Log #60, September
Enjoying the Rainy Season in Santiago
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28 September
Property Values in the 'Hood...and Camping Out at Home
Plaza Miramar before Oxxo construction
Corner lot
Interesting to watch property values in the 'hood. The corner lot on our Calle Dos is for sale. It was just cleared and dozed, making it look level, but it's really not. You can see the tops of the trees below and get a feel for the drop off, behind.
The listing has it valued at US $120,000 - two or three lots combined, but still seems pricey. At 1,175 square meters, it's three times the size of the SolCasa lot. The adjoining corner on the main road is being developed, which may be pushing up property values. There's an Oxxo quickie mart under construction and an office building, Plaza Miramar, just completed and already partially populated.
Lot plus house
Across the street from the big lot is another one for sale. It comes with a little house on the bottom, a huge retaining wall and a view lot on top. Listing price is US $80,000.
Bathroom sink
Back at #11, Camp RanaQuemada, the plumbers have started digging up the sewer line and the front septic tank (fixer files). In response, we've had to transfer bathroom duties to icky bathroom #3. After I bleached it head to toe, Stan rigged up a sink - that bathroom came equipped with only toilet and shower, I guess the kitchen sink out the back door sufficed for previous tenants.
From the looks of things, this bathroom may not have been used in quite awhile. The reason we can still use it while the plumbers mess with the street connection is because #3 is hooked up to a separate septic tank out back. Once the new sewer line is up and running, Stan and I will decommission the tank in back. We're paying close attention to how it's done. Thankfully, it wasn't installed underneath flooring like the front tank.
We're feeling righteous about the conversion to city sewer. The SolCasa's septic system will be two less tanks leeching down into Santiago Bay. With the high water table here in the hood, it's scarey to think about the effects of a town-full of leech fields.
Kitchen
Kitchen sink
Stan had also rigged up a plumbing arrangement for our kitchen sink. Good for recycling. I dump dish water on the cedar trees. The rest of the camp kitchen is covered in dishcloths to keep out dust (yeah, right).
While Stan and Rosie lived alone, he went out and purchased the cheapest little portable cooktop he could find. It's sitting over there on the table next to the fridge. For US $25 he got exactly what he paid for. On the first plug-in, the left burner didn't heat. Thank goodness Stan's a certified Mexican electrician (isn't everyone?). He took the thing apart and found that the manufacturer neglected to attach the burner to the on-switch. Since fixing that little problem, he's had to go back under the burners two more times to re-attach different wires.
I hate it when sparks jump at me when I turn an appliance on, but as long as Stan can keep the cheap piece of junk boiling the coffee water and pasta noodles, we're content. Just crossing our fingers that it lasts until we can afford the spiffy drop-in gas range we've got our eye on...and the gas bottle to power it. But first, we need the counter to drop the thing into. We had a planning session with the kitchen man, Fernando, and are waiting for his pricing. He's working in concert with Armando the plumber/electrician. More on the kitchen plan, later.
21 September
Hurricane Ivo
They say that the slower a hurricane moves, the more power it can build. Above twelve knots is supposed to be a nice hurricane speed, too fast to gather moss (energy). Well, Ivo's been poking along at six and seven knots for two days, now, and hanging out due west of Manzanillo. But he's still a Category 1 - if he goes anywhere, it'll be over the southern Baja, but there's also a chance he'll dance around Socoro and blow himself out.
Five models, five possible tracks for Hurricane Ivo
September is supposed to be our rainiest month, and indeed we've received some real gulley- washers. On the other hand, in the past week we've only had a few sprinkles, which leaves us steaming most of the time.
Ventilation in the casa is nearly non-existent. Four fans push air from the well-shaded back yard toward the sweltering front. The roof is mostly red with zilch for shade, plus the east and south walls receive the full effect of sun, morning, noon and night, the brick sucking in the heat and saving it all night long. Temps in the kitchen hover between 80 and 90 - at 7:00AM, it's 85, not unlike cockpit temps up in the Sea the last couple of years, without the aid of a sea breeze, since we're snuggled down in our little holler with a hump between us and the ocean.
Whine, whine, whine...I complain now, but the swelter can't be hanging around much longer; there's gotta be a reason that so many people spend their winters here, and I'm assuming it's the pleasant winter-time weather. C'mon winter!
AND I'm certainly not complaining about the magical positioning of our little holler. Only a block from the main beach highway, and we hear no traffic noise what-so-ever. Every once in awhile we can hear a crashing wave or two, but the atmosphere has to be just right to funnel the sound up and over and around and about the condos on the beach and the trees overhead. So I'll quit my whining...just as soon as the kitchen drops to 75º.
17 September
¡Viva México!
Independence Day
A cappella
singing of the national anthem
Presenting the colors on the zócalo
"September 16, 1810, Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla made a momentous decision that revolutionized the course of Mexican history." He called the masses to revolt against the Spanish colonialists with the cry, "Mexicanos, viva México."
The cry has persevered. "Every year at midnight on September 15, Mexicans led by the president of Mexico shout the Grito, honoring the crucial and impulsive action that was the catalyst for the country's bloody, 11-year struggle for independence from Spain." (from Mexonline.com)
The attentive portion of the
zócalo crowd during the
national anthem
Stepping out for a march around town
Mexican Independence Day celebrations are held in honor of Hildalgo's cry of Dolores (festeja el grito) with social gatherings and parades. Stan and I wandered down to Santiago's town square (zócalo) Sunday morning. The whole town was out; groups of school kids, primary through university, gathered in loose formations, some in school uniforms and some dressed in period costume, in preparation for the little municipal parade.
A short ceremony at the square, presentation of the flag, a patriotic song or two, and a little speech kicked off the proceedings. Those lining the square were attentive, saluted the flag and listened to the singing and speech...one step back from the main square and the crowd seemed, um, not necessarily disinterested, but not so interested in the ceremony as they were in each other....
Then the kids formed up and marched off - no parade music, though, Santiago's a small dot on the map, a town without a band, not even a drumbeat to set a cadence. Teachers and parents walked alongside the marchers trying to enforce a semblance of orderly left/right, left/right, straight lines, uniformity. Moms pushed and pulled kids into line and lackadaisical teachers called cadence ("izquierdo, izquierdo" sounding like "care-doe, care-doe"). Not much helped them stay in step. Those of us whose prior lives included military charm schools got a real kick out of the relaxed formalities - we both enjoyed it immensely.
Stan and I wandered with the parade for four blocks, then headed straight down the road towards home when the marchers made a right turn, home and our sopa and pozole breakfast. We were left with the impression that pomp and circumstance is NOT what Mexican Independence Day is all about. Refreshing for those of us raised that pledging allegience, memorizing the words to the national anthem, and flag-waving = patriotism. Very refreshing.
Parade of a different sort headed in the other direction
10 September
Extraneous House Chores
First things first when settling into a new space, and that is making the inmates happy.
Scratching post in progress
i gotz mei i on u
Rope is sold by the kilo at the plumería. Fifty meters equals three and some odd kilos of this particularly delectable, scratchable hemp (around US$6/kilo). Stan's wrapped 200 meters, so far, and it looks like we'll need that much, again. Hafta wait and see how much room the carpeted shelves use.
While Stan wrapped and tugged and pounded on the hemp, Gale supervised from his new toy. New to him - we've been hauling it around with us ever since our trip to Nogales last winter...finally had enough space to erect it in the RanaQuemada SolCasa. It just fits the scratching post.
Function test by QA
Kitties aren't the only ones to be kept happy. Mama RanaQuemada is also happy these days cuz she gots HOT WATER.
Waterheater hookup
Hot water line and valve into shower
Fruits of another trip to the US was this lovely little white box that makes diving into a shower less of a jolt. Stan hooked it up, temporarily, to see how we liked it and if we might buy another one for the kitchen. He used water pipe ripped out of bathroom #1, and plumbed it off the toilet (intake...). Then he ran it up and over the shower wall and T'ed it into the shower with a turn-on valve at the connection. All those years of messing with sprinkler systems on land and water systems on boats has really paid off!
We're thinking that if we do plumb two of these things into our water system, we'll (Stan will) wire them to an off/on switch. The unit has no OFF position. If left plugged in, even when turned all the way down, the unit keeps heating the little 2.5 gallon reservoir. Defeats the whole purpose, in our eyes, of forsaking a standard waterheater. But, if we cut the juice by wiring in a switch, then we think it'll meet our specs.
It meets my specs, already: hot shower...mmmmmmm.
6 September
Henriette Visits San Carlos
Henriette storms ashore at San Carlos
Stan watched the hurricane's progress and reported to our cruising friends in Don Juan, the hurricane hole for the happy hunting grounds of Bahia de Los Angeles, where we spent our last two summers. This year SolMate, under new ownership, was in more jeopardy than the boats farther north. Henriette made landfall right over her head in San Carlos.
Bliss, on land in San Carlos, put up some nice pictures of Henriette: 1st Mate
Here in the SolCasa, Stan and I attacked the layer of stucco dust, in between peeks at our internet weather sites and the TV news. We considered it prudent to clean up the mess before we all succumbed of black lung, what with the heat returning in the hurricane aftermath and all the fans running full blast and stirring up a noxious white cloud.
Our tolerance for discomfort is pretty high after living on SolMate, especially in the early days when she was in the fixer stage, herself. Living in the SolCasa during renovation still seems like luxury to us, even with the leaks (which can't even sink us), the dirt (that we can hose off), and the "primitive" conditions (a relative term). More on the living conditions in the SolCasa, maybe mañana.
3 September
It's All about the Hurricanes
Henriette to the left of us (hum along), Felix to the right....here we are, stuck in the middle with you (rain). During the birthing process, Hurricane Henriette parked on our doorstep. As she meandered up the Pacific Coast, she dumped 9" of rain in one day on Acapulco. As she churned and gained strength a mere 50 miles west of Manzanillo, we received a daily sprinkling to the tune of 3.5 inches.
Henriette and Felix winds
Our protected Santiago Bay isn't receiving the wave action one would expect with a hurricane knocking. Stan and I wandered down to the beach last evening to check it out while rain pelted. Two surfers were out enjoying the swell, which looked to max out at, maybe, six to eight feet? And our wind action has been light, too, especially down in the SolCasa hollow.
The SolCasa is taking this wet opportunity to pinpoint all of her leaks, which are many and varied. First there are the roof leaks. Apparently the repairs the owner made eight months ago were totally ineffective. The roof is leaking, in many places! Then there are the leaks caused by the neighbors. Yep, the neighbors make our house leak cuz they both built structures right against our outside walls (or ours was built next to theirs?). On one side, the roofline of the partially built house holds a puddle up against our wall. The water seeps into the stucco, through the brick, and causes the stucco and paint on the inside to buckle and mold. On the other side, the neighbor up the hill, whose house is almost one full story higher than ours, has a retaining wall that causes the same problem, puddle, seeping, buckle and mold. Insult to injury, out on the back patio, when the rain sheets down, it bounces off the concrete slab onto the lower walls of the two back bedrooms.
All leaks are fixable, but not until the walls and ceiling all dry out in, say, January. In the meantime, we sit inside and watch the elements intrude...and demolish walls to take our minds off of the sealing work ahead of us.
