Sunday, September 17, 2017

Homesteading or Tiny House Living?

Living in rural Mexico

It is so different from anything we have ever done or anywhere we have ever lived. Culture shock does not begin to describe it. Overall I would say it is a good thing. Quiet, peaceful and yet busy. We do our laundry in a zinc bath and hang it out in the sun to dry. Such a simple pleasure after years of "automagically" washing and drying clothes because there was no sun. Always rushing to get the loads done in time for school and work.

Supplies

We can buy most of our food in town. Most of the construction material and tools we need are also found in our little pueblo. We usually walk to the market every second day around 10am and then buy fresh veggies. We buy meat from a meat franchise that has a branch locally. Prices are comparable or cheaper than in Mérida. In true homesteading fashion, I am making curtains for the bedroom and living with the mindset to re-use and mend before replacing.

Gardening

Herman started cleaning the garden from debris, one square metre at a time. We are re-using as much as we can and I have several projects on my to do list for outdoor decorating, alternative construction of walls and furniture and storage solutions. I have started a compost and most of our garbage can be burned on site, so we hardly have any waste.

My first attempt at a veggie garden from seed include tomatoes, zucchini, peppers and cilantro. There is really good soil here and the first zucchini plants have already come up after just one week. Hopefully the food won't get eaten by critters, but if they do, we'll fence it.

Practicing Spanish

We are spending a lot of time with Santiago and Viannay. Two young people who offered to help us practice our Spanish and getting used to the local customs. They want to practice English at the same time. From our two visits, we have experienced a definite improvement of our skills and hope to only get better each week. I am starting to think a bit in Spanish, which is a good step in the right direction. Herman and I sometimes speak to each other a bit in Spanish, but that's slow going.

Viva Mexico!

Yesterday was Mexican independence day. The school children decorate their schools but houses are not decorated. The day before Independence there are celebrations and at midnight fireworks mark the onset of "dia de la independencia". On independence day there are parades, traditional food, dancing and music. Our small town also has a bullfight scheduled for later today. Our new friends, Santiago and Viannay are bringing a traditional meal over for us later today, made by Viannay's mom.

Homesick

For the first time in my life, I am experiencing serious homesickness. I miss everything Canadian and especially miss Konstanz and Dominique. I have never ever ever felt like this, and I guess now I can empathize with others who I had thought, in the past, were just sissies. 
My parents have always moved around a lot when we were kids. When we were small and moved to Germany, the stage was set to be different. Now they have three kids in three different countries. Just imagine all the places they can visit for free.
As teens we often dreaded the long boring family Christmases. As adults in another country we (sometimes) missed those celebrations. When friends of our children's aunts,uncles, cousins and extended family members attend their milestone events, it made you pause. I think our children missed out on some traditions we gave up when we left South Africa. On the positive side, they appreciate these traditions with their current life partners' families and never have the pressure of choosing who to visit on these days. 😏 Now that we have moved away from our kids, are we taking away our chances of being part of our future grandchildren's traditions?
Then again, both Konstanz and Dominique have aspirations to travel and experience non-traditional lifestyles. Sometimes giving your kids confidence and teaching them to follow their dreams, bite you in the ass. If we live near them, it is not certain that they won't move away either.
Living outside your comfort zone becomes almost addictive, and once you reach that comfortable space, the yearning to feel the adrenaline of a new experience becomes a need that is difficult to suppress. Let's hope that we do reach a comfort zone here in rural Mexico and that for once we are content, and we don't have to feed the hunger for change again too soon.
In hindsight, I still wouldn't change my life choices.

This week's video:


Saturday, September 9, 2017

Hello Seyé

This week's update:

  • We leave Mérida and rental properties behind, finally, I hope.
  • Xena makes friends in rural Mexico.
  • Herman swims naked.

Leaving Mérida

The last week in the rental house, was a mixture of anticipation, stress, excitement, insecurity, impatience and boredom. We found out one week before moving out that the owner wanted the backyard clean of weeds, but did not make the necessary arrangements. Let's just say that we worked hard to get the place presentable and leave it at that. We could not wait to leave.

Since we packed everything in for an early start on the 1st, on our last night in Mérida, we treated ourselves to a Chinese dinner at a local restaurant. It was the first meal that I didn't prepare since May 25, so it was absolutely fantastic.

Starting in Seyé

As in Canada, Mexican home owners do not normally rent out the property to the new owners prior to the closing date. However, with the delays we are experiencing and the multiple rentals we have had to arranged during the wait (added to the seller's eagerness to get some income on his empty property) we managed to reach an agreement to rent the property until the closing date. (The closing date is still unknown, however, our rental agreement is monthly, so if it closes after a week, we still pay a month's rent.) We decided that this was acceptable, considering the alternative.

We set some personal priorities for being able to live here until we officially owned it, which included internet access, a fridge and a stove. We realized that moving in on a Friday in a small rural community in Mexico, may delay some of our expectations. But we are tranquila now, so no biggy. We can bob and weave and roll with the punches with the best of them.

On September 1st, we had to meet the owner's representative at the house at 9am, so we got up super early to get the car loaded and able to head out on time. Herman did his tetras trick again and fit everything into the trunk, only this time, Xena was on my lap and the tree was bent over to fit into the car.

We arrived at exactly 9am and the owner, his representative and a handy man were there to make sure that everything was in order at the house. After some basic instructions on the pumps and some help clearing some plants from the gate for our car to enter, we were ready to unpack and get things set up.

We unloaded the car, took a quick dip in the pool, and set off to find the internet store and buy a fridge. On an earlier visit, we found a furniture store and noticed that they actually sold the model of the fridge we were interested in. We headed down and found out they only accept cash and probably didn't deliver, so that was a bust. We decided to aim for internet connectivity and do the fridge the next day at WalMart.

We found the internet provider right away. We met a young man Santiago, at the internet café who helped translate some of the questions we had about the internet speed etc. He then also agreed to become our Spanish teacher, since he also wanted to practice his English. We paid for the installation and first month's service. No contract required and they assured us that the installation will take place on the following Tuesday. Things were looking up.

Santiago informed us that the local gas company does not supply tanks and we would have to purchase this in Mérida. After contacting our real estate agent for clarification, he said we would need to install a tank on the roof. That's a whole different ballgame, so we decided to hold off on any large installations until we have had some time to think about it, and actually own the house. We took another swim and drove to a grocery store for some barbecued chicken. Our first night in the new house came and went without incident.

Saturday morning we headed out to the WalMart in Mérida to purchase the fridge, microwave and electric frying pan, which we deemed sufficient for our food preparation needs. We were impressed with the excellent service we received at the store. With my limited Spanish I managed to organize same day delivery to my house (that doesn't event have an address yet) and at exactly 2pm the delivery van stopped outside the house.

We set out to the stores and local farmers' market to get some groceries, cleaning supplies, gardening tools and other household items we needed to get the basics sorted. We are also a little careful not to buy too much in case something happens and we find ourselves house hunting again. Even then we will still be keeping it simple with minimal furniture purchases and it will be a work in progress for the next few months. This is difficult for me, because I like to GSD. But there is always wine...

Life (so far) in rural Mexico in a nutshell

Herman found out he loves swimming naked. I just like swimming and Xena doesn't mind water. So far we are enjoying the quiet rural life. It is simple and the nights are filled with night sounds, and not city noise. It seems to be a typical small town, and we are definitely a curiosity. Our water is still delivered to our house and we take the motorcycle taxis to and from the market. Our internet installation was on time and professionally done. Most things can be found in the town, and we hope to only have to go to Mérida every three weeks or so. Xena has settled in after a couple of days of shock induced lethargy and has a playmate that jumps the fence for a quick "jol" every day.

It is all extremely exciting, scary and stressful to move to another country. Emotions are sometimes overwhelming. However, so far Herman and I enjoy the simple things that we were looking forward to for so long and we are thankful that we seem to balance each other out with alternating highs and lows.

Next time, we will share international money transfer mucking about and Mexican bank accounts.


Weather in Mexico

We've received a lot of enquiries from everyone about the hurricanes and the earthquake. Mexico is a very big country with diverse climates; from deserts to tropical rain forests. On the west it is bordered by the Pacific Ocean, on the north the Gulf of Mexico and on the east, the Caribbean Sean. The states (31 states and one DF) are vastly different in climate, population density as well as industry, poverty and safety levels.

The epicentre of the earthquake this week was in the Pacific Ocean. Closest to the states of Chiapa and Oaxaca. Our state is on the Gulf of Mexico and we only felt small tremors here. Some reports in Mérida, the closest large city to us, included that there were waves in pools and chandeliers started swinging. Herman and I slept through it, probably because we were far from the epicentre, and also because we were in our hammocks, so our "earth" didn't move. We felt one of the aftershocks here during the day yesterday; our windows rattled a bit. There are a lot of relief efforts being organized from here by the government, for the areas that was hit the worst, and there is a large expat community here that will participate.

Mexico has been hit by numerous hurricanes this season and expecting a few more before November. The area that fell victim to the earthquake two nights ago was, just today, hit by a category 1 hurricane. Mexico is in the path of hurricanes and tropical storms that roll in from the Pacific coast, the Caribbean and from the Gulf of Mexico. In the mountainous regions, mudslides, caused by a lot of rain are often deadly.

We live in a small rural town, inland, in the state of Yucatan, which is sometimes in the path of hurricanes and often tropical storms. So far we have seen a lot of rain and some high winds, but have been spared from any real threatening storms. We are also fortunate that the evacuation routes and information are pretty organized, because this is not their first rodeo either.