Colorido

Walls have been sealed, and parts still need paint...... a cute ceramic bathroom mirror has been hung...and everything is coming along nicely. George is working hard despite the heat. It has been really hot here.

After finding all the ingredients, I baked my first loaf bread (Aunt Joyce's banana bread recipe). FYI,  350 degrees is about 176 celsius - using the metric system here.

We went to view the altars in Centro at Grand Plaza on Friday:

Happy Halloween and Día de Muertos!

Paredes y el lenguaje

~Andrea reporting

They guys are still working on the walls of our house, so we are waiting to 'move in' and start getting to work ourselves. They have been scraping white paint off all the walls which uncovered these colors that match the tile floors in each room. It reminds us of the faux painting technique we did in Oakland but it's original to this house. We are going to clean and seal most of the walls, and only add paint where necessary. This will save time and money on paint, and it will have a unique style we have not seen around.

In its raw form, here are some of the walls as of Tuesday:

We hung out in the casita for part of the today and even though it is hot here (92 and humid), the casita with its ceiling fan was quite comfortable. The floor now has a unique rustic tile which we'd never seen before. (In Oakland the pantry was one of my favorite rooms, in  Mérida it's the casita.)

Aside from the heat and being in transition still, each day we have enjoyed meeting new people. Especially the local people who have been patient and helpful as we try to communicate. All we have is a pocket translation guide, and google translate.

Living and working at our casa, and learning Spanish ASAP is at the top of the list. Aside from looking into lessons here, if anyone has any good tips on learning Spanish, please let us know.

Introducción

Hola y bienvenido to Mexico! 

How did we get here?  First, (Chapter One: Neo-Victorian Life) we bought and restored an  old Victorian in Oakland, CA.

 Then (Chapter Two:Warriors of Aliveness) we sold that house and all our belongings to travel for an entire year.

During our year of travel, we visited the city of Mérida in the Yucatan, and decided to purchase a small home as part of our goal to live part of the year abroad and to create a new life for us. Thus begins Chapter 3 which we call 'Warriors of Aliveness: Mérida Chapter'.

Our new casa is about 50 years old with only one previous owner.  It is located in the Santiago District of Mérida centro, across the street (believe it or not) from a big zoo!

 

We just arrived a few days ago and are taking care of all the necessities; from arranging utilities to purchasing some appliances and a bed. There is still so much to do, and a lot to learn including the language!

The pics above show how the house looked when we bought it.  The following pics are from the renovation of the casa while we were traveling throughout Europe.  It was quite an experience trying to make construction decisions while also being in either Poland, Spain or some other country.

The casa pretty much looked like below upon arrival.

 We want to thank our project manager Maria and contractor Paulino for the excellent work and for keeping everything on budget.  They are two of the best in Merida and we are grateful for their advice, guidance and diligence.  

Work should be completed in a few days and then the rest is up to us to turn it into something special for us and for all who enter our house.