Stranger in a strange land. Building house outside of country

I'd mentioned before just recently that I took the plunge and bought a house in San Miguel de Allende. It's was about 90% complete when my offer was accepted, and should be done when I go down there again to close in late November.

Lovely place, San Miguel. Such a mix of the old and the new. The attitude of the Mexicans there, as far as gentility, respect and living the good life (emotionally wise if nothing else) is fortunately, old.

There of course are many things, mostly small, that are just different than how Americans (and other countries I'm sure) do things. The expats who fare the best adopt an "when in Rome" outlook, realizing this isn't their country. In fact, the typical American way of doing things won't get you far.

One thing though, regarding the house, has cropped up where I had to take a stand and say "This is how I want it."

Bone of contention?

The dishwasher.

You would not believe the flurry of emails that have flown back and forth over the last 36 hours, over an appliance.

People in Mexico on the whole, just don't use dishwashers. I on the other hand, want one. Not just for me. I'll be renting the house out on short term leases until I decide to move there full time in a few years. The house will more than likely be rented to Americans. They want a dishwasher. They will have a dishwasher.

The problem began when the builder told the realtor the height of the space is too small by a cm or 2.

So? I said. Just remove the tile from under where the dishwasher will go, and/or router off part of under the counter.

Drat! Foiled! Well then, the problem now became we'll have to remove "a lot of" the counter in order to "find the drain". In addition, they picked some crazy number out of the air, 15,000 pesos ($833) to do this.

Wha?

Ok, I've already picked up on the idea that this guy just doesn't want to provide space for something that he doesn't feel is necessary.

Then I get this email with an image attached, them saying "We feel this is a better, and more attractive, solution."

The picture was of this countertop dishwasher. I had never realized such a thing was made.
My response was that this would not at all meet my needs. Heh, today I actually looked at the website where this thing is sold, and you actually have to hook a hose up to your faucet every time you want to use it. Jesus wept.

This morning I was talking to a friend, and we both realized simultaneously that maybe this $833 for for the dishwasher, and the labor, which would at least make more sense.

So, the most recent email I sent said if that's the case, go ahead. If not, just build out as originally planned, and when I get down there and engage a property manager, I'll have her get a plumber and carpenter to go in and do it. Need a garbage disposal too anyway. That's another thing that's apparantly not used.

One other funny thing, regarding appliances. There, you go to a Cosco or Home Depot, and the selection of all large appliances are much smaller, and they don't tell you much about features of the products.

For instance, there was I think 3 dishwashers displayed, and it was like "this is a dishwasher". That's it.

On the whole, I'm getting so much more with this house than I could have gotten in the States. It's just so funny when something you never thought would be an issue is looked on a strange, almost outlandish.

Any suggestions that I hand wash my dishes will be met with scorn.

So, if you were getting a home in a country not your own, what item(s) would you be insisting on, as necessary?

Oh yeah, sure, this is a "more practical and attractive" solution.
Maybe if I was camping.