Sunday, December 23, 2018

Nuestra Casa

I haven't written an update post in a while, so let's recap... When I wrote the post, "Homeless, Kinda," we had just been notified that our contract at our boutique hotel wasn't going to be renewed and that we were going to move into a lackluster rental house in La Cruz that I wasn't at all excited about.  

BUT...like, 10 seconds after I hit "publish" on that blog post we were notified that the landlord was backing out of the agreement we made months prior and didn't want to rent to us anymore because of Bloo.  Um, WHAT???  Clearly she needs to be educated on how much of a perfect gentleman he is, but I digress.  This was at the end of August and we needed to be out of our temporary summer digs by September 22nd.  Awesome!  So... With 3 weeks left and no where to go, yours truly started to panic just a tiny bit about actually being homeless.  I may have even called Ty in (crazy lady) tears while he was golfing when I found out our agreement fell through, but you can't prove it.   

Thankfully, the rental agent knew of another house that would allow Bloo and we were able to work out a deal and move in on our original move-in date.  Phew.  I don't know what it is or how he does it, but Ty just makes things work out.  I keep saying that his Engvall luck is going to run out eventually, but for my sanity's sake, I reeeeeally hope it doesn't. 

Our new place is probably the biggest house we've ever lived in together, and it's more space than we need/care to have, but we're diggin our new home.  And that's the best part:  I get to use the word HOME without thinking, "Well... Home-ish," after I say it.  For the last couple of years, we've very literally been living in someone else's home, among their clothes, decor, family photos...even toothbrushes.  So, having a space we can finally customize to our liking (well, to a point, I'm not allowed to paint the walls...boooo), has felt really satisfying.  

Our humble abode... 










For the Curious Georges back home wondering what the cost of living is like in our part of Mexico... We are renting a 3 bedroom, 2 bath house in a small, gated community.  Included with the rent is water, garbage, landscaping, 24-hour security and access to the large community pool.  We are 2 blocks from the beach and a 15-minute walk to downtown La Cruz.  Our house also has A/C, a large Smart TV and it came with all the large furniture like beds, couches, dressers, tables, etc.  For all of this we pay.....drum roll please....$800 USD per month.  (But don't even get me started on the fact that we have to pay our Mexican landlord in DOLLARS in Mexico where we earn pesos.  So annoying.)  

Like anywhere, rent ranges greatly based on location and the duration of your lease... We're kinda on the outskirts of town, so our rent is pretty cheap compared to downtown or more "exciting" neighborhoods (like beachfront, duh.)  We also have to pay for our own gas, electricity and WiFi so in total we pay about $900 USD per month.  (I'm guessing some people back home thought we paid much less because "Mexico is so cheap," am I right?)  

We signed a year lease, so it's comforting to know we aren't going to be homeless again for a while.  We'd really like to buy or build a house here, but there just isn't a lot of inventory in our price range considering we'd have to pay in cash and we can only buy "titled" land.  (Versus "Ejido" land, which can only be owned by a Mexican National.)  So, our options are very limited in the housing market unfortunately.  

We haven't told our parents this yet (or my bestie cousin, Hilary, who's been begging us to move back to Portland for 2.5 years)... But we actually put an offer on a (major) fixer-upper in our little neighborhood a few weeks ago.  We were really excited about it, but the owner came back asking for an outrageous number considering it needs $40K in renovations, so the deal didn't go anywhere.  Those of you who know us well (or have read my other blog), know that Ty likes to buy the worst house in a good neighborhood and then ask me to fix it up - the same would have been true if we bought this house.  The previous tenant was a legit dog hoarder and it is in rough shape. (No pun intended, haha.)  I got really excited at the prospect of getting to wield a sledge hammer and power tools again, but it looks like that's not happening any time soon.  

Anyway... Not much else is new with us, but we're still alive and well and enjoying our new home.  I'm off to shop for last-minute stocking stuffers for my Swedish Grinch and precious pup.  Merry Christmas from your three favorite dorks south of the border!  



Monday, September 17, 2018

The Upside


I wrote a post several months ago entitled, "The Downside" about the personal drawbacks that came with moving to a semi-tropical climate with the intention of also writing about the positives.  And this post is way overdue!  So, here's what I enjoy most about living in Mexico...in no particular order. 

Disclaimer:  There's a lot of money-saving related bullet points in this post, and as annoying as I find the reign of the US dollar in other countries, I'm going to list prices in USD instead of pesos so my "devoted followers" (hi, mom!) don't have to Google the exchange rate of stuff.  Enjoy. 

1) MY BOYS

Easily the very best thing about moving to Mexico has been getting to spend way more time with my little family.  Back in Seattle, Ty and I were both working 10-12 hour days and we really only got to spend time together on the weekends... I used to leave the house before Ty's alarm clock even went off, and got home after dark, just in time to eat dinner and go to bed so I could do it all over again the next day.  

Now, we get to spend 94.6% of our time together whether we're living, working, relaxing or playing.  (Or sweating.)  I get that some couples may not see that as part of the "upside" to "early retirement" though.  Luckily/thankfully, we've been bestest friends for 13 years and we actually really like being together! 





I also love that my puppy isn't cooped up alone at home and depressed and neglected for 12 hours a day anymore while his mama and papa are slaving away at work... Because Bloo cares about exactly two things:  being with his humans....and eating their food.  So, I'm sure he loves that the three of us are always together now.  

Have you ever seen a more majestic creature?!?!  I think not.  


2)  SPANISH:

The second best thing has been being forced to learn a new language.  I know what you're thinking... "All this chick does is complain about learning Spanish - make up your mind!"  Yes, it sucks feeling inept every day and my stress level would be much lower if I only put myself in situations where I don't need to speak Spanish (only going to touristy stores and restaurants, only befriending/hiring bilingual Mexicans, etc.); but moving to Mexico has also made me appreciate(/cringe at) how spoiled we are as English-speaking people.  

I know it all comes down to money and other countries want our tourism dollars, so they cater to our single-language-speaking asses, but I witness SO much appalling ignorance and arrogance on a daily basis (from white visitors and residents alike) and it motivates me even more to learn Spanish just so I'm not considered "just like the rest of them."  I mean...  "No, I don't speak Spanish.  They need to cater to their customer base!"  is a sentence I've actually heard come out of more than one white lady's mouth since we've lived IN MEXICO. 

Side Note:  In case you haven't read my post, "No Hablo Espanol: Accidentally Rude," I go into this problem further.  

I'm also very much an "academic" person (a.k.a. big fat nerd) and so being able to "exercise" my brain and not let it turn to total mush while we're on permanent vacation mode, does a lot to improve my mental health and confidence, so I appreciate the challenge despite how much I complain about it.   

3) HEALTHCARE:

Healthcare gets its own section on this post, because hot damn, it's great!!  I was worried about what the hospitals and medical services would be like before we moved here (we, as humans, are too easily swayed by stereotypes portrayed in movies, it's alarming...) but everywhere we've been here has been equal to (or better than) what we were used to in the States.  Vallarta is actually quite the "medical tourism" city because of its quality and affordability.  Need dental implants and don't wanna hand over 15K?  Then come on down!  I can (and I'm gonna!) get Lasik eye surgery in Guadalajara next year for like, 900 bucks.  Sign this blind lady up.  

Although health insurance is available here, we don't feel the need to have it because healthcare is so cheap and we just pay for everything in cash as it comes up, and we don't have any major/ongoing health issues since we're young-ish.  Sure, you could argue about something catastrophic happening and yada yada, but we aren't "just in case" kind of people, we're more like "cross our fingers" kind of people.  (Well, Ty is, and I blindly trust him for some reason.) 

I've probably NOT had health insurance for more of my life than I've HAD it.  (Thanks, 'Merica.)  And even when I had it, I was too afraid of getting a hefty bill to use it.  (I once paid 1600 bucks for birth control AFTER insurance!  That's a friggen mortgage payment!)  So, I actually feel more secure and proactive about my health in Mexico than I ever did in the States, because here it's accessible, affordable AND high-quality.  

Some examples:
  • I had my first full-body skin check (for cancerous-looking moles and spots) with an English-speaking, highly-regarded dermatologist who had all the latest bobs and gadgets and it cost me a whopping 35 bucks.  You read that right... THIRTY FIVE DOLLARS.   We couldn't even go out to dinner for 35 bucks in Seattle.  
  • You can have your teeth professionally cleaned here for about $25 USD.  That's how much my dental co-pay used to be.   
  • Eye exam = 25 bucks 
  • New prescription glasses that were ready in 5 days = 37 dollars 
  • I'm seeing a physical therapist right now for a pinched nerve that's causing numbness in my arm and hand for 18 dollars per week. 
  • I had a dry, nagging cough for 3 months that just wouldn't go away and spent 30 dollars to see an ear, throat and nose *specialist* who cured me with a 4 dollar allergy medicine prescription I didn't know I needed.  
  • Yearly Lady Exam at the Gyno:  40 bucks which included all the lab work 
  • Ty can buy his blood pressure medication for about 20 dollars a month.  That's less than what he used to pay after insurance.  And he doesn't need to see a doctor or get a prescription here because it isn't a "controlled" medication. 
  • You can also buy antibiotics here without a prescription.  I had a UTI last year (too much information?) and the antibiotics were 3 flippin dollars and we were in and out of the farmacia in 5 minutes.  
Side note about pharmaceuticals in Mexico: Medicines that aren't controlled substances (a.k.a. they don't get abused) are sold over-the-counter here by pharmacy technicians...which means less patients bogging down free clinics and urgent care centers trying to get a prescription for their non-emergency illnesses.  Which also means people spend less time sick, miss less work and school, spread less germs, etc.  

If you've ever had a bladder infection, you know that junk is PAINFUL, so getting to send Ty to the corner pharmacy for antibiotics while I writhe in pain at home, is priceless.  Back home, I would've had to make an appointment to see my doctor (even though I already know what's wrong with me), take (unpaid) time off work to go, pay the doctor's co-pay, pay to get the prescription filled and blah, blah, BLAH.  And I would have been in pain for days rather than hours.  
    Amazingly, I have yet to make a trip to Urgent Care here (which was a regular occurrence back home because I'm a klutz who happens to like power tools) but when I do, I'm sure it'll be cheap and the quality of care will be top notch, as per usual.

    4) FOOOOOOOOD

    Although the cost of living isn't as cheap as you might expect (rent in this area isn't anything to get jealous about since it's a tourist destination, gas is 4 bucks a gallon and electricity is expensive enough to make us cringe when guests leave their A/C running all day)...but FOOOOD is another story.

    The best shrimp tacos I've ever had in my life will set us back about 4 bucks for a filling order of three.  And they make the tortillas by hand to order.  Mmmm.  Tengo hambre! 




    We can walk to the fish market and buy 2 pounds of freshly-caught tuna for 10 bucks...and any other kind of seafood, for that matter!  



    Ty's first attempt at making sushi rolls with locally-caught tuna...



    Produce is fresh, local and dirt cheap...all of this cost about 7 dollars.  You can't even buy 2 avocados in Seattle for 7 dollars!  



    The traveling market that comes to La Cruz every Wednesday... Pennies per pound, people!  



    Ty brings mangos home from the golf course because they're just everywhere.  If you showed this photo to customers inside any Whole Foods store in the States, they'd be thinking, "That's some expensive-looking litter!"  Needless to say, fresh, healthy food here is bountiful and CHEAP.  




    5) SPONTANEITY: 

    Because we have much less "adulting" to do (especially in the summer/slow season), I can just text my gal pals to meet in the Plaza to watch local men compete to be the first to climb up a greased poll to get to the laundry basket of beer at the top while the banda plays and kids are running around chasing a pig and we're buying homemade tamales from the lady on the corner.  Then we can just decide to go to one of our houses to go swimming, because it's hot and we have nothing else going on, so then we text more friends to come over who also have beach bum schedules, and then it just automatically turns into a big, shenanigan-filled, 6-hour pool party with half a dozen of your closest expat buddies who are all acting like they're 40/50-something going on 21...and when you woke up that morning you had zero plans and had no idea any of that was gonna happen. (That ALL actually happened yesterday - I can't make this crap up, people.)

    And, even cooler.... Ty and I can just be like, "I don't wanna do boring chores or errands today... Let's go to the hot springs/movies/beach/country drive/fill-in-the-blank instead even though it's a Tuesday."  And we both just shrug and hop in the car to go on an adventure.  That's pretty priceless considering our pre-Mexico life was filled with boring to-dos and jam-packed calendars.  

    6) MEXICANS

    One of the best parts of living in Mexico...are the Mexicans!  They are seriously the kindest, sweetest, most generous, hard-working people.  And even though they put up with a LOT of crap from Northerners and ignorant tourists, they do it with a smile because they are patient and forgiving.  They're also fun and loyal and amazing hosts.  Our most favorite parties and events down here so far have been in the humblest homes of Mexicans where we've laughed and danced until the wee hours of the morning, even though no one else there spoke a lick of English.  Do yourself a favor...befriend a Mexican.  Or 30.  

    7)  MISC SERVICES:
    • Have a local seamstress sew you up some curtains?  15 bucks 
    • Need a cell phone plan?  It's gonna set you back 11 bucks per month. 
    • Have the A/C in your dorky Dodge Caravan recharged?  16 dollars (No lie!!!!  Pretty sure we've had to pay upwards of $200 before.) 
    • A movie ticket to a blockbluster film at a super fance, air-conditioned, full-service theater?  5 bucks per person.  (I haven't paid five dollars for a movie ticket since I was like, 12.)  
    • Oil change?  20 smackaroos.  
    • Detailed car wash inside and out??!  FOUR DOLLARS and it's ready in an hour.  And car washes are like a "thing" down here... Our favorite one has a full restaurant and bar attached, so you have lunch and get your car detailed while you eat.  Amazeballs.  
    • Full coverage car insurance?  $200 for a YEAR! 
    • Set of spare keys made?  A buck a key.  
    • Have your house cleaned really, really well 3 times per week, including having your laundry done?  FORTY TWO DOLLARS PER MONTH.  (All the moms reading this post are droooooooling right now.) 

    8) BEAUTY:

    I am a self-proclaimed "lazy girl" which means I wanna look halfway decent, but I'm too lazy to spend a lot of time getting ready everyday.  I'm all about products that allow me to have both.  Haha.  

    I started getting eyelash extensions a few years ago when I was a super busy personal trainer in Seattle because I was tired of sweating my mascara off during work everyday.  Not cute.  And I was instantly HOOKED because I'd essentially wake-up with "make-up" already on.  Bonus!  10 more minutes of sleeping in the morning!  And my peepers stayed perfect-looking even through the most grueling bootcamp classes and 12 work hour days... 

    In Seattle, I was paying 80 bucks every three weeks to have my lashes "filled" and now I pay a whopping 25 dollars, including tip.  It's like the *one* personal splurge I've ever had, and now I don't even have to feel "guilty" about pampering myself!  

    For the same reason I wanted eyelash extensions, I also wanted to get my brows microbladed so I could skip filling them in every morning only to sweat them off by noon everyday.  (Microblading is a semi-permanent tattoo done in tiny strokes to resemble hair...a.k.a. no more make-up!)  My hair is light, so without makeup I look like I have no eyebrows...I used to dye them every couple of weeks, but in Mexico, dying them has turned out to be super pointless because they fade in just a few days due to constantly sweating and wiping my forehead, I think.  (Sexy, I know.)  

    I researched microblading before we left Seattle and it was gonna be like 600-700 bucks.  Ouch.  So, when I saw that a salon in Guadalajara would be visiting Vallarta and taking appointments, I convinced Ty to buy me eyebrows for Christmas for $200 instead.  

    I LOVE having them. (#wokeuplikethis) As soon as someone invents a device to magically tame my frizzy ass hair every morning and lets me become an even lazier lady, I will give them all my pesos and my lazy lady transformation will be complete!  



    Other awesome stuff... 
    • Haircuts: 15 bucks (men's cuts, $8.) 
    • Pedicures:  10 bucks!!!!
    • 60-minute massage: $30
    • Fancy facials with lasers and whatnot: $25
    • 60-minute acupuncture session: $30 

    9)  GOLF:

    This one is just for Ty.  He's currently golfing 3-4 times per week with a group of retired expats and he's in Tin Cup heaven.  (He just called and asked if he can play 9 more holes...he's like a kid in a candy store.)  I personally HATE when he golfs because I feel left out and I like to hog all of my husband's attention!!  But it makes him really really happy, and he's really really good at it, so I guess I'll include it on here.  (The 5 sets of spare clubs we've been toting around for 2 and a half years does NOT make me happy though, babe.) 

    10)  MISCSome other little things that are pretty great about living in Nayarit... 
    • I LOVE the plants and trees and flowers.  It's a gorgeous, luscious greenthumb's paradise and if/when we ever get a place of our own down here, I'm going to turn it into a tropical oasis.  
    • I've had to set an alarm clock, like, 4 times...?  Since May of 2016.
    • Another one for Ty:  He really likes "driving like a Mexican", and I gotta admit, it's growing on me too, even though it made me really nervous at first.  You know how everyone in the States SUCKS at merging and it causes massive slowdowns for miles and miles and it makes your head explode?  Yeah.  That's not a thing here.  Drivers are definitely more assertive/efficient at getting where they need to go - even if it's kinda "iffy."  
    • I came out of a store once to find a parking ticket on my windshield (yeah, apparently that IS a thing here) and it was for 9 dollars.  So, it's cheaper to illegally park in Mexico than it is to park in any parking garage in the world.  Dully noted.  

    Long story short, as much as I complain about how hard it's been to adapt to a new country and lifestyle...there are TONS of moments where I think to myself, "I could live here forever."  And we really just might.  Who knows.... 


    Monday, July 30, 2018

    Homeless, Kinda

    I haven't posted any new blog entries in the last several months because high-season was a whirlwind of long days of laundry-washing, towel-folding and guest-greeting, but I feel like I'm way overdue on giving all (eight) of my loyal followers an update on what's new with us... 

    Side note:  I know I often joke that no one reads my blabbering, but I recently reached over 20,000 page views!  I don't know who you all are, but Ty probably appreciates that he's not the only one who's subjected to my whining.  Haha.  

    But first, here is an obligatory pretty photo from dinner the other night.  You're welcome.


    Unfortunately, the most newsworthy thing to happen to us since my last post, is that we were notified a few months ago that our lease/management contract at our beloved boutique hotel, Jardin del Mar, isn't going to be renewed for next high-season. 😭  We weren't expecting any issues with it being renewed again in November since business was going so well, and we hoped that we'd be there for a few more years...so we were surprised and saddened by the news to say the least. 

    After we found out, I spent two whole days locked in our room refusing to see or speak to any guests or the staff because I wasn't able to wipe the look of total heartbreak off my face or keep myself from ugly-crying every 15 minutes; and surely, our housekeeper would offer me a comforting "mom hug" which would only lead to sobbing in public.  Um, pass.  I could be wrong, but I doubt vacationers want to see their Hostess sporting snot bubbles and swollen eyeballs.  So, kudos to my Swedish Security Blanket for running interference (and attempting to speak Spanish) for me for a few days.  (Thanks, babe.)

    Long story short, our contract was terminated because our services were no longer needed.  (Sorry if you were hoping for some juicier gossip!!  #clickbait)

    When the owner hired us in November 2016 to get the Hotel back up and running again, the place had been sitting empty for 2 years and no one in the family was willing/able to take it on at that time.  But the owner's son and son-in-law made the decision to relocate to Nayarit this summer and take a dive into the hospitality business.  So, they're taking over as the Managers and Hosts of Jardin and living onsite like we were.  We're both very bummed and disappointed, but we're glad Jardin is staying open and that it'll be in good hands... It's a very special place and we're grateful we got to live and work there for 18 months.  

    *****************************************

    We finished up the rest of our busy season and moved out near the end of June the same day our last group of guests checked-out.  Despite how hard we worked for the last year and a half, the most depressing part wasn't leaving the Hotel -- it was leaving yet another home and starting over somewhere new.  Again. 

    In the 6 years Ty and I have been together, we've struggled at the whole "planting roots" thing, but not for a lack of trying.  (We bought and remodeled two houses in that time, for crying out loud!)  Ty doesn't mind being nomad-ish, and he's great at "going with the flow," but that's NOT a skill of yours truly.  (I'd probably be much more likeable if it were.)  Call me crazy, but I like knowing where we're going to be living six months or a year from now.  I crave planting (big, deep, oak-tree!) roots somewhere great and living happily ever after with my perfect little family.  But so far, our little oak sapling keeps getting yanked out of the ground as soon as I think it's there to stay a while...

    I've moved 13 times in the last 15 years (ugh) and it's becoming an all too familiar cycle of:

    Step 1:  Go through a major life change that requires starting over from scratch.  
    • like going through a divorce and giving your house to your ex-husband because the market crashed after you built it in 2007 and now it's under water and you have to move into a crappy apartment alone 
    • or quitting your stressful job after 7 years with your company and going back to school full-time to pursue a different career 
    • or your boyfriend being offered an out-of-state job the very same day you throw a house-warming party for the house you just bought and fixed up together, and now you have to decide whether you want to continue with school or go with him
    • or your fiancé having an early mid-life crisis (thanks to that same out-of-state job) and he wants to sell everything you own and move out of the country even though you just spent an entire back-breaking year remodeling your latest house and you finally feel at home in your new city that you didn't want to move to in the first place...
    • or selling your dream home and leaving a successful career and everything you know and love behind to support your husband and his vision of having a simpler, more meaningful life South of the border 
    (You know, just super common stuff that every person goes through before the age of 30!)  

    Step 2:  Take several months to grieve the loss of your "old life/home" and to adapt to a new, unfamiliar place where you don't have any friends or family.

    And by "adapt" I mean act like a stubborn, homesick crybaby for the better part of a year and make your husband wish he left your grumpy butt in Portland/Seattle/The U.S./wherever to needlepoint cheesy oak tree metaphors onto throw pillows.  (Step 2 hasn't exactly been in my wheelhouse.  Sorry, babe.) 

    Step 3:  Come to realize that you finally feel happy again and comfortable and settled into your new home/city/job/country/life/whatever!  
    • "Let's celebrate!!  That was a sucky year, and I never thought I would get over leaving our last home, but we worked hard and survived it and I love our new home now!"  -- 2015 Alissa 
    • "Maybe I shouldn't get too comfortable here because I might jinx it and I'm afraid we'll have to move again as soon as I let myself feel happy somewhere."   -- 2018 Alissa     

    Step 4:  Watch everything come tumbling down when yet another curve ball blindsides you and sends you back to Step One. 

    Rinse and repeat Steps 1-4 every 18-24 months until you die, apparently.

    (Just to clarify... I'm not blaming Ty for how much we've moved, or hold it against him.  We make our decisions together and I'd follow him Timbuktu if it made him happy, but it doesn't make starting over somewhere new any easier for me.) 


    *****************************************

    We were super busy at Jardin right up until the day we left, so we didn't have a lot of time (or motivation) to go house or job-hunting after we found out we had to move again.  We had considered signing a one-year lease on a rental house in Bucerias, but we panicked and backed out at the last minute.  What if another hotel job comes up and we need to live onsite again and we're stuck in a lease?  What if we don't find another job here and we end up moving back to Portland?  Do we even want to stay in Nayarit?  What about moving inland where it's cooler?  What do we do now?  What do we even want to do now?  (We're in a bit of a rut at the moment, in case it wasn't obvious by this long, self-pitying post.)

    For the summer, we rented a house on the golf course Ty is a member of (which, to him, is the equivalent of a toddler moving to Disneyland.)  The owner goes home to Canada during the humid, rainy months and offered to rent it to us until he gets back in October.  It was a very last-minute/quick-fix decision and I'm glad we only have two more months here... The house is "fine," or whatever, but I'm sick of living among someone else's clothes and clutter and crap.  (What most people don't realize, is that we've literally been living in someone's else house for the past 26 months, and that means living with their "stuff" too.  I hate it!)  Plus, Bloo is bored to tears without a yard to roam in or his bestie, Luna, to wrestle with... 

    (Yes, we had to leave Luna when we left Jardin.  We miss her so much.  I can't even. 😭)




    At the end of September, we're moving (again!) into a small, semi-furnished rental house in La Cruz, but I'm not very excited about that either.  It's dingy and plain and the furniture is ugly and uncomfortable.  But it's cheap, available, close to town and they'll allow us to have a 100-pound fluff ball for a roommate.

    It's going to take a lot of elbow grease and creativity (and pesos) to make it feel at all homey/less depressing... But again, that'll eventually lead me to the infamous and dangerous Step 3, so maybe I won't even bother!!  (Sheesh, I'm just a delight tonight, aren't I?)  The house is also for sale though, so here's hoping it doesn't get sold right out from under us as soon as we're settled.... 😑

    I'm sure Ty wouldn't mind waiting until the last minute to see if something better comes along, but I want, "find a place to live" scratched off my mental to-do list so I don't lie awake every night worrying that we're going to end up sleeping in the minivan.  (Ty would probably say that sounds like fun actually...good thing I'm crazy about him!)

    Okay, that was far too much complaining for one post.  I'm off to eat a pint of ice cream and recover from all the whining.  Buenas noches!!  





    Wednesday, February 21, 2018

    No Hablo Español: Accidentally Rude

    If you've followed my blog for a while or are friends with me on Facebook or in real life, you know that I talk about learning Spanish a LOT.  Like, to the point of it being annoying.  But that's because it's literally taken...over...my...LIFE.  I have to speak a ton of Spanish every single day because our hotel staff speaks zero English (nor do I expect them to learn any.)  But also, we live in a Spanish-speaking country and I'm Bound and Determined (get it) to become fluent even if it kills me.  

    So far:
    • I've taken 3 six-week courses with a retired English teacher (an American) who has lived in Mexico for a bazillion years and now teaches "practical Spanish" to expats and snow birds (Hi, Sean!), and I'm currently attending my 4th course with him in "Advanced Intermediate" with just two other students.  
    • I've spent hours and hours studying on my own and working through a college-level workbook (not lately, I need to get back on that.)
    • I spent a month in San Miguel de Allende going to Spanish immersion school for 20+ hours per week last fall. 
    • I fumble through several conversations per week with the housekeeper about the hotel schedule and logistical/maintenance stuff.  (Thankfully, she is patient and kind and uses verbs and nouns she knows that I know.  And, hilariously, she "translates" for me -- still in Spanish, mind you -- when I don't understand another Spanish-speaker.) 
    • I'm constantly looking up how to say something or checking Google Translate before I'm going to be in a situation where I'll need to speak Spanish, and also after-the-fact to make sure what I said was correct(ish.) 
    • I have to text, email and message a ton of Mexican guests, rental inquiries and vendors.  (Which I actually prefer.  I'm way better at "speaking" Spanish on paper than I am in real life, unfortunately.)
    • I have to answer a lot of local phone calls.  If you've ever had a Spanish-speaking person call you on the phone, you understand that being able to communicate on the phone is like winning the Gringo Olympics.  I absolutely do a victory dance in the living room afterwards if I understand even 50% of the conversation. 
    • I ONLY speak Spanish in stores, bars, restaurants, etc. in an effort to practice as much as possible...even if the staff speaks perfect English and responds to me in English, I still only speak Spanish. (Which can be a total downer, because sometimes I'm made to feel like I'm "showing off" by other English-speaking patrons in the vacinity...when really I'm just working my ass off to better myself and to adapt to the country I live in.  Roll your eyes at me for speaking Spanish in Mexico, and I'll roll mine even harder when you DON'T!)  
    • And we've lived in Mexico full-time for almost two years...aaaaaaand I still feel inept and discouraged every single day.  

    I need to be prouder of myself for how far I've come, because when we moved here I didn't even know how to say, "My name is Alissa," but as a perfectionist, I struggle to appreciate how far I've come compared to how far I still have to go.  (I'm also stubborn enough to not move out of Mexico until I'm 110% fluent...sorry, family!) 

    And, not to sound arrogant, but I've never not excelled at the things I've chosen to do in life:
    • Waitressing during/after high school?  I bought my first car with cash, I moved out on my own at 17 and was a homeowner by 21 because I busted ass waiting tables 50-hours per week instead of going to college.  
    • Corporate life?  Even though I was originally hired to answer the phones as a 20-year old "kid", 5 years later I had more than tripled my salary and was managing a group of men more than twice my age (in a male-dominated field and without a college education, no less.)  
    • Going to college studying Exercise Physiology in my late 20s?  Finished with a 4.1 GPA while taking 18+ credits per term and tutoring 8 other classmates at the same time.  One of my professors told me that I had the highest overall grades in the history of the program and that she thought I should consider medical school.  (Didn't know your sarcastic little nobody was wicked smart, did you?!?!  Yeah... I hide it well.)
    • Personal trainer and bootcamp instructor at three different gyms in Seattle?  BADASS BOSS LADY with a client waiting list, a devoted following and in the strongest shape of my life. 
    • Living in a foreign country?  Fat, sweaty, itchy and constantly complaining about living in paradise. (Which you already know by now.)  
    So, yeah, I thought I would be fluent and accustomed and acclimated long before the one-year mark, let alone the two-year mark.  But apparently I'm not Superwoman after all.  Bummer.  

    Enter Spanish:  During my never-ending quest to learn (and pointlessly try to perfect) speaking Spanish, I've made it a priority to at least not be unintentionally rude by way of ignorance or lack of confidence in the meantime.  What I mean by that is... We, as non-Spanish speakers, unintentionally "ignore" Mexicans in certain situations simply because we don't know what to say!  If you were up North on your morning walk and you passed by another person, you'd say, "Good morning," or at least give them a nod or a smile, right?  Here, I see far too many tourists and expats not even acknowledging Mexicans (even if they have to interact with them directly, such as a cashier) simply because they don't know HOW to acknowledge them or what to say.  

    So...here are a few of my favorite, simple ways to remedy some of the awkward, silent moments you might encounter on a daily basis living in (or visiting) the beautiful Banderas Bay:  


    Con permiso -  With permission.  This is used when you're passing in front of someone or when you need to get by someone, etc.  It's the equivalent of saying "excuse me" when you need to step into or near someone's personal space, essentially... Like if someone is standing in a grocery aisle mulling over the tortilla selection and you need to walk in front of them to get through, you'd say, "Con permiso," as you walk passed.  It's a very easy way to be polite and conscious of your surroundings and other people.  

    If I'm walking down a sidewalk and I have to walk in between two people having a conversation, and I quietly say, "Con permiso," as I walk by, I can almost feel them relax... Like I'm not just another white lady pretending they're invisible.  (Sorry if that offends you...but, oh wait, I'm not sorry.)  

    Buenas tardes (or noches, etc.) - Good afternoon.  This one is much like "con permiso" in that I can literally sense people let out a sigh of relief when I say it.  If you've lived here a while you might've noticed that everyone greets everyone before they continue to say anything else.  Whenever I walk into a tienda, greet a cashier, pass someone on the street, get on the bus, call for a taxi, etc., I always rattle off, "Hola, buenas tardes," immediately.  Even if I'm talking to no one in particular, (like when we're getting on the bus and just talking to the "room") it's just *what you do* here.  And when I say it, I feel like the cashier or bus driver (or whoever is silently groaning about having to deal with my white ass) is automatically relieved that I'm not a tourist.  

    Yesterday, Ty and I walked the beach into La Cruz to have dinner and he popped into a corner store on the way.  I waited outside and leaned against the exterior of the building to finish responding to an email on my phone next to a bunch of 30-something guys carrying on in Spanish... It looked like they had just gotten off work because they were all sitting around with a cold beverage "shooting the shit."  I wasn't paying too close attention, but could understand some of what they were saying to each other and after I caught a few curse words and the word "blancos," I knew they weren't exactly saying anything kind about Ty and I, even though we were just minding our own business.  (Fun fact:  Racism and prejudice exist in every country, in case you've never been a minority anywhere.) 

    So when Ty came out of the store, I went over to him and we walked passed the group of men, and, very routinely and non-nonchalantly, I said, "Buenas tardes" in my very passable/pretty impressive Spanish accent to the group of them while not really looking up from my phone.  Needless to say, every single one of them looked shocked and then meekly mumbled, "Buenas tardes," back to me and then went completely silent until we were out of earshot.  The expression on their faces was kinda like, "Ooops, they aren't tourists."  I got a good kick out of surprising them, but I wasn't even mad they were speaking poorly of us... Unfortunately, I'm often embarrassed by the behavior of other "white people" here and I don't blame the locals for not liking some of them/us. 

    Side note:  I'm not saying there's anything wrong with being a tourist -- the world should be explored, but its people should also be respected.  Vallarta gets 1.5 million tourists from the US and Canada every year and I imagine that the locals have a lot of frustrating personal experiences with tourists who don't speak a word of Spanish, or worse.  I have personally seen tourists complaining about/to workers in the hospitality or the service industry because they don't speak English...in MEXICO.  Who are we that we're so frickin important that every other country needs to learn OUR language??  I damn near punched a woman in the face at WalMart once because I was so disgusted by the way she was talking to an employee because he didn't speak English...but I digress.  

    Tenga un buen día! - Have a good day!  I mostly say this one to the cute, elderly baggers at the grocery store after giving them their "propina" and a grateful smile for bagging up my items, but it's something you can use everywhere.  Servers, gas station attendants, your hair stylist, cashiers...they'll all be pleasantly surprised if you bust this out as you're leaving.  (I hear this one mumbled through a lot and the "un" gets skipped... "Tenga buen día" or even just "buen día" is what I usually rattle off in real life.) 
    • Afterthought:  That's another thing... In case you didn't already know, the baggers at Mega, Chedrauri, etc. only get paid in tips, and I see a lot of people sorta just toss a coin down on the counter in their direction (or not tip at all.)  I make sure to purposely place the coins in their HAND while looking them in the face and thanking them with a smile.  Every single time.  People really just want to be treated with respect and kindness.  It's that simple, folks.   

    Quisiera - "I would like..." (pronounced kee-see-era.)  This is a good one to use in a restaurant or somewhere where you're asking for something you would like to have or receive from someone.  "Quisiera tres tacos de camarones, por favor."  (I would like 3 shrimp tacos, please.)  
    • Side note:  For those of you thinking, "I thought 'me gustaría' means, "I would like!" Yes, it also means, "I would like," but more in the way of:  "I would like to go to the movies tomorrow."  Not really when you're ordering food or asking a locksmith to make you an extra set of keys, etc.
    • Second site note:  Can we all just agree to tip like we do at home?!  I have seen a lot of appalling tips left for servers in the past two years.  One time we watched a family of three Americans (who live here) run their server for hours getting food and drinks and then the dude flipped a 5 peso coin on the table before leaving.  FIVE FLIPPIN PESOS!  Unless the service is legitimately terrible (which is super rare), we still tip 15%-20% in restaurants here.  If you can afford to rack up a $600 peso bar tab, but you can't afford the $120 peso tip that goes with it because you're "on a budget," then you need to stay home and cook your own dinner, in my opinion.  The locals that we rely on everyday, work very hard for very little.  

    Igualmente! - "Same to you!"  This is a quick and easy way to say "Same to you!" when someone tells you something kind like, "Buen día!" or "Feliz Navidad!" 

    Gracias a tí - "Thank YOU."  Usually, the "gracias" is skipped though, so you'll just hear, "a ti" or "a usted."  This is said when someone thanks you and you want to say the equivalent of, "No, thank YOU."  It's similar to "igualmente" but I use it when my hair stylist makes me look like an acceptable, frizz-free lady for a day.  

    Es igual - This is the polite way of saying, "Either way is fine with me," when you don't really care one way or another.  While we were at an Italian restaurant recently, I ordered soup and a side salad and the server asked which one I'd like first.  I shrugged and smiled and said, "Es igual."  The look he gave me made me feel like I won Best Gringo of the Week Award, because not only did I understand his question, but I answered politely.  Ten Spanglish points for me! 
    • What NOT to say in this scenario:  "No me importa"... While it technically translates to, "I don't care," it's considered very rude, because to a native speaker it means, "I don't care about what you're saying." 
    Claro que sí - "Of course!"  Like when you want to say more than just "yes" when someone asks you something... Our housekeeper often (meekly) asks me if she can pour herself a cup of coffee from our coffee pot in the mornings, or if she can have a soda or apple or something and I always answer, "Claro que sí!" because I want her to feel like she doesn't even have to ask... (Sometimes I say, "No tienes que pedirme permiso!" but she always does anyway out of politeness.) 

    Por nada - Everyone knows how to say, "de nada," but I don't like saying, "You're welcome" in any language.  I never have.  It feels like I'm being condescending or something... Like, I'm doing the other person some grand gesture and they should be super grateful...even if that "grand gesture" is giving the bagger 10 pesos for bagging my groceries.  I can't explain it, but I don't like saying, "You're welcome."  I only ever smile and say, "Por nada" here (and my English-speaking friends have probably never heard me say anything except, "No worries!")  "You're welcome" kinda feels like "You owe me," to me, maybe.  I dunno.  I'm weird. 

    Por nada still technically means "you're welcome" but in a more casual way.  So, if your housekeeper worked an 8 hour day and then thanked YOU for loaning her 10 pesos for bus fare and you would've said, "Don't worry about it!" in English, "por nada" is good for that.  

    Mande? - (Pronounced mawn-day) I've mentioned this in a previous post, but I'm repeating it again because it's that important!  Don't bother trying to look it up on Google Translate, because it doesn't exist.  You're just gonna have to trust me on this one.  "Mande?" is the polite way of saying, "Sorry, I didn't hear you. Can you repeat that?"  (If you didn't know this word before, you're going to start hearing locals say it all the time now.)  
    • What NOT to say:  When you don't hear someone or need them to repeat what they said, don't say, "Qué?" even though it technically means, "What?" it's considered aggressive or impolite, like... "What did you say to me?!"    

    I'm sure they're are a bunch of other "polite" things I'm forgetting, but it's late and my brain is tired.  And the point I guess I'm trying to get across is that it doesn't take a lot of work to be respectful to other humans and that we need to appreciate and respect other cultures and customs instead of expecting them to wield to our own...and you don't have to speak Spanish well to do it.  The locals will just be glad you're making an effort! 

    I'll update this post as I think of more ways to acknowledge the kind, hard-working people that surround us everyday.  Tengan una buena noche, mis amigos!  

    Sunday, February 11, 2018

    Our New Normal: Hotelier Life

    I mentioned in my last post that I most likely feel less inspired to write about our "experiences" down here because they don't really feel like "experiences" anymore.  What was once bizarre is now our "new normal."  

    Like seeing a guy take a snooze on a pile of pallets in rush hour traffic?  Shrug.





    It gave me the idea to write about what a typical day in the life of two dorky Gringos running a busy, boutique hotel is really like since I don't have any new expat-fails or terrifying bug stories to entertain you with.  

    Our new normal...life as hoteliers:  

    7:30am - The damn parrot starts squawking his head off for 20+ minutes because the sun is coming up (he thinks he's a rooster) which is when I sandwich my head in between my two pillows and try to go back to sleep after muttering about the "dumb bird."  The bird's name is "Macho" because he thinks he's the king of the friggen castle, even though we (Ty) has squished spiders bigger than him.  

    He tried to bite me several times while trying to get this photo of him...jerk.  




    All of our guests love him for some reason and no one (expect me) has ever complained about his incessant squawking, so I guess we'll keep him around.  (I personally call him "Ruidoso" instead of Macho which makes the staff chuckle because it means "noisy" in Spanish.) 

    Ty almost always gets up before me because ever since moving here, I am no longer a "morning person."  Every job I've ever had has always required a super early wake-up time... As a waitress opening a busy breakfast diner in my late teens, I had to be there at 5:30am; all of the office jobs I had started at 7:00am or earlier; while going to college in my late 20s, my first class started at 7:00am; teaching bootcamp classes before the sun was up meant I had to be out the door by 5:45am... So, I think I've been doing a LOT of catch up in the sleep department since moving here, but I'm okay with that.

    But around 8:30, (okay, sometimes 9:30), I'll sluggishly mosey out of bed...always hopeful that Ty has already started brewing coffee in our kitchen, which is across the courtyard/hotel lobby.  I throw on something presentable, tame my crazy-ass hair, brush my teeth and wash the sleepy look from my face.  It's a weird thing having to immediately "get ready" before you can even leave your bedroom because you don't want to run the risk of running into the gardener, the (hunky) pool boy or any of your hotel guests while sporting a disheveled nightgown without a bra on, frizzy bedhead and eye crusties.  Sexy.  

    Most of my morning is spent sipping coffee, repeatedly asking Ty to go on "poop walks" (where he makes a loop around the property in search of puppy nuggets that our guests don't need to be subjected to) and then I usually continue doing laundry.  And by "continue" I mean the laundry is absolutely never-ending when we're fully-booked.  Sheets, pillowcases, bath towels, beach towels, hand towels, kitchen towels, bath mats, small rugs, cleaning rags, seat covers, table cloths, guests asking if you can do a load of laundry for them....there just aren't enough hours in the day (and our washer and dryer are old and inefficient) to stay caught up with it all.  When the baskets in the laundry room are empty, I always want to take a picture of them and scream, "Victory!!!!"  

    Two out of three...not bad!  (They were all over-flowing when I got up this morning.)  



    The dryer can't keep up with demand (and it's expensive to run all day), so I "half-dry" things on the line first... 



    Yes, we have a housekeeper who has the laundry going all day too, but she doesn't work every day so whenever she's not here I'm chipping away at the heap myself.  (If I didn't try to stay caught up with it, there wouldn't be fresh towels ready when she services the guestrooms or clean sheets when she needs to change over a room, etc.)  And then comes the hours of me standing at our kitchen table neatly folding everything before it gets wrinkled until my back hurts, but I digress.... (We could legit hire a full-time laundry person from November to April, and maybe next year we will...or better yet, I'll convince Ty to buy me better machines!) 

    10:00am on Monday, Wednesday and Friday - Our housekeeper arrives and I give her the rundown (in mediocre Spanish) of the day's events: which rooms are checking out today, which are checking in, what the priorities are, what guests told me they needed, what we are running low on, what THING OF THE DAY IS BROKEN, etc.  (Seriously.... There are 11 toilets, 9 showers, 23 sinks, 6 kitchens, 5 hot water heaters, 23 ceiling fans, at least 4 propane tanks, who knows how many pumps and cisterns or whatever else kind of plumbing thingys I know nothing about, and one gazillion lights on the property (I just did a quick count of light switches in our room alone and there are 28), so there is ALWAYS something that needs fixing, replacing, unclogging, blah... Always.)  

    Oh!  And then there are the curve balls!  A week or so ago, a dead sea turtle washed up on our beach and Ty (with the help of some concerned guests) buried it in the sand and covered it with rocks before it started stinking up the whole hotel, only to have it be un-buried by the tide overnight; so then he waited until high tide and waded it out into the ocean.  Unfortunately, I have no photographic evidence of this very traumatic/gross experience because I was super bummed that the very first turtle we've seen on our beach was a dead one.  Moving on... 

    The rest of my day is spent updating calendars and spreadsheets, replying to emails and booking inquiries, managing our reservation software, updating our rental listings on multiple sites, doing inventory of supplies, helping the staff, (poorly) translating Spanish, calling taxis, walking the grounds and making sure everything's in order, and getting huge eye rolls from Ty when I so much as ask him to change a light bulb or put on shoes... 

    When we have a lot of guests, we mostly stay in our bedroom/living area (while keeping the doors open) and guests often come knocking to ask a question about how something works, or to tell us they're running low on something, or ask for restaurant recommendations or for us to call them a taxi or whatever else.  I have a lot of anxiety about both of us leaving the house at the same time when we have guests because I'm always like, "But what if someone needs something?!!?!"  But I need to be better about calming down and giving ourselves a night off once in a while... This past week was nice though; we we're fully-booked, but all of the guests had either rented a car (usually meaning they're more self-sufficient) or they had been here a few weeks already and were familiar with getting around and didn't need us at all.  

    In the evenings, we usually watch a show on Netflix or Hulu while we wait for all of our guests to return so we know they're "home safe" and to make sure the front gates get locked properly, etc. which makes me feel like parents waiting up for their kids.  


    ****************************************************

    Guests tend to "drool" over our gig as Property Managers and Hosts at Jardin and they have a lot of questions about what's it's like to live here, and we always laugh and say, "It doesn't suck!"  Which is true, it doesn't suck, and we're very fortunate; but we usually leave out (or downplay) the "hard parts" of maintaining a half-acre Estate (on our own dime, no less), running a busy vacation rental business and managing a full staff in a foreign language. 

    For example, some of the never-mentioned "hard parts":

    Sometimes I spend 10+ hours on my feet and I feel like a grumpy, self-pitying, one-woman show and "the only one who gives a damn around here!".... but I'm a perfectionist and I put waaaaaay too much pressure on myself to make everything as good as it can possibly be.  I've always been that way... I don't know how to NOT do my very best at something...even if that "something" is scrubbing toilets or folding towels.  Doing anything less than my best will legit keep me up at night; and when I see other staff members not doing as well as they could too (Ty included), my head feels like it's going to explode, and often times I can't help myself and I go "fix" whatever they did.  

    As a bonus side effect to being an incessant perfectionist, I've started unconsciously grinding my teeth at an unnatural angle (with my lower jaw shifted to the right, for some reason) while cleaning, rushing or stressing and I can actually feel/see the wear on my bottom teeth -- not to mention the headaches it's causing me. (I sound like a delightful, laid back person, don't I?) 

    Oh, that reminds me... I've also been bombarded with what I call "work stress dreams" the past month or so.  When I was a waitress, I used to have dreams where the entire restaurant was full and I was the only one there and all of the customers were angry at me.  Now, I dream about guests showing up early and their room not being even close to ready or about accidentally double-booking a room.  When our WiFi went out a couple weeks ago (for 4-5 days) I had dreams two nights in a row about it being fixed and then waking up and realizing it was still broken.  Nothing like having a panic attack first thing in the morning because umpteen guests are gonna be pissed off about not having internet... Fun!  

    Much to Ty's credit, he does all the accounting and bill-paying/banking/tax junk for the hotel because that's way too boring for me to care about.  He also does the majority of the in-person guest interaction and "crisis management" (a.k.a. bribing a TelMex technician to fix our WiFi today, not next week) because I'm not very good at talking to humans I barely know or handling problems.  Both make me want to hide, so I'm thankful he's good at being the calm, cool, like-able front man and "fixer."

    I don't like it when Ty's not home, in case you can't tell... 




    Most days are okay, but some days are really HARD.  Whenever we have a "turnover" (hotel lingo for when guests are checking out of a room and new guests are checking into the same room on the same day) on a "non-maid day" (Tuesdays, Thursdays and the weekends) ...then yours truly gets to spend 2-3 hours busting ass to get the room clean and ready before the new guests show up.  Stripping sheets, making beds, scrubbing bathrooms, emptying leftover food from fridges, emptying garbages, washing dishes, dusting, sweeping, mopping....and then restocking everything:  towels, soaps, coffee, water, paper products, etc.  It's a ton of work to get done in a small window of time and it's about 87 trips up and down the stairs because it's impossible to get everything you need in one trip and then I usually forget half of the things I went to the supply closet for.  And, of course, there is still laundry happening in the middle of all of this.  Let's just say, I'm grateful when guests say their plane doesn't land until 4:00 or 5:00!  

    I really don't mind the cleaning aspect (because of the whole perfectionist thing)...it's the rushing and stressing and sweating part I don't like, because after I'm done getting a room ready, I still have to change my dirty clothes, mop up my face, fix my hair, and try to look easy breezy when Ty pulls in the driveway after picking up our latest visitors from the airport.  So, I often go from stressed-out, sweaty maid to smiling, care-free hostess in a single afternoon.  

    Heaven forbid there be any sort of emergency when it's down to the wire...like a toilet overflowing in another room and flooding into their living room while I'm the only staff person here and I'm still trying to finish a different room and the new guests are going to arrive any minute....yeah, that happened like 3 weeks ago.  But I pulled it all off and still managed to play the "put-together" hostess when they arrived.  (I might have done a little stress-sobbing in private later that night, but you can't prove it.)  

    We also do tons of shopping.  It feels like we're at the store every other day.  It takes a TON of supplies to run a hotel... Laundry detergent for colors and for whites, fabric softener, OxiClean stain remover (for when people decide to use my pristine white towels as makeup wipes....grrrrrr), bleach, dish soap, hand soap, body soap, shampoo, conditioner, kitchen sponges, plastic wrap, tin foil, toilet cleaner, floor cleaner, tile cleaner, glass cleaner, wood polish, rust remover, paper towels, napkins, toilet paper, kleenex, garbage bags in 4 different sizes, coffee, water bottles...just to name a few.  And then there's something that always needs to be replaced, whether it's a rusty can opener, or a refrigerator that's older than I am, we're always shelling out cash.  Speaking of which, don't get me started on our electricity bill...(and guests ignoring our polite requests to turn off their A/C when they're not at the hotel.)   

    The other thing about being so busy is the impact it has on our personal lives... Remember all that laundry I mentioned?  That means there is rarely time to wash our OWN clothes.  Our hamper is usually overflowing, our room hasn't been cleaned really well in over a month (because the housekeeper and I are too busy and Ty only knows how to "boy clean"), I don't have time to shave my legs or wash my hair as often as I'd like (I know, too much information), we never exercise anymore (but I'm still developing plantar fasciitis anyway from constantly running around on hard surfaces in flip flops), we go to the store constantly but it takes about 6 trips to remember that we're nearly out of toothpaste and our fridge is always empty, we rarely hang out with our friends, we don't go on dates or out to restaurants, we don't get to have lazy days in our pajamas binge-watching movies, and Ty and I are both more irritable with each other than usual.

    But... This is our life now...at least for the "high season" anyway.  Looking at our calendar, we won't have a single day where we're "home alone" until mid-May and we have reservations into late July.  Oy.  We're not living very exciting or relaxing lives at the moment, and I don't see any laid back beach days, impromptu hot springs trips or private pool parties any time in our near future...but we get to live in a truly unique place and we get to share it with visitors from all over the world, so that's pretty dang cool.  


    ********************************************************

    Easily the best part of running Jardin is getting to witness other people fall in love with it, like we did.  I never tire of showing guests to their rooms, giving tours, telling stories about the history and the artifacts, or seeing the expressions when guests walk through the ancient wooden doors for the first time.  

    I also love reading people's reviews after-the-fact (most of them make me teary and/or give me goosebumps) and I especially love when guests book their next vacation with us before they've even finished their current one!  Because, to me, "I can't wait to come back," is the truest test that a place is magical.  (It's exactly what happened the first time we vacationed in little La Cruz de Huanacaxtle, and now we live here.)  

    Anyone can stay at a mega resort or fancy condo with all of the high-tech amenities...but it's not going to leave an impression on them -- which is what this place does to people.  But...don't take my word for it!  Experience it for yourself.  Hint, hint.  






    Okay, that's enough complaining for one day... I should probably go check on the laundry.  Adios mis amigos!