Life's Been Good To Us So Far!

We told our realtor we wanted a small home with nice views of the mountains, walkable to the beach where we would be able to have a nice vegetable garden. It was a tougher task then we thought but we got what we wanted. Perhaps it was even more gardening than we bargained for! Leaving our friends was the hardest part about our move but leaving our garden in Shingle Springs was second for me. Most of the year our vegetable and fruits were supplied by our garden.

When we arrived in mid December I worried we would not have time to get a vegetable garden in. The 2 large raised beds had not been planted in for about 2 years. We dug out about 4 inches of what we though was well solarized soil. We added about 4-6 inches of compost. The compost is made in a neighboring town in 50 lb sacks. The maker prides himself in it being organic but obtaining it was an interesting process. We drove to the town square of Santiago where someone met us and said, “Are you looking for Kirby? Follow me”. And so we followed her out into the desert on a dirt road for many miles until we came to a small home with goats, chickens, acres of Mango trees—–and many many sacks of compost. There were also a 3 dogs who very sweet—each one, he said had been rescued from the side of the road. One had a buzzard on him on the day Kirby found him; he and his wife did not think he would survive. They have had him for about 8 years now.

We were to quick to get the compost in, fix the drip system then plant a handful of “leftover” tomato seedlings (obtained by meeting the grower on the side of the road), eggplant and peppers.

I had my doubts that seeds would do well in this strange sandy soil but I went ahead and added seeds for lettuce, broccoli, basil, parsley, cilantro, zucchini, kale, beans and arugula. It was reassuring to see the gardens of our neighbors. One neighbor inspired us to build a compost bin. Brant cleverly took the wood and framed a bin. The sawdust Brant has generated from planing rustic wood to make kitchen shelves have made a great carbon base. We are fortunate to be on a street with great organic vegetable gardeners, they have been quick to give good advice, neem oil, more seeds and even produce. Our former owners left us a powerful blender and I whip up green smooothies for the pile. Already I am getting good compost.

It is surprising how little time I have for working on the garden. The days fill quickly with so many projects, events, pickleball games, and beach time. As they say, poco a poco!

I guess then it shouldn’t have been surprising to watch the rapid growth of the garden. Lettuce and radishes germinated in days–all less than a week. All the seedlings have survived and flourished. We have already eaten many salads, radishes, eggplant, kale and cilantro. Soon we should have had red tomatoes. There have been caterpillar issues but nothing like a glass of wine with a caterpillar mushing session. I was going to put them in a bird feeder but that seemed more cruel.

Now I am trying to decide if I should plant another bed. It seems that I should be able to but I am warned once it gets hot I will get little produce. This doesn’t make sense to me given the heat of our Sacramento summers but we will see.

In the mean time, I am having fun trying my hand at propagation when I see a plant I like. I have stopped short of digging up stuff in the dessert as we are told this is illegal.

I have enjoyed going to nurseries (viveros) where some are so crowded you can not walk through. No prices or labels on any plant! So very hard to sort out. We did a buy a papaya which looks very happy in our yard. I think it’s happy because its getting plenty of water from our gray water system (another wish list item we had hoped for).

So we are back to getting all our salads from the garden and hopefully will be able to switch back to homemade tomato sauce soon.

We had always wanted to go shopping in Guadalajara but decided we had enough stuff. Fortunately our friends suggested we go together and glad we did not resist the temptation (at least so far, ask us after we get everything delivered). People always ask if it was worth it and I think the answer is yes.

We stayed in the cute shopping town of Tlaquepaque (slightly reminiscent of Berkeley shopping area). The bus dropped us off and a cab whisked us away to our hotel. After a burger lunch we wandered around the pedestrian mall. The prices seemed very variable–and difficult to figure out the logistics of getting it home. Many people come here for a week or two and furnish there entire home. I would need to have a tequila infusion to do that!

We were glad we had arranged for a guide to take us around to the stores. (Thanks to advice we received from many). This seemed like a peculiar concept. He drove while telling us about furniture store options. We learned for example that we weren’t going to get a bargain on poolside chaise lounges because they don’t make them in Mexico. So due to tarrifs, trade etc, it’s actually cheaper in the US. Other things were incredibly cheap, e.g., glassware. Beautiful handblown glasses for a couple bucks. The stores were spread out and each specialized in a different product. Once you made your purchases, arranging delivery was very complex. It seemed to take about an hour each time we arranged a delivery. Not really sure why but don’t think we could have done it without Jose interpreting for us. It was a little like deep sea fishing when the guys on the boat do too much work for you. Regardless we were thankful he was there! In the end we bought a couple light fixtures (1/2 the price of Cabo), glass fish, a lazy susan, beer mugs, 2 mexican vinyl chairs and a couch. Our friends also got some great stuff.

During the day the streets of Tlaquepaque were filled with gringos, but at night they disappeared and Mexican people came out to enjoy all kinds of corn, bean, potato street food–cheap and tasty! There was ear throbbing dance music in one area and elegant restaurants in another spot —-and of course good margaritas. A nice way to end the day.

After reading about Tonalo’ was looking forward to checking out the places where the stuff was made and too see a less fancy side to the Guadalajara. I got my wish on both! Prices were much cheaper but it involved lots of walking. In addition the streets were a bit overwhelming. Every inch of the street was filled with indoor/outdoors shops. Impossible to describe but definitely worth it to experience. Once again, too much stuff and not enough arms. And so thankful when Uber arrived!

The food was terrific and generally inexpensive, especially given the quality. They had tequilarias where they had about 100 tequilas you could choose from (next time). And the place was packed with ice cream shops (my kind of place). Many people had recommended the restaurant we went to one night. I thought it was probably a tourist trap, but it was not—it was wonderful.

So would I go back again? I have since learned the famous contemporary architect, Louis Barragan lived in Guadalahara and would love to tour his architecture someday. Perhaps we could come back and tour the tequila farms? I would like to have time to slowly poke through the stores of Tonalo’. And of course everyone asks, did we feel safe? Generally yes, as much as anyone does in a big city with lots of people, but clearly there is also much poverty/drug usage in areas of the city which means there is crime (yup I googled before we went). And sadly there were children asking for money at times. Of course the reality is without poverty it is unlikely there were would be cheap prices. Yes, so hard to have your cake and eat it too (but why would you have a cake unless you ate it—never understood that expression).

I know what you are wondering—did we get the furniture? Yes some of it. We were told when the couch was shipped, and we had been told it generally arrives 4-5 days after shipping. Which is exactly what happened! So about 10 days (maybe 2 weeks) after we left a truck pulled into Mar Y Sol with our couch and lazy susan after completing it’s journey across the sea. The driver just pulled in assuming we would be there, speaking no english at all and saying he had a failed back. Fortunately, our Mar Y Sol friends rescued us. The couches had been safely removed from the very tall truck by the time we got there and we were left with an irritable driver awaiting money and a “firma”. The shipping was somewhat more expensive than anticipated but once we started thinking about it, it really was understandable. (The cost of shipping one couch was about 180).

We finally took a flight within Mexico—from Cabo to Guadalahara. A quick 1 1/2 hour flight then a cab ride to the bus terminal where we got on a “luxury” bus and headed to Guanajautu. The only bad thing that happened on this trip was the food at the bus terminal—-guess that means it was a pretty darn good trip!

It was about a 4 hour bus ride but with legs propped up and my head phones on watching a movie in Spanish the time flew by. One more cab ride and a somewhat difficult but quick walk down a few flights of stairs to the Casa Zuniga. Wonderful to open the doors to our deck and look out over the lights of the city! (Thanks for the rec. Tricia.)

While zipping along in our luxury bus we were able to set up a private tour with a guide on the next afternoon. The morning was spent roaming around the city. Truly wish I were a better writer so that I could better describe it. It was kind of a combination of San Francisco and Cusco. It was hard to stop taking photos. The buildings seemed to glow at sunrise and sunset and the rest of the time it looked like giant box of crayons.

We were very fortunate to have a guide who had been born and raised in the area (as well as several generations of her family), but who also had an undergrad degree in history. She was just the right mix of history and great stories about the city. And of course took us to some great stops for baked goods (formerly her grandfather’s shop), spices and cafe olla (slightly sweet coffee with lots of cinnamon). She was clearly proud of her city but was also able to give us a more accurate history than many of the more “polished” stories we heard.

The food was excellent and very reasonably priced. Veracruzan style tamales and pulque for lunch–just 3 or 4 dollars for both. (Pulque is a drink made from the Maguey plant–tastes just like kombucha). We went to a nice restaurant downtown with a Canadian chef sourcing all his foods locally. I had duck quesadillas. I wish we had more time to sample the street food. A woman made us gorditas from scratch while we watched. She had all sorts of questions about the toppings which I did not understand so I just asked her to “usa tus favoritas, por favor”. Despite how full we were, we managed to go to an ice cream cafe. So many flavors, so little time! We climbed a “ladder” to their rooftop eating area (as recommended by the guide)–fortunately the waitress climbed up the ladder with our food).

Of course with all that eating one must find drink. Fortunately the guide mentioned a tiny unique bar that had some music and botanas (free snacks like tapas). When my phone lost its charge I went to the bar where I managed plug in behind the bar (in a mass of wires) while they let me try a couple mescals. Interesting how everyone has their own twist on mescal–spices, limes added. I was drinking tiny amounts but the guy strumming the guitar was drinking a water glass full of mescal that I saw him refill himself at the bar!

The next night we found another bar with unique drinks on the rooftop. Turns out it is a university student spot. Our waiter was studying classical ballet and showed us some of his strategies for doing classes on zoom.

At the end of day filled with beautiful scenery, very friendly people, and excellent food (23,000 steps worth), it was nice to head back on the funnicular.

After a very nice breakfast at Casa Zuniga (an especially nice treat for our vegetarian friends), the owner was kind enough to take us on a driving tour of the city and a hike through the silver mines. Truly a biography should be written about this man and his wife—and how they built this b and b on the side of the hill in the rubble of a garbage dump. He was an endless resource of information about the history of the city. He was particularly interested in the silver mining history, and he even walked with us into the depths of the silver mine. Between listening to Rick’s history of the city and our guides, I kept wondering why they didn’t just move the city to another less troubled spot? Sure glad they didn’t.

Flooding was the biggest issue. The river going through the center of town used to flood every few years and pretty much destroy the city. So they finally built a large tunnel for the river to flow though UNDER the city. In addition many of the roads are under the city and the streets are left to the pedestrians in some areas. It is a very bizarre network of tunnels with many twists and turns—so glad we did not have a car (thanks for that advice).

The city also played a role in the quest for Mexico’s independence. It is a very complex history, but clearly a place where people were fiercely passionate about becoming independent. The people of the city, very rightfully so, are clearly proud of this amazing place and their role in the history of Mexico. Next trip….Patscauro (sp?)

This is what I can not figure out: this city is filled with beautiful architecture, excellent restaurants, interesting history, cool museums and did I mention rooftop bars?—-and yet there were very very few tourists. This was like going a to a cool place in Italy for half the price with friendlier people—without the crowds! I should keep my mouth shut so we can continue to go back and enjoy but the city needs tourism to maintain the area.

Perhaps it’s the dogs. There are lots of them and they love to bark. Yup, that’s it —the only criticism of the city.

I took vast quantities of photos showing the massive painted doors, tiny balconies, tree lined plazas, etc etc—-far too many to post here. Hopefully I can turn some of those photos into paintings.

After 2 months of agonizing over throwing away, giving away, selling or taking every single object in our lives, we celebrated a couple big birthdays at our Skyline home (Sally’s house). Then the next day we hopped in the tremendously overpacked truck and headed south. To illustrate how overpacked our truck was, I will tell you I put my feet in a big basin and kept them there for 5 days so I could get that basin to LB. (By the way, so many have asked me if I feel liberated and “light” after getting rid of so many “objects”. I do not. I feel done—so that is good.) And so glad I have my big blue basin!

We have been so lucky with weather, until this trip. Our brave friend drove the U-haul packed with half theirs and half ours of our most important “stuff”. It is very difficult to decide what your most important stuff is, and it is a boring discussion but once you realize how tough it is to find simple things like rugs, fertilizer, sheets, bowls, etc, one becomes very appreciative of every inch of space! On the plus side, when your vehicle is this heavy it is far less likely to hydroplane.

Regardless, the 3 drivers were remarkably calm and competent (Brant, Alison and Mark/Lonnie). If we did not have a date to meet someone in San Diego to get our stuff out of the U-haul to take to LB, I think we would have checked into a hotel while the storm passed. The storm followed us all the way to Mexico where the weather was perfect. We drove through 2 days of flash flooding. I have never seen so many accidents—15 or 20? I will have to make margaritas on request for the rest of my life for the 3 drivers.

When we finally arrived at the meet up point to transfer our “goods” to the Tiajuana bound trailer, we were a bit too giddy with relief to truly process the fact we were meeting under an overpass south of San Diego (overpass to give protection from rain), giving the keys of the U-haul to someone we didn’t know who transferred our stuff to another trailer then brought the truck to restaurant we were having lunch at. We then dropped that U-haul off at the back of a pet store because the actual U-haul store was too flooded. This took a great deal of time because they were trying to decide whether of not some big lizard was dead or not at the pet store. Apparently you are supposed to put your finger in it’s mouth to see if it bites, which makes me question why the pet would be entertaining if it’s this hard to figure out if it’s dead, but that is another story.

This is our 5th drive down the Baja. I would say we are becoming experts but so many here have done it 40 plus times. Plus, so many have done the drive on dirt roads for years that it dims our accomplishments. We had no issues at the border crossing. The agents were pleasant–if not mildly disgusted by our truck which could not be searched without causing 5 other objects to fall out. We promised we had no weapons and they let us go. I guess they figured we would never be able to find them even if we did.

Previously we did the trip in hot summer, with many jugs of water stashed away, but this time it was pleasantly cool. We were surprised how few people were at our favorite beach hotel, Alfonsina’s at Bahia de Gonzaga. As in prior trips, good food (actually excellent food this time), good drinks, good enough rooms and a spectacular beach and lagoon. The hotel has been built in a way that really embraces the beauty of the surroundings. If you fly small air craft, I think it’s a quick hours flight from San Diego to their sandy runway. This is the last and pretty much only place to stay before crossing the mountain range to the Pacific side, a several hours drive away.

While the roads are good, they are narrow and curvy and shared with big trucks. There is tremendous beauty with ever changing landscapes. It is a long drive with some unnerving stretches of road but mainly it is beautiful and unique. Everyone should do it once……

The temperature abruptly drops after you reach the Pacific Coast where the whales are raising their babies in the big lagoon. Looking forward to that trip someday! Then we head back toward the Sea of Cortez stopping to spend the night at the oasis of San Ignacio. It’s a beautiful small town, settled in the 1500s when a Spanish mission was built. There is a pretty plaza with more good food and drink. A perfect place to rest…..

Once again we headed back to the Sea of Cortez (renamed Gulf of California?), drove through the town of Santa Rosalia (interesting history) where we stopped for some nice pastries. Then down through the beautiful Bahia de Concepcion and past Loreto before arriving at a new stop for us, Hotel Tripui. A beautiful hotel near a very fancy marina. Someone told us it was rustic. Very odd, the place had radiant heat–how can this be rustic?

Once again on the home stretch to LB! Once again struck by the change to greener even more beautiful mountains. And interestingly, it feels like we are coming home…because we are….

It feels even more like home after this truck brings our pallets of “stuff”. A very exciting day—-we never doubted it would happen for a minute!

I am trying to create this blog so Brant and I can better remember our adventures, but with all the bad press Mexico gets, it is nice to show a different side to the story. We have met so many kind, helpful, knowledgeable people along the way. But mostly we have had fun exploring beautiful beach and dessert—–oh and of course, many excellent tacos and margaritas!

We wanted to have this as a way to stay in touch with friends as we feel a bit anchorless (a word?)lately, but if we make this too informational we realize its a bit boring.

Here is the quick outline so that we can move on to other site specific topics: After completing a near perfect trip to Maine (except for Brant’s broken ankle), we flew to San Jose Del Cabo from Brooklyn (love that city driving), meeting Mark and Al at the airport and picking up our truck out of storage. Very slick operation! They even washed our car.

We returned to our casa, Los Arbolitos, where we spent a week preparing for the arrival of 11 friends. A week later we were back at the airport stuffing 15 friends, luggage and the kindly delivered tote boxes into 3 vehicles.

We had a wonderful week (leaving out those mishaps here and there) that included pizza on Mark and Al’s rooftop deck, a band on our deck, an afternoon at a winery in the mountains and lots of great margaritas.

Sadly their departure was complicated by massive flight cancellations by Southwest Airlines requiring lots of complex scrambling by the group. At the same time, we also learned that a hurricaine might be hitting Los Barriles in a couple days so we moved up our departure date in order to avoid road washouts. We missed the storm by a few hours and our flexible/easy going friends all made it home after a few days. Yup, that’s right a few days!

Hurricaine shutters were quickly put back on and we began our trip up the Baja. We arrived several days later in Shingle Springs where we have been working on the process of what I call “liquidating our lives”. We are almost done and will begin the journey back to the Baja again!

We have been here in Surry Maine now for about a week and leave in a couple days. It is a hard place to describe in a few words but will try.

Where we are staying: Surry Barn. This was a farm … hmmm a hundred years old? So there is a collection of buildings. We are in the milk barn. There is a terrific painting of St. Petersburg in our barn. That is because after it was a farm and after it was a zendo it became a place of music. Our barn housed a group of Russians who worked with a group of Japanese who housed in another area to put together an opera they sang in Italian. Yup, true story.

We are not using the whole barn though we have it all to ourselves. The interior is slightly challenging, especially for Brant , due to low slung beams. In addition you have to go up 2 short steps to get in the bathroom. (Not easy in a cam walker). It is rustic and a bit ramshackle but also beautiful, functional and very reasonable in price. An added bonus are concerts in the hay barn a short walk away, a farmstand on the premises once weekly, easy walk to a nature preserve, a long walk to a lobster shack and getting to meet some very nice folks.

Tomorrow we head to Gloucester then Brooklyn then Mexico. And in a month we sill be back in Sacramento.

So many more pics and videos, but must finish packing. Listened to great Jazz in the hay barn tonight. Nice when you only have to walk 50 feet to your music venues!

I think Brant is a little tired of me photographing mushrooms. I keep saying I will only stop only for red mushrooms white polka dots, but that was before I knew mushrooms came in teal blue and purple. All were photographed in Maine on various trails. There are tons of CBD dispensaries here, but I think growing mushrooms in Maine would be much easier and a more unique market. I had fun reading about mushrooms of Maine, but will not bore you with the details. It is not actually boring but remarkably complex. I did not realize that there are many thousands of types of mushrooms. Below are just a few:

P.S.–The caption for lobster mushroom goes with the pic 2 above, but you probably figured that out.

PPS–I tried to identify the yellow mushroom above and it the computer told me it was a “yellow mushroom”. I tell you this mushroom identification is a very complex subject matter!

Yup, we are still in Maine. We left the coast for a few days to visit the North Woods of Maine. I had never visited this part of Maine of before. On the way, another stop at LLBean in Bangor to return a couple bathing suits revealed that I had apparently never bought them before and thus could not return them without being arrested for shoplifting. It could be the clerk was confused but I opted against arguing and kept the bathing suits.

Bangor is pretty small but has the usual offerings of home goods, TJmax, Home Depot,etc etc…. Mexico odds and end”s needs could be for the most part fulfilled(with a few Amazon orders sent to Maris).

Our first clue that we were going to a remote spot was the loss of phone service a couple hours before we got there and about 2-3 hours on single lane roads. We realized after arriving at our cute cabin on the shore of the lake that we were an hour’s drive from the closest grocery store or restaurant.

While the lake was pretty, I think it was the incredibly dense forest coupled with the ponds and streams that made it beautiful.

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Due to car trouble in Acadia they had upgraded us to a BMW. Given that only the main road was paved, with all other roads being dirt, we stuck out like a sore thumb. Clearly a 49er face mask was not the right choice either. Coupled with needing some wifi or cell connections to take care of Mexico issues, we were slightly limited in our explorations. Getting to trails often required 20 or more miles on dirt roads.

While texting with my stepbrother, I learned he had spent many summers at a family home in the area. In the pouring rain, we found his old stomping grounds and visited the Indian Store (his favorite store–which may have been because it was the only one then). At the store, I enjoyed meeting a high school junior who was enthusiastically putting together an independent study class so that she could get a in a third year of Spanish. I suspect french is more common here, given the town’s location just 36 miles from the Canadian border.

We thought we might be hearing wolves, but glad when our friends back home advised us it was loons. We tried to find a moose but no luck. (The lake is named moose head because it looks like one–a moose head that is) . We missed the 47th fly in by a one day —hundreds of float planes land on the lake. We are not sure why. Next time…..

Definitely beautiful and serene–in that Alaska kind of way, but our advice is bring food, 4 wheel drive and consider a quick trip to Quebec City. Oh, and don’t forget the bisquik. Bisquik is very handy up here…pancakes, chicken pot pie, apple cobbler etc. Now off to Surry, Maine…. a farm converted to an air bnb and music arts center.

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Surprisingly it was not that cold

After a few days in Brooklyn we headed to Acadia which is about a nine hour drive from Brooklyn. As always it surprises me how fast you leave the city behind and enter a beautiful green world. (Of course, with less options for dining and drinking).

We have spent the last 10 days in a cabin which feels remote as we look out over a beautiful meadow with distant views of the ocean, but just a 2 minute drive away is a bakery with my favorite New England Bagels (homemade small, yeasty), and lemon ginger scones. And a 5 minute drive to spectacular sunsets on the other side of the island.

Maris and Miranda were able to stay here with us for a few days. They did a great job of eating, hiking, five crown and scrabble in between telecommunication work.

Hiking and weather has been very variable here. Trails can be a flat road–or straight up the side of a cliff via stairs or ladders built into the rock. The names of the trails should be taken seriously, for example, “Precipice” or “Perpendicular”. We made the mistake of thinking perpendicular meant perpendicular to the shore of the lake. About one thousand feet straight up stairs built into the cliffs, it was clear this is not what the name meant. Very sorry I did not have hiking shoes on that day!

Our favorite trail was Acadia Mountain, about half the number of stairs up to spectacular views, then you scramble down cliffs. Was fun to use some minor rock climbing skills and get a little bit of an upper body workout .

Food is good but pricey. Bar Harbor has changed since we last visited close to 40 years ago. It is a very busy tourist town that we opted to avoid for the most part and stay over on the Quietside of the Island. We did take a 4 mast schooner out at sunset from Bar Harbor (named for a sand bar not the margarita kind. Brant got to help raise the sails:

In summary, Acadia is about the sunsets, the beautiful combo of ocean and mountains, and most importantly, lobster rolls. Now onto Moosehead Lake.

So time to hopefully test negative for COVID and head to Maine via NYC. I realized we have 2 plums in the yard, neither of which really tastes like a plum. The first is the Baja wild plum which has an interesting sweet sour hazelnut flavor. The second is called the Natal plum which I believe is from South Africa.

I questioned the wisdom of eating it because it is in the Oleander family and everything is poisonous but the fruit. It was pretty tasty… sour and sweet. It is compared to a cranberry, but I’d say a cranberry with lots of sugar.

Someone working on our house pointed out that we had a ripe pitaya. (This is same name as dragon fruit but not at all the same.)

Best to just check out pics for this one. It is a thorny fruit that grows off the side of the cactus. The color inside is beautiful…. a glowing magenta. The taste is slightly sweet… slightly watermelon.

I put on my garden gloves to grab it and pull off the cactus… then ever so gently removed the thorns then the thick skin.

Who the heck first thought to eat this?

We bought our home one and a half years ago but the pandemic slowed down our plans. In the meantime our new home turned into a bit of a jungle. Fortunately, Kristina Edge of Edge of the Sea landscaping understood what we wanted and had great ideas.

They cut and sawed and made many piles of our overgrown yard. We unearthed many trees. I enjoyed watching the process of pruning them , turning them into even more beautiful old trees.

We have an amazing variety of trees. Just for starters we have wild plums, desert cherries, oranges, sapote, tropical cherry, mango, limes, lemons, guavas .. etc. We are so glad Bonnie planted them and Beto kept them alive but it was challenging to find them.

We have lots of indigenous plants too. Despite the language barrier they educated us about the plants. There are trees whose sap can be used medicinally… rattlesnake bites? Some for incense and of course lots of palo d arco for building pergolas.

We have many old cacti in the garden. One had fungus at its base. They cut it, chopped the top and replanted it for me. They are remarkably heavy! a wonderful way to perhaps save the old cardon. We have cardon that are probably 100 years old.

The agave are beautiful as well with their blue gray color but easier to walk by when pruned. They didn’t have access to their pruning tool but asked for a kitchen knife and did a quick job of turning our agave into a pineapple.

Make no mistake, it was hot, humid and thorny but they worked hard, laughed a lot, taught us much and were happy to drink any Fresca or Clamato provided, and at the end of 6 days…. interrupted for a tropical storm… all of their expertise made our yard into what we imagined it to be.

We had dinner at Willys tonight and talked with Guillermo ( the owner of willys ) about what we were doing. As it turns out he is an avid Gardener with 100s of plants. We had a great competition as to who had more of each tree. I love how people respect plants here and the food they give them… perhaps the desert helps with that.

With the yard cleaned up, the trees will be healthier and happier. Now time to get the raised veggie beds planted. Oh…. and I think I need to buy a few new plants!

No lawn… just sand

I think we are starting to get in a rhythm… but that could be boring for readers. We had the brilliant idea of checking out a possible event spot for visiting friends while checking out new beaches this weekend. I say brilliant because in the summer the Mexicans know the best beaches to spend the day with their families. Yup… Sunday afternoon.

So we headed La Ventana, an hour from LB . It’s known for heavy winds and was beautiful but windless (summer)… more suited to margaritas and a big plate of food.

So then onto Bahia de sueño (bay of dreams) renamed for PR reasons from Bahia de muerte (bay of death). While we planned on snorkeling we opted for drinks in the bar while watching the boats come in.

Then at last we found a beautiful beach (which we gratefully shared with many others). It was a bit of a drive down a dirt road but about 10 years ago the whole drive was a dirt road. We helped someone get out of of the sand with Brant’s sand tracks. A smart purchase for sure.

The beach appeared to have rocks 15 feet off shore (a dark band) but in fact it was a river of fish. Thousands of fish flowing by. When you swam into the river they just went around you.

Relaxed after our Sunday at the beach we headed to Cabo for shopping. Shopping has changed so much in Cabo … now you can find most things. Perhaps not in the color or size you want but you can find it. They say everyone knows English in Mexico but apparently they are not shopping in Cabo and looking for switch plates and drying racks .

In Cabo, you drive for miles and miles, one resort after another…. so so nice to come home and sit on our roof in LB and watch the sunset. Peaceful and beautiful…. but a long way from Costco (and we hope it stays that way).

We made it.

5 very strong men with great plant knowledge, 5 BIG truckloads (actually 6) , a terrific horticulturist

and 6 days (to be 5 but interrupted by a tropical storm)….

We bought our home about a year and a half ago but the pandemic interrupted our plans. In the meantime our home became a bit of a jungle,. Fortunately a neighbor recommended Chris Edge with Edge of Sea Landscaping (clever name right?). She seemed to understand what I wanted and came with 5 guys who were amazing. Many, many cut limbs, trees, vines, etc. and they were terrific about educating us despite the language barrier.

There are too many trees to discuss but we have a guava tree, we had 4 mangos but cut down 2, 100 year old plums, neem trees, a curry tree, a sapote tree, limes, oranges, etc. I love the indigenous plants. Some use the sap for various treatments including rattlesnake bites. My favorite is used to burn incense.

The agaves needed trimming and we tried to get them a special trimmer (sold out)— so they used a bread knife instead from the kitchen and it worked beautifully. No problema!

Cacti grow in the wild but they respect these old trees and when they found a very diseased one they cut at base then cut off top and replanted for me. can’t believe how heavy they are! I will try to insert video.

They make the work look easy but make no mistake…. it is hot and humid , the plants are thorny with deep roots, but these guys know what they are doing … they do it well and keep smiling!

Tonight had dinner at Willy’s and had competition with Guillermo ( the owner .., Willy) as to had more plants. It is surprising how many terrific gardeners there are here despite limited water but I think there is great respect for the plants and the food and shade they give us. BUT SO MUCH TO LEARN!

What happens when you can’t find the exact desk you want for the right price in Cabo? You visit Jesus and have him build exactly what you want out of beautiful local wood for 2/3 the price ( you did know Jesus is a carpenter—right?).

Yesterday Wendy, Mark and I visited Jesus who lives and works in Miraflores ( the town not the winery). Ordered two bedside tables and an end table to see how it goes. Jesus had a huge smile on his face when Wendy called him an artist. We are going to heaven for sure!

Comment from Wendy: Hey this guy really was an artiste! Beautiful woods … so nicely designed. And to be clear, his furniture was not cheap but this way we could buy direct. We had passed by his very tiny “store” many years ago…. which lacked any doors or windows but did have a roof. There is a tiny sign next to the road that just says Jesus furniture… we had chuckled about it before but finally got the opportunity to see his stuff… thanks to Mark’s persistence. We also got to go to his workshop. I showed him a sketch of a rustic end table I wanted. He said un momento… and brought a chunk of wood in the exact dimensions that he just happened to have. He understood exactly what I wanted even with my terrible super slow Spanish . (He spoke no English but was very patient).

Today we got the fishing kayaks out, got the fin mechanisms installed ( thanks Mike for fixing one of them), got them in the trailer, attached the trailer to the ATV and transported everything to the beach and back without mishap. Kayaks worked well. Drank some beer. Didn’t catch any fish but I still count it as a win! Had a great baked potato dinner at home and watched Ted Lasso. It’s a tough life but someone’s got to do it.

We now have a temporary resident visa for Mexico. Getting it took quite a bit of persistence (and Brant was fantastic at figuring out how to go about it). Also, having Mark and Alison’s input and encouragement was priceless. The hardest part was getting an appointment at the Mexican consulate in Sacramento… to be kind and perhaps truthful we will blame it on the pandemic. After many weeks/months we each got appointments in Sacramento. After completing that process of filling out forms, brief interviews, fees, photos and fingerprints we headed to Mexico with our papers.

Brant wisely encouraged us to sign up to have Marta “help” us through the process. With shopping and beach walks in Cabo planned as well, we headed to Cabo for a 2 day shot to complete the process.

And we did! On the first day we filled out more paperwork at her tiny office, then Marta (with her perfect Spanish) did the initial processing while we did home shopping and sipped cocktails in the pool. She then called to tell us we were ready to complete the process.

Paperwork in hand, with an interpreter at our side ( I firmly believe they speak another language when talking quickly), over the course of about an hour or so we answered questions, photographed and fingerprinted … and walked out with a new card. We even went to the restaurant Martha recommended where we had a delicious lunch that was about 5 bucks.

So what does this mean? We can set up a bank account, bring in more household goods and my favorite…. get in the “resident line” at the airport in Mexico at customs.

So no crazy wild stories about the process… all went pretty smoothly (thanks to Marta). But most importantly we bought a new couch.

So many complain they don’t like Cabo anymore, but it’s still a beautiful place and a good “city fix” when you live in LB. It still amazes us how much it has changed from when we were first came here 33 years. Then there was no marina and a handful of small hotels and restaurants… and even fewer paved roads. Now it’s a filled with mega resorts and everything that comes with a resort city. The beach, the rock formations, and the crashing surf remain just as beautiful.

Alison had to go home and work (boo) but she got home safe and sound (yay). Wendy, Mark and I are getting up early to exercise before it gets too hot. Today we rode our bicycles–first around a local neighborhood, then to the local coffee shop and finally to the beach for a quick swim. Now Wendy is putting beans in the crock pot for dinner (when she’s supposed to be studying), Mark is “working on his house plans” with his eyes closed probably and I am being productive writing in out blog. This is a hard life but someone has to do it.