Our $13.75 Hotel Room (behind the pool and Palm Tree)

A week ago Saturday we headed down to A Puerto Escondidio. Like most of the driving in Mexico – this trip is not for the feint of heart. We traveled many miles on a road that had no shoulder – period. The drop off from the edge at times was more than two feet. This was not a road for drifting.

We stayed in a motel the first night that was 100 pesos per couple. You might imagine this wasn’t first class accommodations – but all things considered it wasn’t a bad room.

It took us two pretty full days of driving to get here – although we left in the early afternoon and made many stops; something I don’t normally do.

The first night in Puerto Escondido (PE) we stayed in a $20.00 a night place that was not impressive. Since then we have been on the beach staying in a nice room that costs $13.75 a night – TOTAL.

The Group: Mati, Harvey, Anita, Rosa and Marvin 

Food and lodging are extremely reasonable here. Fine dinners are $5.00 or less and terrific breakfast for $2.50. This is mostly a tourist town. The beaches are really lovely with areas of very clean water.

Because we are on the bottom of Mexico and right at the coast we are enjoying beautiful blues skies and gentle ocean breezes. We actually saw the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean in the same day – only easier done in Panama. The weather is in the 80’s in the day and around 70 F night. There is mild humidity. The weather is like this virtually every day of the year. To put it simply the weather is nothing short of great. It was great to see the Pacific Ocean and its wonderful beaches.

Sunset from our motel (no photo editing here ;-(  )

Harvey and I are kindred spirits in many ways. We are enjoying playing with his computers, music equipment and even his satellite Free Air TV system(s).

Harvey and I took his bicycle into a good local bike shop where he bought new tires and tubes as well as a total service – when we went to get the bike I didn’t even recognize it as the same bike – $24.00 US dollars later I am riding the bike to the morning gringo coffee group. What a cast of characters is that.

Probably my personal; favorite is Gordy. He is from Vancouver, BC. We actually worked some of the same concerts together some 35 years ago. Gordy and I have been having a great time recalling the old days. He has an amazing memory for details – things I simply had forgotten, but as he discussed the details I recalled many of the same situations – quite amazing.

I had to remind Gordy that I pretty much adhered to Grace Slick’s statement about the sixties, “If you remember the sixties, you weren’t there ;- ).” With the helps of Gordy’s memory we actually compared some stage moments – very cool.

Gordy now works in the Canadian film industry – and no matter where he is he is a good guy to know. The kind of guy that is connected.

Last year Gordy bought a house in the Expatriate section at the north end of town just blocks from the beach.

Harvey and Mati have a house further back by a mile or two. Harvey in the last year has added two stories to the house in his usual expert manner. For those of you that don’t know or recall Harvey is the designer-builder of Calypso Campo – a remarkable structure as are his improvements on their Puerto Casa.

It has been over seven days since my last Blog entry. There is so much to write and catching up is a hassle as I have to jog my near term memory bank rather than just rattling stuff off on the fly – hmmmmm.

As the details roll out of my head – I will relate them.  Marvin is with us. He came down with Rosa, but she bused her way back yesterday (Saturday). It will be hard facing leaving this spot as the reported weather and all the fun socializing will be missed.

For the moment I won’t go there because we are still here. Suffice it to say – John Paul – you SHOULD have made it here and the rest of you should try it – but, wait until I leave. Stay Tuned!

I HATE it when people are bored. Primarily because I feel like I will NEVER have time for all the things I would like to do. I can’t imagine being bored. The only place for such a word would be when one is caught in a line or a waiting room with nothing to read. Where they would rather be doing something else – not when they simply cannot find anything to do – yikes!

Should you find yourself saying, “I am bored.” Shame on you. Here is a suggestion. I found this place a while back and really appreciate it. http://www.worldwideschool.org/

Here you can read classic books short stories, essays etc. From the likes of Twain, Shakespeare, Dickens, O’Henry, Zane Gray, Balzac, Kipling, Arthur Conan Doyle, Washington Irving, Flaubert, Frank Baun and on and on.

You can read “Alice in Wonderland” to your kids.

All this reading material is free and as close to you as this Blog – just click on the link above.

Just when you thought nothing was free anymore. And you don’t even need a library card or the gas to drive to the library.

Check it out! Stay Tuned!

Instead of 60 I swear I would design and manufacture a car that people could work on at home with a standard Sears tool kit. And get rich for it I think!

This vehicle would probably have roll up windows and push down locks. The seat would move forward and back mechanically and there would be NOTHING in it that looked or acted like a microprocessor or a computer.

Our friend’s Jim & Mindy have a broken truck. Nothing really serious, but because of Jim’s special health requirements they need certain functionality that is currently not working – chiefly their electric windows and air conditioning.

It is a long story as to how their truck got to this point of malfunction, but suffice it to say it needs repair. All of us in close contact Gringos use Noe down in San Marcos (I saw him first by the way). He is in fact a master mechanico – but he doesn’t want to have anything to do with electrical problems – I don’t blame him.

So yesterday I thought I would take a stab at trouble shooting their problema. Here it starts to get ugly – fast!

Our newest vehicle is now 10 years old. Jim’s Ford F-150 is 3 years newer, a 2000 model. In their infinite wisdom and advancing technology they for some reason decided to change the style of ALL the fuses.

It took me some years to get used to the colored plastic jobs that replaced the tubular glass with the metal ends type – now yet another type. I see no advantage, as I didn’t in the last change. These are smaller, perhaps because there is soooo much electricity floating around in a car these days they needed to reduce the size – whatever.

Here is the real kicker – we needed to ascertain which of these tiny fuses was intervening in the line to the windows, air conditioning and interior lights – perhaps more than one?

On my trusty 1997 Ford F-350 when you pull the cover protecting the fuse area there is a handy sheet pasted to the plastic that indicates what each fuse controls – not so in the newer model. Written right there in plastic molding is “Refer to Owner’s Manual.” Of course that document is not on board any longer. The Internet has figured out that information is a commodity and where we just a few years ago could have got this information there for free – no longer.

So I start to wonder if progress really is our most important product in this high tech reality we live in (soon to have virtual reality available for a low, low price of…).

Is it just me or is an awful lot of advancing technology going into how to force the common man or woman to pay someone with special tools and skills to fix what was so easily done low so few years ago? Why do I have the feeling that if we called Ford we would talk to someone in India…

A Friend Sent this to me the other day – it fits!

If you are headed to Mexico – bring your owner’s manual – you may need it!

I’ll stop gripping when they kick dirt in my hole.

Stay Tuned!

A photo taken through our front door – everything but the kitchen sink!

Calypso Campo Through the Front Door.

This is about whatever is on my mind while sitting here drinking coffee at Calypso Casita in what I loveingly call the Hood. We just returned from our other Veracruz casa, Calypso Campo. It was beautiful weather and clear sailing the entire time we were up there (another 1500’ in altitude and 6 miles away).

It is cold in the Hood this morning. Of course, cold is very relative. Right now it is about 60 F (15.5 C) and for our area at 9 AM that is cold. Anita and Veronica are heading out to the big city, Xalapa for shopping. I am getting ready to head over to Eloy’s to reverse the door opening on their refrigerator. What a nice neighbor I am

Yesterday when we went to their store we found them in the throes of changing the store layout around. They are planning on adding another set of shelves for more products. They had removed the offending electronic game mentioned some Blog Entries back. It was now outside of the store over in a corner. The new location of the refrigerator seemed inappropriate to me.

In my most nice non-meddling way I meddled on in and suggested it was not in a good spot. Ale agreed but said they had no choice because of the way the door swung open. Here was my chance to rescue.

I explained and demonstrated that there were holes and an easy method to have the doors open in the either direction; in the case the other direction. I went on to suggest that I could do this for them in the morning – and I will. They were a bit dazed realizing they had not realized that this could happen – in the end they will be happy for the change – I think.

Yesterday we imported Abundio the gardener extraordinaire that works most of the time next door to us up at the Campo. He has on occasion done a day here and there for us up there. Now we picked him up in Xico and brought him to Poor Man’s Shangri-La to hack down our over growing yard.

Unfortunately it was a chipi-chipi. This is a constant light rain that is a bit more than a mist and will certainly very subtly soak you to the bones if you hangout in it for very long. I noticed Abundio was getting soaked and brought a light raincoat to his rescue (thank you John Paul). He completed the day in not great conditions. Half our yard looks a whole lot better.

Paul & Nancy are moving to Mexico. They have a Blog that includes a count down to moving day. Nancy created a list of reasons to the question, “Why Mexico?” She has developed a fine list. A list not unlike several that has been generated by us – to family, friends and Internet amigos we have answered that question in a number of ways.

Her answers are simple, straightforward and honest. Paul and Nancy are getting ready to turn up the heat on their lives. The clock has started. The game has already begun.

Mexico is certainly about adventure. It is about melding with a different culture. While we can’t kick free of our pasts or our origins we can join the dance. We can toast to the Marachi – the sound of fever. Every song is based on mi carazon – my heart. Yes, that is what it is all about, heart. My heart. Your heart. Lunacy under the Mexican lunar star. You probably thought we are all operating under the same moon – not true. The sky is clearing and then not. The Mexican sky can change in a moment. Whatever state it turns to it is a different sky down here.

Living in Mexico is a real life novella. Not a fictional narrative but a real life drama about sunlight and darkness, and birth and death, blood and drunkenness, love, anguish, honor, passion, fear and stupidity, but fueled on by an inexhaustible hunger for life.

We have seen some people stumble along the way. A few that ran back to the US or Canada with their tails between their legs. Some have moved from one Mexican location to another. It takes all kinds, escape artists, adventurers, dreamers, plain folk and wild ones, connivers and con artists, the old and the young – all kinds.

Living in Mexico is about freedom; another kind of freedom. Where the rule is there are no rules. If you live here and really taste the flavors of Mexico – life will not pass you by. Stay Tuned.

A trap is a fitting or device that provides a liquid seal to prevent the emission of sewer gases without materially affecting the flow of sewage or wastewater through it.

Also, there is vent stack, which is a vertical vent pipe, installed to provide air circulation to and from the drainage system. The pipe extends through one or more stories of the structure.

Now these two items are pretty much indispensable to a good plumbing system and certainly mandatory by code in any US building or house. But this is not the case here in Mexico. I have read of people complaining about sewage smell in even four-star hotels in Mexico.

What is the problem here with Mexican contractors and architects as well as the plumbing trade not including these items? I mean I am at a loss on this.

On the Forum Brenda suggests an inexpensive solution for the missing trap, “I have to say that our sinks do have traps here which cuts the smell problems from them. In our shower and outdoor clothes washing sink drains, our landlord put a “vaso” (cup) and that is just what it looks like. It is the shape of a disposable plastic glass; but with no bottom in it. It is placed in the drain and it stays full of water, removing the odor problem. It was very reasonable in price (couple of dollars I think) and is just plopped into place, no big deal at all. A cheap alternative to a trap and works perfectly, we now have no smell at all.”

In as much as in many areas of Mexico the wastewater management is poor or non-existent, they demand NOT putting toilet paper in the sewage line. There is usually a small wastebasket placed near the toilet for disposal of the waste toilet paper – this is emptied into the trash and landfills – wherever that may be. Emily writes a question in the last entries comments, “Do you put toilet paper in there too? I was so freaked out before I got to Mexico just thinking about not being able to put toilet paper in the toilet. It’s not as big a deal as I thought, but I was just curious if you throw it in that hole. That would be another benefit over regular toilet rooms in most of Mexico. Interesting.” The answer to that question is yes compost consumes the paper and it is not necessary for separating that.

Here in Poor Man’s Shangri-La plumbing issues are pretty much at a medieval level of technology. We know people that run fresh water down their sewer pipes all day long to help reduce the odor that comes back from the sewage brimming rio. There are some clever, simple ways to block back odors from pipes, but again this hasn’t got down here to our part of Mexico.

It is cold here today after about 6 beautiful days that culminated with yesterday being in the low 80’s. Today we are rainy and 20 degrees colder – but life is good in the Hood. We paid our property tax for the Casita for the year – this amounted to about $12.00 US dollars – you gotta love that! Stay Tuned!

Calypso Campo Compost and Human Manure Processing Building

“Most of the luxuries and many of the so-called comforts of life, are not only not indispensable, but positive hindrances to the elevation of mankind”
Henry David Thoreau

Yesterday was compost cleanout day. Quite honestly not something I had been looking forward to. On the other hand we had waited10 months for the pile to settle out and thoroughly compost.

Sadly on the Viva Veracruz Forum through a fault of my own an interesting debate on the merits of composting human manure was lost – but the debate rages on.

Some background. When we were considering buying property in Ursulo Galvan (Poor Man’s Shangri-la or the Hood) a few years ago we were assured that within six months a sewer system was to be installed. A the time virtually all the homes in the hood drained their raw sewage into the river that goes by the south end of our property.

After purchasing the property we later found out that this was a total fabrication – this from a gringo by the way. You can believe the Mexicans would have never considered such a story, as they don’t have the least problem with this action.

To write that we were sorely disappointed would be putting it mildly. On many days in Ursulo Galvan with the right conditions of breeze and temperature that little river running below our property can become a serious odor problem – ugh! I don’t think I have to explain further for you to get the point that this is a sad state of affairs.

We have talked to the city fathers as well as municipal representatives with no hope for a solution in the near future – other than the solution that runs by our property – grrrrr.

This is frustrating. But, what is still more frustrating is the fact that there is a simple solution that seems like it would be easier than asking our neighbors not to run their water 24/7 – but it isn’t.

Of course we are foreigners, strangers living in a strange land. We have actually managed to get several families to start using a compost toilet, but it is a precious few and certainly not enough to improve the situation – hope springs eternal.

Later in our Mexican experience we bought an environmental casa on a hectare of land up in the mountains above Xico. The place you know as Calypso Campo. It is in an area called Micoxtla. There is a tiny town of about 36 families and 400 people that live just a few kilometers up the road. There is one tienda and a church.

You have seen many photos of our place and the area including shots of Mount Orizaba. It is a wonderful place that is unfortunately growing quickly – but there is no stopping ‘progress.’

At Calypso Campo we have a stylish outhouse that has taken on the form of a total compost center including human manure. My friend Harvey very nicely designed the facility. It is a two holer as they call these things. The idea is to use one side for a time 6 months to a couple years and then switch to the other hole allowing the now unused side to compost completely and later be emptied.

When we bought the place it was a little less than 3 years old. It had been being used as a vacation house and not a full time residence. In that time one side of the brick house ‘Bhouse’ had only been used. We stopped its use in March of last year and switched to the other unused chamber.

So as previously stated yesterday was the day to empty the first compost pile. This compost pile was not managed in total as we do. We do not separate urine or use lime as a covering material – both have been advised against in our readings and practice. We do add household kitchen organic waste as well as leaves and soil.

Our process has been very successful; one we have experimented with for many years. Here in this sub-tropical climate compost piles work amazingly rapidly – I have to believe it is about as good as it gets for composting. We also compost at Ursulo Galvan, but that for another time. This is about Calypso Campo.

The emptying of the pile was surprisingly simple and without problem – no odor, no unsightly object – just fresh smelling soil – period. What a pleasant surprise and a continued reinforcement about how simple and effective composting and the transformation of human manure into a usable soil enhancer is – amazing really.

I had seen pictures of lovely young girls moving wheel barrows of human manure compost, even holding a large mound of the earth in their hands – yikes. But now more than ever I am a believer.

I wasn’t looking forward to the prospect of moving about others compost (read human manure) – but again it was no problem.

The only change we will make is not put eggshells in our compost – they simple take too long to compost. There were a few hard pieces of cardboard that probably were better placed in the garbage bag than the compost heap. But we are now ahead of the curve on all this.

The design is simple and really quite elegant – there is a wonderful view from our facility. All photos were taken yesterday or today. Please consider the fouling of fresh water one of the major travesty that the western world perpetrates. There are simple and inexpensive solutions – EVERYONE should be doing it, it is that simple.

Help save the world – no yourselves! If you have questions you have but to ask. Stay Tuned!

We are enjoying a few days up at Calypso Campo. A well needed respite from all the action in the Hood. Action and drama it is down there – read on.

Recently we learned that there are a number of folks in Poor Man’s Shangri-La that steal electric service. The apparent trick is to pull your electric meter out and turn it upside down – this makes the meter run backwards – a simple yet possibly dangerous trick.

Of course the ethics or lack thereof are evident when someone does such a thing. Then again there are good people here barely surviving.

Our next-door neighbors, a couple of gringos who have since moved on, actually had two separate meters and thus service connections to their one grand house as there is a harsh sliding scale for electric use above much more than a few light bulbs and a televisions worth of power consumption. Clever idea I thought.

Going back and forth between two houses gives us the same benefit – but we also augment our grid electric consumption with solar assist at both locations.

One good thing about the high cost of this service in the hood, if there can be any, is now that people are getting their bills (they come every 2 months here) there seems to be less LOUD sound systems blasting around the Hood. We figure that all those new boom boxes that were purchased with the new ‘buy on time’ programs have started registering on the electric bill – so 15 hours of non-stop 105 decibel Ranchera music has dwindled.

About 10 days ago while monitoring construction work progress in the yard I noticed the electric meter reader hombre at our meter. It is mounted on a cement pole just beyond our front fence. Then again yesterday the same meter man was taking a reading. At first this seemed strange to me – had he got an inaccurate reading at our meter 10 days ago?

Curious I walked up into the street to see if he was checking other meters – he was.

Now when electric pilfering in the hood gets as far as to this gringos ear it must mean everyone pretty much knows about it. The meter reader lives in the hood as most service representatives do. Surely he has heard the gossip. What’s more they must have a way of ascertaining that the billing is not meeting the demand, perhaps in a big way. I mean the meter reading hombre reads meters with a hand held computer device – they are not in the dark ages on light billing systems around here.

So I figure they came around again to see if people’s meters were charging ahead or whether there were some that might be reading very low usage or even less than the last time he came around. I am sure this will be a shock to many meter flippers. I have no idea what getting busted for stealing electric will get you in the way of punishment, but one thing is for sure, the heat is on.

Eventually I will hear the rest of this story. Stay Tuned!

Masa dough ball ready for the Tortilla press. (Click to ENLARGE)

Roughly translated from Spanish the title is “Talk All Around.”

Just when we all were convinced the world is round, I find the world in Mexico is flat. Mexico revolves around tortillas. Yesterday there was a massive wobble. In some parts of Mexico the cost of the flat bread went up to 10 pesos per kilo!

ALL the talk in the Hood is about the increase in corn and thus tortillas!

This from yesterday’s newspaper:

“El Universal
Martes 09 de Enero de 2007

Economy Secretary Eduardo Sojo said Monday that recent increases in
tortilla prices reflect several recent developments, including
transport difficulties, harvest woes and increased demand from new
uses of corn as a fuel source.

Tortilla prices went up to 10 pesos per kilo in some parts of the
country over the weekend, sparking complaints from those who until
recently were used to paying less than five pesos.

Industry officials blamed the rising price of corn. “Corn costs 100
percent more than it did a year ago,” said Rafael Ortega Sánchez,
director of the National Chamber of the Cornmeal and Tortilla
Production Industry.

He also said that middlemen, such as distributors, are contributing
to the tortilla inflation.

But, he said, tortilla prices in and around Mexico City are closer to
seven or eight pesos a kilo. “In some out of the way places, however,
it´s as high as 10,” Ortega said.

In Nezahualcóyotl, a city of more than 2 million just east of Mexico
City in the State of Mexico, a kilogram of tortillas was selling for
10 pesos on Sunday.

Meanwhile, federal legislators from across the political spectrum
criticized the high tortilla prices, saying they hurt the poor the
most. Senators José Guillermo Anaya Llamas of the National Action
Party (PAN) and Graco Ramírez Garrido of the Democratic Revolution
Party (PRD) both said they suspected that a federally mandated
increase in gasoline prices, announced in November, was adding to the
high tortilla costs.

Ortega Sánchez ruled out a return to government-controlled tortilla
prices, but tortilla makers in Mexico City asked for federal action
to control other basic costs they say are causing them to raise their
prices. They said high gasoline costs are making them less
competitive against the “disloyal competition” of the supermarkets,
which sell tortillas at cheaper prices.“

Since Friday the peso has lost value against the dollar. Today it is over 11 pesos to 1 US dollar. Lately I have been writing about the poor we live amongst. This latest tortillas increase will for a fact hurt the people around here. Around the Hood a family of four consumes no less than 2 kilos of tortillas a day.

Many make their own tortillas with fresh ground corn as the 5 pesos per kilo that they did cost was a lot – and the handmade tortilla is definately better tasting.

We have found machine grade quality tortillas running from 4.5 to 7 pesos per kilo. We noticed that they seemed to have gone up slightly upon our return in October – but Chedraui, the “disloyal competition” local supermarket, had maintained an average cost of 4.5 pesos.

We have no problem being “loyal”, as the Chedraui tortillas are terrible. After a days refrigeration they stick together like glue.

I don’t think we will see tortillas over 7 pesos in our area – but the day of the 4.5 peso kilo of tortillas is probably a thing of the past.

Corn has gone up from 2.5 pesos per kilo to 3.5 – almost overnight!

Just up the road a couple little ladies sell handmade tortillas at a premium. I believe their 6-peso package of 14 is about a third of a kilo. We don’t eat a kilos worth before they turn to the consistency of chips so the 14 for 6 pesos is perfect for the Calypso’s. Now and again we buy the machine version hot, even they are muy sabrosa!

It is sad to see this additional burden put on people that make forty to fifty dollars a week – a few peso increase for their base food source is going to hit hard here in Poor Man’s Shangri-La. Stay Tuned!

Yesterday was a rainy, foggy Monday. The dollar to peso exchange rate was good, we needed pesos, and we went to Xico. After doing the banking and a little visiting the fog really started to roll in.

I suggested we drive down to a restaurant we liked and wait out the fog. Off we went to the east side of Xico near rivers edge.

The restaurant had a new menu with new high prices – Bummer! We have been enjoying good food at a reasonable price there for a couple of years – no more.

So we placed a small order with a couple of drinks. Prior to our placing an order the proverbial chips and salsa were placed on our table, two salsas, a version of chili seco (not as good as Ale’s) and a Thousand Island kind of sauce.

I particularly liked the Thousand Island sauce with the chips and later with the French fries I ordered. The fresh lemonade was good.

We watched the river, birds and rolling fog as we talked. Finally we realized there was no way the fog was going away – we would just drive home slowly.

Now we were looking towards the desk/kitchen area wondering about our check. A couple had just left the restaurant and one arrived shortly there after.

The fellow that cleared the table of the departed couple was now back at the kitchen area with the dishes of salsas from the cleared table. He carefully scrapped the bowls clean putting the contents of each into clean bowls, and then adding sauce to make complete bowls. He then took these two dishes of salsa to the newly seated couple.

So this couple was the beneficiaries of the partially recycled salsas – ouch! I had just pretty much devoured a bowl of the Thousand Island salsa myself – now I am wondering how many people might have eaten this salsa before me?

Am I wrong or would the Health Department close a place down in the US for doing such a thing. It seems like if the fellow had at least done this covertly I might not have had a strange feeling in my stomach – you know – what you don’t know you are eating can’t hurt you – ugh!

With the new menu prices it wasn’t going to be hard to avoid this place in the future – but I have to wonder as I have many times when dining out in the US – are most restaurants recycling their chips and/or salsa?

This reminded me of the Seinfeld episode where George was severely admonished for double dipping his chip in the communal onion dip.

Incensed guest: “You Double DIPPED! You dipped the chip. You took a bite…. And you dipped again.”

George: “So…?”

Incensed guest: “That’s like putting your whole mouth right in the dip!”

Now I had just powered down the communal Thousand Island sauce. Does this make you a bit queasy? It does me.

Each time my stomach growled the rest of the day – I wondered if it might be rebelling against having been filled in part from the communal Thousand Island sauce.

When Anita and I go out to eat there is often a table salsa that she doesn’t like and I do. At the point of my knowing she isn’t going to want any, I start double and triple dipping – this is mine and mine alone – or is it. Will the balance go back to the kitchen to be recycled for the next unsuspecting diner?

Anita says to me, “We better stop eating the restaurant salsa.
I say, “But I like the salsas!”
She says, “Do you want a Golden seal capsule? It is a natural anti-biotic”

I don’t know am I being too picky here? The idea of eating someone’s or several someone’s salsa just doesn’t sit right with me. I think I am going to have to find out if this was unusual or one of those newly learned Mexican customs.

Later in the evening we asked Ale if reusing salsa is an accepted behavior, “No!” she states. I feel better and yet it may be a while before I once again ingest totopos y salsa.
Stay Tuned!

Patricio lays out tile in the Office

Building between Christmas and New Years in Mexico, or anywhere for that matter, is not the best time. People have a lot else on their minds. In addition if you have a kind heart you are likely to pay bonuses and give time and even days off – after all you can’t hardly expect your crew to work Christmas Day or New Years Day etc.

For us we had to seize an opportunity to get the workers we enjoy and trust working with us. This seems to come when the other employers want to avoid the aforementioned. So we gave some extra afternoon times off and two paid holidays in the three-week stint here at Calypso Casita. We still managed to get a remarkable amount of things done. If we had those hours and two extra days we would have actually completed EVERYTHING planned. We came just short of what we wanted to get done.

I plan on going over some more of the individual aspects of the three weeks of work, but yesterday I was summing things up and thought I would share this with you while it is on my mind – three weeks in review.

I really like the act(s) of building: the planning including playing with AutoCAD and Excel spreadsheets on the computer; the shopping and gathering of materials including tile, paint, light fixtures, doors and windows etc.; the hiring of hombres who are in need of work; seeing your plans put into action; the challenges of the process –so much of which I have been writing lately; finally the clean-up and just plain sitting back and seeing improvements on your property.

The hombres putting final finishes on the Cascade Patio slab

Of course there also are the mistakes – the glaring ones – the ones when pointed out to friends that say, “You are the only one that would notice that.” This is little comfort as you stare at the mistake(s).

This time we accomplished the following: Cement sub-floor to level and accept tile; 169 square feet of grouted tile; Complete redo of the first level outside front face including a window space (waiting for frame and glass); New 160 square foot patio slab; new 36 square foot compost bathroom building replete with gray water drains for sink and possible shower; and finally cement pillars and an aluminum roof over the new patio.

We didn’t get a small decorative wall around the patio or tile laid in the new bathroom. The wall is in consideration and the tile floor in the bathroom to be done at another time.

Ave smooths some mescala

Total cost was about $1250.00 US – labor, materials total. If you are building and interested in the details of this email me. I will forward my Excel spreadsheet. email to blog AT vivaveracruz DOT com

As always improvement begets improvements. We need stairs to the newly tiled officina; a window frame and glass for the new front window opening; some type door for the banos and tile as mentioned as well as a final piece of roofing that is up at the Campo. Eventually we will want to place a sink and perhaps install our outdoor shower system we have waiting in the bodega; and perhaps a decorative wall around the Cascade Patio (my new name for the patio). Reads like we didn’t finish a darn thing ;-0. But, no, we really got a lot done in the three weeks during the holidays – honestly – come and see.

All these improvements will make our lives more comfortable here at Calypso Casita. We may even eventually get out of eating, computing and sleeping in the camper. Stay Tuned!