[caption id="attachment_214" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="The Malecon bridge over the Rio Cuale"]
[/caption]Everyday life here in Vallarta. Not much different from Canada, NOW! When I think back to that first day after we arrived and realized we had absolutely no idea what to do about anything I marvel at how far we have come in such a short time....
November 17, 2008 - First morning in our new home. We had hit the grocery store the night before to get a few groceries so we would have the some of the important things in life like food and of course, coffee! So we made some coffee and Heather set about trying to make breakfast.
The condo we owned was not the largest, about 450 square feet, but it was purchased with retirement vacations in mind and was mainly an investment. When we bought it we had no idea we would be living in it full-time 2 years later. So of the 450 square feet, about 10 of it was the kitchen.
[caption id="attachment_208" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="The Kitchen"]
[/caption]There was no stove, only a hot plate so Heather plugged it in and started trying to fry some eggs. She put the pan on the burner and cracked the first egg. She then felt her right hand go numb. Figuring that she had hit it on the side of the counter she cracked another egg and then as she her hands got close to the frying pan both arms went numb. It was then that we realized that there was something seriously wrong with this appliance so she got a plastic spatula and removed the plug from the wall. I carried the offending item outside to the garbage.
Well ok, what do we do now? We had brought a new hot plate with us from Canada so it was unpacked and put into use. Well we at least tried to put it to use. It was a three prong plug. There were no three prong outlets in the entire condo. They were all two. Apparently grounding was not big in Mexico in the eighties when the condo was built so we were going to require an adapter to plug the hot plate in. Microwaved eggs it was and they were delightful. Well not really but hey when you are hungry you make do.
[caption id="attachment_209" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="The Beach by our condo"]
[/caption]After breakfast we thought we should head out and see our property manager who had been taking care of the condo for us. His office was on the other side of old town. It was a nice day, the sun was shining so we decided to walk. We were noticing that a lot of the small family run stores that we passed were closed. It was then we found out that it was a holiday celebrating the Mexican Revolution. Well we were three-quarters of the way to his office so we kept going only to find it locked up tight.
[caption id="attachment_210" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Street in Old Town on the way to Ted's office"]
[/caption]That took us 2 hours and we were soaking wet and wilted from the heat. Just not used to it. So down the hill from his office to a sandwich shop for something cold to drink and a snack. We hopped on a bus from there and hit Wal-Mart to pick up some converter plugs so we could plug in the hot plate and few other things that we needed.
The next day we returned to the property managers office, however this time we went by bus, so we smelled a lot better! Not in today. Oh well at least we could get an appointment.
As we were standing outside of his office enjoying the view of the Bay of Banderas below us I noticed that across the street was the realty company that our favourite rental agent had gone to work for so we thought we would drop by and see if he was in. Nope, out. Well, 2 for 2. Well what shall we do now?
[caption id="attachment_211" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="One of the many beautiful views in the Bay"]
[/caption]We were standing the company's parking lot deciding that, when a car backed in and two people got out. I recognized one, William Michael, who had shown us the condo next door to ours when he had it listed for sale. He had been sending me email since then which always had his picture attached. As I asked if it was him, the other man said I know that voice, that's Kevin. I had spoken to Robert about 5 times the last time we were in town about rentals and I was kind of surprised, I never thought of my voice as distinct.
Either way it was nice to see faces we knew and to finally make a connection with someone. We made dinner plans for the following week and let them get back to work. Since that time they have become some of our very dear and close friends. And they still handle real estate and rentals for us through Vallarta Escapes.
[caption id="attachment_212" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Fishermen pulling their nets at dawn"]
[/caption]Later that night we were sitting in our living room watching the movie SWAT on TV in spanish. It was warm in the condo, 24 degrees, and no breeze so we were both sitting there waiting for the oscillating fan to blow our way. Our condo had absolutely no flow through ventilation so a fan or air conditioning was in order. We could not use the living room a/c unit as we used it on Sunday night and after 20 minutes water started pouring out of the unit. That was a little frustrating so it was at this moment unusable and one of the items on our list of things to talk to the Property Manager about.
We had hired the Property Manager very quickly after buying the condo as we needed someone to pay the bills and look after the rentals. We had already decided that we would relieve ourselves of him at the end of the year but there were a few things we needed done first. The air conditioner needed repair, we needed a new toilet as the old one just was not working properly and we needed internet.
He is a nice man and was good at his job, bills were paid and things were looked after. He was hard to get to see sometimes when we were in town but we always did get to see him. He loved to talk and we got a lot out of those talks. We listened and realized that it may take persistence but we could do a lot things our selves it would just take time. We look back on those times fondly because without him we would not be where we are today. He introduced us to Robert, the best rental agent in the bay (and the only one who could rent our condo) and Lupe, the fastest and best damn housekeeper we have ever seen.
We met with him the next day at the appointed hour, 10:00 Am for our usual 3 hour appointment. We discussed the state of the economy, what it is doing to business in Mexico, what is happening with our condo, what needs to be repaired and what needs to be paid.
He asked if we had gone to immigration here in town to register and let them know we were here. We had not but we said we would. We left his office at 12:30 and headed for our favourite beach restaurant, The Lazy Lizard.
[caption id="attachment_213" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Los Muertos Beach, PV "]
[/caption]We got there and it was closed and the space was for rent. For rent? Many times we had sat under their palapa's and talked about how we would run the place as it was rarely busy which always seemed odd to us as it had the cheapest drinks on the beach, reasonable food and fun waiters. Maybe we want to open a bar instead? This was something that was going require some thought. We wandered on down the beach in search of a cheap bucket of Corona to enjoy our afternoon with thoughts of bar ownership in our heads......
[caption id="attachment_215" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Maybe......."]
[/caption]Next up....the visit to immigration....ugh
Great read
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