Welcome (a bit late) to 2008! It’s been a while so I’m not sure where even to start.
January and February were filled with visits from gringo friends and family escaping the ice, rain, snow, and cold. It was good to see them all and it gave us a good excuse to check out some tourist spots in the area.
After the last post, my parents and their pals came back with us to GDL. We did the usual trip: downtown, a cantina or two, the open air bus, etc. My dad helped with the wiring and other home stuff – it was great to have him around for advice and an extra pair of hands. My Mom had great ideas and helped get the house in order. I felt bad when they had to return to Chicago – it had been hovering around zero degrees the entire time that they were here.
January and February were filled with visits from gringo friends and family escaping the ice, rain, snow, and cold. It was good to see them all and it gave us a good excuse to check out some tourist spots in the area.
After the last post, my parents and their pals came back with us to GDL. We did the usual trip: downtown, a cantina or two, the open air bus, etc. My dad helped with the wiring and other home stuff – it was great to have him around for advice and an extra pair of hands. My Mom had great ideas and helped get the house in order. I felt bad when they had to return to Chicago – it had been hovering around zero degrees the entire time that they were here.
Just after they left an old, old friend (my highschool librarian!) and his son came for a visit. We had a delightful time just rambling around town and hashing over old times. It was first visit to Mexico so it was fun showing him the ropes. They too, sadly, had to return to the snow and cold of Wisconsin (brrrr).
Some friends from San Fran came down and we spent 4 or 5 days in and around Punta Mita. 
We surfed everyday and checked out the Sayulita night life. I hadn’t seen these guys for quite sometime and one of them I’d just met. None of them were avid surfers and one was just starting. Nonetheless, they hit double sessions everyday – I was very impressed. We found good surf almost everyday and by the time the weekend was over, I was baked. After a glassy morning session at La Lancha and a monster lunch of fish tacos in the little town of Punta Mita, my pals headed south to the airport while I, sandy, sunburned, sore, and smiling, headed north to GDL - a great trip with some great guys.
The next day my brother, his wife, and his daughter arrived. For the first week or so, I put him to work helping me on the plumbing (more about that later). The second week we checked out the downtown, the restaurants, and even went back to the beach for an extended weekend. We had a great time and we were sad to see them leave.
After this things calmed down a bit and we got back to our normal life. The kids are doing really well. They’re slowly picking up Spanish and now have a few friends that only speak Spanish. I’m not sure how they get on but they seem to communicate well and enjoy each others company – there is a lot of trying on princess dresses involved and, I suppose, this transcends language.
We surfed everyday and checked out the Sayulita night life. I hadn’t seen these guys for quite sometime and one of them I’d just met. None of them were avid surfers and one was just starting. Nonetheless, they hit double sessions everyday – I was very impressed. We found good surf almost everyday and by the time the weekend was over, I was baked. After a glassy morning session at La Lancha and a monster lunch of fish tacos in the little town of Punta Mita, my pals headed south to the airport while I, sandy, sunburned, sore, and smiling, headed north to GDL - a great trip with some great guys.The next day my brother, his wife, and his daughter arrived. For the first week or so, I put him to work helping me on the plumbing (more about that later). The second week we checked out the downtown, the restaurants, and even went back to the beach for an extended weekend. We had a great time and we were sad to see them leave.
After this things calmed down a bit and we got back to our normal life. The kids are doing really well. They’re slowly picking up Spanish and now have a few friends that only speak Spanish. I’m not sure how they get on but they seem to communicate well and enjoy each others company – there is a lot of trying on princess dresses involved and, I suppose, this transcends language.
The Easter Bunny came but, because they don’t really have the tradition here, he left the candy in a pair of shoes rather than a basket. The kids didn’t care much what the delivery vehicle was, as long as there was a solid quantity of chocolate.
The house has been entirely transformed since the last post. First, we redid all of the wiring. This involved running new wire through existing conduit to all switches, plugs, and lights, as well as adding new ones. It was a colossal undertaking but everything is now on grounded circuits and split up among 2, 12-breaker fuse boxes. We’ve also run CAT5 for internet to 6-10 places throughout the house. Thanks to dad and my bro for helping me with this (and thanks to Stina for working around the mess and for listening to me winge.)
The plumbing is also new. We installed a fancy cupola-looking tinaco.
This feeds the, also new and very cool, solar water heater. This amazing device circulates the water inside of those glass tubes on the basis of convection alone – no power, no pump. And it gets hella hot! It hovers just below boiling all day and night (it’s very well insulated). After the water leaves here, it goes into an on-demand water heater that’s gas powered. If the water in the solar heater ever comes out cold, the gas heater will boost it up to the right temp. Since we’ve put the solar heater in, it hasn’t turned on once! The back patio is now complete. The fountain was designed by Stina and built by Lupe and it’s just great. In each of the planters and under the water in the fountain there are lights that shine up. It looks cool at night and is a good place to hang out and have dinner in the warm evenings. The weather is so nice that we just leave all the doors open to the patio at night and we can hear the fountain when we sleep – very soothing (although this may explain why Lily has wet the bed a couple of times).
Before
and
After
My office is amazing – it’s an entirely new structure but the way we’ve done it, it looks like it’s always been there. It opens out onto a roof patio /deck. This week we knocked a hole in the wall in the TV room so that it opens out onto that same deck. 
We’ll be able to open the TV room and the office and create one large indoor/outdoor space. We’re moving the giant front door from the front of the house to fill the hole. Our new front door will arrive either tomorrow or Monday.
The primary roof deck (there are 6 of them) now has stub walls, between which, we’ll install ornate metal work railings. After that we paint them and then put down the tile (we’ll use the same stuff as the patio downstairs.) Once this phase is done, I’ll be able to move into my office and the dust level on the second and third floor will stop.This will represent a big milestone as I’ll be able to unpack my guitars and set up my life. From there the housework can continue without my direct involvements. The boys will be working on the façade, the front wall, the servant’s quarters, etc. but they won’t be in our space anymore. With that, I can migrate from home-improvement to self-improvement mode. I’ve already started my Spanish class (yesterday). Next is my yoga class and either piano or guitar classes.
All in all, we’re happy. I feel like the honeymoon is over and I’m increasingly seeing the warts-and-all side of Mexico. There are many, many elements that are frustrating. I read something the other day that accurately summed it up: “gross inefficiencies masquerading as charm”. As we get more accustomed to living here, the charm wears off, leaving you with just the inefficiencies. That said, there are so many things that I enjoy here – the most obvious being that lack of stress in my life. This is partially an effect of the more relaxed Mexican pace (see: inefficiencies) and partly due to the fact that we don’t have to work our asses off here to make ends meet. I read in the press about the mortgage crisis, falling home prices, job losses, consumer confidence in the toilet, etc, etc. and it all seems so far away. The garbage man comes by and rings his cowbell every day, likewise the ice cream scooter passes with its recorded and bizarrely distorted tune, we gets the kids off to school, fart around the house, take naps, read, go to movies or rent
videos, eat and sleep well – it feels like life as it’s meant to be lived.
All in all, we’re happy. I feel like the honeymoon is over and I’m increasingly seeing the warts-and-all side of Mexico. There are many, many elements that are frustrating. I read something the other day that accurately summed it up: “gross inefficiencies masquerading as charm”. As we get more accustomed to living here, the charm wears off, leaving you with just the inefficiencies. That said, there are so many things that I enjoy here – the most obvious being that lack of stress in my life. This is partially an effect of the more relaxed Mexican pace (see: inefficiencies) and partly due to the fact that we don’t have to work our asses off here to make ends meet. I read in the press about the mortgage crisis, falling home prices, job losses, consumer confidence in the toilet, etc, etc. and it all seems so far away. The garbage man comes by and rings his cowbell every day, likewise the ice cream scooter passes with its recorded and bizarrely distorted tune, we gets the kids off to school, fart around the house, take naps, read, go to movies or rent
videos, eat and sleep well – it feels like life as it’s meant to be lived.
