That's a Thing?

It's hard to truly know what to expect with a major move like this... It's impossible to have realistic expectations of what your "new normal" is gonna be like until after you've lived in a place for a while.  There have been a lot of surprising situations and even more of us saying, "That's a thing??" 

Please enjoy today's list of bullet points, because apparently that's all I know how to write...

THINGS WE DIDN'T KNOW WERE THINGS:

• When you need purified water you don't go to the store to buy it... You simply wait for the Agua Man to drive down your street honking his horn and yelling loudly, "Agua!"  And then you pay him 16 pesos (84 cents) for your 5 gallon jug of drinking water.  That's a thing. 
• Same with gas/propane... It's not run underground here like in the states.  Our gas water heater and stove are hooked to a big canister on the side of our house, and when we run out, we wait for the gas man to drive down our street in his truck and we wave him down for a new one.  Gas is a little pricier at 452 pesos (24 bucks) per canister but our current one has lasted us for 6 weeks so far.  

Here's some super interesting pictures of our backup water storage, gas canisters and how drinking water is stored in the house.... 

• Walking a few blocks to the local vet for same-day puppy surgery to have an infected cyst removed is thankfully a thing here!  (Senor Perfecto is healing well, in case you were wondering.  I'm convinced it's because mama kisses heal all.  Duh.)

• Also, getting a vet bill for 62 bucks is a thing here.  A very awesome thing. 
• If you take your pup for an early morning walk through the marina, you run the risk of being followed by a pack of stray dogs.  That's a thing.  They weren't aggressive, just curious, but I still managed to stress out about our 4-legged entourage bothering my sheltered puppy gentleman with a fresh wound to the back of his head.
• They don't recycle glass or paper here.  They just put it in with regular garbage.  Say whaaa?  We don't buy much glass stuff because being a guilt-stricken person from the Pacific Northwest is also a thing.   
• When you have a question about how/where/when/what to do about absolutely anything whatsoever, you just post to one of the PV or La Cruz Facebook groups you belong to and a dozen or more helpful answers appear in your notifications within the hour.  That's a very handy thing.  It's like "Expats for dummies," and it's awesome.  
• When you need to buy some rope, you don't go to Home Depot or a hardware store.  You go to the rope store.  No lie.  They have all different widths, materials, strengths, etc.  But they only sell rope.  That's a thing.  
• There is also a screw store.  All they sell are different types and lengths of screws.  That's an odd thing. 
• How do you think Mexican construction workers cut cinder blocks to the exact perfect size/angle they need?  Fance equipment?  Nah.  A machete, a hammer and good eye-balling skills.  I feel like I would be really good at that, but I doubt Ty will ever let me try.  Him never letting me have any fun with tools, is also a thing.  
• There's a "guy" for everything... bamboo guy, palapa guy, brick-layer guy, rope guy, key-maker guy, pool guy, carpenter guy, palm tree-climber/coconut-cutter-downer guy.  You name it, there's always a guy.  That's a thing. 

Side note:  Palapas are vaulted roofs made out of woven palm fronds and they're very cool.  And also terrifying/fascinating to watch them install.  (Barefoot and crawling around on sketchy scaffolding and ladders like monkeys, basically.)  This is what they look like from the inside looking up....

• All the restaurants and retail places charge more in the summer because sales go way down during the off-season.  So, rather than discount prices, they jack them up.  Makes sense, right?  That's a thing. 
• Speaking of restaurants and stores... If they wanna close for the day, they just do it.  No sign on the door, no anything.  That's a go-with-the-flow thing.
• When you go to major grocery stores, you gotta carry spare change...cause the baggers (usually elderly folks) only get paid in meager tips.  That's kinda a sad thing.
• Have you ever seen a plant grow like a foot in a week?  Well.  That's a thing.
• Have you ever gone out in the rain, for like 10 seconds and been soaked through to your underwear?  That's a fun thing.  (This one only applies to me, of course, because Ty still has yet to even wear underwear.)
• My glasses get foggy after it rains because of the one million percent humidity.  As a semi-blind person, that's an annoying thing. 
• Did you know you can have sweat dripping from your chin and knees at the same time when you're doing nothing but holding still?  That's a gross thing.  
• Have you ever had to break for an iguana crossing in the middle of town?  That's a cute thing.  
• Also, when you wanna take the "shortcut" to the fish market you gotta make sure to watch out for the 5 foot lizard that lives there.  He moves FAST and will scare the burritos outta you in a jiffy.  There's also a random, un-tethered goat that lives down there and gives us dirty looks when we walk by, but he has yet to charge at us.  Or do whatever it is that wild goats do.  So, that's a good thing. 

I think I'm gonna name him Dragon... 

• When you wanna turn left off a major road...you go to the turn lane on your right.  Makes perfect sense, right?  That's a confusing thing. 
• While driving, "right of way" goes to whichever driver takes it first.  And motorcycles have exactly zero rules whatsoever.  That's a nope thing.
• It's been kinda hard to find shorts and tank tops here.  Apparently gringos are the only ones who think that wearing less clothing means you will be cooler.  Mexicans cover up to stay cool.  (I'm sure they're right in this instance, but Ty really likes to browse the teen boy section for tank tops.  That's a lucky me thing.)   

I'm sure there are a million things I've forgotten, or will think about as soon as I hit "publish", but this post has taken me waaaaayyyy too long, and I wanna go to bed.  Good night!