I know you've been missing our weather reports - so here's one: It rained yesterday! Not all day, but what started out as really large drops of rain sprinkling on us in the late afternoon turned into a furious storm with lots of rolling thunder. Didn't last too long - unfortunately - but it was rain. And we need it!
Things are kinda dryish here. The last few years we had storms in January/February, but not this year - so things are dry, the presas (reservoirs) are low, we have to water our lawn daily and the potted plants (including the lime tree) dry out quickly without their daily drink.
According to the weather forecast that Michael posted on FaceBook yesterday, storms are predicted daily for the next 7 or 8 days. What we really need is a gentle, night-long rain so that the water has a chance to soak in instead of running off. Run-off may help as the water makes its way to the presa, but it would help to have some stay local, ya know?
Luckily for Michael and Fiyero, Michael had walked him home from the groomers (Dusty Puppies - groomers to the gringos) before it started raining. We're hoping for the same luck today, when Miyake makes the same walk into Guadiana (a colonia a little over halfway into Centro; not quite to the Instituto). Fiyero looks pretty good but he has an Irish coat; Miyake's already looking good due to Michael's scissoring, but she has an American coat. We'll see what Rod does with her!
I think we're getting ready for our haircuts, too, soon. Will it be before or after our trip to San Diego next week to see Billy Elliott? It's gotta be before our Galveston cruise the week after or we'll have to eat on Deck 9 instead of the main dining rooms!
Friday, April 26, 2013
Monday, April 22, 2013
Yammering On
So months without a peep, and now there's lots to talk about!
Today we met with a facilitator who assists we gringos through the forest known as Inmigracion. With all the recent changes in the last couple of years, we need it!
Last year they hadn't implemented the new laws, so we did it ourselves, using the services of an Escritorio Publica across the street from the Inmigracion building. For a small fee, they wrote our letter for us (in Spanish), created the paperwork for the bank, took our pictures, et cetera. Quick and easy.
However, the new procedures have now been implemented, so we're using the services of someone who knows their way through that forest. The news wasn't all that we had hoped for (going directly to Residente Permanente without the 4 years as a Temporal under our belts would have been nice), but at least we now know what we can do and how to do it.
We've even got a schedule of when we go back to him (our visas don't expire until August), what we'll be doing this year and next (Residente Termporal this year; Permanente next year), how we'll deal with the fact that we're going to be out of the country on our expiration date both years, and the fees that we will be responsible for paying.
So it's a transition to Residente Temporal this August and then to Residente Permanente next August. We can begin the process this year in July and request a permit to be out of the country without a 'real' visa in our hands. Next year we'll leave the country with a 'real' visa still in our hands, but it will expire during our cruise, so we have to work within the guidelines to make it legal and make the transition to Permanente.
Of course, once we reach Permanente status, that's the last visa we need -- no more renewals to pay for, no limits to how long we can be out of the country and still maintain our visa. Guess we'll live making the changeover in 2014 instead of 2013. There's supposed to be a points system that can be combined with years in-country, but no one has even written the guidelines for that process. We should be permanent before it sees the light of day.
Today we met with a facilitator who assists we gringos through the forest known as Inmigracion. With all the recent changes in the last couple of years, we need it!
Last year they hadn't implemented the new laws, so we did it ourselves, using the services of an Escritorio Publica across the street from the Inmigracion building. For a small fee, they wrote our letter for us (in Spanish), created the paperwork for the bank, took our pictures, et cetera. Quick and easy.
However, the new procedures have now been implemented, so we're using the services of someone who knows their way through that forest. The news wasn't all that we had hoped for (going directly to Residente Permanente without the 4 years as a Temporal under our belts would have been nice), but at least we now know what we can do and how to do it.
We've even got a schedule of when we go back to him (our visas don't expire until August), what we'll be doing this year and next (Residente Termporal this year; Permanente next year), how we'll deal with the fact that we're going to be out of the country on our expiration date both years, and the fees that we will be responsible for paying.
So it's a transition to Residente Temporal this August and then to Residente Permanente next August. We can begin the process this year in July and request a permit to be out of the country without a 'real' visa in our hands. Next year we'll leave the country with a 'real' visa still in our hands, but it will expire during our cruise, so we have to work within the guidelines to make it legal and make the transition to Permanente.
Of course, once we reach Permanente status, that's the last visa we need -- no more renewals to pay for, no limits to how long we can be out of the country and still maintain our visa. Guess we'll live making the changeover in 2014 instead of 2013. There's supposed to be a points system that can be combined with years in-country, but no one has even written the guidelines for that process. We should be permanent before it sees the light of day.
It's the Little Things
So, we've noticed lately that the Bosch washer that we brought with us to Mexico three years ago has been acting squirrely. It ran for two years like a top, no problems - even after a few years' use in Reseda.
But lately it had been pausing mid-cycle which required a manual push of the Start/Pause button to resume the wash -- and it always seemed to go back to the beginning of the wash cycle. Then it began pausing several times during the wash cycle including the rinse portion as well as the spin portion. Sometimes the clothes were left quite wet and there was water in the tub (it's a front-loading machine).
We'd given up on it and were shopping for one of the new Samsung top-loading machines - the ones without a center agitator which depended upon jets of water from the bottom and sides of the tub to swirl the clothes around - and operated by fuzzy logic. New appliances are always fun to work with! Bright and shiny, too!
So Michael had discovered that, unless we sprayed water down the detergent chute to wash the liquid into the tub, there was absolutely no water to wash by. So he disconnected the water supply hoses and found enough mineral deposits to block the hard filter that is part of the connection.
A good cleaning/scrubbing (I knew we saved that old toothbrush for a reason) and it was good as new. Filter restored, water flow working again!
No new appliance needed - drat! But it saved us a pocket-full of pesos and we can always spend it on a new estufa (range) that needs looking at. Perhaps better than a new washer - though it won't be cherry red!
But lately it had been pausing mid-cycle which required a manual push of the Start/Pause button to resume the wash -- and it always seemed to go back to the beginning of the wash cycle. Then it began pausing several times during the wash cycle including the rinse portion as well as the spin portion. Sometimes the clothes were left quite wet and there was water in the tub (it's a front-loading machine).
We'd given up on it and were shopping for one of the new Samsung top-loading machines - the ones without a center agitator which depended upon jets of water from the bottom and sides of the tub to swirl the clothes around - and operated by fuzzy logic. New appliances are always fun to work with! Bright and shiny, too!
So Michael had discovered that, unless we sprayed water down the detergent chute to wash the liquid into the tub, there was absolutely no water to wash by. So he disconnected the water supply hoses and found enough mineral deposits to block the hard filter that is part of the connection.
A good cleaning/scrubbing (I knew we saved that old toothbrush for a reason) and it was good as new. Filter restored, water flow working again!
No new appliance needed - drat! But it saved us a pocket-full of pesos and we can always spend it on a new estufa (range) that needs looking at. Perhaps better than a new washer - though it won't be cherry red!
Wednesday, April 10, 2013
A Busy Summer
I know, I know: Where have I been? Mostly here in San Miguel. There just hasn't been too much to write about that I haven't addressed in earlier posts, ya know? How many weather-related posts can anyone read?
We have been a little busy: Friends from Canada who are having their house in San Miguel remodeled visited for a few months earlier this year. Our best friend in town hosted his mother's visit recently. Facebook friends from Orange County visited. All of which called for drinks at La Azotea, dinners, et cetera. So our life hasn't been dull.
Did I tell you that our friend here in town has opened a hostel? Michael got to 'volunteer' to help with the transition from small hospital to hostel. Quite the changeover (before and after pictures on Facebook).
Now we're looking forward to an exciting summer! Not expecting any more visitors, but there's plenty to do. We've been granted a new 2-year lease on our home, so it's time to do some of those things that we've been delaying: More pictures going up (in homes with cement walls inside and out, hanging pictures is a project); reorganizing the bodega (the former live-in maid's room, we use it for storage); install the solar fireflies in the back yard (we've been carrying around that kit for years, originally planning on using them in our home in Los Angeles); sorting out the Harry Potter Memorial Bedroom (it's the closet under the stairs to the second floor). Next up is getting the new light fixtures for the entry and backyard and having them put up; moving the light switches for the backyard lights to the inside of the house; we're saving money for (and window shopping for) a new clothes washer (the Bosch unit that we brought from L.A. has begun acting squirrely); and renewing visas and nationalizing our car.
Nationalizing our car??? Yes, when one converts to a Residente Permanente visa (sort of like a green card in the States), one can no longer drive a foreign-plated car with a Temporary Import Permit (TIP). [The police in Mazatlan have reportedly confiscated three cars driven/owned by recently christened Permanente holders. Yikes!] We've had such a TIP for our minivan since moving to Mexico, as we continue to accumulate time in residence towards that elusive Permanente visa. We're going to try for the visa this year in August.
While we're still a year short for making a simple transition, we're still going to Immigration each year, paying fees, having pictures taken, filing applications for extensions, et cetera. Once we manage Permanente status there are no annual renewals: No more photos, applications, fees - we're just here. The only other step would be citizenship, but with my language skills in Spanish, that's not a good bet! And with Permanente status we don't have to watch our time out of the country. Not that we're gone a lot, but with our current visas, that time is limited. No more worries with a Permanente visa. [I'm hoping that I turned in the correct forms when returning to the country on each trip or they may think I left years ago and never came back!]
If we can't manage the changeover to Permanente this year, we can change to a Temporal visa for one more year and then we don't have to prove income for the change to Permanente next year. There's some question as to whether there are lower fees for the second person if there's a familial relationship. We're dealing with a facilitator who handles this sort of thing, and waiting for her take on our situation. To take advantage of a lower qualifying financial base (if that is so), we'd try for a familial relationship, so we'd likely have to have our California marriage license registered with the federal government in DF [pronounced Day-effay for Distrito Federal] in Mexico City. And who knows how long that would take. Hence one of our concerns about meshing the timing of the car nationalization and new visas.
And just to make things more complicated, our original choice of visas was FM2 or FM3. We opted to go directly to an FM2 visa, so that we could gain residency more quickly. Then they changed the names of the visas to Inmigrado and Non-Inmigrado and some of the rules, but they operated much the same way.
Now we've got Residente Temporal and Residente Permanente to deal with and all the changes that came with it all. After knowing what to expect for the last few years, we're on a steep learning curve again. One of the changes creeps in backwards. The Aduana (customs) rules are based on earlier versions of immigration visas, but the named visas have gone away. So there's the question of what do you do with your vehicle now? Can Permanente holders still drive a car with a TIP? Can they not? What do you do with your car? That's why we're going ahead with the nationalization process - sooner or later we'll need Mexican plates on our van.
So, back to the car issue. One normally nationalizes a car at the border and the process takes up to two weeks. Rather than driving back to Texas, staying in a hotel/motel, eating out for two weeks, entertaining ourselves for two weeks, boarding the dogs for two weeks, et cetera, et cetera, we decided to take advantage of a recent, temporary Amparo and do it long distance. Don't bother looking up 'amparo' in your Spanish/English dictionary; I don't think it translates. Basically, it's the result of a court decision that gives the injured party the ability to do something that they were prevented from doing (which resulted in the court case). In our case, a particular broker was given permission to import cars of a certain age and lineage that would not otherwise be eligible for importation for a limited time. So we were under the gun to make a decision.
We found an agent in Guadalajara ('nearby Guadalajara') who had a relationship with that particular broker, so we are able to handle everything without leaving San Miguel and skip the trip to the border. While a bit more expensive, we don't incur the costs of living NOB for two weeks while the process goes forward, so it's at least a wash.
We contacted the agent, sent all the paperwork and photos via email, and transferred the deposit into their bank account (thanks, Tim, for helping with that! US banks are not very helpful with their rules for wire transfers - even to another US bank). Then we sat back to wait. That was last week.
I'm not the most patient person....so I was thrilled to receive an email from the agent that the Pedimento (the approval of the importation by Aduana - Mexico's customs agency) was in process and would be available early next week! We only transferred the funds last week! When the agent has the Pedimento they will let us know our balance (courier fees, differences in exchange rates, et cetera) and we will make the final funds transfer. Once it's couriered over to us, we take the Pedimento to our local DMV (okay; it's not called the DMV) agency to file it, have the vehicle's VIN verified, and pay for the registration ('buy the plates') and then we're legal! Still need to sort out the insurance ramifications (waiting for a second quote), but it's not required in Mexico (though wise to have it), so that shouldn't delay registering the car - and it sits most of the time in it's little off-street parking space here at home.
And this is all tied back into our visa situation because under the terms of the amparo, we had to possess an FM2/Inmigrado visa. (Which we do.) However, if we had to settle for Residente Temporal visas later this summer and the nationalization hadn't taken place yet, we wouldn't have been able to import the car. We would have the wrong type of visa. And with the way things sometime move in Mexico, there was a concern about which would be finished first. And Mr. Hope-for-the-best-but-plan-for-the-worst had concerns. Which are now ka-puff! With luck - and the creek don't rise - we should have the Pedimento in our hands by the end of next week.
As I mentioned before, we're already working with a facilitator on our visa situation. Once again, forewarned is forearmed. If we need to register things with the federal government, it could take time and might require a personal appearance in Mexico City. And our expiration date on our current visas occurs while we're in Santa Fe, New Mexico for the opera season, so this needs to be planned out. I believe that our facilitator can file our applications for us and then we return for fingerprints and photos afterwards (we return to town the day after the visas expire).
Anyway, that's our summer! Hope yours is good as well.
We have been a little busy: Friends from Canada who are having their house in San Miguel remodeled visited for a few months earlier this year. Our best friend in town hosted his mother's visit recently. Facebook friends from Orange County visited. All of which called for drinks at La Azotea, dinners, et cetera. So our life hasn't been dull.
Did I tell you that our friend here in town has opened a hostel? Michael got to 'volunteer' to help with the transition from small hospital to hostel. Quite the changeover (before and after pictures on Facebook).
Now we're looking forward to an exciting summer! Not expecting any more visitors, but there's plenty to do. We've been granted a new 2-year lease on our home, so it's time to do some of those things that we've been delaying: More pictures going up (in homes with cement walls inside and out, hanging pictures is a project); reorganizing the bodega (the former live-in maid's room, we use it for storage); install the solar fireflies in the back yard (we've been carrying around that kit for years, originally planning on using them in our home in Los Angeles); sorting out the Harry Potter Memorial Bedroom (it's the closet under the stairs to the second floor). Next up is getting the new light fixtures for the entry and backyard and having them put up; moving the light switches for the backyard lights to the inside of the house; we're saving money for (and window shopping for) a new clothes washer (the Bosch unit that we brought from L.A. has begun acting squirrely); and renewing visas and nationalizing our car.
Nationalizing our car??? Yes, when one converts to a Residente Permanente visa (sort of like a green card in the States), one can no longer drive a foreign-plated car with a Temporary Import Permit (TIP). [The police in Mazatlan have reportedly confiscated three cars driven/owned by recently christened Permanente holders. Yikes!] We've had such a TIP for our minivan since moving to Mexico, as we continue to accumulate time in residence towards that elusive Permanente visa. We're going to try for the visa this year in August.
While we're still a year short for making a simple transition, we're still going to Immigration each year, paying fees, having pictures taken, filing applications for extensions, et cetera. Once we manage Permanente status there are no annual renewals: No more photos, applications, fees - we're just here. The only other step would be citizenship, but with my language skills in Spanish, that's not a good bet! And with Permanente status we don't have to watch our time out of the country. Not that we're gone a lot, but with our current visas, that time is limited. No more worries with a Permanente visa. [I'm hoping that I turned in the correct forms when returning to the country on each trip or they may think I left years ago and never came back!]
If we can't manage the changeover to Permanente this year, we can change to a Temporal visa for one more year and then we don't have to prove income for the change to Permanente next year. There's some question as to whether there are lower fees for the second person if there's a familial relationship. We're dealing with a facilitator who handles this sort of thing, and waiting for her take on our situation. To take advantage of a lower qualifying financial base (if that is so), we'd try for a familial relationship, so we'd likely have to have our California marriage license registered with the federal government in DF [pronounced Day-effay for Distrito Federal] in Mexico City. And who knows how long that would take. Hence one of our concerns about meshing the timing of the car nationalization and new visas.
And just to make things more complicated, our original choice of visas was FM2 or FM3. We opted to go directly to an FM2 visa, so that we could gain residency more quickly. Then they changed the names of the visas to Inmigrado and Non-Inmigrado and some of the rules, but they operated much the same way.
Now we've got Residente Temporal and Residente Permanente to deal with and all the changes that came with it all. After knowing what to expect for the last few years, we're on a steep learning curve again. One of the changes creeps in backwards. The Aduana (customs) rules are based on earlier versions of immigration visas, but the named visas have gone away. So there's the question of what do you do with your vehicle now? Can Permanente holders still drive a car with a TIP? Can they not? What do you do with your car? That's why we're going ahead with the nationalization process - sooner or later we'll need Mexican plates on our van.
So, back to the car issue. One normally nationalizes a car at the border and the process takes up to two weeks. Rather than driving back to Texas, staying in a hotel/motel, eating out for two weeks, entertaining ourselves for two weeks, boarding the dogs for two weeks, et cetera, et cetera, we decided to take advantage of a recent, temporary Amparo and do it long distance. Don't bother looking up 'amparo' in your Spanish/English dictionary; I don't think it translates. Basically, it's the result of a court decision that gives the injured party the ability to do something that they were prevented from doing (which resulted in the court case). In our case, a particular broker was given permission to import cars of a certain age and lineage that would not otherwise be eligible for importation for a limited time. So we were under the gun to make a decision.
We found an agent in Guadalajara ('nearby Guadalajara') who had a relationship with that particular broker, so we are able to handle everything without leaving San Miguel and skip the trip to the border. While a bit more expensive, we don't incur the costs of living NOB for two weeks while the process goes forward, so it's at least a wash.
We contacted the agent, sent all the paperwork and photos via email, and transferred the deposit into their bank account (thanks, Tim, for helping with that! US banks are not very helpful with their rules for wire transfers - even to another US bank). Then we sat back to wait. That was last week.
I'm not the most patient person....so I was thrilled to receive an email from the agent that the Pedimento (the approval of the importation by Aduana - Mexico's customs agency) was in process and would be available early next week! We only transferred the funds last week! When the agent has the Pedimento they will let us know our balance (courier fees, differences in exchange rates, et cetera) and we will make the final funds transfer. Once it's couriered over to us, we take the Pedimento to our local DMV (okay; it's not called the DMV) agency to file it, have the vehicle's VIN verified, and pay for the registration ('buy the plates') and then we're legal! Still need to sort out the insurance ramifications (waiting for a second quote), but it's not required in Mexico (though wise to have it), so that shouldn't delay registering the car - and it sits most of the time in it's little off-street parking space here at home.
And this is all tied back into our visa situation because under the terms of the amparo, we had to possess an FM2/Inmigrado visa. (Which we do.) However, if we had to settle for Residente Temporal visas later this summer and the nationalization hadn't taken place yet, we wouldn't have been able to import the car. We would have the wrong type of visa. And with the way things sometime move in Mexico, there was a concern about which would be finished first. And Mr. Hope-for-the-best-but-plan-for-the-worst had concerns. Which are now ka-puff! With luck - and the creek don't rise - we should have the Pedimento in our hands by the end of next week.
As I mentioned before, we're already working with a facilitator on our visa situation. Once again, forewarned is forearmed. If we need to register things with the federal government, it could take time and might require a personal appearance in Mexico City. And our expiration date on our current visas occurs while we're in Santa Fe, New Mexico for the opera season, so this needs to be planned out. I believe that our facilitator can file our applications for us and then we return for fingerprints and photos afterwards (we return to town the day after the visas expire).
Anyway, that's our summer! Hope yours is good as well.
Saturday, March 2, 2013
A Change in the Forecast
So I had just put down the penultimate Lee Child mystery (I'm working my way through them all), when I stretched and looked out the french doors in the bedroom to see San Miguel sunshine! The cold cloud cover that we'd had yesterday had broken up (there were still plenty of clouds, though) and sunshine was streaming in. It wasn't going to be a miserable day after all.
I can hear you now: 'miserable' mentioned in the same paragraph as your personal shangra-la? Well, yes.
You see, homes here don't have central heating. If you're lucky, your home has a fireplace or three outfitted for a set of artificial logs that burn gas. Many homes have at least one fireplace with a gas supply attached. Fireplaces seldom burn wood as it is at a premium here in the central highlands. Most trees were chopped down and burned in the preceding couple hundred years. It's one reason our homes are built of brick and concrete instead of wood-framed stucco. We even have a set of the logs which live in the bodega since moving from our previous fireplace-equipped home.
Our home doesn't have a fireplace (yet - but that's another story), but we do have a portable gas heater that takes the chill off the living area in the early morning. Finally found the adapter we needed to connect the BBQ-sized cylinder to the heater, so we're in business. The fan is a bit noisy, but if we situate the heater just right, it can be minimized.
With concrete homes, we depend upon the sun to warm them up during the day so that they radiate warmth through most of the night; and then the cycle repeats itself with the coming of the sun. This is particularly important when we need to leave a door to the backyard open so the dogs can take advantage of said yard during the night, allowing cool air to envelope the ground floor living areas.
We were just talking a few days ago about the weather having warmed up enough that we could pack the heater away -- glad we hadn't quite gotten around to it! However, with the sunshine now back, things should warm up enough to let us do that. But we'll wait to see if it holds.... At least it hasn't been really rainy while it was cold, as the previous couple of years had really cold January/February weather. And the first year we had only electric heaters, which caused our electricity bills to soar. (We don't use them any more.)
Before this cold snap we had been enjoying sunny weather. Breezy, but not really cool. Even though 'breezy' probably would not have been the word the dogs picked to describe it - were they vocally inclined. It was downright windy. And while I don't mind the sound of the wind whipping around the corners of the house, they get freaked out! Especially when the wind rattles the french doors that are in most rooms. (One reason we don't worry about using unvented gas heaters - with the way windows and doors fit here in Mexico, we don't need to spend a lot of time worrying about that. There's always some air movement.) Poor Miyake starts quivering and it doesn't stop, even when she seeks out our company, up close and personal. And if the wind blows a door shut - watch out, they'll all be sitting on the bed with you.
But it looks like the dire predictions for a low temperature below 30F won't occur - which is good when you don't have central heating!
I can hear you now: 'miserable' mentioned in the same paragraph as your personal shangra-la? Well, yes.
You see, homes here don't have central heating. If you're lucky, your home has a fireplace or three outfitted for a set of artificial logs that burn gas. Many homes have at least one fireplace with a gas supply attached. Fireplaces seldom burn wood as it is at a premium here in the central highlands. Most trees were chopped down and burned in the preceding couple hundred years. It's one reason our homes are built of brick and concrete instead of wood-framed stucco. We even have a set of the logs which live in the bodega since moving from our previous fireplace-equipped home.
Our home doesn't have a fireplace (yet - but that's another story), but we do have a portable gas heater that takes the chill off the living area in the early morning. Finally found the adapter we needed to connect the BBQ-sized cylinder to the heater, so we're in business. The fan is a bit noisy, but if we situate the heater just right, it can be minimized.
With concrete homes, we depend upon the sun to warm them up during the day so that they radiate warmth through most of the night; and then the cycle repeats itself with the coming of the sun. This is particularly important when we need to leave a door to the backyard open so the dogs can take advantage of said yard during the night, allowing cool air to envelope the ground floor living areas.
We were just talking a few days ago about the weather having warmed up enough that we could pack the heater away -- glad we hadn't quite gotten around to it! However, with the sunshine now back, things should warm up enough to let us do that. But we'll wait to see if it holds.... At least it hasn't been really rainy while it was cold, as the previous couple of years had really cold January/February weather. And the first year we had only electric heaters, which caused our electricity bills to soar. (We don't use them any more.)
Before this cold snap we had been enjoying sunny weather. Breezy, but not really cool. Even though 'breezy' probably would not have been the word the dogs picked to describe it - were they vocally inclined. It was downright windy. And while I don't mind the sound of the wind whipping around the corners of the house, they get freaked out! Especially when the wind rattles the french doors that are in most rooms. (One reason we don't worry about using unvented gas heaters - with the way windows and doors fit here in Mexico, we don't need to spend a lot of time worrying about that. There's always some air movement.) Poor Miyake starts quivering and it doesn't stop, even when she seeks out our company, up close and personal. And if the wind blows a door shut - watch out, they'll all be sitting on the bed with you.
But it looks like the dire predictions for a low temperature below 30F won't occur - which is good when you don't have central heating!
Thursday, February 7, 2013
Happy News
Just a little happy note today. Yesterday we had a planned visit from our landlord to look the house over and talk about next year's lease/rent. We have stayed in each house one year since moving to San Miguel. The first house we decided to move from as it really didn't have yard space for the dogs. The second house was being put on the market and we didn't want to deal with realtors and lookey-loos traipsing through the house on short notice. So we were a little apprehensive about the visit - what if she didn't like something?
Margarita picked that day to be late, so Michael and I were dividing up the cleaning chores to whip the ground floor into shape in case Margarita didn't show at all. And then she walked through the door. Relief!
We had been told that the landlord (landlady, actually) was an older person and she had not granted our request for a long-term lease originally because she wanted to see how we kept the house. The last tenant had been 'adventuresome' with paint, we understand.
Imagine my surprise when the landlady and her husband walked through the front gate and they were the folks who had been coming by to pick up the rental checks in recent months, saving us a walk into Centro to deliver the check to the notary's office. I thought they were just saving us the trip to the office.
So it was a friendly visit. Hug-hug;. kissy-kissy greetings. We told them of our desire to replace the kitchen counters (tiles are chipped and bits missing along some edges), add some trees to the back yard, and our hopes for either a new tub in the master bath or conversion to a shower. Although she is not prepared to invest any additional money in the house, she wasn't adverse to our proposed installations.
And then the best news: a two-year lease with no increase in the rent! (I have a feeling that means the rent is likely to increase at the end of this new lease.) Our realtor friend said he was expecting the rent to increase for this next year, so he was surprised, too.
Whew! Perhaps it helped that we had folks here working on refinishing the front door to the house. Or that we always have the rent check ready for them? And the white walls are still white? Whatever the reason, it was good news. This moving each year is not what it's cracked up to be!
Margarita picked that day to be late, so Michael and I were dividing up the cleaning chores to whip the ground floor into shape in case Margarita didn't show at all. And then she walked through the door. Relief!
We had been told that the landlord (landlady, actually) was an older person and she had not granted our request for a long-term lease originally because she wanted to see how we kept the house. The last tenant had been 'adventuresome' with paint, we understand.
Imagine my surprise when the landlady and her husband walked through the front gate and they were the folks who had been coming by to pick up the rental checks in recent months, saving us a walk into Centro to deliver the check to the notary's office. I thought they were just saving us the trip to the office.
So it was a friendly visit. Hug-hug;. kissy-kissy greetings. We told them of our desire to replace the kitchen counters (tiles are chipped and bits missing along some edges), add some trees to the back yard, and our hopes for either a new tub in the master bath or conversion to a shower. Although she is not prepared to invest any additional money in the house, she wasn't adverse to our proposed installations.
And then the best news: a two-year lease with no increase in the rent! (I have a feeling that means the rent is likely to increase at the end of this new lease.) Our realtor friend said he was expecting the rent to increase for this next year, so he was surprised, too.
Whew! Perhaps it helped that we had folks here working on refinishing the front door to the house. Or that we always have the rent check ready for them? And the white walls are still white? Whatever the reason, it was good news. This moving each year is not what it's cracked up to be!
Friday, January 18, 2013
¡OUFF-TA!
[Ouff-ta! - A French-Canadien interjection they use in the U.P., too.] It's cold here today. Woke up to 39F, which is downright chilly for us. This is Sunny Mexico, right? Once we were brave enough to face the chill, we went downstairs and fired up the propane heater, which quickly took the chill out of the lower floor. Upstairs is probably still a bit cool, and the heat only travels up the stairwell. It's an iffy thing but easier than carrying the heater and tethered tank upstairs. Would be nice if we could leave it on low during the night, but as an unventilated heater - despite the leaky windows and doors that seem to be part of the building code down here - it's better to keep it off. Maybe next year we can afford a second heater for the upper story....
However, we shall soon be in a warmer place. Next Tuesday - only four days away, when it's predicted to be zero in Michael's hometown in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan - the weather folks are predicting a high of 81F in Cabo San Lucas. Beach time!
We're feeling a little guilty about going to Cabo this year. A great foody friend invited us to join her in one of her favorite spots - New Orleans - for her birthday in early February. However, search though we did, we couldn't find an airfare that was less than $600 each (too close to Mardi Gras, I guess, and not direct; nothing flies from Mexico CIty to New Orleans without a layover somewhere), plus the hotel and delicious meals out. Our friend can really pick restaurants!
Cabo, on the other hand, is as guests of my brother and his wife, staying in their beach front, 6,000 sq ft, 2 bedroom villa with their own pool and Jacuzzi on the third floor balcony overlooking the beach and ocean. (We'll still be found downstairs on the beach most of the day, before adjourning to one of the swim-up bars.) And the local airline had a great rate: only $103 per person, round trip. Since our sister-in-law has food issues, last year we opted to cook for them and it was so successful that we're repeating it this year. So we're traveling with recipes, shopping lists, and a few things like dried chilies and soy-free, homemade seasoning mixes. We'll still have the occasional dinner out. (I'm not cooking for my birthday!)
This trip covers the aforesaid birthday and my sister from San Diego will be joining us for the weekend. All three siblings will be together at once! (I guess that's the meaning of 'being together,' eh? - as they say in the U.P.) Plus the added benefit of my sister bringing with her all the things we've ordered on the internet in recent months and had sent to their home - anything to avoid the 17% service fee our mail forwarder charges.
We anticipate a week of sloth at a marvelous resort with no TV/radio/telephones. Time to get away from it all! They do have a pretty good restaurant (and many others in town which we will sample), food and drink service to your palapa on the beach, two big pools w/swim-up bars (with 2-for-1 drinks most of the day), a tennis court, a gym, and a spa - so we shan't be bored if the sand proves too relaxing.
Not sure if we're planning on a trip up the coast to Todos Santos this time (Cabo is an annual trip), but it's easily reachable if we have a yearning for wonderfully prepared lamb chops!
And I'll try not to drown this year (again). The resort recently resurfaced their pools with Pebble Tec to replace the easily discernible mosaic tiles. Looks great, but you can't tell where the bottom falls out of the pools!
However, we shall soon be in a warmer place. Next Tuesday - only four days away, when it's predicted to be zero in Michael's hometown in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan - the weather folks are predicting a high of 81F in Cabo San Lucas. Beach time!
We're feeling a little guilty about going to Cabo this year. A great foody friend invited us to join her in one of her favorite spots - New Orleans - for her birthday in early February. However, search though we did, we couldn't find an airfare that was less than $600 each (too close to Mardi Gras, I guess, and not direct; nothing flies from Mexico CIty to New Orleans without a layover somewhere), plus the hotel and delicious meals out. Our friend can really pick restaurants!
Cabo, on the other hand, is as guests of my brother and his wife, staying in their beach front, 6,000 sq ft, 2 bedroom villa with their own pool and Jacuzzi on the third floor balcony overlooking the beach and ocean. (We'll still be found downstairs on the beach most of the day, before adjourning to one of the swim-up bars.) And the local airline had a great rate: only $103 per person, round trip. Since our sister-in-law has food issues, last year we opted to cook for them and it was so successful that we're repeating it this year. So we're traveling with recipes, shopping lists, and a few things like dried chilies and soy-free, homemade seasoning mixes. We'll still have the occasional dinner out. (I'm not cooking for my birthday!)
This trip covers the aforesaid birthday and my sister from San Diego will be joining us for the weekend. All three siblings will be together at once! (I guess that's the meaning of 'being together,' eh? - as they say in the U.P.) Plus the added benefit of my sister bringing with her all the things we've ordered on the internet in recent months and had sent to their home - anything to avoid the 17% service fee our mail forwarder charges.
We anticipate a week of sloth at a marvelous resort with no TV/radio/telephones. Time to get away from it all! They do have a pretty good restaurant (and many others in town which we will sample), food and drink service to your palapa on the beach, two big pools w/swim-up bars (with 2-for-1 drinks most of the day), a tennis court, a gym, and a spa - so we shan't be bored if the sand proves too relaxing.
Not sure if we're planning on a trip up the coast to Todos Santos this time (Cabo is an annual trip), but it's easily reachable if we have a yearning for wonderfully prepared lamb chops!
And I'll try not to drown this year (again). The resort recently resurfaced their pools with Pebble Tec to replace the easily discernible mosaic tiles. Looks great, but you can't tell where the bottom falls out of the pools!
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