Mexico is a trip! Every day something new. Sunday nite we had no water in our part of the house. Our house is actually 2 buildings; one is the kitchen and a bathroom and a shower room, then across the patio is our living space; a big bedroom upstairs and ext to it a bathroom & shower, then downstairs a huge living room that I kinda divided into quarters- living room with chairs and TV, then an area with bookshelves, our "inside" picnic table, electronics and my exercise machine. One quarter is like the garage- tools and stuff, and the last quarter is empty. Anyway next to that is our bedroom & bathroom/shower. So Sunday nite I try to take a nice cold shower- believe me I don't even kinda miss hot water for showers! It is always soothing to get into the cool water. Everardo wanted to go outside and pump some water up to the roof but  said no I could  wait until morning.

Water is interesting, water is gold. Drinking water is purchased in those huge plastic bottles- I think I already said that, and for everything else you collect it during the rainy season in these cisterns in the ground. The roofs have an edge or lip so the water is collected and then goes down a pipe on one side cause the roof has a tiny slope you almost can't see. Then you pump it up to these big black tanks on the roofs to be used in the house. If you run out of that water you can buy it from these big trucks, or take your own big black tank down and buy it cheaper. Our friend created a project to pipe water to his land so he has unlimited supply and has offered to sell us water at a cheaper price than the others.

So we got up at 6am Monday and left for Acapulco to immigration and shopping and didn't return until after dark, I think around 8:30 or 9pm. And exhausted, we came home to no electricity! Well there's a guy for that, too and he had been to our house the day before to replace the line coming to our house4 from the pole- he said the electric company (or somebody) took it and replaced it with cheaper stuff. He re-replaced it with the better wire for 200 pesos. This was great because our electricity) was dim and light dim and light. So imagine our surprise Monday nite- no electricity. Well we talked to our buddy/neighbor because it looked like everybody on our end of the street had lights but us- and he said to cal Romero (the electricity guy) (Notice I don't say electrician- this guy is one I guess by experience- he's just good at it-hmm so I guess I will call him an electrician), but it going on 10pm and we were going to sleep anyway. So this morning he came over round 8am and now he's going to rewire the entire house for $300 pesos!! Yippee. By the way he fixed the issue by climbing up the pole across the street from our house and doing something- apparently he had to do this for our neighbor further up the street than us last nite so if we had been home...
We wanted a simple life and we got it!! But we are getting the hang of it. Gume, our good friend has talked Everardo thru a lot of stuff already and expressed some surprise (not in a good way) that we had some of the issues we've had after paying someone to build onto the house, and also paid for basic maintenance. But it's all good- we are learning and will know better next time! NO hard feelings, just more knowledge.

So back to Monday's trip to Acapulco. Got to the immigration office by 9am and said our final good bye and gracias around 4:30! We were not in their office the whole time tho' - initially we were sent to go have breakfast while they discussed what to do. ha ha since I had no documentation. When we came back from eating, oh and Everardo had crossed the street "Mexican style" dodging between honking cars to grab some cash from the bank while Chela and I went to this huge Wallmart to look at beach furniture...We told them the story of how I went up to the window, paid my $25, got a piece of paper for the truck and my visa back but didn't notice right away that they had not stamped it or written on it. As it turns out, apparently I was at the window to get the 180 permit for the truck and was supposed to go to another window for my visa. But I thought it was one window for foreigners and one window for Mexicans...ha ha again...I thought??  So anyway we had to walk back  to the bank and pay a fine for entering illegally even tho' I thought they should have checked my paperwork before I passed...and Chela and I crossed holding hands and NOT in between cars! At  this point they
tell us two very complicated ways for me to get documented, and one includes Everardo showing 3 months of bank statements to prove he can support me- or we can go get our marriage certificate and apostill notarized (an apostill is a notarized document confirming the marriage cert when going to a foreign country- even tho the marriage cert is already notarized- and we went thru some hell to get it, too, finally fedxing back and forth with the State of Nevada cause we were married in Reno..)

So now we have to notarize the notarized apositlle! And all this had to be translated to me because it was way too fast and complicated and I would say "que?'...ha ha I was laughing out loud and the woman thought it was pretty serious. So finally we agree that I will simply get a 180 day tourist visa and then we'd go home and collect douments like bank statements and see the lawyer for the notarized docs and start the process for citizenship. The woman wrote a book- ok 3-4 pages of the story of how I got here without docs thru the Santa Teresa border- I guess to cover everyone's collective asses ha ha. This took hours, we talked about the furniture I saw in Wallmart and agreed to check Home Dept &b Costco before making a purchase since they were all close. I want to put simple outside furniture inside until I lived here while and figure out what I want.... so then Everardo has to make a third trip to the bank to get a bank statement we think to establish our residency cause it's the only thing with our address. (which includes tby the way, casa verde next to El Faro!) You don't pay anything in their office; you must walk to your local bank- luckily we have one! He comes back and suddenly everything has changed- they are telling me to get photos and everyone is talking except I'm only saying "Mande?" (what). I a getting an FM2 Immigrante card which is r4esidency for a year! Yippee!! Maybe it was Everardo's good looks and kind manner, maybe it was my good looks and sincere desire to follow the rules, and just maybe it was what our bank statement said...which ended up changing pretty quick after furniture shopping, Home Depot for wiring and tools, food, and some other big ticket stuff we wanted to get all at once. Anyway as I always say- Everything is possible in Mexico...ya gotta wait....it's funny they said to comeback in a few days to pick it up, but when we returned with the photos they said just wait we will give it to you today. Oh and Everardo had to go back to the bank a 3rd time to make that payment...So...we waited.
Getting the photos was fun too- the first set taken by a young woman who never smiled even once the whole time we were there- well I had been smiling smiling for my photo and finally stopped and click! As they were cutting them up (taken with a very old camera and processed in the back room), I insisted to see them and said- oh no, no no I don't want these She informed us we had to pay again & I didn't care, the second set the flash made me blink so my eyes were closed. Chela and I were laughing but Chela then argued I shouldn't have to pay for that set. So for set three I opened my eyes very wide and yelled take the picture- she said are you sure? -YES! So I have wide eyes and a huge smile on my residency card, but good cause I'm a smiley person.

So we left there finally! Time for shopping but not too much time cause we wanted to be home before dark and the rain was coming. Almost ran thru Elektra (gong back later to see their mattresses), Home Depot and Wallmart. These were all down by the airport, almost out of Acapulco and we had been in downtown. Well I liked the first set the best but of course they didn't have it at this Wallmart,so back to downtown. Acapulco is very beautiful when you are driving along the cliffs looking down at the beaches and all the houses, hotels, and buildings. So I got to see it a couple of times ha ha.
We got home late, after dark and pooped out! And then no lights, so I arranged my new furniture by candlelight and we hit the sack. Today it's raining but there's a big party in Copala (about 10 min). It's a political thing- I'm not sure why it's before the election but people are decorating their  ars and trucks to do a parade from here to there. I wanted to wait and go around 3pm since the electrican is working at out house but I an at Chela's using the internet and people are gathering...wow for a quiet life I sure am busy!