Hello and Happy Holidays, thank you for being part of this exciting thing called life! I love the holiday season, and the only thing that i miss living in the tropics is cold weather at Christmas. The wonderful feeling of sitting around a fire/table/cozy place with the ones you love. Of course we can still do that here (with the bbq grill?), and we have plenty of loved ones around, but they are "around" swimming, surfing and generally having fun. There is no reason to curl up. So we have to make an effort, that's ok, cuz it is certianly worth it for those big hugs and smooches, good times and laughs, yummy!
Monday, December 12, 2005
Happy Holidays (gasp!)
Hello and Happy Holidays, thank you for being part of this exciting thing called life! I love the holiday season, and the only thing that i miss living in the tropics is cold weather at Christmas. The wonderful feeling of sitting around a fire/table/cozy place with the ones you love. Of course we can still do that here (with the bbq grill?), and we have plenty of loved ones around, but they are "around" swimming, surfing and generally having fun. There is no reason to curl up. So we have to make an effort, that's ok, cuz it is certianly worth it for those big hugs and smooches, good times and laughs, yummy!
Sunday, December 11, 2005
Taaaaaa Daaaaaaa
The first photo is the view from the parking, followed by view of the four suites from the courtyard, Facing the restaurant. The two top floor suites have cute balconies and the two beach level suites have patios with thier own fountains.
The first shot is down the hall from room 1 on the secound floor, followed by the hall continuing around the corner. We didn't get a shot of the front door but this angel greats the occupants of suite 1.
All of these photos are of suite 1. The entrance with the "Mulan" inspired Mosaic on the floor, followed by the bed on the left. Plenty of funky lighting! Writing desk, mini fridge and Air conditionioning are also included.
At the foot of the bed is a fire engine red futon that canbe pulled out to a double bed. To the right in this photo you see the balcony door. I don't know why we didn't get any shots of the balcony from the inside. Next time!
The bathroom is spacious, and the onyx sinks are to die for! The shower head comes right out of a tree trunk! Karina and Gustavo we love you!
Friday, December 09, 2005
The Majahua Bus Fund: Help the kids in Majahua go to school
Majahua is the village to the north of Eden, about ½ a mile. It is populated by around 150 people of those ~46 are kids. There are two small schools in Majahua; one is a pre-school and the other an elementary school, grades 1-6.
Four years ago Anna Mendhem, our restaurant manager, started a project where she went every week to the elementary school in Majahua and took the kids out to the beach to pick up trash. Her visits were very popular and successful. At the end of the season Anna and the kids designed a t-shirt to commemorate their efforts. The t-shirts were great! Everybody wanted one. We started selling the shirts and keeping the money in a separate account. The question now was what to do with the extra cash!
Anna and I had discussed many times the “situation in Majahua”. When you have a community that needs so much where do you start? We observed that one thing that was happening was that most of the kids dropped out of school as soon as they finished the 6th grade. So our initial idea was to start a scholarship to fund the most needy kid in the community to the next school level.
Well that was a great idea. Anna Left Troncones and went to India to study Yoga which left me holding the bag. I called a meeting of all the parents who had kids who had graduated 6th grade the preceding spring. There were 6 graduates. I talked to them about the scholarship and finding the neediest kid etc..This went down like a lead balloon. Basically thdidn'tidnÂ’t understand why one kid would get all the money and the rest nothing. I saw their point. By any standard they were all barely making ends meet.
The local Majahua folk make money in two ways. Fishing or working at one of the beach places (like Eden). Until we came along most of the ladies in Majahua only worked at home. Of course this is a full time job as more often then not they have a whole passel of kids, have to make all their food on a fire and wash all laundry by hand. For a fisherman the take home pay per week is about 100 US$. There are no health benefits, retirement plans, or life insurance. Some weeks the ocean is too rough to get fish and sometimes there are no fish around. So as you can see it is a hard and insecure way to make a living. Now if the Mom works things get better. The starting salary for most menial labor for women is about 60 US$ a week. If they are lucky (like our employees) they get complete benefits and make more than that. So all in all a family with both parents working is making, on a good week, 160 to 200 US$.
I learned a lot about school costs. In Mexico school is free but you have to pay for the accoutrements. It costs about 20 US$ per kid for books and 20 US$ for uniforms each year. OK that seams reasonable. If you have 5 kids in school that is 40 x 5 or 200 US$ a year. Well itÂ’s a lot, but doable. They can use uniforms from the previous years and buy the books one at a time. So what is the big deal?
Well, the Jr. High School is in Lagunillas which is the nearest town on the highway. It is about 6 miles away. To go to school after the 6th grade the kids have to pay for their own transportation to and from school. It isnÂ’t paid by the state like in the US. For one kid to go to school in Lagunillas it costs 1$ each way, or 10 US$ a week. The school year is 40 weeks here, so the math is pretty easy. It is 400 US$ per year per kid to go to Jr. High School. Yikes!
At the meeting things started to quickly go out of the realm that Anna and I had talked about before she left. I decided unilaterally that the parents were right they all needed help. It would be good for Majahua and for the other beach businesses for the Majahua kids to keep going to school as long as they were interested in going.
With the money from the sale of the t-shirts and a 2,000 US$ donation from JimÂ’s Mom, Fran Garrity, The Majahua Bus Fund was born. I hired a driver with a vehicle to drive all 6 graduates to the Jr. High School everyday at no cost to them. The cost to the fund was 60$ a week.
TMBF started in the fall of 2003. It worked well! After the seed money was spent I started to receive money from our guests as donations. The year went buy with out a hitch.
(This was our first "bus" driven by Don Daniel, we soon upgraded to one with built-in benches and shade.)
In 2004 we had 12 kids for the bus 3 new graduates and 3 kids that had formally quit school and wanted to go back. It was great! Kids that had literally been sitting around and doing nothing were back in class. The rate of the bus went up to 100 US$ a week, which seemed fair as we were now driving 12 kids.
The school year 2005 started with a few changes. We had to get a larger vehicle, a van. We now have 18 kids on the bus! We have a new driver too, Marco. The rate is still the same (amazingly). But if the number of kids go up again next year we will need to get another van to go at the same time, so our costs will double. It is kind of daunting the costs going up like that, but exciting at the same time. The kids get to school. If they stay in school they wonÂ’t get married at 13 they might have opportunities for better jobs. They might see that life has more to offer them if they only reach out and grab it!
I will keep managing the bus fund and soliciting donations. It costs almost nothing to run. I put one add in the local phone book and that is it. The difficult part of the bus fund is that it is never over; there is no end date and no finished product. Never-the-less it is satisfying to see the kids getting on the bus, knowing that they at least have a better chance. If you are inclined to donate to the Majahua Bus Fund, send a check to my Mom with “Majahua Bus Fund” in the memo section of your check. Please include your e-mail or address so that I can write and thank you. The donation is not tax deductible.
Thanks to our recent contributors: November 2005
Bill & Mercedes Dorson
Kathy Green
Jan & Barry Wygle
Laurie & Ward Kingsley
Steve from MitraÂ’s Yoga group
Tami & Brian Schuler
Effie & Richard Weisfield
Four years ago Anna Mendhem, our restaurant manager, started a project where she went every week to the elementary school in Majahua and took the kids out to the beach to pick up trash. Her visits were very popular and successful. At the end of the season Anna and the kids designed a t-shirt to commemorate their efforts. The t-shirts were great! Everybody wanted one. We started selling the shirts and keeping the money in a separate account. The question now was what to do with the extra cash!
Anna and I had discussed many times the “situation in Majahua”. When you have a community that needs so much where do you start? We observed that one thing that was happening was that most of the kids dropped out of school as soon as they finished the 6th grade. So our initial idea was to start a scholarship to fund the most needy kid in the community to the next school level.
Well that was a great idea. Anna Left Troncones and went to India to study Yoga which left me holding the bag. I called a meeting of all the parents who had kids who had graduated 6th grade the preceding spring. There were 6 graduates. I talked to them about the scholarship and finding the neediest kid etc..This went down like a lead balloon. Basically thdidn'tidnÂ’t understand why one kid would get all the money and the rest nothing. I saw their point. By any standard they were all barely making ends meet.
The local Majahua folk make money in two ways. Fishing or working at one of the beach places (like Eden). Until we came along most of the ladies in Majahua only worked at home. Of course this is a full time job as more often then not they have a whole passel of kids, have to make all their food on a fire and wash all laundry by hand. For a fisherman the take home pay per week is about 100 US$. There are no health benefits, retirement plans, or life insurance. Some weeks the ocean is too rough to get fish and sometimes there are no fish around. So as you can see it is a hard and insecure way to make a living. Now if the Mom works things get better. The starting salary for most menial labor for women is about 60 US$ a week. If they are lucky (like our employees) they get complete benefits and make more than that. So all in all a family with both parents working is making, on a good week, 160 to 200 US$.
I learned a lot about school costs. In Mexico school is free but you have to pay for the accoutrements. It costs about 20 US$ per kid for books and 20 US$ for uniforms each year. OK that seams reasonable. If you have 5 kids in school that is 40 x 5 or 200 US$ a year. Well itÂ’s a lot, but doable. They can use uniforms from the previous years and buy the books one at a time. So what is the big deal?
Well, the Jr. High School is in Lagunillas which is the nearest town on the highway. It is about 6 miles away. To go to school after the 6th grade the kids have to pay for their own transportation to and from school. It isnÂ’t paid by the state like in the US. For one kid to go to school in Lagunillas it costs 1$ each way, or 10 US$ a week. The school year is 40 weeks here, so the math is pretty easy. It is 400 US$ per year per kid to go to Jr. High School. Yikes!
At the meeting things started to quickly go out of the realm that Anna and I had talked about before she left. I decided unilaterally that the parents were right they all needed help. It would be good for Majahua and for the other beach businesses for the Majahua kids to keep going to school as long as they were interested in going.
With the money from the sale of the t-shirts and a 2,000 US$ donation from JimÂ’s Mom, Fran Garrity, The Majahua Bus Fund was born. I hired a driver with a vehicle to drive all 6 graduates to the Jr. High School everyday at no cost to them. The cost to the fund was 60$ a week.
TMBF started in the fall of 2003. It worked well! After the seed money was spent I started to receive money from our guests as donations. The year went buy with out a hitch.
(This was our first "bus" driven by Don Daniel, we soon upgraded to one with built-in benches and shade.)
In 2004 we had 12 kids for the bus 3 new graduates and 3 kids that had formally quit school and wanted to go back. It was great! Kids that had literally been sitting around and doing nothing were back in class. The rate of the bus went up to 100 US$ a week, which seemed fair as we were now driving 12 kids.
The school year 2005 started with a few changes. We had to get a larger vehicle, a van. We now have 18 kids on the bus! We have a new driver too, Marco. The rate is still the same (amazingly). But if the number of kids go up again next year we will need to get another van to go at the same time, so our costs will double. It is kind of daunting the costs going up like that, but exciting at the same time. The kids get to school. If they stay in school they wonÂ’t get married at 13 they might have opportunities for better jobs. They might see that life has more to offer them if they only reach out and grab it!
I will keep managing the bus fund and soliciting donations. It costs almost nothing to run. I put one add in the local phone book and that is it. The difficult part of the bus fund is that it is never over; there is no end date and no finished product. Never-the-less it is satisfying to see the kids getting on the bus, knowing that they at least have a better chance. If you are inclined to donate to the Majahua Bus Fund, send a check to my Mom with “Majahua Bus Fund” in the memo section of your check. Please include your e-mail or address so that I can write and thank you. The donation is not tax deductible.
Thanks to our recent contributors: November 2005
Bill & Mercedes Dorson
Kathy Green
Jan & Barry Wygle
Laurie & Ward Kingsley
Steve from MitraÂ’s Yoga group
Tami & Brian Schuler
Effie & Richard Weisfield
Wednesday, December 07, 2005
The latest photo
Hello everybody,Here is kind of a cute photo of the
kiddy-bunks. Hope to have a Christ-
mas one soon.
Monday, December 05, 2005
The Day of the Dead (Nov 1,2)
Esperanza, my right hand person, encouraged us to make a Day of the dead alter this year. Her sister works for a cultural office in Morelia and gave us the instructions on how to make it. We chose to make the altar for my Grandmother who died 2 years ago, Eva Rangnhild, Klundarud Ross.The photo of her that we put on the alter was from her confirmation in 1926.
I found this description of the day of the dead and the meaning behind the various parts of the offerings and the altar. There is lots of information on the internet, but I thought that this summed it up in a special way.
Oscar Guzmán writes:
The sound of the rain, the smell of wet earth, the heat of fire, the color of the sky glowing in the afternoon and the taste of hot coffee: all sensory experiences that we keep with us and that accompany us as we go through our life on earth.
But it isn't always like that. Some day, sooner or later, we cross the threshold that divides life and death, and then our perception of the world, as we know it changes. And red after red is perhaps a more surprising color any other shade that has ever been seen or imagined; the sharpest sounds that have ever been heard and we discover the hidden beauty of the odors that are hidden from our earthly noses...Or perhaps, we won't even need our senses -- sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch -- for the new sensory experiences that our soul never used while life flowed by day to day.
What experiences manifest themselves in that moment? What new textures do we learn? What new senses do we discover? No one has been able to answer these questions that are as unsettling as they are old.
But there is a moment where simple belief is confused with faith, a magical moment in which whatever's out there and our world reconcile, and crying and pain suffered in the wake of irremediable loss of a loved one is transformed. And body and spirit are reunited, the world of the alive and the kingdom of the dead, color, magic, tradition, mysticism untie to form one of the most celebrated parties in Mexico: the Day of the Dead.
The Day of the Dead offering is a living hope to spend just one more day with our loved ones from far away, from a remote place that allows them to return to earth, to the land of tastes, smells, colors, sounds and textures...where they must relearn about senses and experiences that are no longer useful to them. They come back to share our elements, those which surely they also had at one time, and it is our only way to ensure communion in the festivity.
It is because of that the flower zempaxochitl is yellow, so that it can be seen from far away. And therefore the trail of flowers is the first guide that shows the guest to the home, where the altar is awaiting his arrival. And it is also necessary to be able to recognize the aroma of the house, so the guest feels at home, so that he can identify
and enjoy his stay in the place that holds so many memories. It is because of this that incense is used. It should be lit in the house to blend both aromas, so that later, when the guest comes, he won't get lost on the way. It is also said that smell is the only one of the five senses that is used after death. It is developed in order to make the return home a little easier.
The presence of the four elements is required: water, earth, wind and fire. No offering can be complete if one of those elements is missing, and their symbolic representation is a fundamental part of the offering.
Water, the fountain of life, is put in a glass so that those who come thirsty can relieve their thirst after a long journey. Bread, made with products of the earth, is there to satisfy their hunger. Wind, moves the colored papel picado that decorates and brings happiness to the table. Fire, which purifies everything and for this occasion comes in the form of a candle that is lit in their name so that we can invoke our dearly departed.
Later, the banquet, with all its specially prepared delicacies, the most splendorous part of all the party. Depending on the resources and the geographical zone, there are tamales and buñuelos, coffee and atole, beans and corundas, mole and enchiladas -- all the food that the visiting loved one once enjoyed. It is a must to serve the food while it's hot so that it puts off a stronger aroma.
Other key items are the picture of grandma, uncle's hat, the rattle that the baby never played with. Sugar calaveras with the deceased's name on the forehead, and little pumpkins are all typical of this time of year. Images of saints are also present to guide and accompany our beloved back to their new home.
For the children there are candies and fruits; for the adults, cigarettes and tequila. For everyone there is the hope of having our loved ones at our table once again, sharing for a brief moment of our time as we know it...
I found this description of the day of the dead and the meaning behind the various parts of the offerings and the altar. There is lots of information on the internet, but I thought that this summed it up in a special way.
Oscar Guzmán writes:
The sound of the rain, the smell of wet earth, the heat of fire, the color of the sky glowing in the afternoon and the taste of hot coffee: all sensory experiences that we keep with us and that accompany us as we go through our life on earth.
But it isn't always like that. Some day, sooner or later, we cross the threshold that divides life and death, and then our perception of the world, as we know it changes. And red after red is perhaps a more surprising color any other shade that has ever been seen or imagined; the sharpest sounds that have ever been heard and we discover the hidden beauty of the odors that are hidden from our earthly noses...Or perhaps, we won't even need our senses -- sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch -- for the new sensory experiences that our soul never used while life flowed by day to day.
What experiences manifest themselves in that moment? What new textures do we learn? What new senses do we discover? No one has been able to answer these questions that are as unsettling as they are old.
But there is a moment where simple belief is confused with faith, a magical moment in which whatever's out there and our world reconcile, and crying and pain suffered in the wake of irremediable loss of a loved one is transformed. And body and spirit are reunited, the world of the alive and the kingdom of the dead, color, magic, tradition, mysticism untie to form one of the most celebrated parties in Mexico: the Day of the Dead.
The Day of the Dead offering is a living hope to spend just one more day with our loved ones from far away, from a remote place that allows them to return to earth, to the land of tastes, smells, colors, sounds and textures...where they must relearn about senses and experiences that are no longer useful to them. They come back to share our elements, those which surely they also had at one time, and it is our only way to ensure communion in the festivity.
It is because of that the flower zempaxochitl is yellow, so that it can be seen from far away. And therefore the trail of flowers is the first guide that shows the guest to the home, where the altar is awaiting his arrival. And it is also necessary to be able to recognize the aroma of the house, so the guest feels at home, so that he can identify
and enjoy his stay in the place that holds so many memories. It is because of this that incense is used. It should be lit in the house to blend both aromas, so that later, when the guest comes, he won't get lost on the way. It is also said that smell is the only one of the five senses that is used after death. It is developed in order to make the return home a little easier.The presence of the four elements is required: water, earth, wind and fire. No offering can be complete if one of those elements is missing, and their symbolic representation is a fundamental part of the offering.
Water, the fountain of life, is put in a glass so that those who come thirsty can relieve their thirst after a long journey. Bread, made with products of the earth, is there to satisfy their hunger. Wind, moves the colored papel picado that decorates and brings happiness to the table. Fire, which purifies everything and for this occasion comes in the form of a candle that is lit in their name so that we can invoke our dearly departed.
Later, the banquet, with all its specially prepared delicacies, the most splendorous part of all the party. Depending on the resources and the geographical zone, there are tamales and buñuelos, coffee and atole, beans and corundas, mole and enchiladas -- all the food that the visiting loved one once enjoyed. It is a must to serve the food while it's hot so that it puts off a stronger aroma.
Other key items are the picture of grandma, uncle's hat, the rattle that the baby never played with. Sugar calaveras with the deceased's name on the forehead, and little pumpkins are all typical of this time of year. Images of saints are also present to guide and accompany our beloved back to their new home.
For the children there are candies and fruits; for the adults, cigarettes and tequila. For everyone there is the hope of having our loved ones at our table once again, sharing for a brief moment of our time as we know it...
Sunday, December 04, 2005
Happy Birthday August
November 6th was August's fifth birthday. I think that it was the most successful one to date. 12 kids (reasonable compared to the 80 on birthday number 3!)lots of pizza. (Christian was training out new Pizza guy, Jesus. They turned out great!)Two piñatas, one LIFE SIZE Barney and a huge gold star. It was super fun! The Barney was especially grusome as the kids beat him to a pulp and ripped him limb from limb to get the candy out.
Every body got lots of cool temperary tattoos, and a Yu-Gi-Oh cake to finish off. American commercialism is living large in the 3rd world.
The birthday boy, flanked by friends, Samuel,
Eder and Tito.
*If you look carefully you can see
the finished suites in the background.
Every body got lots of cool temperary tattoos, and a Yu-Gi-Oh cake to finish off. American commercialism is living large in the 3rd world.
The birthday boy, flanked by friends, Samuel,
Eder and Tito.
*If you look carefully you can see
the finished suites in the background.
Coming up for air!
GULP! I'm sorry; I have never been very good with maintenance. The fun of making something new is where I get my kicks. Which is one of the reasons that our lovely hotel has kept me occupied all these years. It is always growing and changing. Speaking of growing and changing, here are some long overdue photos of our new suites. These photos show them unfinished, about a month before we opened on the 1st of November. They are actually finished now and we have people staying in them. (Yee Ha!) I am having a friend come this week and take some nice looking photos for the website, so then you all will see the final product. Just a little teaser
These are our beautiful wrought iron railings, the design
is a half heart shape commin in Spanish Haciendas
It took this guy a whole week to make the form for the
hand rail. For you masons; when he was done it was all
pored in place!
This is the downstairs passage way (behind room 4)
It looks way better now!
These are our beautiful wrought iron railings, the design
is a half heart shape commin in Spanish Haciendas
It took this guy a whole week to make the form for the
hand rail. For you masons; when he was done it was all
pored in place!
This is the downstairs passage way (behind room 4)
It looks way better now!
Friday, August 19, 2005
Water Closet Improvement
Things are moving fast and furious around here! The new bathroom is getting the roof today and those cool twisty posts went up yesterday. The contractor says that it will be totally finished in the next week.
As you can see here there will be two parts to the bathroom (how advanced eh?!). No more waiting. I have been told by my friend David Brown that on no account can I have ambiguous signs for the gent’s and ladies respective sides. So I have been trying to come up with something clever. I figured baño would do and the rest can be figured out on a case by case basis. I don’t think that any designation is necessary. Why should the ladies have to wait just cuz their side is full and the other side has a “gents” on the door. Festival seating in the toilet is what I say!
As you can see here there will be two parts to the bathroom (how advanced eh?!). No more waiting. I have been told by my friend David Brown that on no account can I have ambiguous signs for the gent’s and ladies respective sides. So I have been trying to come up with something clever. I figured baño would do and the rest can be figured out on a case by case basis. I don’t think that any designation is necessary. Why should the ladies have to wait just cuz their side is full and the other side has a “gents” on the door. Festival seating in the toilet is what I say!
Tuesday, August 09, 2005
Timber!
Sad but true. I was standing in the courtyard looking at the cool branch that hangs out over the side of the restaurant, admiring it really. I mentioned to Pedro that it looked a little heavy and that we should prune it back so that it doesn’t break. It would be a shame to loose our piñata tree you know.
Well go figure get up on Saturday and it has fallen down. There was a pretty big rain last night and the branch was also full of the seasonal crab apple crop, not to mention upon further investigation the center of the trunk that the branch came out of was half rotten. Dang! It will truly be missed by all, well except by the grass that could never grow there in the corner of the courtyard. I think that I am going to plant a new tree there. It looks so empty.
Well go figure get up on Saturday and it has fallen down. There was a pretty big rain last night and the branch was also full of the seasonal crab apple crop, not to mention upon further investigation the center of the trunk that the branch came out of was half rotten. Dang! It will truly be missed by all, well except by the grass that could never grow there in the corner of the courtyard. I think that I am going to plant a new tree there. It looks so empty.
Welcome Evita Lilia Garrity-Robbins!
Happily, on the 26th of July, we have added to our family to the tune of one lovely little girl. Evita Lilia was born at 4:45 in the morning with no complications. Yeah! She is now two weeks old (today!) and doing great. She sleeps, well, like a baby and is as cute as a button. She stays in most of the time so has yet to make it to the local discos. My mother is coming down to see her on Friday too. As you can see from the photo August is thrilled to have a sister and has been a great help.
Thursday, July 14, 2005
Long time no write
Whoa! I have been overwhelmed! I started out so well and then…. we have been busy! August is out of school so we took a trip to Acapulco, worthy of an entire post itself. And and and who knows what else. It has been raining cats and dogs pretty much every couple of days so the grass is green as are the hills, everybody’s pools, and some suspect stuff hanging on the line. MOLD! We have got to appreciate the good with the bad however and I love the rain. The smells are incredible. There is some magical flower blooming in the hills and the smell wafts down every morning. I have asked Pedro, our handy man (and all around mountain man), what it is, and he doesn’t know. It is an enchanting smell of the color green. Yum!
We have also poured the ceiling on our new suites and almost finished the second floor.
Things do go up quickly. Here are some photos of the day that the ceiling went up. We had to order a big pump truck and three cement mixers of cement to cover the whole thing. That being said the whole process only took a few hours. They get the tube positioned over the formed up ceiling and suck the cement out of the trucks and a whole army of guys to spread the stuff out.
The process can’t be stopped once started as that will make weak spots. And you can’t have that in this earthquake prone place!
We have also started on the new public bathroom. It is less exciting at the moment. Just some bricks sticking out of the ground. I will get some photos up when there is something to show. Our contractor will be going up to Michoacan next week to get a few more of those cool carved posts that we have in the courtyard to use for the bathroom. It will be nice.
Well I am going to make this short so that I can just get it out there and start on the next one. Any requests?
We have also poured the ceiling on our new suites and almost finished the second floor.
Things do go up quickly. Here are some photos of the day that the ceiling went up. We had to order a big pump truck and three cement mixers of cement to cover the whole thing. That being said the whole process only took a few hours. They get the tube positioned over the formed up ceiling and suck the cement out of the trucks and a whole army of guys to spread the stuff out.
The process can’t be stopped once started as that will make weak spots. And you can’t have that in this earthquake prone place!
We have also started on the new public bathroom. It is less exciting at the moment. Just some bricks sticking out of the ground. I will get some photos up when there is something to show. Our contractor will be going up to Michoacan next week to get a few more of those cool carved posts that we have in the courtyard to use for the bathroom. It will be nice.
Well I am going to make this short so that I can just get it out there and start on the next one. Any requests?
Thursday, June 23, 2005
Las Gatas Beach in Zihuatanejo
On Friday I went to Las Gatas beach with August, my friend Lois and her two boys. It is known as the prettiest beach in the Zihuatanejo Bay. If you are at the municipal pier it is directly across the bay. There is no road access to the beach, you have to either walk over the rocks from the end of La Ropa beach, not a long walk maybe 15 minutes, or you can take a small boat from the municipal pier near the basketball court in the center of town.
There are a couple of little windows that you can buy boat tickets from. The price is the same (30 pesos round trip) each window gives out different color tickets. When you get to the part of the pier that the boats take off from, about half way out on the left, the captains will call out white ticket (boleto blanco) or blue ticket (boleto azul), and that is how you know which boat to get on.
It is a nice ride, you get a great view of the city and it only lasts about 10 minutes so no worries about sea sickness. There are life vests on board (amazing)
and shade. Zihuatanejo is a lovely city from the water. The cliff-side hotels and rolling hills are almost cliché, you can easily pick out the most famous ones from the water. La Casa que Canta, Hotel Villa del Sol, Villa de la Roca, and the myriad of glamorous houses higher up. It’s neat.
The dock at las Gatas is on a small rock outcropping at one end of the beach. The crescent of restaurants stretches out to end at the oldest place on the beach, Owen’s Bungalows. The businesses are packed in one after another. I guess there are about 20 restaurants with a scuba center and various bating suit and float shops mixed in.
We went to the third restaurant that we came to. This is Lois’ favorite, called, Chez Arnaldos, run by Noyo who has been in the biz for about 30 years. There is a small blurb on Rob’s page. http://www.zihuatanejo.net/restaurants.html. The food was good and the fish fingers we ordered for the kids were reasonable, but the same cannot be said for the lobster and other high end items. Expect to pay about 25$ a dish.
We took a walk down to the other end of the beach, about 10 minutes, and checked out Owen’s place. I have heard a lot about it over the years. Owen came to Zihua in the early 70’s and is kind of one of the founders of the gringo community there. Anyway it was pretty deserted, no one in the restaurant or on the grounds, just some Mexican music blasting away.
The nicest thing about Las Gatas is the water. It is Caribbean turquoise, with no waves to speak of. There is a line of rocks about 25 meters out that was supposedly put there by an ancient Indigenous Mexican king who wanted to make the beach like a pool for his wives. (This is the basis for the name of Zihuatanejo, which in the native language means bay of the beautiful women). There are more detailed accounts of this history on other sites, here is one, http://www.zihua-ixtapa.com/zihua/history/. But that is the gist.
The rocks work wonders, they make a breakwater and a lovely place to go out and snorkel. It is not deep, no more than 14 feet. You can snorkel on the beach side or on the bay side. Lois’ son went out and saw lots of fish including a school of rays. The day we were visiting there were about 10 other people snorkeling. It didn’t seem too crowded. The beach however was very crowded. Most people didn’t start showing up till about 12:00 but then, every boat that arrived was jam packed. Beware, and arrive before 10:00. The boats stop running at 6:00 pm.
All in all it was a lovely day and a recommendable outing, especially if you have children or love snorkeling.
There are a couple of little windows that you can buy boat tickets from. The price is the same (30 pesos round trip) each window gives out different color tickets. When you get to the part of the pier that the boats take off from, about half way out on the left, the captains will call out white ticket (boleto blanco) or blue ticket (boleto azul), and that is how you know which boat to get on.
It is a nice ride, you get a great view of the city and it only lasts about 10 minutes so no worries about sea sickness. There are life vests on board (amazing)
and shade. Zihuatanejo is a lovely city from the water. The cliff-side hotels and rolling hills are almost cliché, you can easily pick out the most famous ones from the water. La Casa que Canta, Hotel Villa del Sol, Villa de la Roca, and the myriad of glamorous houses higher up. It’s neat.The dock at las Gatas is on a small rock outcropping at one end of the beach. The crescent of restaurants stretches out to end at the oldest place on the beach, Owen’s Bungalows. The businesses are packed in one after another. I guess there are about 20 restaurants with a scuba center and various bating suit and float shops mixed in.
We went to the third restaurant that we came to. This is Lois’ favorite, called, Chez Arnaldos, run by Noyo who has been in the biz for about 30 years. There is a small blurb on Rob’s page. http://www.zihuatanejo.net/restaurants.html. The food was good and the fish fingers we ordered for the kids were reasonable, but the same cannot be said for the lobster and other high end items. Expect to pay about 25$ a dish.
We took a walk down to the other end of the beach, about 10 minutes, and checked out Owen’s place. I have heard a lot about it over the years. Owen came to Zihua in the early 70’s and is kind of one of the founders of the gringo community there. Anyway it was pretty deserted, no one in the restaurant or on the grounds, just some Mexican music blasting away.
The nicest thing about Las Gatas is the water. It is Caribbean turquoise, with no waves to speak of. There is a line of rocks about 25 meters out that was supposedly put there by an ancient Indigenous Mexican king who wanted to make the beach like a pool for his wives. (This is the basis for the name of Zihuatanejo, which in the native language means bay of the beautiful women). There are more detailed accounts of this history on other sites, here is one, http://www.zihua-ixtapa.com/zihua/history/. But that is the gist.
The rocks work wonders, they make a breakwater and a lovely place to go out and snorkel. It is not deep, no more than 14 feet. You can snorkel on the beach side or on the bay side. Lois’ son went out and saw lots of fish including a school of rays. The day we were visiting there were about 10 other people snorkeling. It didn’t seem too crowded. The beach however was very crowded. Most people didn’t start showing up till about 12:00 but then, every boat that arrived was jam packed. Beware, and arrive before 10:00. The boats stop running at 6:00 pm.
All in all it was a lovely day and a recommendable outing, especially if you have children or love snorkeling.
Thursday, June 16, 2005
Electricity in the third world
Electricity is a good thing. We ran the hotel for two seasons off the grid, and although now we have 6 years under our belt on the grid and those early days are fading I still appreciate my computer, an A/C at home and all the other luxuries electricity provides. Jim also lived for 2 and a half years at a site with no electricity in the Dominican Republic. I visited him there for 6 months. It’s funny, we are certainly not the “rouging it” types, why have we ended up in places where one of the basics of modern living is well, not so basic? Who knows! Just lucky I guess.
I looked on the internet tonight and found that ~30% of the world population doesn’t have access to electricity at all. I also found out that Americans use about 6 times as much juice per capita as we south of the border-ians use. (USDE). I suppose there is a lot of incentive for us to conserve here in Mexico as we pay 3 times the price per kWh as Americans do. Yikes.
I have learned more about electricity since I moved here than I thought it would ever know (and not all from the internet). We now own our own transformer (cheaper rates) and have in house meters. We love our tri-phase system, and have regulators on everything to help with the brownouts. They are actually worse than total power outages as motors, fridges and AC burn out in no time running on half power. Generators aren’t worth the trouble, and, always have gravity flow water so that even when the electricity is out you can still flush the toilet!
The reason that the electricity issue comes up again and again is that our on the grid situation is not reliable. As many of our guests know, we have electricity outages about 3 times a season for no apparent reason, (luckily they usually are fixed within a few hours) and, for your information, we have tons more in the summer.
It’s the rain, and the dust – when they get together, they make mud and one thing transformers and fuses and all things electrical certainly do not like to be covered in – is mud. We have seen transformers at night with lava flowing out of them (who knows why). Last night we had about 10 drops of rain, the first 10 drops of summer and those equated to 10 hours with out electricity.
I looked on the internet tonight and found that ~30% of the world population doesn’t have access to electricity at all. I also found out that Americans use about 6 times as much juice per capita as we south of the border-ians use. (USDE). I suppose there is a lot of incentive for us to conserve here in Mexico as we pay 3 times the price per kWh as Americans do. Yikes.
I have learned more about electricity since I moved here than I thought it would ever know (and not all from the internet). We now own our own transformer (cheaper rates) and have in house meters. We love our tri-phase system, and have regulators on everything to help with the brownouts. They are actually worse than total power outages as motors, fridges and AC burn out in no time running on half power. Generators aren’t worth the trouble, and, always have gravity flow water so that even when the electricity is out you can still flush the toilet!
The reason that the electricity issue comes up again and again is that our on the grid situation is not reliable. As many of our guests know, we have electricity outages about 3 times a season for no apparent reason, (luckily they usually are fixed within a few hours) and, for your information, we have tons more in the summer.
It’s the rain, and the dust – when they get together, they make mud and one thing transformers and fuses and all things electrical certainly do not like to be covered in – is mud. We have seen transformers at night with lava flowing out of them (who knows why). Last night we had about 10 drops of rain, the first 10 drops of summer and those equated to 10 hours with out electricity.
Monday, June 13, 2005
Growth!
Development of the beach here in Troncones is always a popular topic of discussion. Property prices and who is building what never go out of fashion. Anyway, I was curious, how much has Troncones *really* grown since we arrived in 1996 (October).
I can’t be completely accurate about the numbers in 1996, but the Troncones area was generally undeveloped back then. The “lot-ified” beach area is comprised of 300 lots spread over about 3 miles of beachfront. When we arrived in ’96 most of the development was to the south of the main beach entrance: all told about ¼ mile of beach and maybe 5 houses, one B&B, and a couple of restaurants. On the other side of the entrance, to the north, the development also covered about ¼ mile of beach and amounted to 2 B&B’s, a restaurant and a few houses.
In total at that time there were 3 places to stay, The Burro Burracho (where we stayed for a week), Casa Ki and La Casa de La Tortuga (where we also stayed for 5 weeks). These three places had 16 rooms between them. There were however already a few new places that were being built. We bought our property in ‘96 and started building in April 1997. By the time we finished our project there was another B&B opening at the same time, Casa Delfin Sonriente, we were the 4th or 5th place to open bringing the total rooms to 28.
Today, Jim and August and I went on a drive down the beach cataloging all of the development. We also tried to count the total number of rental units. We focused on the beach side first.
Total on the beach side of Troncones on June 11, 2005 there are:
98 buildings, of those 98, 61 are private homes, 12 are B&B’s, 3 are Small Hotels (Eden) and 10 are restaurants. 13 of the 98 are under construction now.
Of the 61 Private homes 27 are rental properties
On the opposite side of the road where there was nothing to speak of when we arrived there are 25 finished buildings and 8 buildings under construction.
The last number was a bit harder to come up with as some places I wasn’t sure exactly how many rooms they rented, and, does a big loft with lots of beds count as one room or two? Anyway, a close estimate is about 210 to 215 rooms to rent on the whole beach, including the village.
So in almost 9 years the rental numbers have gone from 16 to 215, that is a ~133% increase every year or 1340% over nine years. Excuse my math, it’s not perfect, but you get the general idea.
Whoa.
I can’t be completely accurate about the numbers in 1996, but the Troncones area was generally undeveloped back then. The “lot-ified” beach area is comprised of 300 lots spread over about 3 miles of beachfront. When we arrived in ’96 most of the development was to the south of the main beach entrance: all told about ¼ mile of beach and maybe 5 houses, one B&B, and a couple of restaurants. On the other side of the entrance, to the north, the development also covered about ¼ mile of beach and amounted to 2 B&B’s, a restaurant and a few houses.
In total at that time there were 3 places to stay, The Burro Burracho (where we stayed for a week), Casa Ki and La Casa de La Tortuga (where we also stayed for 5 weeks). These three places had 16 rooms between them. There were however already a few new places that were being built. We bought our property in ‘96 and started building in April 1997. By the time we finished our project there was another B&B opening at the same time, Casa Delfin Sonriente, we were the 4th or 5th place to open bringing the total rooms to 28.
Today, Jim and August and I went on a drive down the beach cataloging all of the development. We also tried to count the total number of rental units. We focused on the beach side first.
Total on the beach side of Troncones on June 11, 2005 there are:
98 buildings, of those 98, 61 are private homes, 12 are B&B’s, 3 are Small Hotels (Eden) and 10 are restaurants. 13 of the 98 are under construction now.
Of the 61 Private homes 27 are rental properties
On the opposite side of the road where there was nothing to speak of when we arrived there are 25 finished buildings and 8 buildings under construction.
The last number was a bit harder to come up with as some places I wasn’t sure exactly how many rooms they rented, and, does a big loft with lots of beds count as one room or two? Anyway, a close estimate is about 210 to 215 rooms to rent on the whole beach, including the village.
So in almost 9 years the rental numbers have gone from 16 to 215, that is a ~133% increase every year or 1340% over nine years. Excuse my math, it’s not perfect, but you get the general idea.
Whoa.
Saturday, June 11, 2005
Construction in Mexico
We have had good experiences with construction here. Although there have been trying moments and overruns, I imagine they are typical of building in any country. Jim and I had never built anything before we arrived in Mexico so our learning curve was a fairly steep one.
How long does a construction project really take? That is the question we are asked most, and, I think this is mainly where conflict arises when building here. In a way, we are lucky as all of our construction projects are forced into the 6 months that we have for our off season. At the moment we are in the throes of our most ambitious project. The 4 suites, along with the landscaping, many meters of walkways, gray water system and new public bathroom is a lot to do in 6 months! We have set up a detailed spreadsheet with weekly goals and are having the workers work on Sunday.
Technically, this should be the approach of every new home builder. The fact is the longer something takes to build the more it will cost. If you make a point to finish as quickly as possible, with weekly goals and a fixed finish date, you will save money.
There are a few things that are bound to raise the costs of any construction project. Inflation is a killer. It is more than 10% in Mexico. And, construction materials are always the hardest hit. To avoid price hikes we try to make deals with the materials folks in advance and buy everything upfront. The supplier holds the materials on their lot until we use them. Trying to save money by having less workers doesn’t work, even if you have 3 guys working they will take longer than twice as long to do the work of 6 guys. It’s interesting, there is an energy when things go up fast. It somehow inspires the workers to keep up the pace. The best way to save money is no changes! Changes are the ultimate budget killer.
This is one of the many reasons that we love our current Architect/contractor team. They have made the plans on computer so we have had three months to make changes and see, on screen, how they look. Hopefully, by this stage in the game nothing will change!
How is Mexican Labor? Our motto is “You get what you inspect, not what you expect”. We oversee every project personally. If no one is checking, the work will not get done, or the materials won’t be ordered or or or…At the moment, our contractors have a Forman, Ivan, who is at the site every day. It makes a huge difference. The workers on our current project work from 7:30 am to 7:30 pm with two 1 hour breaks in the day for meals. They work in the full sun, in 90 degree heat, and keep going all day. Brutal!
Is a contractor necessary? We have done it both ways. It is way better and totally worth the money to get a contractor. They will come with a team and experience; most contractors down here are aligned with an architect which makes things much easier. Although you can easily get someone to draw up plans at home and shop for bids down here. We have done that too.
That brings us to the last point: cost plus or fixed cost? So far we have always used cost plus as it is the easiest way to work with the locals, contend with the vagaries of inflation and design changes. However, we currently have a contract for fixed costs with Karina & Gustavo. I will have to tell you how it works out. Our completion date is the first of November.
Fingers crossed!
How long does a construction project really take? That is the question we are asked most, and, I think this is mainly where conflict arises when building here. In a way, we are lucky as all of our construction projects are forced into the 6 months that we have for our off season. At the moment we are in the throes of our most ambitious project. The 4 suites, along with the landscaping, many meters of walkways, gray water system and new public bathroom is a lot to do in 6 months! We have set up a detailed spreadsheet with weekly goals and are having the workers work on Sunday.
Technically, this should be the approach of every new home builder. The fact is the longer something takes to build the more it will cost. If you make a point to finish as quickly as possible, with weekly goals and a fixed finish date, you will save money.
There are a few things that are bound to raise the costs of any construction project. Inflation is a killer. It is more than 10% in Mexico. And, construction materials are always the hardest hit. To avoid price hikes we try to make deals with the materials folks in advance and buy everything upfront. The supplier holds the materials on their lot until we use them. Trying to save money by having less workers doesn’t work, even if you have 3 guys working they will take longer than twice as long to do the work of 6 guys. It’s interesting, there is an energy when things go up fast. It somehow inspires the workers to keep up the pace. The best way to save money is no changes! Changes are the ultimate budget killer.
This is one of the many reasons that we love our current Architect/contractor team. They have made the plans on computer so we have had three months to make changes and see, on screen, how they look. Hopefully, by this stage in the game nothing will change!
How is Mexican Labor? Our motto is “You get what you inspect, not what you expect”. We oversee every project personally. If no one is checking, the work will not get done, or the materials won’t be ordered or or or…At the moment, our contractors have a Forman, Ivan, who is at the site every day. It makes a huge difference. The workers on our current project work from 7:30 am to 7:30 pm with two 1 hour breaks in the day for meals. They work in the full sun, in 90 degree heat, and keep going all day. Brutal!
Is a contractor necessary? We have done it both ways. It is way better and totally worth the money to get a contractor. They will come with a team and experience; most contractors down here are aligned with an architect which makes things much easier. Although you can easily get someone to draw up plans at home and shop for bids down here. We have done that too.
That brings us to the last point: cost plus or fixed cost? So far we have always used cost plus as it is the easiest way to work with the locals, contend with the vagaries of inflation and design changes. However, we currently have a contract for fixed costs with Karina & Gustavo. I will have to tell you how it works out. Our completion date is the first of November.
Fingers crossed!
Friday, June 10, 2005
That summer feeling
The best thing about summer in Troncones is the rain, and the worst thing is waiting for it to start. This is the first May since Jim and I arrived that not one drop of rain has fallen! Is it global warming? I do wonder about that since the locals have gone crazy with the field burning this year. It is amazing, 90% of the fields along the road to the highway are burned. It is a bit disturbing, but a custom that seems to be pretty well entrenched.
During the season many of our guests ask us “what is the summer like here?” “How hot does it get?” Well if you look on http://www.weather.com/outlook/travel/businesstraveler/local/MXGR0136?from=search_city you will see that it isn’t really even that hot, 90 in the day and 70 a night. The thing that is tricky is that the weather people say that it is raining all the time. Let me tell you that ain’t so!
It is hard to tell on the weather map where we are so here is a map of Mexico. Troncones is directly south of Lubbock Texas.
>
The only fun thing about waiting for it to rain is the wild “rain bugs” that go off before it starts. They are like cicadas, and make this alien noise that isn’t unpleasant, but can be REALLY LOUD. It is difficult to talk on the phone outside when lots of them are singing. As soon as it starts raining they stop all at once. Then the frogs start in! It is a world of natural wonder here in the summer. The plants go crazy, the frogs are everywhere and bugs in spades. It’s great (well if you don’t mind bugs)! The hills will be green within two weeks of the first rain. It’s like magic. Can you tell that I am really looking forward to it?
At this time there aren’t many people on the beach. There is really that slow down Mexico feeling in the air. We love it! People are always asking us if the development of Troncones has effected us negatively. Well really it hasn’t. We can still go out to the beach almost any day of the week and there will be no one there or just one other couple. Maybe it is because many of the new homes around us are vacation homes not businesses. I don’t know how we got so lucky on that front.
That being said there are a few new places going up right on Manzanillo bay. A guy from Santa Barbra is building a HUGE place at the former municipal beach. It will be 18 months in construction. There is another place to the north of us, maybe 5 lots away, that is also being built. It is slated to finish the first of November, just in time for the wedding of the owner. Stress!! It doesn’t seem like either of those places will change the scene here very much, thankfully.
I love the summer.
Eva Myrth
During the season many of our guests ask us “what is the summer like here?” “How hot does it get?” Well if you look on http://www.weather.com/outlook/travel/businesstraveler/local/MXGR0136?from=search_city you will see that it isn’t really even that hot, 90 in the day and 70 a night. The thing that is tricky is that the weather people say that it is raining all the time. Let me tell you that ain’t so!
It is hard to tell on the weather map where we are so here is a map of Mexico. Troncones is directly south of Lubbock Texas.
>
The only fun thing about waiting for it to rain is the wild “rain bugs” that go off before it starts. They are like cicadas, and make this alien noise that isn’t unpleasant, but can be REALLY LOUD. It is difficult to talk on the phone outside when lots of them are singing. As soon as it starts raining they stop all at once. Then the frogs start in! It is a world of natural wonder here in the summer. The plants go crazy, the frogs are everywhere and bugs in spades. It’s great (well if you don’t mind bugs)! The hills will be green within two weeks of the first rain. It’s like magic. Can you tell that I am really looking forward to it?
At this time there aren’t many people on the beach. There is really that slow down Mexico feeling in the air. We love it! People are always asking us if the development of Troncones has effected us negatively. Well really it hasn’t. We can still go out to the beach almost any day of the week and there will be no one there or just one other couple. Maybe it is because many of the new homes around us are vacation homes not businesses. I don’t know how we got so lucky on that front.
That being said there are a few new places going up right on Manzanillo bay. A guy from Santa Barbra is building a HUGE place at the former municipal beach. It will be 18 months in construction. There is another place to the north of us, maybe 5 lots away, that is also being built. It is slated to finish the first of November, just in time for the wedding of the owner. Stress!! It doesn’t seem like either of those places will change the scene here very much, thankfully.
I love the summer.
Eva Myrth
Wednesday, June 08, 2005
First Post
Hello from the “Bright Side”. I have started this web log to keep in contact with our friends and guests on a more continuous and personal level. Sometimes there are so many things happening around here that I feel like I should put a new section on the web site, but then again, really, most events are transitory and perfectly suited to this medium. We also have long periods where absolutely nothing happens, so who knows how this is going to work out!
I am open to questions and topic suggestions so go a head and write, evaandjim@aol.com or comment. I don’t keep up with the Zihuatanejo message boards by Rob Whitehead at http://www.zihuatanejo.net/ or Joe Lagaduchi’s site at http://www.zihuatanejo-ixtapa.com/ they are both good places to find information on the area; I have put the links permanently in the links section at the right. I will post other good links for Mexico accordingly. However, my intention is to focus more on the home front or at least the beach in front of Eden.
Another inspiration for starting this blog now is that we are making a major addition to the hotel. We are currently in the throws of constructing 4 new suites. Here is a photo of how they look today. The speed at which they are going up is incredible! The started working on the 5th of May
As you see the suites will be situated on the south side of the courtyard. They will officially finish the square to make it more typical Hacienda style. We are adding some cool features to the suites, including central air-conditioning and (hopefully) internet hookup. We went to Patzcuaro a couple of weeks ago and bought a fountain for one of the patios that I think will be especially nice.
Karina and Gustavo Jasso are our contractor & Architect team. They are great, and have made some very nice renderings for us. Which you see here. The drawing includes some things which will not be included in this summer’s construction as well. The dome topped spa and the two rooms on the end of the main part of the hotel. Got to have something to look forward to!
Well i could go on and on, but the most important thing at this moment is to get this posted so that I can start working on the next one!
Eva Myrth
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