So much time has passed and so much has happened. So I will try to make a long story short.

LAND-DWELLERS AGAIN!

Well the big news is that we fell in love with Guanajuato, as we mentioned. AND we bought a house. We had been in GTO approximately 3 months, and we and the cats realized that we actually like living on land again. We like having toilets that flush without having to do 2-3 procedures (and later having to empty it somewhere), big rooms in which two people can pass each other without getting intimate, and I wanted a garden again. I want to get my hands in soil and smell the earth.

So we ended up looking at a number of places in GTO with the thought that we would split our time between here during the summer and hurricane season, and the coast during the winter months. We ended up not finding that ideal arrangement of a place that people would rent during our time away, but we could also have for our use whenever we need it. So we decided to sell our boat after much deliberation. We realized that we really DO NOT like the overnight passages. Some people do, and can do well and actually look forward to it, but most passages in Mexico up and down the west coast require at least one overnight to get to different areas, at least south of the Sea of Cortez. And the water is not as clear and comfortable as we thought it would be. AND it is unbearably hot on the coast during the summer. Anyway, we couldn’t afford both, and we really want to travel more to places inaccessible by water! It is easier to get people to cat sit/house sit when you are in a house, versus a boat. And we DO want to travel more, both back home, and to other countries. Having a house and boat tends to make you do one or the other and not have the freedom to explore this world more.

So we are good with our decision, particularly when we found “the place.” It is a larger house than we need, certainly, but hey, we have been aboard a 50’ boat for over 17 years! We are ready for a little space. We worked with a great real estate agent who goes above and beyond than anything we have experienced in the US. Of course, we haven’t bought a house in 20+ years, but this agent, Gerardo, has helped us open a bank account in Mexico, which we had been trying to do for over a year. He has helped with translation in numerous situations, and he is the very epitome of integrity. Funny and kind. Anyway, the first deal fell through, thank goodness (for numerous reasons) and the second deal went through. The place was well-priced, so much below what we could buy in the US, especially given our age and the difficulty people have buying a house when they have no employment. The interesting piece to all of this is that the place was built 30+ years ago, out of stone, cement and brick, but no one has lived in it for approximately 15 years, and the last owners cleared it out, I mean ALL lights, appliances, doors, plumbing fixtures, and in some places pipes! The woman who owned it was from San Francisco, and just never moved into it, and put it up for sale 6 months ago. It is a little out of town (about a mile) which is fine for us, but many gringos moving here prefer being in town. So we went to work getting the plumbing up and running, having a large propane gas tank put on the roof which is what people do here. We have had a great contractor and his worker and if it wasn’t for them, we wouldn’t have been able to move in yet. It is amazing to see how hard these guys work; to see workmen taking a 150 gallon propane tank up our stairs, then up a ladder to the roof. It was huge, and these guys worked diligently to get it up there. And the ladder they used was put together with pieces of madera (wood) that were likely scraps from everywhere around here. I wouldn’t climb one, but they seem to think nothing of it.

The house is a 3 bedroom, 3 ½ bath place with 15-18 foot tile and beam ceilings, and tiled floors. Lots of use of tiles in the kitchen and bathrooms as well. There are two chimineas, or fireplaces, one in our master suite. The bathtub in our suite is more the size of a pool! We would use half the water in town to fill it, so we are likely going to remodel that space. It already has a 4x5 foot shower in it, again with 15 foot ceilings! Many of the ceilings in the bedrooms are “boveda,” (arched brick ceilings), including the guest bathrooms. The house has lots of character and great views of a forested valley and the town of GTO beyond. We are up in the mountains, essentially. Did I mention it also has a pool? The pool needs some work (resealing it, and I would like to have it tiled). It also has a rooftop terrace that has a covered dining/entertainment area. We finally have a place that friends and family can come visit and not feel cramped. There is a rock wall around the property, so the place has a courtyard in front that also has room for 2-3 cars, and in the detached studio – for Ron – there is a large roll-away steel door that a giant truck could easily fit in. The landscaping is mature with bougainvillea, pine and ironwood trees, pomegranate and limes. I might want to add avocado and mango trees, and put in vegetable and flower gardens. There is a stone room beneath the house for storage for anything from tools to wine. I think of the place as Italian Renaissance, and Mexican with a little contemporary thrown it. I will include some photos of the place, both before and some photos of the transition.

Another synchronistic event was that the day we had our offer accepted, we returned to our rental house in GTO to an email stating that the VRBO (Vacation Rentals by Owner) we had rented in San Miguel de Allende for the months of August, September and October had been sold and that the new owners would not honor our rental contract. The guy was very apologetic, and offered to help us find a new place quickly – this was in July, mind you. So we had no place to go. The VRBO we were in in GTO ended up being a very negative experience, which is a whole other story, so we found a place to rent until our house was ready to move in. We talked with our real estate agent and he said that we could probably move in, depending on the closing, the first or second week of August. So everything was working out beautifully. I wrote the guy back and congratulated him on selling his home and informed him that we bought our own place! We really found after several trips to San Miguel, that we liked Guanajuato better – less expensive, more culturally interesting to us, the atmosphere of a University town, the fascinating winding streets and callejones, and less gringos!

So we have been on one long fun, but expensive buying expedition. When you move from a boat (with no furniture or appliances) to a place which is need of EVERYTHING, that becomes your job. We have been traveling to other nearby towns for appliances, mattresses, plumbing, hardware, etc. There is a Home Depot in Leon, two great consignment furniture stores and an ironworker in San Miguel de Allende, a wonderful cabinet maker in Dolores Hidalgo, mattresses in Irapuato! Every week we get calls from Spanish-speaking personnel setting up a delivery time. One day they called about delivering a “fundo” which means ranch, farm, or cover, or cover that has a fan or a fan, depending on who you consult - a neighbor, gringo or online dictionary. Anyway, we didn’t know what to expect. Turns out it was a cover for our outdoor grill – who knew?! Deliveries have been either spot-on on time, or even early. We haven’t experienced the stories of people never showing up or coming hours late. Well, okay, the carpenter for our doors was a few days late, but other than that…. Additionally we have had some time pressure to get the house ready. We have had an anniversary trip planned for a while to celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary in Italy in September. Ron has never been and I have really wanted him to experience it, and cat/house sitters have been planning to come, even if we were staying in a VRBO, which was the original plan. We moved in Saturday, August 29th. The first night was a full moon, and the next night it rained and we lit a fire in the two-sided fireplace between the dining room and living room/open space. It was very beautiful and felt so peaceful and warm. We are very happy with the house and the way it is coming along. We like Guanajuato, and the people around us. We’ve met the neighbors, and the owners of a good restaurant about 4 doors down; past the “House of Laments!” A little bizarre. Everyone has been kind and helpful. One neighbor cleans houses and is helping us with this one. She has been wonderful and works so hard. It took us a while to come to a price, as I have never had anyone clean my house before, and she wanted me to tell her a price. She speaks no English, nor do any of the workers, so we are learning more every day. She finally gave me a quote for 5 hours of work, but ends up staying about 8 hours one day a week. I have tried to pay her more, particularly since we have had guests and the house hadn’t really been cleaned in years, but she absolutely refuses any propina (tip). For those of you in the US who have house cleaners, you would be amazed at the prices here. It is very difficult for me to know how little I pay her, and how hard she works, but I also know that this is the norm here.

WE'VE BEEN ROBBED!

Anyway, that is all the good news! Now for the not-so-good, sucky news. We were on the way to Home Depot, yet again, driving through a town between GTO and Leon. Ron wanted us to pull over and grab a quick breakfast sandwich at McDonald’s. We were the only people in the place and the only car in the parking lot, on a very busy highway. This was 9:00 am on Friday, August 28th. We had just ordered and the cleaning woman started talking to us rapidly in Spanish. Well, our Spanish still isn’t that good yet, and we didn’t understand until she pointed out at our car. We saw another car beside it, and a guy had apparently smashed in our window, reached in and stole Ron’s backpack. Well, he hit a gold mine! Ron had our banking info in it, which he had been meaning to leave at the house, but sometimes it is so hard to cash our own checks here – even in the Mexican bank where we have an account (!), that we carry that info in case we are in another branch of the bank in another town. That info has our signatures in it, and they also got our check book, so they immediately cashed about 8 or 9 checks, totaling $100,000 pesos. That is about $6000 in US dollars. They also got some loose keys to our house, a MAP with a photo of the house on it (!), which we have been giving out to these furniture delivery guys. And if that wasn’t enough, they got an extra key to our car! As well as about 5,000 pesos (around US $300). And Ron’s Kindle. A few other odds and ends. That is the bad part. The good part is that they did not get my purse, which they appeared to have missed. I had locked the car, and had the keys in my hand, but didn’t think we would be in there long enough for something like that to happen. My purse had my visa, all my identification, credit cards, cash, phone, etc., so that was a good thing. They also missed my iPad. We were so in shock that we didn’t call the bank immediately, plus we didn’t think they could cash our checks without verification from our bank manager. So we don’t know if someone in the bank was in on the deal or not. The police are investigating it, I guess. The employees at McDonald’s said this kind of thing has been happening frequently to them and the hotel next door. There were employees and guests outside the hotel when this happened. The employees said it is always the same car and method of smash and grab, and that the police haven’t done anything. But the police say the McD’s employees always claim nothing happened. So who knows? Maybe they feel threatened.

We have been to the police three times now, and to the bank a couple of times. The bank said the checks shouldn’t have been cashed without ID and my signature card on file. But they were. So they should reimburse us, it just hasn’t happened yet. Anyway, we have postponed our trip to Italy. Waaah. We just felt too stressed to do it, and needed to do so much to get the house ready for our catsitters.

FRIENDS & FAMILY - YEA!

The really positive side of our canceled trip to Italy was that we got to spend three weeks with friends from San Francisco, and then my sister and her husband, and their very funny and fully bilingual friends from Roatan, Honduras. The house is big enough for everyone, and we were able to continue to work on it as we enjoyed company and some sight-seeing. We have a restaurant a few doors down, and we are only a mile out of town, so we made lots of trips down to explore, eat out, and take side trips to San Miguel. The countryside is beautiful right now, with the record amount of rain that this area has gotten, so everywhere there are varying shades of green, wild flowers and flowering trees. It is stunning, and we are in mountain country at 7200 ft. altitude. Beautiful sunsets and skies which remind me of New Mexico. Pine trees and flowering cactus!

We have been in the house for about 4 weeks now. The original move-in date didn’t work so we rented a place for another month, and moved in the last few days of August. We couldn’t move in earlier as we had no appliances, doors on any rooms except our bathroom, faucet handles or shower heads, or lighting. We have since added a solar hot water system, added additional bars to the wrought iron fences to keep the cats in, installed two electric fences, added fencing to the upper outside terrace to keep the cats from getting to the electric fence or to the neighbors’ rooftops, outfitted three bedrooms, the living room, the sun room/office/media area, dining room and kitchen. And we have started adding plants to the courtyard and backyard. Hopefully the photos in the photo gallery will show some of the changes.

RENEWAL OF OUR VOWS

Ron suggested that since we weren’t going to Italy, and my sister Barbara and brother-in-law Dave were going to be here, that we should renew our marriage vows. Dave presided over our marriage 25 years ago, so we thought this would be fitting. We invited our real-estate agent and his girlfriend (who speaks no English), as we have become friends with them. He actually dropped all that he was doing when we were robbed and went to the police with us to help translate, then went to the bank with us to help with them as well. We also invited an American friend of ours who is from Taos, and a mutual friend from here in GTO. So the vows were repeated in Spanish, and we had lots of good food and wine and even danced a little. We haven’t had room to dance in a long time! It turned into a very magical evening, and we are glad that we stayed here rather than go to Italy, and that we got married in our new house, with some new and old friends and family. I’m also including some photos from that evening.

So that’s it for now. Like I said, the house is large, and there is always room for visitors - hint, hint. And I have been wondering about whether to keep up the blog, since it is the “Tale of Two Shadows,” and we are no longer sailing. I will let you know…

Abrazos and bezos (hugs and kisses),
Vanessa & Ron