixer, and the master put in the stone steps and gave early morning instructions. It definitely is like the 1950's, and we love it.
Also when you have contractors come in, they give you an estimate and then request a deposit that essentially covers purchase of any materials. Then, they WILL NOT take final payment until the job is complete and you are satisfied. Since this is a cash society, you give them their payment in pesos and invariably they never count it, trusting that you gave the correct amount. They work 8:30 to 5:30 Monday through Friday and then 8:30 until 2:00 pm on Saturday. They are very hard working and very considerate. We are very happy with the work that has been done so far.
The painters finally arrived this last week and have begun cleaning up the walls and painting. The prepping of the walls is messy and time consuming, as they scrape, and dig out and fill any areas they think are not up to par. (Our walls are not sheet rock, they are brick and concrete) These guys are real artists, and our challenge is to keep up with their suggestions for colors. They can view a color, put a large sample on the wall to give you an idea of what it will look like all over. They don't mind doing it over and over. In one case they have given us six samples on the wall for us to decide. Oh, and when we say sample, we mean a swatch about six or more feet wide and ceiling to floor. It isn't just a little chip on the wall. So you can get a good handle on whether you can live with what you thought you wanted. But now we have to decide, and it definitely is not easy. Many of the final decisions we will leave with them because they are true "maestros".
Speaking of a cash society, we enjoy it because our visa account is generally around zero and there never are any checks outstanding to forget about when checking your bank account. The only problem is leaving the house with sufficient cash. Today we went to Walmart and we thought we had plenty of money with us, but when we got to the case register we realized we had barely enough. And it is the rare store that takes credit cards.
Now for the major thing we learned. Utility bills, electric and telephone, are your your responsibility to pay, whether you get the bill or not. Typically the bill is delivered to your house, or in our case, to the front gate. If you don't get your bill on time and are late in paying, they cut your power or telephone off without notice. No grace period. And it will usually cost you a penalty to get it turned back on. Last week we received our first electric bill on a Tuesday, and the power was turned off two days later, and it took five days and many phone calls by different people to get it turned back on. It turns out, when we received the bill, it was already overdue. But we didn't know that. And they didn't care. Now we know that our next bill "should" be here mid-August. Whether we see it or not, we are going down to pay the bill before the end of August. Being without power is not fun!! Oh yeah, you don't ever pay your bills by mail, you go somewhere (maybe a little booth set up in a paint store for a week) to pay it. But many things that we would have paid monthly can be paid annually here, so there are really only a couple of bills to remember.
The other significant thing we have learned is that a large portion of the people we deal with do not speak English. You can get by without Spanish but you are really limiting yourself and what you can get done. And you will never be part of the culture. So we have begun taking Spanish classes with a language school for missionaries. It is three hours a day four or five days a week. There is homework and there are exams!! It is difficult getting back into doing homework again after all these years. However, we anticipate, because of the accelerated rate of this program, that by the end of this calendar year we should be quite fluent in Spanish, at least that is the hope. After being in class for only two weeks we already have been successful in negotiating with various contractors what we wanted done. Our gardener is grateful that we are willing to learn Spanish and has taken it upon himself to help us by expanding our vocabulary as well as perfecting our pronunciation. We find that most people are like that here.
A fascinating and comforting lesson for us is the weather this far South. People generally believe that when you are only 20 degrees North latitude of the equator, that the weather at this time of year would be intolerably hot. We looked at the weather forecast for Lake Camanche in California, where right now they are setting up Survival Camp. It looks like the temperature there will be in the low 100's. In comparison, on our way home from church today around 12:30 pm, the outside temperature was 62 degrees and we are almost 2,000 miles closer to the equator! Go figure. We see another value of cobblestone streets - they focus the water (rivers of it) when it rains.
To give you another glimpse of things going on and views of the area, here are some more pictures for your entertainment.
Friday, July 6, 2007
We are getting there
We just wanted to make sure everyone knew we were not still living with boxes all over the place! The only things remaining in boxes are books, videos, DVD's and office supplies, as bookcases, entertainment center and a desk are in the process of being built. We actually are having the desk/secretary made by a local furniture maker. It will be seven feet tall and five feet wide, made out of SOLID wood and hand carved trim around bookcase, drawers and doors. You would not believe the price tag!! Also we have a carpenter coming in to build an entertainment center with shelving for our "video store" as well as a bookcase in our music room. Until those are done, we still have some boxes.
You can see what the house looks like in the places where the boxes don't exist in the attached set of photos. We also threw a couple of special interest photos in, so you can better see how life is down here. One thing we have found true, it only rains at night. Had another big storm last night. It sure keeps the days fresh and cool.
We found a wonderful Mexican church with about 60 adults and a large number of children and teenagers. Fortunately someone always sits by us to translate the sermon since it is all in Spanish. The good news is that it will force us to learn Spanish more rapidly. The Mexican people sure know how to sing and they mean what they are singing. We are enjoying it very much.
As far as the Bible Study that we have talked about before, it looks like we will begin sometime mid-August. Finishing decorating our house, learning Spanish and preparing for the Bible Study are the three highest priority items at this point. So it is keeping us very busy. The hot tub feels good at the end of each taxing day. (OK, this is a joke. We spend a lot of time puttering and exploring. But that is taxing, too, right?)
Painting and carpentry work should be complete by the end of July so we will post pictures of the whole house when that is all done so you can get a better idea of how we are doing with our house. It was a beautiful house before, and it will be even more beautiful when we're done!
You can see what the house looks like in the places where the boxes don't exist in the attached set of photos. We also threw a couple of special interest photos in, so you can better see how life is down here. One thing we have found true, it only rains at night. Had another big storm last night. It sure keeps the days fresh and cool.
We found a wonderful Mexican church with about 60 adults and a large number of children and teenagers. Fortunately someone always sits by us to translate the sermon since it is all in Spanish. The good news is that it will force us to learn Spanish more rapidly. The Mexican people sure know how to sing and they mean what they are singing. We are enjoying it very much.
As far as the Bible Study that we have talked about before, it looks like we will begin sometime mid-August. Finishing decorating our house, learning Spanish and preparing for the Bible Study are the three highest priority items at this point. So it is keeping us very busy. The hot tub feels good at the end of each taxing day. (OK, this is a joke. We spend a lot of time puttering and exploring. But that is taxing, too, right?)
Painting and carpentry work should be complete by the end of July so we will post pictures of the whole house when that is all done so you can get a better idea of how we are doing with our house. It was a beautiful house before, and it will be even more beautiful when we're done!
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