Exploring New Places

It always takes time to feel comfortable in a new location but I love the possibilities of so many new places to explore.  We have joined the Lake Chapala Society, which might be described as the local Gringo group.  It offers classes, outings, video rentals and much more.  Last week I went on a shopping trip to the nearby towns of Tonola and Tlaquepaque (try pronouncing that one out loud) which are known for their handicrafts.  I bought a few things, but tried to limit my spending, knowing that I would have many more opportunities to return.  I met a couple of ladies who are also quite new and we spent the day exploring together.

This lady made the basket I bought for our bathroom 

I'm still chasing people for shots of local flavour

Mariachi music originated in this area of Mexico.  This female mariachi group is famous in Tlaquepaque.

My next door neighbour is from Guadalajara and retired here a year ago.  Since Guad (as it's known locally by the Gringos) is the big city (approx 4 million people) only an hour away, she offered to show me around there.  We spent the day speaking each other's languages (me in Spanish and she in English) and helping each other.  Our first stop was the huge fruit and vegetable market called Abastos.  I was in search of ingredients for fruit cake - Brian's favourite Christmas baking.  Maria Elena told me it was called 'fruita cristalizada' which seemed straight forward enough until I discovered that the only varieties included kiwi, pineapple and mango.  I've learned to substitute in these foreign countries so I hope this tropical fruit cake turns out!  

We're home...

in Mexico that is.  After purchasing the house 4 1/2 years ago, and planning and preparing to move into it (someday) ... we are finally here.  We arrived on October 14 and had our furniture delivered 10 days later.  It's been an unbelievably hectic month with many projects on the go - some planned for and others not planned for, but decided that they should be done now.  We've had the house painted inside and out, all the interior doors and casings scraped to remove an antique finish and then painted new, sprinkler system repaired, new windows and screens installed in some rooms, the roof sealed for better protection in the rainy season, more shelves built for 2 closets, hot tub repaired, some new plants for the yard, and the list goes on. One day Brian counted 13 workmen here at the same time!  Brian has been gone for several weeks of this time with his consulting job but we're grateful for the income to pay for these expenses.

We've made quite a few moves in recent years, and I enjoy to organize a new home, but this time has taken longer than usual to get settled for a couple of reasons.  First of all, some of the projects have required undoing what we've already done...like moving almost everything out of our bedroom when the new windows were installed or waiting on workmen to finish building extra shelves in the kitchen so I could move stuff into them.  The second reason is that it's been 13 years since we moved into our own home and that was back into our house in Calgary and we'd only been gone from it for 2 1/2 years.  So it's really been almost 24 years since we moved into a home that was our own.  The difference is an attitude of living with what's already there because it's temporary or wanting to make changes because this is our own.  Very soon we'll have all the projects behind us and be able to enjoy the terrace and view in the photos below.