Tag Archives: living in Mexico

June 17, 2017 · 7:00 am

A room of her own–Perks

 

cam05008

It may not look like much at first…..

Despite the small size, there are definitely some perks to renting in Sunflower Valley.  While it’s really not designed for a family, I think a retired granny would be delighted here. In fact, I can see the whole neighborhood being converted into a retirement community.  Here are some of the pros and cons.

cam05017

There is unlimited water.  I can wash and wash to my heart’s content and not have to worry about getting a delivery truck to come and fill up the tinaco (water storage container) or go to the arroyo.  However, there is some issue with the tinaco.  Every week or so, there was an overflow, and it dripped into the house, which apparently has been happening for years because there are signs of roof leakage in every room.  We did get that fixed though (See Waterfall in the kitchen and Fixing the roof)  Additionally, the toilet leaked, so we had to flush with a bucket. The pipes are bad which is causing the walls in the hallway and my office to disintegrate. That we haven’t fixed yet.  Although the water heater was replaced, we don’t shower here either.  It’s just icky.  Plus there were those extra water charges the owner tried to foist on us from the last tenants.  Although that too has been taken care of.

There is unlimited electricity.  We can charge our flashlight, laptops, portable DVD players, phones and Kindles every single day! And at 50 pesos every 2 months, the price is right! However, there are only 5 working plugs in the whole house, so we have to rotate our charges.

There is unlimited internet.  Well, there better be since this was the whole reason for renting this place, to begin with.  I use the internet to teach my online classes.  My son uses the internet to play Minecraft.  My husband uses the internet to check his Facebook account.  However, it’s a bit pricey at $349 per month, and it’s not lightning fast, but it will do for now I suppose.

There is also trash pickup 6 days a week.  We don’t generate too much waste and average one trash bag per week.  The problem is getting the trash out when the truck passes ringing its bell. Typically, it goes by before 7 am, and we aren’t usually there to greet it.  So sometimes the trash bag waits a week or more before hitting the curb.  Other times we just haul it to La Yacata and burn it.

cam05323-1

There is an abarrotes (convenience store) right across the street.  We can get detergent, toilet paper, ham, cheese, eggs, beans, tortillas, bread, water garafones (jugs) and junk food.  Unfortunately, my son goes overboard on the junk food.  Every chance he gets, he heads over for a bag of chips and a Zumba (non-carbonated grape juice) or cookies and milk.  He has made the connection between the food he eats and his zit outbreaks, so I’m hoping he reduces his junk food intake eventually.  

cam05063

The produce truck comes every Sunday afternoon.  Since there isn’t a fruteria (produce store) close, this is a fabulous plus.  He even stops right in front of the house!  However, the guy who drives it has lots in La Yacata, so my cover is blown! It didn’t take too long for other Yacata property owners to find me in Sunflower Valley either.

The bolillo (bread) guy comes every morning around 9 am.  We aren’t often there in the mornings with our current schedule, but it’s a really nice treat when we are.  I can’t think of a downside for this.  Freshly made bollillo is yummy!

The tamale lady comes every Saturday evening.  She sells rojos, verdes y dulcles (red, green and sweet) tamales for 9 pesos each.  However, she usually knocks when I’m in class, so my son handles the transaction.  Only she doesn’t seem to understand volume, so she’s practically shouting at the front door, which disturbs me in my classes.  

The saddest ice cream truck ever also makes the rounds most evenings.  It’s a rusty red van that plays the song Memory from Cats over and over again.  Not exactly a song that brings ice cream to mind, but it’s memorable that’s for sure.

Now that the little house is nearly furnished, there are all sorts of perks inside too.  Both my son and I have a bed for napping when we have to head there right after school.  Having a kitchen lets us whip up something quick as well.  I also like to have a cup of tea during my classes.  And if my classes run long and my teenage son is famished, he can fry himself up some eggs and ham.  We have chairs to sit on and hope to get a couch to lounge on soon.  It’s quite comfortable really.

cam05068

The house backs up to a soccer field.  If I stand on a chair, I’m actually ground level to the field.  Best seats in the house.  However, there are days the games are the same time I am teaching online, so there’s a bit of background noise when the two overlap.

cam05331

Guard’s room.  There’s a ding-dong sensor when someone passes through the front gate.

There’s a security guard at the front gate who monitors everybody’s coming and going. Despite this, in recent months, there have been 4 break-ins during the day.  I suspect that the thieves live in Sunflower Valley as well, so the items have just moved from one house to another.  The targeted houses have been all 2 stories and obviously better off financially than my run-down little dump.  Plus, the store is open all day, and the shopkeeper keeps an eye on things on our street.  Furthermore, our neighbor has a friendly pitt bull that is outside during the day.  He’d give the warning should any strangers come and try to pick our lock.

Yet another perk is the proximity to La Yacata.  It really is less than 2 miles.  When my classes run late, it only takes 5 minutes to get home via the highway.  Of course, I don’t like driving the highway at night, but it’s the shortest way.  It’s also within biking distance for my son.  Nowadays he prefers heading over there Saturday afternoons rather than staying in La Yacata.

Besides the tamale lady and the occasional soccer game, the area is quiet and peaceful.  In December, we even had Las Posadas right outside our door.  We didn’t stay long, but shared some ponche (punch) and received an aguinaldo (goodie bag) for our 40 pesos contribution.

So, as you can see, there are some decided advantages to our little out in Sunflower Valley even if there aren’t any sunflowers here.  I’m not sure how long we’ll keep renting, but for now, it’s all good.

cam05554

The Bougainvillea has begun to bloom–perhaps a sign of better things to come?

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

 

 

 

2 Comments

Filed under Electricity issues, Water issues

Tagged as ,

June 14, 2017 · 7:00 am

A room of her own–furnishings

We set up with just a desk for my son, a desk for me, a card table and 4 chairs. Little by little, I brought stuff from La Yacata in order to make it more functional. I had a wooden TV table that now supports my printer and the internet box, the main reason for renting this place, after all.

Before

Before

There were a few shelves that originally were in my son’s Spidey room. A little yellow paint and they work nicely in the kitchen. I scrubbed the hideous green paint off the wooden insert in the kitchen and my son stained it.  What an improvement! I had a two burner electric hot plate that works for our occasional cooking. I bought a tea kettle and 4 dishes, and 4 enamel tin cups. I was going for utility rather than luxury. I brought a few pans from the other house, a container of sugar and tea and the kitchen was set up.

cam05343

The washer, of course, was the central kitchen item. Even after owning it for several months now, I still caress its lid when I go by. I’m very pleased with my purchase.

Before

Before

The English teacher across the street said she was getting rid of her daughter’s twin bed. In exchange for a bus ticket to DF, it was mine. I had to wait about a month though since she wanted to replace the bed with a double bed and didn’t have the money to buy both the base and the mattress at the same time. Eventually, the day arrived and we went to take possession. After a bit of Tetris, the bed left her itty bitty house, crossed the street and entered my itty bitty house. It’s lovely, really.  Now I can nap if I so desire.

Classroom

Classroom

Nap area

Nap area

I also wanted to get a twin bed for my son’s room. We had enough boards at the house for my husband to make the base. After weeks of prodding, he finally did. A few more weeks of prodding, it was delivered.

So now I was in the mind to buy a mattress and maybe some living room furniture. I started my search at the new Fabricas de Francia. Ok, I admit, that probably wasn’t the best place to find a good deal. I had already discovered washers there were 30,000 pesos. But I was window shopping right? Well, after checking the price tags on a few pieces, it was time to hightail it down the escalator. I also vetoed Famsa after the looooong delay in receiving my washer. Coppel had some mattress for under $2,000 pesos and free delivery, but I still didn’t want to pay that much. The sofas and stuff weren’t really nice either.

Before

Before

So I decided to wait for the Maraton–which is an annual furniture sale in the convention center just outside of town. There were all sort of, umm, interesting models. Not really my cup of tea, but hey, maybe somebody else wants a crib that matches their dining room set. Mattresses were anywhere from $2,000 to $3,000 pesos. The genuine leather living room sets were very nice, but SOOOO out of my budget. Fortunately, they had a scratch and dent tent outside. There was a nice blue loveseat, but just a little too expensive for me.

Before

Before

Then, I found them. Two little brown vinyl chairs. Perfect. They were good quality and I could afford both of them. I paid cash, which caused some eyebrow-raising, and they wrapped them up to go. I spent the afternoon moving them about my itty bitty living room, delighted with my purchase.

chairs

The mother of two of my students had sold me a bronzey mirror for my son’s room awhile back. (See Ladykiller’s room remodel) She said she had a second one that she also wanted to sell, but at the time I didn’t really need it. Now, though, I said I would like to buy it. She surprised me my last class before Christmas vacation by telling me she was giving me the mirror. Score!

Curtains were another issue. The two front windows had those slatted Venetian blinds, but it was still possible to peak in. After pricing vinyl window paper, I decided to just use the plastic contact paper I had bought to forar (cover) my son’s books at the beginning of the school year. It added a bit of privacy to both front windows and the back door. The two remaining windows were larger than typical, so I had to make some curtains. I bought a set of sheets for that purpose, kept the bottom fitted sheet to use as a sheet and cut up the top flat sheet. It was cheaper than buying fabric.

cam05064

I ordered some bedding from Zulily which actually arrived before the beds. I ordered matching bedding so that it all could be washed together in the washer. Practical huh?

After an exhaustive search, I finally found a twin size mattress for just over $1000 pesos at La Bodega. A little bribery in the form of “I’ll buy you a bag of cement if you will take me to pick up the mattress with the truck” to my husband and the mattress was mine.  Well, my son’s.

cam05336 cam05337

I had in mind a little table to set between my two living room chairs. I found an unvarnished one that would do in el mercado (market) however they wanted $250 pesos for it. Too much, in my opinion. But wait, my son is still taking carpentry classes as his school and his current project was a small coffee table. There we have it!

cam05340

I also wanted a tree stand. Draping our coats on the chairs and dropping our helmets on the floor got old real fast. And as the house is itty bitty, well, there’s no room for that sort of disorder. It didn’t take much effort and only 250 pesos to get that necessity. A carpenter shop on Pipila had just what I wanted.

cam05338

But I wasn’t finished yet. In August I joined the school teacher tanda. A tanda is a Mexican money saving scheme. One person is in charge and receives the money. Each participant is given a payout number. Since we get paid bi-weekly at the school, our tanda was also bi-weekly with a contribution amount of $500 pesos each time. I choose the last number because in my mind I didn’t see the sense in continuing to make payments when I wouldn’t be receiving anything more. Sort of like paying for the cake when it’s already been eaten. The thing is, you have to be sure of the people involved. I’ve heard tell that sometimes the organizer refuses to pay. Or participants don’t give their contribution so others end up short. So it’s a risky business, to say the least.

Anyway, my number came up at the end of February. I received 3,500 pesos after 4 months of waiting. I don’t know that I’ll participate in any more tandas. Seems like I could save the money myself just as well. My plan was to get a loveseat for the living room, or maybe a small kitchen table and chairs. But the universe had other plans.

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

 

6 Comments

Filed under Economics

Tagged as , , ,

April 5, 2017 · 7:00 am

Surviving Drought in La Yacata

IM000767.JPG

This is what La Yacata looks like most of the year.

Mexico is prone to droughts. Many areas are desert, but that doesn’t mean they are uninhabited. (See Also Chihuahuan Desert, Sonoran Desert, Indigenous Desert People)

Mexico experienced severe droughts in 2012 and 2014, not so very long ago, and it’s likely to happen again.

Lake Chapala, one of the primary sources of freshwater for Mexico City, is drying up. Rivers have been known to just disappear as well.

 

As a result, Mexicans overall are very water conscious. We, in La Yacata, hold water as sacred as it takes such an effort to get it to our house. (see Water Woes) After I read some articles about how to conserve water, I realized how much I have changed as regards to water consumption from when I lived in the U.S. Most of the suggestions in these lists were second nature to me now. (See also Emergency Preparedness, 100 Ways to Conserve Water, Drought Tips)

So here’s how we conserve water in the kitchen:

We don’t have a dishwasher since we have no electricity. That means everything is washed by hand in a very precise manner. I soap up a sponge and then use it on the pile of dirty dishes, stacking them to the side of the sink. Once I have a pile, usually of the same type of dish, I move them back into the sink and rinse, sometimes with the tap, or if the water is really low, with a scoop from a bucket of water. Then I put them on the drying rack to dry. I only do as much as can be stacked. The rest can wait. Anything crusted on gets another pass with the sponge and might be left to soak. Pots and pans are also sprinkled with water and left to soak, sometimes until the next load is done which might not be until the next day. Any food particles are caught in the mesh strainer and thrown out to the chickens for a bit of a treat.

We also have the one-glass rule. We only use one glass for the three of us to drink water from. It sits under the tap of the garafon (water cooler) to catch any drips. It may sound unhygienic and we don’t hold to that rule when anyone is sick, but it sure does save on dishes.

When we boil something that needs the water dumped out, we often use that water on our plants once it’s cool. Waste not, want not!

Conservating water in the laundry room:

We have a hand pump which brings the water from the ajibe (dry well) to the second floor. Our wash water is reused with most of it heading back down to the back yard for the fruit trees. Water left in the bucket is used to water the indoor plants or as mop water then used on the plants. (See After Ecstasy, the laundry)

Conserving water in the bathroom:

We have a shower instead of a tub. Our showers are short, less than 10 minutes typically. Days that the hot water heater is out of commission, they are even shorter. Brrr! We make sure there are no leaks from the showerhead, faucet or toilet, ever. A drip left all day could be the difference between having water tomorrow and not. We always turn the water off when brushing our teeth–who leaves it on anyway? We have a fingernail brush to scrub our hands before we turn the water back on to rinse. We use our towels, one per family member, for a week unless they are super dirty. That keeps the laundry amount down and isn’t the idea that you use a towel AFTER you’re already clean to dry off?

One suggestion on the water conservation list that we do because it’s customary here in Mexico is to throw the toilet paper into the wastepaper can rather than into the toilet. The reason that’s done here is to prevent clogged pipes. Most of the water pipes (our house included) are embedded in the cement floor. There isn’t any floor space underneath. So in the event of a super clog, a plumber could not get under the house and open the pipes. Another suggestion on several conservations lists is flush less often. Our house rule is “If it’s yellow, let it mellow. If it’s brown, flush it down.” That’s probably more than you really want to know about our hygiene habits, though!

Other conservation habits:

We don’t have toy water guns or a pool. We collect rainwater in barricas (barrels). When we change the animals’ water, we use old water on the fruit trees. We monitor the amount of drinking water our animals have. For the horses, we don’t leave a bucket of water in the stall because it’s likely to get spilled and spilled water is wasted water. We don’t wash our vehicles. Yes, that means sometimes they are pretty dirty, but it will eventually rain. We don’t have a lawn. Anything that grows in our backyard is already pretty much drought resistant, other than the fruit trees. We have cactus, feverfew, Klip dagga, aloe and a few other native plants that grow whether or not we water them. We don’t irrigate our crops which means we don’t plant until the rainy season starts. In the event of drought, we won’t have too many crops, but that’s the risk we take.

Of all our off-grid accommodations, I’ve always felt that our water system has been our weakest aspect.  La Yacata has no natural running water, like a stream or underground spring.  There is no connection to the main town water line either.  (See Water Woes)  Therefore, we have to pay for a water truck to make deliveries or go and get it ourselves from nearby towns that do have natural water supplies. Those nearby communities also have areas where we sometimes go to wash our clothes, thereby saving our own precious water. We also are able to fill our tinacos (water storage containers) and garafones (water cooler bottles)and bring them back to our house.

 

 

 

This past winter, we decided to upgrade.  First, we removed the portable water storage container from the back porch.  We gave this to my father-in-law to add to his overall water storage capacity.  He has quite a number of goats that need water daily.  This required an up and over approach.  My husband, his brother B, and my son lifted it up to the roof, then lowered it into the back of the truck.

 

 

 

Run off from the roof
into the tinacos
Filling the 3 tinacos

Now that there was a bit more space, we purchased 2 new 1100 liter tinacos (water storage containers).  My husband made bases for them with bits of brick.  He connected them to the copper pipes that lead to our downstairs bathroom.  Then, he connected a pipe from the roof to catch falling rainwater in the rainy season.

This added 2200 liters to our overall water storage capacity bringing our total to about 8000 liters with the first tinaco (water storage container) and ajibe (dry well).  A full order of water is 10,000 liters.  So now we can order a full truck and share with my father-in-law or with B to complete the order.

As you can see, we do just fine in La Yacata in regards to water conservation and would be able to survive longer in the event of drought because of that, even with water hard to come by. Amazingly enough, drought allows for some interesting phenomenon here in Mexico. In 2015, drought caused the water level to drop 82 feet in the Nezahualcoyotl reservoir, revealing the ruins of a 16th-century colonial church, Temple of Santiago. Who knows what other things might be found?

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

Would you like to learn more about surviving in Mexico?

a to z

 

13 Comments

Filed under Carnival posts, Homesteading, Water issues

Tagged as , , , , , , , , , ,