La Casita, San Migiel de Allende, Mexico- 2008

I had a marvelous time in SMA but became very ill with the flu on my return trip home! There was so much to do there and I pretty much ran myself ragged. (However, the whole time I was there, a big grin never left my face.) I have spent the last two days in bed but felt well enough tonight to begin a blog and say hello.

The casita was not ready when I first arrived as the services were not yet hooked up. It worked out okay because I stayed with my friend, Roz, for the first part of the week. This gave us a great time to visit and spend time together.....and she taught me how to resize my photos. My brother, Jon, had taught me to do it on my old computer but with Windows Vista, I had been unable to do it. So, hopefully, they will load for your easier!

I was able to move the furniture we had already bought into the casita and set it partially up. They are still finishing the kitchen and bathroom cabinets and the terrace needs a little more work but it was very comfortable.

It is hard to explain the feeling I had the first night staying in this very Mexican neighborhood; the first gringa on the street. My neighbors have all been very warm and friendly but still........I often sleep with earplugs in Mexico because the morning church bells, roosters, and early morning fireworks, tend to wake me. I decided it would be better to sleep without them the first night, so that I would be aware of the night sounds. However, after about an hour of hearing assorted noises and sleep escaping me, I decided to put in my earplugs. It was a great idea and I woke in the morning after the workers had already arrived to work on the main house.

The next morning some of the neighbor children asked me if I was living there now.
In the evening, my terrace lights were on and lighting my neighbors terrace, where other children were playing. I shut the lights off and the children yelled over to me and asked me to keep them on so they could see better as they don't have terrace lights. When my intercom system went in, the neighbor kids had to try it out. I was walking up by the park, and my of my favorite little neighborhood girls yelled, "Hola Paty." I had lots of great interactions with the neighborhood children.

All of the house lots in this part of the neighborhood are roughly the same size, as the divisions were made in the early 70's, all at one time. I feel a bit guilty about having this house, owned by myself and my business partner (on this project)when most of the time, it will be vacant. Meanwhile, all of the neighboring properties have, probably, between 10-20 people living within their walls. Trying to fit in is very important to me and I hope we can find ways to make our presence there, worthwhile.