For over a month I worked here from 9:00 until 6:00 every single day. I stopped my Spanish lessons and have not been to the gym in a month. I do still play bridge every Thursday afternoon (no way to get out of the tournament). I did find a very good helper and actually let him do some of the painting. He is almost as careful as I am. He is a very hard worker (no lifting or floors) but he started arriving late and leaving early. I told him I would switch to paying him for half a day and that corrected that flaw. Painting also requires patching all the holes left in the walls and smoothing out where they run wiring. They just chisel out a trench in the concrete wall for wiring. There was also no lighting when you got to the deck. I had him add two lights with a switch at the top of the stairs. It all looks very professional until you peak around the wall and discover that it is really just lamp cord running around the building. It is the way things are done here.
I used the same tile man who does a good job and at a very fair in price. Did I tell you that the hand made tiles cost 43 cents a piece? The tile man underestimated the number and I was two boxes short. They had to make them, so that delayed the finish for a week. Also he discovered that there was a fake plaster board wall above the stove (who knows why). It had to be ripped out and a concrete wall was added. When they slap the mud at the wall it spatters all over the room. Of course I had already finished painting. I made sure that I bought a double sink the same size as the single sink that was there When the old sink was pulled out we discovered that under the flat part of the sink was four inches of concrete and re-bar. It all had to be chiseled out. I bought some special tiles of fruit in green yellow and orange (my colors again). He installed the row too high so when I added the shelving it partially hides the tiles. No kitchen has over counter cabinets so you have to improvise. I bought a Mexican chest for the bedroom but decided to place in the kitchen under the staircase. It works perfectly and even had 4 drawers. There is not one drawer in the kitchen.
The biggest shocker came when the washer and dryer arrived. I knew the front door was narrow, so I was sure not to buy anything that would not go through it. Well, actually the bed frame had to be hoisted up to the first floor. Then we discovered that the door to the deck did not open enough for either appliance. It is blocked by a brick overhang on the balcony railing. Both had to be hoisted up two floors. My balcony hangs over the sidewalk so that meant they would be raised above the street and any cars on it. (you can see the cars under the hoisted dryer in the photo).
The day the two guys arrived to hoist the appliances up, there were two cars parked directly under where they were going to pull them up. I asked everyone on the street who owned the cars, but no one knew or cared. I watched from across the street and knew that if one fell, I would have to leave Mexico. I can not even imagine the damage that would occur. But of course it went off without a hitch. When my equipauli (pig skin) table arrived, it too would not go up the staircase. Having seen two guy raise a heavy dryer up, I knew the table would be a piece of cake so the maintenance man and myself did it. Apparently this is quite a common occurrence in Mexico.
The new place is much smaller so trying to place everything was a problem too. Every little Mexican treasure I bought was for a specific place. Now, many will wind up on the roof top garden (that is what I call it now). All this has taken me a month to complete and I have spent a fortune. The rent is much less than what I was paying so, if I can stay there for several years, it will balance out. I think I will like it, especially the roof top garden (I must buy more pots and plants). Did I mention that the church bell tower is across the street? Having lived a block away, I knew about the ringing of the bells (22 to 26 times) but had no idea what a difference being just a few yards away would make. The noise is truly deafening, but it is mainly just on Sunday, and special occasions (which Mexico has a lot of) and I do get up early.
I think I have mentioned before how often the Mexicans try to rip off foreigners and this move was no exception. Prices automatically go up, when they see white skin, so I thought it was important to tell you a good story. I had priced mattresses in several stores and found they ran from 5,000 to 7,000 pesos. I was told about a sort of mattress outlet store. After trying out several I settled on one for 3,500 pesos and thought I got it for a good price (especially since delivery the same day was included). When I went to pay for it the girl said, "Oh, cash! you get a 500 pesos discount" I would never have known, so there are some nice honest Mexicans here.
Now I am actually living in the new apartment. It will take a while to get everything in order and put away and I still have to buy living room furniture. I would like a royal blue sofa on one wall and two chairs and a lamp table on the other. I also hope to buy a bedroom chest at an estate sale next week. All this will take a while to complete, but at the moment I need rest. Even after 8 or 9 hours sleep I awake exhausted. I really think I am now too old to every move again. Let's hope I like it here and the landlady lets me stay. I was telling my cousin how difficult this move was for me and she said that when she moved from her home to a retirement home: she hired a company that came in looked how she had everything, packed it up, moved and when she arrived that night everything had been put away exactly the same. I told her that "if" such a company existed in Mexico they would STEAL everything.
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