Walking, talking, riding

I have only started the Chev once since driving into the hotel and that was to go out to meet Jane and Rolla who were trying to sell me their house in the boondocks. I walk the Gregster in the early morning. It starts to get light here at about 7 and the sun sets about 7 in the evening. Greg comes out with me early when there is little traffic between 7:30 and 8:30. He is not very savvy when it comes to cars but he is learning the hard way. He got hit lightly in his tail end this morning by a slow moving car. He luckily does not seem the worse for ware. I then have a light breakfast at the hotel and return to walk the streets trying to get a feel for the place and meeting with people that are showing me places.

I have been to most of the real estate places (there is no MLS so it is a free for all) and I talk to the folks there about both rentals and sales. I also talk to a lot of folks that pass thru the hotel at one time or another and listen to what they are up to and how they are getting along. Almost everyone is, or knows someone who is, in the business of finding places for tourists like myself. So I also talk to their contacts. It is a bit like a gold rush I think. This is Mexico! And in SMA it is nuts.

I have seen quite a few places and will see more in the days ahead. The view is not something that one should expect to get in any place close to “centro” (within walking distance of el Jardin). Either one or both of the neighbors will have a place under construction – and if not one of them then two or three in the back - and in this part of the world like in many developing economies that means the neighbor may be “under construction” for the next ten to twenty years.

Houses are of course built with brick, cement and rebar. The rebar is usually still sticking up from the corners except on the façade, one supposes because the proprietor wants to add another floor - eventually. All of them have a large, ugly black plastic water tank on the roof, which is designed to fill up when the city water runs, to provide uninterrupted supply to the house when it does not. Most have a large propane tank on the roof as well to provide gas for the kitchen, hot water and heating. Looking out over cityscape therefore leaves much to desire.

The fronts of houses give directly onto the street to a sidewalk that is usually between 18” and 24" wide. If the house has parking, and most do not, it is accessed through a large gate that often forms an important part of the façade. Windows that face the street are usually small and are from a bath or second bedroom. Virtually all houses share common walls on either side so light is available only through the roof or the back courtyard and many rooms in small houses are a bit dark if they don’t face a patio. They remind me of my place in Ottawa.

What is important in houses in this town, and one assumes throughout Mexico, is the inner courtyard or patio. All places have at least one - many have three or four. Most have some dirt but many have only tile or stone and the garden is made then from potted plants of one kind or another. In the large colonial house these inner courtyards are very elaborate with large trees and fountains, statues and detailed architectural arches and columns and the like. Many of these large buildings are now hotels, restaurants, B&B’s or other institutional type establishments as their prices are out of reach for most individuals. The library here is in one, for example, where I can go and use the internet for nothing and marvel at the magnificence of the building’s colonial past.

I took a bus today. It cost fifty cents for two for a trip of about three miles. It was full but not crowded. Part way to our destination a young boy got on with his guitar and began to sing a sad Mexican song of struggle and strife. He was quite good but we had to get off before he had finished.