Tag Archives: mexico

It’s a Done Deal!

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Well this was a VERY GOOD WEEK and I am reminded – embarrassingly so – that life happen as it is meant to happen, in the timing that is best for us, and usually without a lot of my brilliant help.  God has this – and I know that and I let myself worry anyway.  But this week a lot of stuff came together and I can’t deny that the timing was pretty much perfect on all of it.

We have been negotiating for almost a year to sell Grant’s business and today we received the papers from the lawyer with all the clauses and appendixes and addendums agreed to.  The closing date is January 15th –  it’s a done deal.

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We’ve had our house for sale for 5 months – and we’ve been building it for an eternity before that – but this week we accepted an offer and today we received word that the appraisals and financing and conditions were complete.  The closing date is January 9th – it’s a done deal.

 

And best of all, today we had our interviews at the Mexican Consulate in Calgary.  We’ve been dreaming of this day and researching the process for many months – years really – and today we heard the words we were hoping after we submitted all the forms and photos and bank statements “You’re approved – come back in an hour and pick up your Visa.  You’re officially a Mexican resident”.   It’s a done deal.

I don’t want to frighten you with the real picture…. Meigan says I’m ‘stern’

So basically, within a 24-hour period it all came together – the business and the house and the visa.  What are the odds of that?  It was supernatural and miraculous and humbling and affirming.  We also found out today that just last month the rules in Mexico changed so we can now import our truck, which was deemed too large in the past.  Another problem solved on our behalf just in time.

Of course, this is all bittersweet and our happiness is touched by the finality of it all.  Grant has been operating Vision Enterprises for most of his adult life – it has been good to us and he has been fortunate to have been able to create his own work for all of these years.  Although we have not been in this house long, Grant built every part of it with his heart.  We raised our children right next door.  Except for 2 years, I have lived in this province my entire life.  And then there’s our church, our families, our friends, our people…..

That is how a full life must be.  No new crop can grow unless a seed falls to the ground and dies. I cannot embrace “hello” until I whisper “goodbye”.   Banderas Bay Enterprises can only flourish when Vision Enterprises is gone and I can’t create my home by the ocean until I drive away from my beautiful house in the valley.

So today was a good day and I celebrated by having a full fat latte WITH whipped cream. Crazy right?  Now to finish packing and hit the road in time for a Mexican Christmas with our daughters.  I am ready for the adventure to become more permanent.  It’s finally a done deal!

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Good Hombres

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In spite of what Donald Trump has been spouting, we are finding the Mexican people we meet each day to be kind and helpful – good hombres and mujeres.  I admit our days crossing the border were a little uncomfortable and I am still a little unclear exactly what went down when we imported our tools and trailer.  In fact, we still haven’t been able to get the correct paperwork from our broker to actually get plates on our trailer.  We are patiently waiting for the package that was supposedly shipped from Nogales a number of days ago.  But the people we meet each day in our neighborhood are welcoming and helpful and a lost telephone reminded us of that this week.

On Tuesday we spent all afternoon at the beach in Nuevo Vallarta riding our boogie boards and eating chicken nachos, celebrating being back home after a quick business trip to Canada.   On the drive to the beach, we stopped to take pictures of the amazing purple vines that have bloomed in October.  From the airplane it looks like a purple blanket has been gently lowered on top of the other trees and vegetation.

 

 

After we got home and cooked a shrimp feast, Grant realized he couldn’t find his phone. We searched everywhere in the house and drove back to the beach.  No phone in sight.  The Security guard hadn’t seen it; the restaurant nearby was now closed.  We were pretty sure it was toast – forever lost or more likely sold. Slight panic set in.  I sent a text to the phone with my contact info – please call if you find this phone.

2 hours later I received the hoped for phone call – someone who speaks English had our phone – let’s meet at Chedraui parking lot in Valle Dorado in 20 minutes.  I was thrilled – but I was also nervous.  Valle Dorado is a bit rough – were they going to give us the phone or were we going to get shaken down?  It was now close to 10:00, kind of late for a parking lot rendezvous. We stopped at the bank to get some money to pay a reward and then went to the grocery store parking lot where we met some wonderfully kind people – a couple in their 30s or 40s and an older lady. Big hug from the younger lady as soon as I got out of the car. Another big hug. She said they had just seen the corner of the phone sticking out of the sand – the rest was buried. But she knew how important it must be to us.  Then the older lady got out of the back seat, rushed over to me for another hug and said “I really want to pray for you.” I said “Absolutely – we’ve been praying to find this phone and you’re the answer to our prayer”. She literally screamed with joy, grabbed me for more hugs and then prayed an awesome prayer for health and safety and blessing – in the middle of Chedraui parking lot.   Whatever you believe, I do believe in prayer, especially when it comes from the heart of a kind stranger just when I need it most! So Donald Trump has it all wrong – Mexicans are definitely ‘good hombres’ and I’m proud to be living on this side of his wall!

Introducing Alison Naomi

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I’d like to introduce you to Alison Naomi.  Her mom is named Irandi and she is fourteen years old.  This isn’t Irandi’s first pregnancy – she had a miscarriage at twelve so Alison was born by Caesarean.   That’s tough for such a young teenager.  Alison isn’t the only baby to be born to a young mom in this family.  Irandi has twin sisters – Ivon who had baby Lupita when she was thirteen and Ibet who gave birth to Kevin at fourteen.   Besides these 3 daughters, this family also includes Nasabid, Laurentino, Isabel and little Jose. The 9 of them live with their mom in a one room home made out of tarps.  Now that Alison is here, Irandi has gone to live in the next town with her boyfriend and his mom.   Laurentino and Jose go to Manos de Amor Casa Hogar each Monday morning so they can attend school and be cared for throughout the week while their mama works 11 hours a day to earn $5 or $6.  Isabel who is now twelve has recently decided she no longer wants to live at the Children’s Home – she wants some freedom and she wants to dress ‘sexy’.  Although she tells me she is still going to school in her neighborhood I am terrified for her and for her future.

We arrived here in Bucerias on Friday and after stopping at Manos de Amor to say hi, we went to the new store in town to buy a dolly and some baby clothes and headed to San Vicente to meet Alison.  As always, Lupita, Kevin and Jose ran out to meet us.

We did not know Irandi and her new baby had moved away but Ivon agreed to help us find her new home.  7 of us piled in the car – and a dog which we kindly removed.  It has been rainy season here which means the normally crappy roads are now crappy mud holes and our little car struggled to get through.

 

img_20160930_191838The area where Irandi now lives is called Primavera.  Kind of ironic that primavera means “spring” in Spanish but it did not feel like a place of new beginnings or growth at all.  It is different in that the homes are made of concrete and the one Irandi lives in has 3 rooms instead of 1.  The roads are definitely just as bad and poor Azulita (that’s my little blue car) bottomed out in some of the mud and water filled potholes.  But eventually we found the complex where this new young family lives and as we got out of the car we yelled for Irandi.  We climbed the stairs to the little home and met the cutest baby I have ever seen. She looked healthy although her young mom looked tired and in a lot of pain.   One day in the hospital after a C-section seems harsh and Irandi looked worn out.  But happy.  And proud of her baby.  And really happy to see us and share her story with us.  6-year-old Jose lovingly kissed his little niece.  Lupita stared in amazement at her new cousin.  Kevin ignored it all and wandered outside where he promptly closed his finger in the door of our car – setting off the alarm and screaming down the neighborhood. The idyllic moment was gone and life with a bunch of toddlers resumed.  Because they do not own band-aids, Irandi took a piece of Kleenex and tied it over his bloody finger with a string.

After our visit we headed back to San Vicente.  Isabel joined us so we had 8 people in our tiny car – a new record!  4 in the front and 4 in the back.

 

The neighbors laughed and waved and I realize that even though this life doesn’t look at all familiar to me, every person in it is trying to live their best life and my role is just to walk alongside them and let them know they are loved.  Before we left I asked Irandi if I could pray for little Alison.  I took her two tiny hands in mine and prayed that she would know love, that she would know God, that she would have a hope and a future.  Whatever that might look like.

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And now another piece of my heart is missing.

First Day Back

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Here are some of the sights we saw on our first day back that reminded us why we love this place:

  • Children of Manos de Amor – as we drove up the anthem started “Karen, Karen, Karen….” and children ran to the gate to greet us with big hugs and sloppy kisses.  Some jumped in our car, Natalia barely acknowledged me but jumped on Grant and refused to let go
  • img_20160930_172243New animals in town – we have 2 new donkeys wandering around the neighborhood. We saw a donkey chasing a dog who was chasing a donkey who was chasing a dog.  The donkey won!
  • While Grant was busy unloading the truck in the garage, a chicken wandered in to check out what was happening
  • We spent the afternoon at the beach and while we were boogie boarding we saw dolphins jumping a bit further out – and a big skate or ray of some kind jumped right next to us
  • We love the kitties that wander around the restaurants looking for some loving while we wait on our food – which by the way cost us $7 for a burrito and enchilada and a rice water – all GIANT
  • The door-to-door produce truck – check out the huge grapes I bought for less than $2 right outside the door

A great first day – the simple pleasures of children and food and ocean and animals.  Really, what else do we need?

                              The view from my desk as I write this blog

Welcome to the Neighborhood

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I really love my neighborhood! So often in my life, I drive from Point A to Point B and am surprised when I arrive at my destination. I know you are the same. We put our cars – and our minds – into automatic and forget to pay attention to what is happening along the way. That is quite impossible here in Mexico. For starters, if you don’t pay attention to your driving, you will definitely be killed. Cars and motorbikes cut in and out from both lanes and it is every man for himself. Also, there is just so much to see and no matter how many times we drive or walk down the same streets, I notice something new or different or crazy that I did not notice before.

Today I want to take you on a picture tour of my neighborhood. I will barely scratch the surface of what there is to see but I hope you will feel the love I have for this place and laugh with the craziness of it.

The town of Bucerias is divided in half by Highway 200. To the west is the ocean – which of course means this is the area where the tourists and gringos live and visit. There are restaurants and galleries and pretty houses. The main towns square and the flea market are there. It is fun and you can get by speaking English and eating guacamole and drinking cheap beer. There is an OXXO (like 7-11) on every block. One the east side of the highway is the Mexican part of town. Roads are bumpier, chickens are louder and Spanish is the predominant language. There are gringos like us who live here but they are few and far between. The restaurants here are generally taco stands on the side of the road or in backyards. Instead of OXXOs, there are mini-supers on every block.

IMG_20160312_152837Grant and I often drive or walk up and down the streets surrounding our house, exploring each block so we know where to find the local mechanic or hardware store or tortilla lady. Today I found a seamstress in a tiny shop – someone I can ask to sew new cushion covers for our garden. Sometimes we look in windows or climb up to look over fences, curious to see how our neighbors live. We feel welcome here, everyone stopping to smile and say “Hola, Buenas tardes”. Children are everywhere and are excited to speak to the gringos. When we drive our convertible around with the roof down, everyone stops what they are doing to wave, and call out to us.  Here are a few things you will see when you come to visit us in our colonia.

Transportation

When you watch an old Mexican movie, you always see vehicles on blocks, covered in thick layers of dust. This is a true depiction of my neighborhood. I now realize that all that dust does not mean the vehicles have been abandoned for a long time – it is just that dusty on the unpaved streets.  Here are some of the transportation options around here:

Every block has a VW bug or VW van parked on it – I suspect it is mandatory.

Not all vehicles are exactly road worthy – but no  point in getting rid of them.

Horses are almost as common as vehicles – not sure what the laws are for drinking and driving a horse but that horse is looking mighty hard at that sign…

Animals

Animals are everywhere – I am sitting at my desk and at this exact moment I am listening to dogs (a LOT of dogs), chickens, roosters, a parrot, and some goats.  Check out the tiny chihuahua I am holding – there are more chihuahuas here than Volkswagons!

And lots of cats too….. certainly more dignified

Check out the giant iguana that sometimes lives in the tree next door

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Shopping

You don’t need a mall here – there is lots to be purchased on every block – today we saw fruit and tortillas and bums – and a ton of other stuff.  Spices, flowers, pinatas…. what do you need?

A few weeks ago we came upon a woodworker making trinkets to sell at the market.  Grant spied an old wood carving of a saxophone player way back in his yard.  The woodworker said he had made it 28 years ago and it had stood in that spot ever since.  Grant decided we needed the musician in our garden and convinced the old carpenter to sell it.  It got a lot of attention driving home in the back of the convertible but it now looks great in the garden.  Today we stopped to show the woodworker some pictures of the carving in our yard and he was thrilled!  Can’t buy that at Walmart!

This morning we found our new favorite breakfast spot – full breakfast including bacon and eggs and hashbrowns and beans and coffee and fresh squeezed juice and homemade strawberry jam on toast in a pretty garden –  for less than $5  – and of course no afternoon walk would be complete without a stop for a taco. (Why does every blog post I do end up being about food?)

A couple of other interesting spots around town.

But there are two places in my neighborhood that I love the most  – my church La Fuente Riviera and the orphanage Manos de Amor Casa  Hogar.  These are the places where my heart has settled and where I both give and receive love when I am far away from my own family and friends.

It is not always easy living in this neighborhood – I don’t sleep that great because of the never-ending noise, I often feel hot and dusty and I struggle to be understood by everyone I encounter.  When I walk down the street I risk breaking an ankle on the cobblestones and when I drive down the street I risk ripping the bottom off of my car on the speed bumps.  I don’t have a bathtub or a clothes dryer or a BBQ.  My kitchen is tiny.  But I can truly say that I absolutely love living in this house and in this neighborhood.  Every day is an adventure – some good, some not so good – but I have concluded that curiosity and the unexpected life is what keeps us young and engaged in the journey.  Never again do I want to move through life on auto-pilot.  From now on, I’m going to climb fences, and be bold enough to speak awful Spanish to neighbors and try new food that looks weird.  I challenge you to do the same in your neighborhood!

You’re Invited to Dinner!

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Welcome to my neighborhood! As we settle into a routine here in Bucerias, we are spending more time in our own colonia, Buenos Aires. As you know, we are planning to build a house up the mountain close to La Cruz, but for now we are happy to be renting a house in this Mexican neighborhood. So for the next couple of blog posts let me take you on a tour of where we live and tell you about our daily routine.  First of course is the food!

Morning coffee

 

We always start the day with our coffee in bed or on our balcony, blue sky and palm trees welcoming us to come awake. Breakfast is a vitamin fruit smoothie in the back garden and then we work for a few hours in our office. We have a great setup and as I work I look out the window at the cat on the roof next door or the giant iguana in the tree. Sometimes I take my computer outside to work.IMG_20160303_101548

By lunch time we’re ready to get out and explore the town. Trip Advisor tells me there are 116 restaurants in our little town and we’re determined to get to them all! Most are in walking distance – lots of them offer us a delicious lunch for less than $5. Tortas, tacos, tortilla soup, shrimp salad – those are our favorites.

Some of our favorite Mexican restaurants nearby -you can always count on being entertained by some music or shopping or chatting with a friend while you eat!  We also love the little taco stands on every corner with the Mexican abuelas (grandmas) cooking the best smelling tacos imaginable.

 

Afternoons are spent doing errands like paying bills – remember, only 1 errand per day – and volunteering or visiting at the orphanage. Some days we just explore – driving up and down all the streets in the town.  If we are cooking dinner, we stop at all the little shops to purchase fresh ingredients – just enough for today!  We also purchase food from the assortment of vendors who drive down our street, loudspeakers blaring.  I certainly don’t plan menus far ahead – it’s more fun to be surprised by what shows up each day!

Jicama Guy and Corn Guy stop right outside my door

Fish Market and Fruit Store right around the corner – we bought vegetables and mangos and Red Snapper and cooked up this feast. 

There’s the La Cruz market on Sundays – fish right out of the ocean, vegetables fresh from the garden and organic honey and eggs sold out of the trunk of a car…

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Always great food to be had at the beach….

And of course there’s no end of weird food stuff – a grilled cheese sandwich out of a vending machine?

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Our little Mini Super right across the street may look tiny but it always has just what I need – and we visit it once or twice a day to get 20 litre jugs of water ($2) or bags of sugar ($0.80) or eggs sold individually for 10 cents each.  Fresh tortillas are always warm in the red cooler.  It is open from 7:00 am to 10:00 pm every single day and the sound of its rolling door going up every morning and down every night is all the clock I need to plan my days.  There is something comforting about knowing there is always someone in those white chairs, keeping watch over the neighborhood that I was once wary of but now call home.

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So that’s a food tour of my neighborhood.  Next I’ll show you some of the other sights in the streets surrounding my home.  It won’t be the same without the sounds, but you’ll get the idea!  In the meantime, I’m starving and we have at least 99 other restaurants to check out…..

A Birthday Party

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Last night we headed to San Vicente to deliver a birthday party for Mama Santana. I won’t tell you her age (okay it’s less than 40 but more than 38). She has a very full life. She has 7 children and 2 grandchildren – most live with her in her tiny one room house. She works hard at a garden store – 6 days a week for 11 hours a day. Her 3 youngest children live at Manos de Amor during the weeks so they can attend school. We have grown to love this family and try to visit a couple of times a month. They welcome us in and offer us tostados with macaroni or chicken – I know this is a sacrifice for them.

Earlier in the week Laurentino had told me that his mom’s birthday was on Friday. Isabelle told me her favorite food was Shrimp Ceviche. After our car shopping stress, we really needed a party, so we picked up a cake, and some ceviche and a gift and headed to what is often called Cardboardlandia – a neighborhood composed entirely of homes made of cardboard or tarps or tin. There are a LOT of little children and puppies and chickens and everyone is friendly and laughing at us as we drive through the water-filled potholes in the new convertible. I was used to children laughing at Milly so this feels good to me.

As always, everyone was excited to see us drive up. They were especially excited to see the new car. Instantly it was filled with little children and birthday balloons. Jose and Kevin and Lupita thought it was a toy and were ready to take it for a spin.

 

The rest of the evening was about eating tostados and cake and playing with children. Lupita loved hanging out with Klara, not even realizing that when she was just a baby she had met Klara and Fred and that they had paid to have her water tank filled. I don’t think we understand how the smallest acts of kindness – a hug, $8 to fill a water tank, a tub of ceviche – make a monumental difference in the lives of those who live in difficult situations every day.

 

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Peace!

As we said goodbye, Mama grabbed me and with tears in her eyes said “Muchas Gracias Karen. Muchas Gracias. Te Amo.” (Thank you very much Karen, I love you). And I squeezed back and whispered “I love you too”.

This is why we are here. Car shopping and buying things for our house and figuring out how to buy insurance – those are the things that must be done in order for us to live here. But the reason we live here is so that we can touch lives that need God’s love and light.   For some reason this family crossed our path 2 ½ years ago when 13 year old Ibon was about to give birth to Lupita and now they are part of our Mexican life. For that I am grateful.

30 Days and Counting

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CalendadrAs we enter the final 30 day countdown to liftoff, I feel a shift in my heart and in my mind.  This is happening.  Soon.  I am sad and I am overwhelmingly happy.  I am nervous and I am increasingly bold.  I want to stay but mostly I want to go.  That is what makes life worth living – the mixture of emotions and confusion of thoughts when change is around the corner.   I see similar emotions in the eyes of my friends and family – they want to be excited for us but are not sure they should be, or can be.  Change in one person affects the whole community – and honestly the community didn’t really ask for this change.  The hardest part of this last stage is that I feel I need to focus on the details of such a move – how is my mail going to find me?  Who’s going to pay for my medical needs?  What color towels will make my bathroom homey?  Why on earth did I ever buy this many Wii games and how many can I reasonably pack?  How do we get this house ready to sell?  But I worry that what I should be doing is spending these last days with the people who I love and who are really unsure about what we are doing.  Oh I know we’ll be back lots in the first year – and I have Skype and Google Hangout loaded on my computers and phones, ready to beep and buzz my way back into people’s lives.  But I know it will not be the same – and I don’t really know quite how to process that now that we have entered the pre-liftoff stage.

Time to Find a Home

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Last week I felt like I was a participant in a House Hunters’ International episode as we searched for a new home to rent for the first year or two while we build our home on the mountain in La Cruz.  Although we won’t be leaving Canada for 3 or 4 months we feared that if we waited until fall or winter the rentals would all be snapped up for the busy winter season.  So we decided to have a look and once we got started there was no turning back.    We looked at a few options:

  1. 6 months ago we had looked at a home that was for sale in Nuevo Vallarta, a suburban, residential area halfway between Puerto Vallarta and Bucerias. The house wasn’t for rent at the time but when we arrived this week I called the owners and asked if they were interested in renting the house.  As luck would have it, the current renter was moving out that very day and they were very open to renting to us at a great price.  I had really loved the 3 bedroom house with the open roofed courtyard right in the middle of it.  It had a big yard and a great pool and I could picture our family there (okay they ALWAYS use that line on House Hunters!).  Grant pointed out the downsides of the open roof such as bugs, lizards, scorpions, bats, floods – but I thought it was cool.  Definitely a possibility, although it was 30-40 minute drive to our land where he will be spending a lot of time building.  But still, maybe….
  2. Next we had a realtor show us a home in a neighborhood I had never considered living in. The town of Bucerias is divided by the highway – on one side is the ocean and art galleries and restaurants and English speaking Gringos; on the other side are chickens and horses and taco stands and sweet Mexican children and their mamas who only speak Spanish.  So when he showed us a home in the Mexican neighborhood I was uncertain – is this too crazy for even us?  The house only had 2 bedrooms, a very small outdoor space and was on a super loud corner.  Not so sure….
  3. He then took us to a 3 bedroom home on a beautifully manicured golf course. Super quiet and peaceful, with a private pool and windows that open from a bar to the outdoor area.  I could definitely picture Jose my private pool boy and bartender bringing me a refreshing beverage while I relaxed.  It needed some renos but the realtor told us he was overseeing the work and we could choose what we wanted in the home.  Tempting…..
  4. We had three very different homes to choose from ….. and then there were 4. As we drove past the local church, our friend and pastor Fredy waved us down and told us he knew of a nearby house that was for rent.  We were back in the Mexican side of the highway, but I admit my mind had been opened earlier in the day to this new possibility.  As we waited for the owner to come and unlock the house we watched three untethered horses wander down the street with a couple of chickens following behind – looking at us as though they were also wondering what these gringos were doing in their town.  Curiosity more than displeasure really.  The house was large with 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms and an office area.  There was a balcony off the bedroom for morning coffee and a back area large enough to make into a garden.  The house was a 10 minute walk to the beach and less than a 10 minute drive to our building site. And a garage – it had a garage!  The price was unbeatable and there were taco stands and a fruit market and a fish store close by.  But certainly no ocean view, no pool, not even a bathtub.  I don’t really think so……

We were leaving by noon the next day and were very confused by the choices.  On House Hunters they sit down for 3 or 4 minutes, eliminate one house, argue halfheartedly for another minute and BAM – decision made.  We did not have that experience – so we decided to sleep on it.  I was definitely leaning towards the Nuevo Vallarta house with no roof and Grant was leaning towards the quiet golf course house.  So we went to bed and sometime in the night God pulled a bait-and-switch on me.  When I woke up in the morning I was somewhat horrified to experience that sense of clarity that I recognize as God’s leading.  I leaned over and told Grant that I was thinking we should take the Mexican house with the horse neighbors – and he said he was thinking exactly the same thing.  That is always our decision clincher – when opposites agree without debate it is a powerful thing!

We only had a couple of hours to raid a few ATMs to get enough cash to pay a deposit and a couple months’ rent and to meet with the owner to sign a contract.  Our wonderful friend Fredy dropped everything he was doing to meet with us and be our translator as we negotiated final terms and took one last look around.

A housewarming gift from Rinconcito de Poncho in Bucerias

A housewarming gift from Rinconcito de Poncho in Bucerias

So we have a home!  It is nothing like we had envisioned and yet in many ways much more than we had expected.  I remind myself that I am not ready to retire by the pool and be served drinks by Jose – I am here to love and serve and touch Mexico close up.  This neighborhood IS Mexico and it is the perfect place to jump ALL IN, to learn the language and customs and hearts of my new home. And don’t worry – when you visit there will still be cool drinks served in my garden!