Casa Sur – Phase 1

Usually when we make a post on our blog, Sara does the writing, we both decide on the pictures, and then I post it. However, I’ve talked her into letting me write this one.The reason I wanted to write it is because I wanted to say a few words about my wife.

We started the additions to the back of our house in April and it was finished in early September. That’s over 4 months through the hottest time of the year. Now…..Because of my job, I have to travel quite a lot so there were many days when I wasn’t there. Sara was there every day (except the few days that she went into hiding because of the jackhammer). At the start of the project she spoke very little to no Spanish.

She greeted the workers everyday with a buenos días, she told them hasta mañana every evening. She made sure every night that there were plastic containers filled with water and put in the freezer so they would have ice the next day. When she cooked more than we needed, the extra always went to the albañiles. She knows every one of their names, whether or not they are married, and how many kids they have. She knows what they like to do on their time off and what sports they enjoy. She has eaten with them, told them jokes, somehow gotten across her vision of how things should look, and when needed she scolded them. I’ve seen her laugh over this project and I’ve seen her cry. The one thing that remained constant (a rarity here in Mexico!) was the respect that she showed these men working on our home and their eagerness to return that respect and make her happy with their work. At the end of this post is a YouTube link for a video that Sara made about the construction, beginning to end. Sara had a cookout for the guys when the work was finished and presented each with a DVD of the video. You could see the pride in their eyes as they watched the video detailing the work that they had done, all by hand.

I could go on and on but I’ll stop here, I think you get the idea of how proud I am of her. And…..Her Spanish is coming along pretty darn good now.

So, without further adieu……..You might remember how the back of our home looked when we started the project:

And then, like Sara says, how it looks after we ‘’made it our own’’:

In typical Yucatan tradition, each albañili left his hand print

Sara with her albañiles

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y3MgpbetomA

We’ve Always Been Crazy

Our friends and family told us, we were crazy to move to Mexico, later we were told it was crazy to live in the house while it was under construction.  You know what, they were RIGHT!!!!!!! Waylon Jennings said it best, “I’ve always been crazy but it’s kept me from going insane”.

Everyday progress continued on the building project, every day we watched as our dream began to take shape. Twenty-five feet concrete beams created the bones of the roof, below was a network of tree trunk support braces. Cement blocks filled in the gaps between the beams and cement poured on top created the roof.

 Chipped and smoothed by hand we soon had the arches we had longed for. With a hand designed and cut out metal jig, Julio artistically applied the arch moldings.

The mamposteria pool walls now smooth with concrete soon became a sparkling blue tiled swimming pool with a gurgling fountain.

 A combination of Ticul stone and white concrete created the floor around the pool and terraza. We decided we needed an outdoor cooking / grilling area because……well, you just do. And,that pool pump / filter equipment of course needed its own little house out in the yard.  

Our pool equipment / pump house

    

The forest of tree trunk braces came down revealing a large living area, the perfect place to dip your toes in the pool and enjoy a glass of wine. Paint, ceiling fans, chandeliers, all of the details began to come together! Soon we were roasting hot dogs for the albaniles on the grill under the French tiled roof. The day we had anxiously awaited arrived and the albaniles packed up their few tools, said Hasta Luego as they walked out the door.   

We moved around the new environment taking it all in, not believing it could actually be complete. Reflecting back on the dust, the noise, the lack of privacy, we really had lived through the process!  I relate it to having a baby; during labor, you think survival is impossible, then you smile at the little bundle placed in your arms and the pain of delivery is miraculously erased from your memory. It was worth it!

Oh, the pictures that go with this last part..........well, that's to be continued (real soon).................

She Was Warned

One of the wonderful things about living where people vacation is….your family and friends will now vacation to your home at the best of times, and the worst of times. In spite of warnings, and I am not talking about warnings from the US government about travel to Mexico, I am referring to my warning to visitors who come in June, to a home “under construction”. My oldest sister, Jerrie wanted to visit, so she did, in spite of the mess. Ty and I knew if anyone could handle the conditions, she could. I spoke with Jerrie before she boarded her flight to Mérida and reminded her “It is hot, the house is dirty, the workers are here every day, there is construction going on and the back yard is a disaster area, oh, and did I mention it is HOT!”

The day my sister was to arrive happened to be the day the electricista decided to chip out the wall in the guest bedroom for the installation of the air conditioner. 

With her arrival just hours away, I found myself accessing the situation-standing ankle deep in debris and polvo (white powder) coating everything.

I breathed a sigh of relief when I heard the doorbell, it was Maria, Lupita and Alejandro; the troops had arrived to clean the house. Maria took one look at the mess and started giving orders in Spanish, Alex scrambled to the bodega for the shovel and Lupita headed for the garden hose. Yes, you heard right, Lupita brought the garden hose in the house and started washing everything down, this  obviously is one advantage of living in a stone and concrete house. Alex began scooping the debris into buckets and carting it outside. Maria made it clear I was to stay out of the way and pointed to a hammock hanging on a Ramon tree, barked an order to one of the albaniles, and in what seemed like an instant he had tidied up the area and strung out the hammock. In spite of the anxious anticipation of our arriving guest, Adie and I are lulled to sleep by the gentle sway of the hammock. When Maria and her crew leave, the house is sparkling clean. Jerrie arrived that night to see Mérida in all of her twinkling glory. She had a good laugh about my day.





We spend our days watching the ongoing construction and our nights visiting the many entertainment venues in Mérida’s Parks.

Jerrie and Sara at ''Serenata en El Parque Santa Lucia''

The entertainment at Santa Lucia park. It's been happening every Thursday for over 40 years, and it's free.

''Noche Mexicana'' at the Remate de Paseo Montejo, every Saturday night, it's free also

Noche Mexicana

About that construction thing going on back at the house........

We are constantly amazed at the albaniles efficiency using so few tools. With the foundation for the pool complete, we stand by, as the wire mesh is unrolled and secured to the walls and floor of the pool.

Forms for the steps spanning the width of the pool are filled with concrete and rock.

Marcelo, Julio and Jose secure boards on top of the columns and on top of tree trunk support braces then stack concrete blocks to create the forms for the arches; these forms will eventually be chipped away leaving behind graceful arches.

Jerrie agrees, “Mexico is an adventure and you don’t even have to leave the house”

It’s What’s For Dinner

Ya’ll know we are from Texas. My Dad was an avid hunter and fisherman. I grew up eating venison, dove, quail, squirrel, with an occasional domestic rabbit thrown in for good measure. Ty comes from a West Texas ranching heritage so cabrito (kid goat) prepared from roasted to barbequed was often served on his Grandmother’s table. Ty’s job has taken him to the far corners of the earth so he has consumed local food from New Guinea, Africa, Burma, Kazakhstan, Bolivia, Argentina, and Peru. We love good food!

When we moved into our new Mérida home, we became accustomed to the family of iguanas who lounged in the sun, ate the leaves off our plants and scurried to their home in the rock wall whenever Gringa Dog made an appearance.

As the construction debris began to take over their space we saw less and less of our family of iguanas. As I have mentioned before most everything seems unfamiliar here, but this is just my impression, for thousands of people here it IS familiar, it IS normal, it IS life as usual.

One afternoon, when I knew the guys were finishing up their work for the day, I went outside to say “Hasta Manana”, they were all gathered together with hushed voices and all eyes glued to me as if anticipating something. As I stepped off the back step my eyes fell upon what they were anticipating a reaction to….

There neatly bound with twine was the largest of our iguanas (at least I think it was our iguana, as it is hard to tell them apart). Instantly I told myself to mask my shock and proceed as normal. Somehow, in my not very good understanding of Spanish I managed to comprehend, some albaniles and their family would be feasting on Iguana. In fact, it probably made its way back to our house for lunch the next day disguised in some wonderful spicy mole. I hope my reaction was one of honest curiosity, as I would not have wanted to offend these men. Ty has worked in countries where iguana was standard fare. Iguana to these guys was just dinner.

As the days went by the mounds of sand and gravel slowly began to disappear, mixed with cement then hand carried by the bucketful, and skillfully poured and smoothed into place.

PVC pipes were set in the mamposteria walls for the pool drain and filter. The plumbing for the pool jets were installed in the walls of the pool.

Our beautiful patio and pool area

The concrete columns were placed over the rebar towers and filled with cement, sand, and gravel; soon they would begin the arches.

 It appeared we all had fine-tuned our routines; we began to eat when the guys ate and take our siestas while they took theirs. Every day we anticipated what would take place on the construction site that day!

We began to joke, “Living in Mexico IS an adventure and we don’t even have to leave the house”.