It is a beautiful sunny day here in Mazatlan. We are reveling in it, because the last 5-6 days have been chilly by Mazatlan standards, anyway! It has been breezy and hasn’t been warm enough to sit outside unless you are in the direct sun – and when you’re not – brrr. Everyone in town was wearing sweaters and jackets and – god forbid – shoes.

This morning we had a number of people due to come over for various things relating to the work we’re having done here. Paul said he’d do the waiting, so I took the dogs on a walk by myself.

They are very familiar with our morning route to the malecon…and have their favorite “spots” so the official business was out of the way quickly and we could proceed with the fun part. (yes, we always pick it up)

We are regulars now, and I really enjoy feeling like we are accepted as residents.

First to greet us is Henry’s biggest fan down by the park. She almost always runs out to greet him and pet him and has told us she has a Schnauzer, too – a grey one. When she’s not there in the morning, Henry looks for her and whines.

Next is the security guard at a local college. He greets us every day but when I am alone with the dogs he always wants to know what Paul is doing and laughs that he is still in bed!

The street sweeper lady is always enthusiastically working away, and alway has a ready smile and a good morning.

Then when we get to the malecon, we have to wait for traffic in order to cross. No problem there, because the lead man in the big street car washing business in front of Shrimp Bucket always greets us and lets us know when it’s ok to cross.

Everyone has such nice smiles…and not just vacant smiles but smiles that include the eyes so you feel like you really connected for the moment.

The malecon has all the usual walkers and joggers and dogs who are now familiar faces to greet each day. When people meet us for the first time we have to tell them “no muerden” since people here seem to be very worried that the dogs will bite.

Today I took a longer route and when I passed by the “cliff diver” area where all the vendors set up a couple of tour buses had just disgorged a lot of people and the sidewalk was jammed. After we waited for it to thin out the dogs and I passed by with nods from the vendors but no requests for me to buy. I think even if they don’t know me the dogs signal to them that I’m a local.

By the time we got home both Paul and I were hungry for breakfast. With the painters occupying the kitchen, Paul took off to buy us some pan dulces at Panama and stopped at the fruit stand in front and bought a cup of mixed fruit, jicama and cucumber seasoned with lime and chile powder.

It’s been an excellent start to another beautiful Mazatlan day.

Yes, Lucy has the good life, but so do we. There’s nothing like sitting in the sunshine watching a hummingbird feed in the bouganvilla.

Paul and I have been doing a lot of sitting in the sun or in our office lately. It’s a happy exile because of all the work that’s being done at our house…these are the only places except the bedroom that aren’t a mess from work in progress.

The courtyard is proceeding beautifully. The tile is about half done, the seat is gorgeous, and we expect the fountain to be installed tomorrow. The rest of the painting and the landscaping will probably be next week…and then they’ll be done! I’ll post the final pictures of the project then.

We are in the midst of our interior painting. Up north I did most of the painting in our house – and I really do like to paint – but the 12′ ceilings made me reconsider. I’m glad I did, too. The team that is working here is very neat – masking baseboards carefully and cleaning up as they go.

The two front bedrooms are done – yellow in one and blue in the other. The hall and main living spaces of the house are something I’d call a pale salmon color. The accent wall behind the stairs is a lively brick color. The beams are being painted a chocolate brown.

We’re going quite dark in the dining room – a real deep brick color called Posole. I think we’re most excited to see that color go on, which will be tomorrow I think. The kitchen will be the same yellow as the courtyard and we are going to have some kind of mural at the far end of the sala fresca. We asked the artist for his ideas and are excited to see what he comes up with.

So during the day one of us stays here and manages the dogs and tries to keep them from stepping in paint as we go out for our mid-day walk. It’s a good thing we are here, too, since they were given the wrong color for the accent wall behind the stairs – and I neither of us would have been too happy with bright orange instead of our chosen color.

In the evenings we move furniture from place to place to be ready for the painters the next day. Both the courtyard and the painters have said they’ll have their work complete by the 20th.

It is good for me to experience this – I have really had to learn to “go with the flow.” I trust these competent workers and artists, and are excited to see how it all turns out. The house will seem pretty quiet once everyone is gone – I can’t believe I am actually getting used to having 8-9 people here all day long!

We’ve only been here since September, but we feel like we are home. I had no idea that it would be this easy to settle in and feel comfortable.

A few things to share:

• It’s wonderful to live in sandals! My feet have never been happier!

• I had worried a bit about how I would find enough reading material. I’m glad to say there is a used bookstore, several places to swap books and an English library. I have successfully ordered from Amate Books, a Mexican bookstore that had English language books, and am waiting for my first order from Amazon.
• We have met so many nice people! Our frustration with our Mexican acquaintances is that we’re not fluent enough to have a meaningful conversation. There’s a nice man across the street who sits outside with his dog all day who someday we hope to get to really talk with. Everyone in the neighborhood stops and talks with him as they go by, and he’s always smiling when we greet each other. There’s the lady who loves our dog Henry and runs out to pet him when we’re on our walks in the morning. There are lots of gringos, too, who are becoming friends poco y poco. The social atmosphere, the relaxed lifestyle, and the wonderful weather I think combine to make this place just about perfect.
• Everyone we’ve had here working on the house have been such talented workers. I am really impressed by the way they work – five and a half long days a week. They are proud of their work and are pleased at our appreciation of their talents. Here again we are frustrated by our remedial Spanish but they can tell even if we can’t always express ourselves how happy we are with their contribution to our home.
• I had thought there would be less variation in the weather than there is. But every day is a little bit different. When we first got here it was plenty hot and soggy. We learned from the locals to take a washcloth with us to mop ourselves and we didn’t worry about it if our shirts were a little (or a lot) wet. When we would come out of the air conditioned bedroom in the morning it was like being hit with the heat from an open oven door (but wet) but ten minutes later we had adjusted. Now it is cooler in the day, and at night we sleep with the windows open.
• I’d thought that there would be way more noise. We do have the odd barking dog here and there and the various singing gas trucks, but overall it is way quieter than I expected. We do hear the bells from the school down the street, and sometimes announcements or singing. There is something I haven’t tracked down yet, though – an irregular beeping like a freight lift at Home Depot. But single beeps.
• Driving is an activity here – you can’t drive and do anything else. Sometimes I can’t even have the radio on! People are polite but not patient. You need to be able to flow into traffic and predict what people will do by watching. You need to be prepared for the unexpected – like someone swooping around you on the right to turn left – and also for scooters and motorcycles that are everywhere. I drive around just fine, but try not to go anywhere that I’ll have to parallel park. I am no good at it when there is a lineup of 10 cars behind me, crowding me and honking.
• Many systems are way better here than they were in the US. Our internet (DSL) is great, fast and way more reliable than our DSL in the US. They collect the garbage 3 times a week, and no huge garbage cans and hassles. Just put your bag or bags at the curb and they’ll pick them up. There is only minimal recycling here – and you have to take it to the place…so I just separate all our cans and newspaper and put them out with the trash separately. They are always gone before the trash is picked up, so I know they are helping some enterprising person. All our bills are delivered in person and just slid inside our front gate. When the mailman has a delivery for you he stands outside and blows his whistle. There are cleaning people that cover all areas of the city, and they sweep the streets every day.
• The food situation is improving for me. We’re making fruit smoothies almost every day. We’ve found excellent bread and tortillas. With workers here all day we have been eating both breakfast and lunch at home and going out for dinner. There are a number of place with excellent salads and last night, amazingly, I had a soy burger.
• I need to buy more clothes. Shorts and loose blouses. Most days it is just too warm for anything close fitted, like a tee shirt. I do wear skirts sometimes and once in a while in the evening, pants. I’ve heard of a talented seamstress and I might have her reproduce some of my favorites someday soon.

So, as you can tell we are settling in and happy. Mazatlan is a wonderful place and we tell each other every day how glad we are to be here.