Adios, back at end of November

Well I’m here. Weather is perfect. Bought all appliances. Got the deed paperwork sent off.

Today meet with the person who’ll be the property manager, and open a bank account.

If I can get one or two things accomplished every day, I’ll be set.

Waiting for Mexican friends to show up so we can go to thanksgiving dinner.

Some things are very complicated here. It takes 3 trips to the bank to open an account. Still waiting for an email from the bank allowing me to deposit money.

How are you doing with telephones - of the land line variety? Maybe things have changed, but I understand that can be quite an ordeal.

The property manager takes care of all that. The bundle of land line, cable and high speed internet costs about $45 a month. I can use my American Netflix account here. She also sets up my electric and gas. When I finally get ready to rent the place she does up the Airbnb profile and also puts property on her site. She gets the photographer too. Also the housekeeper, gardener and any workmen or services needed.

Totally worth it.

Definitely. Turnkey all the way.

Si!

Re phone service, can still be frustrating.

Today can’t call US on my iPhone. Yesterday I could. That’s on my US carrier though. Still it’s touch and go. I can text though to the US.

Bought a $20-$25 crap phone yesterday and a $6 phone card for 21 days for within Mexico calls. My US phone carrier assured me my iPhone would work for that, but it doesn’t.

I’m not complaining. You just have to be flexible on how things work.

Congratulations in the transitional time. Am I to take it that the dishwasher matter has been resolved?

Yes. I was prepared to have workmen remove part of the floor, but didn’t have to.

Last weekend was this big sale day here, and I was able to still catch it on Monday.
They had the only model of dishwasher that comes in the smaller height. With the sale discount it made the price reasonable.

I asked a Mexican friend here why the contractor would have made the space too small for the standard size. I mean, I know it wasn’t common to have one, but things are changing. There a growing middle class here, and a lot of wealthy people from Mexico City have a second home here. Also tourists using Airbnb or VRBO for weekly or monthly rentals.

My instincts were right because she said that was really stupid of him.

Correction, it takes 5 trips to the bank to totally open an account.

Closed on the house this morning. Going out for tapas to celebrate!

Will post various pictures when I’m back in Texas

Got home around 9pm last night (left at 6am) futzed around a bit, and crashed on the living room sofa.

Slept like a rock.

When told the amount to send to escrow, I was advised that upon closing there might be some money that would be returned to me. I promptly forgot about that because I figured it would be a couple/few hundred dollars.

Told at closing I'd be getting a little over $3K back!

Wowzers.

Great windfall, since there's all these items I need to get done now, and since the cost of labor is low, it may completely cover it, or at least most.

I need to:

Get barrell tile put on the roof top pergola
Get interior painted (going with gray and something in the deep yellow family)
Get bannisters from the ground floor to the 2nd floor, and up to the roof,
Get drapery/curtain rods installed
Shower doors (2) and safety bars
2 TV's installed on the walls

Then I have to get:
Patio and rooftop chairs
Large pots for plants on the roof
2 TV's
Window treatments
Art work (I have a cool idea that is a large piece, and won't cost much)
Area rug for living room
An onyx lamp.

One of the most amazing things I saw in Mexico, on a daily basis...

Women, and men....I hope you readers are sitting down....actually Carry their children! In their Arms! And they actually manage to do other stuff at the same time!

No SUV strollers to be seen. No parents walking around with satchels, backpacks, or enough supplies to meet the slightest need, no matter how improbable.

What is even crazier, if a baby has grown into a toddler, and is big enough to walk, that is exactly what they do! They walk, and I didn't see one collapse from exhaustion.

Despite this obvious abuse, there is a total absence of screaming babies, whining toddlers, children of any age being told multiple times to do the simplest act (then, when finally doing it, are told "Good JOB!")

I watched a school playground full of children, aged about 6 to 10. There was no screaming, no high pitched shrieks, no fits being thrown. One group of four kids, around 6 or 7, where taking turns sliding down a stone bannister wall that ran next to about one and a half stories worth of stairs.

If any of them had tumbled off the other side, they would have fallen I guess 20 feet to the ground. Yet, no adult ran to stop them, or put them all in helmets...and the kids never fell. It was obviously something they did every day.

Kids would run, skip, walk down narrow sidewalks, with cars moving a foot or 2 away, yet not one dashed in front of a car, or even stepped in the street. Parents would be following behind, secure in the knowledge their kids were smart enough not to run in front of cars. Drivers also didn't need signs telling them "Drive like your children live here", because, well, they just didn't want to hit anyone, adult or child.

Crazy, huh.

Well I'm off again, leaving at 4am with husband and neighbor.

This will be the first time I'm actually going to sleep in the house!

Super excited.

House is all painted (chose a color called bosc pear, and a dark blue for the walls)

All appliances are installed, gas, electric, phone, cable & internet all turned on. Dishes, pots and pans ready to be cooked on.

I'm bringing 2 Apple converter boxes and having someone install them so we can watch American Netflix.

Bringing a bunch of everyday items to leave there; clothes, toiletries etc.

Now I get to shop for artwork, pots for plants, and so forth.

Got audio books and snacks in the car, for the 14 hour drive, and garmin is all charged up.

This is my neighbor.

She owns a popular restaurant/specialty market called Luna de Queso.

Thanks for the updates.

The neighbor who came with us got altitude sickness and it wasn’t going away, but getting worse. We had to drive him to Querétaro, an hour away to rent a car at the airport there. Even at the lower altitude of Querétaro he felt much better. He’s going to go off and do his own thing somewhere on the cost.