Almost back to normal

The past couple of weeks have been very busy which has kept me from many of my normal activities including writing posts to this blog.  Hopefully I will get back into a more comfortable routine and will be able to get back to two or three posts a week.

So last Monday Jo Ann came back across the border after packing up the rest of our stuff from the US.  Her two cousins Matt and Jerry shared the ride with her so from Tuesday until Saturday we were heavy into the tourist scene.  On Tuesday we bummed around San Miguel as well as going to the weekly Tiengas for some shopping.

After the trip to town and the Tiengas, we then did a hike down to the arroyo and up the dry river.  Since we have not had any rain for the past two weeks, most of the river bed is dry.  However the dogs found one nice large pond and made the most of it.

 

On Wednesday we hiked from Rancho La Luz to La Gruta though the small town of Rancho Viejo.  It is about a five mile walk each way as we go through Atotonilco, which has this wonderfully restored church.

And of course a bunch of street vendors that are selling various religious artifacts.

The pools at La Gruta are from the thermal springs in the area and are so comfortable.  The grounds are very tropical, which is so different from the normal local vegetation, but beautiful just the same.

Thursday then held a wonderful tour at the Hacienda Las Trancas, which is a little north of Dolores Hidalgo.  There are so many wonderful images that I took at the Hacienda, but I will limit the posting to only a couple.

Here are the stables of the hacienda.

And here is one of the beautiful bedrooms.

After the tour of the hacienda we went into Dolores and had lunch and bummed around the town.  Of course no visit to Dolores can be made without some of the delicious ice cream that they sell at the central jardin.

Friday was another day of bumming around San Miguel and Saturday Matt and Jerry returned to the chilling state of Minnesota.  It was a very nice visit, but Jo Ann and I were exhausted from the activities.  We were a little upset though with Matt and Jerry, they seemed to have left their Minnesota weather down here.  Saturday night the temperatures dropped to 0 (32 for those of you in the US) and many of our recently planted native trees and shrubs were touched by frost.  This sure seems early but I am sure that Jo Ann will be able to coach them back to health.

This week is also one packed with many activities.  First and foremost it is the festivals for All Saints Day and the Day of the Dead. There is also a circus in town that we want to go see.  We also have our on going landscaping project and today we start our last project, that being the construction of the garage.  Then we stop!

So here's a big thank you to Matt and Jerry, they had a safe trip home but we hope that they will return again soon.  It wasn't our normal week, but we enjoyed playing the tourist, it is just not something we do often.

End of the Rainy Season, Not Yet!

Two weeks ago we commenced the final project related to the renovation of Rancho La Luz, this being the landscaping surrounding the house.  We had decided to delay this project until we had a good probability of the rainy season being over so that all of the dirt moving and the re-grading of the yard.  As I have commented in earlier posts, we have a problem when it rains, as the water runs down from the pasture and right onto our front porch.  Also we wanted to establish some more typical rancho style gardens, including a cactus garden.

So two weeks ago we commenced the project and started to reshape the yard around the house.  The idea was to establish some burms that would channel the rain water away from the house and to create some interesting elevations to plant on.

We were making great progress and had started planning on where the driveway, walkways and the new garage were going to be placed.  This work requires a lot of raw materials and a talented crew to select, place and secure the rocks into the cobblestone type driveway and walking paths.

As you can see we have plenty of the raw materials,

and a very talented crew. 

However on Friday afternoon we started to hear thunder and by 3p it was raining hard.  Other than a short break in the rain between 6 and 8p, it rained steady until 2a.  When I got up on Saturday, it looked like I was back living in Minnesota as it seemed that we were in the land of 10,000 lakes.

Here it new driveway, just don't stop or you may not get moving again.

And this is the new garage, yes it now looks like a swimming pool which Snickers and Frida are enjoying but it will someday dry out and we will have a place to park our truck.

It rained again on Saturday, almost as hard as it did on Friday evening and as I sit here on Sunday, I am wondering when we will be able to recommence the project.  Clearly the project is on hold for a while, I can only hope that we get some sunny and windy days which will help to dry out the soil.  The good news is that I did not have to water all of the native plants that are part of our reforestation project, but the bad news is that the landscaping is on hold and every time the dogs go outside, they come back a muddy mess.

Planes, Automobiles and ..... Snow?

I was going to call this post Home Alone 2 as Jo Ann left San Miguel on Wednesday to visit her parents and to prepare the move of our furniture down here to San Miguel.  However Jo Ann has encountered another of those lovely trips that the airlines do not want to have published.

She was scheduled to leave the Leon airport at 7:10 so off she goes at 3:45a to reach the airport in order to comply with the "rules and regulations" of the airlines.  After checking in and going to the gate all she sees is a dark airplane (well at least the plane is at the gate).  At 7a there is still no signs of life on the airplane so she calls me and I check the web which shows that the flight is still scheduled to leave at 7:10 without delay.  Around 7:40 the airline's web site finally shows that the flight is delayed but she should still make it in time to catch her connection.

At 8:15 Jo Ann goes to ask the lone ticket agent what is happening with the flight and she is told that there is a major fire at the DFW airport,.  I then checked the web and I can't find any notice of this "major" fire, so I relay the news that this comment is quite suspect.  Around 9a Jo Ann calls again to say that they are boarding so she may still make here connection.  Alas after boarding they had to deplane as they were told that there was mechanical problems.

So finally around 10a they are boarded and take off.  Of course, Jo Ann misses her 11a connecting flight from DFW but is able to catch the 1:10p flight to MSP. 

When she arrives in Minneapolis, it is snowing and the temperature is 32, this is October 11, not December.   To top off this flight from h*ll the airline lost her luggage and told her that they had no idea where it was located, I am sure glad they have the high tech systems to track luggage.

Her cousin Matt was there to pick her up and they made the five hour drive in blowing snow and windy conditions.  Gratefully they made it safely, but there was about 2 inches of snow on the ground. 

Yesterday it continued to snow with the high of only 34.  I just got off the phone with her this morning and at 7:30 there is close to seven inches of snow on the ground and the temperature is 22 with a 15 degree wind chill.  I did not have the heart to tell her that it was 65 and sunny down here, she will probably read this and scream.

Last night the airline called to say that they had found her luggage and hoped to get it to her on Friday, however, if not it would not arrive until Monday as FedEx does not deliver on Saturday where we have our house in Northern Minnesota.

Jo Ann is in great spirits considering this trip but as someone who use to travel and average of 200,000 air miles a year in my professional career, I am just amazed by how the level in the airline industry has continued to decline.  No wonder no one wants to fly any more.

Follow up on patience

Since the post earlier this week, I have had to face more events that have been testing my boundaries of patience.  As I mentioned we have commenced a project to re-grade the land around our house as the current grade allows the water from our heavy rains to drain to the house and creates large ponds of water outside our front door. 

We have not had any flooding inside the house but on several occasions this summer it was close.  Thus this project was commenced and as you can see there is a lot of dirt being moved around by the back hoe.

However on Wednesday afternoon the back hoe tore up our main electricity lines and the house was completely without power.  I am grateful that our contractor and electrician were able to come out any by 9p we had partial power back to the house.  Then yesterday they came back and established power to the rest of the house, albeit via a temporary solution where I have power lines running all over the ground that need to be inserted into PVC conduit and buried underground.  This was suppose to be done yesterday afternoon but I could not find them to determine when we were going to get the work done.

I was starting to have a significant break down as I also have a friend in town who needs some major computer work done (she can't get her computer to boot properly and I need to get there to deal with it), we have several appointments today with local schools related to our work with Patronato Pro Niños and I really want to get the power lines underground before anything else serious can happen.

Then around 9p last night I get a call from my contractor and he says that everything will be done today (I am writing this on Friday morning), but that they had another emergency and could not get out there yesterday.  So I relaxed and realized I need to slow down a little and just enjoy the process.

Then this morning I was reading some of the blog postings that I have in my rss reader, and I came upon this touching story about some blind children learning to deal with their lost of sight.  I guess I just to realize how insignificant my problems are compared to some others that really have some difficult issues to deal with.  You can read this posting at http://www.mexicanpictures.com/headingeast/2006/10/blind-leading-blind.html

Learning patience

From wikipedia, patience is the ability to endure waiting, delay or provocation without becoming annoyed or upset, or to persevere calmly when faced with difficulties.

People who have known me for a long time, know that I am not a man of patience.  In business we always had to deliver to the client before their expectations (we almost always did), in sports we always had to win (although we didn't) and sometimes (many times?) in my relationship with Jo Ann I demand perfection (which is also a major fault but we can discuss that later).

So moving to Mexico is opening a whole new chapter for me, it is the need to learn patience.  I have three examples of why you need to learn the art of patience if you are going to move to Mexico.

Last week we were suppose to start a project to re-grade the front yard of our property.   The current slope has all of the water from the rains run down to the front door of the house and creates a lake outside the front door.  Although we have never had it flood into the house it has been close so this needs to be done.  Well they were suppose to start last Tuesday, but did not show.  We got an email from them that said that they had machinery problems but would be there Wednesday.  Guess what no shows on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.  My old self would have been going nuclear demanding that they get over here and start, etc. etc.  However, I was able to just let it go and they did come this past Monday and are doing a wonderful job.

We are also almost done with the renovations to the house, we have four relatively small open items left on the contractors punch list.  Well I have been calling him for three weeks and sending emails, he finally called me yesterday to say that he was going off to vacation this week but would be out that afternoon to close out three of the open items and arrange for the fourth to be completed.  Well guess what another no show, and I can either blow a gasket or I can just continue to try to reach him this week before he goes on vacation.

Finally and probably the most frustrating is the problems I having with my Internet provider.  I love the Internet, the ability to research new things, to view various photoblogs, to communicate with friends, etc. so to me high speed Internet is a requirement.  We don't have a TV but I can not live without high speed Internet (you get my point).  Well for the past month I have been trying to get my Internet access stable, it is up, down, fast, slow, just completely unstable.  So yesterday they came out and swapped my broadband modem saying that would solve the problem.  Well last night I was down for the entire evening and this morning it has been up and down.   I know that these guys are trying very hard, but they blame TelMex (who provides the DSL connection), the need for a new high speed router in their back office, and who knows what else.  I probably get most upset about this problem but I am learning to live with sporadic connectivity.  However, I do have hope that this one can get solved.

So moral of this posting, is if you are coming to Mexico, don't expect customer service like you get in the US.  It is a different culture and the people you are working with don't have all of the latest technology and tools.  They try the hardest that they can but sometimes things just don't work out as you planned.  That is just part of the adventure.