Last time I wrote I was talking about packing, that we'd go back over to Ensenada soon....well here's what happened. Later that nite (last Friday) I was looking at a website with places to rent and saw one that just came up, in our price range, with a nice kitchen and it said it was "cocina intregal" which means it has a stove, fridge, and hot water heater. So many places for rent have no stove or fridge and lots don't have the hot water heater either. So I show the photo to Everardo who says it looks pretty good and hey give me the phone...so he calls and talks to the lady. It has a nice patio in front of the house and a privacy fence around it. We end up saying we'll come take a look on Monday! (yeah 3 days ago Monday Sept 30). Wow! He says well you've packed so much stuff already, why wait another couple of weeks; lets just go. And unless it's awful- lets agree to take this place, then we can look for something better. Okey dokey right?
Well I found 4 other places to look at plus another one I saw posted on the Punda Banda newsletter site, which I receive in email almost every day. Punta Banda is about 15 minutes south of downtown Ensenada, near the beach, and kind of an expat enclave, altho the small businesses there seem to be Mexican owned. Actually PB was where the very first place we looked, at the house that was on the guys property- not just his property but his driveway, with his front door feet from ours, and his son & daughter-in-law as well. After seeing his place I had decided I wanted to live in the city itself, be able to walk to everywhere, etc. Ok so I had 4 other places and 1 place even further than Punta Banda, closer to the Bufadora (blowhole), but it was a nice house for $450, nice wrap around porch, land, and near the beach.
Of course I get all excited cause that's what I do. We didn't get the actual address until late Sunday and then Everardo looked it up on google earth. (For some reason I cannot reload google earth on my laptop damn damn) He didn't tell me that minute but he realized it was an "infovit" house and had a sinking feeling...The infovit (spelling) houses are these small houses that the gov't builds and when you have worked for a year or so, they arrange for you to get one, and they take the payments out of your paycheck. This is a very poor country and for many people, this is the only way they can ever get into a house. They are the size of a small apartment. There's another type, even smaller (1 story) that you'll see rows and rows of on a hillside; we looked at one of those when we first came to Puerto Penasco- it was soooo small, a tiny kitchen, room for only a loveseat size couch and 2 bedrooms behind it- and maybe a double bed would fit but you wouldn't be able to walk around it. Anyway the woman had said on the phone that her husband had added on to the house- extended it back to the wall/fence. This type is 2 story with the bedrooms upstairs. The kitchen looked almost as nice as the photo...but the room adjacent was pretty small. Then you went up narrow stairs, and this is where it gets weird. The kitchen had a very high ceiling- it went to the roof so no bedroom was over it. They had put avery very tall window on the outside wall so it did fill the kitchen with light. But when you looked up you saw a little balcony on the bedroom side...
What that meant was the master bedroom had no window, so they put clear glass french doors on the side so you overlooked the kitchen, including a small balcony. Kind weird, but almost ok. So I look out the big tall kitchen window and say, oh so there is a yard in back cause I see a cement patio with a clothesline...oh I say- good. Oooops! That's the neighbors yard! So when I wake up in the morning and get out of bed...there's the neighbor hanging her laundry...or watching me?? OK well one down and 5 to go.
We felt better this trip though- we knew the streets a little better and we were looking at houses in a different price range, and thought they'd be better. ok ha ha maybe not so much. That weird house still might have been ok for a start but the neighborhood was just to sketchy.... I wouldn't have felt safe. And she wanted a 6 month commitment. We walked away but were still optimistic. We googled the next address and were on the wrong street and saw a place for rent...it was also tiny and around $400 USD. We started calling them chicken coops. So we talked to another guy who had a couple of places for 6000 pesos ($500USD) that were in private neighborhoods, gated with the security guards to get in. Oh man now the first one we saw- ugh smokers and they hadn't even cleaned it; the carpets were stained and they obviously had a cat that peed all over the place. This guy was telling us- oh we clean them up if you want them...hmmmm maybe they should try cleaning them up prior to showing them. Again thank you but no. One of the places was already rented and the other 2 we found them and saw they were also chicken coops. We were just not going to find anything in the city with a yard and a good inside. Not without alot of work.
So, new plan. Monday nite I called the lady I had called the first time who had the houses at the beach near Punta Banda. There had been a place coming up but she didn't have the keys yet so I asked about that one. Well it was unavailable but 3 others in our price range were open so we made an appointment for Tuesday afternoon. And we had an appt to see the last of the original Tue in the morning...so we decided to check into a motel and kick back. OK enter squirrel number 1.
Now the donkey painted like a zebra was actually seen the first trip- so a couple of weeks ago. I did a double take cause I saw a guy riding a zebra down the street. Yeah a horse in striped pajamas. But looking closer it was a donkey- how weird is that? Was it about the independence day? I don't know, but he was just crossing the street. The squirrel I saw Monday was running along a tree branch when we were sitting at a stop sign- and I thought it was the same place. I saw the second one running in the yard of the house we chose (ooops telling the story too soon), and the third one was at the Bufadora. Somehow this ties to my mom, ok my weird logic. I brought her blue wind breaker with me on this trip, not sure why, just ran abd grabbed it at the last minute when we were leaving to go to Ensenada Monday morning. I've never worn it before but I've had it in my closet since she died...and our mom jokes are about penguins and dolphins, not squirrels...Anyway Sunday nite I dreamed of her. She was alive and laughing, we were at some kind of function, and I woke up feeling very refreshed instead of completely stressed about making the trip again to look for a house. I guess that's why I grabbed her jacket.
Anyway there's a silly family story about when she got bit by a squirrel at Oregon Caves when we were little kids. There were signs all over the place saying not to feed them, but I guess she gave one a peanut in the shell and it bit her finger. These rangers were yelling back and forth to each other about this crazy lady who go bit by the squirrel and she was so embarrased. She didn't get to go in the caves, and it was a story that we kept alive all these years- I mean I think this happened about 50 years ago. So- I had my mommy in my heart and on my mind, and I saw the squirrel....anyway I decided to take it as a good omen- that good things were coming. Poppi was very optimistic as well, we decided not to get nuts like last time, even though the first places were a bust. I feel her around me, alot lately for some reason. I don't know that I believe in heaven or hell, but I do believe in energy, and energy never dies, it simply takes on other shapes, or spaces...see I'm not even sure what except that I know energy doesn't die. I am also a very spiritual person, I know we are all connected, I don't know in what way, or how, but we are. I believe positive energy makes positive energy, and the same for negative, so I try to stay in the positive. Anyway.....I just think Mom was with us this trip. Poppi calls her Mellen and he was talking to her to...ha ha .
So the Tues morning house was yet another chicken coop- the kitchen didn't have room for a stove and fridge, and didn't have either, we'd have to buy them- I didn't even ask about the water heater. It was another 2 story and had no yard at all. Ok no. So we went out to eat breakfast...ok Everardo wanted cerviche and I need breakfast food for breakfast so I walked down the street to a McDonalds. Yeah they have Mickey D's in Ensenada...I don't even go to it in the US except when I really want french fries cause they have the best fries...but I digress...I got a Mcbreakfast muffin and walked back along the street in front of the docks to meet Everardo who was slurping up his fishy breakfast, and then we headed out to Punta Banda. We were early but wanted to find the place. We drove thru some neighborhoods and went into a couple of realty offices and saw a couple of places, but nothing to our liking- they were bigger but one was really expensive and not worth it and one was really big- way too big for us so we didn't even ask the price.
Oh this is when I saw the horse and the goat. I have to use the word frolic! The horse was frolicking around this goat and the goat was running at the horse- and the totally cool thing was- they were the same colors!! White and black, both of them! I was laughing out loud (yes lol but for real) It was just so cute. We drove past that area a couple of more times yesterday and I saw that there's several horses and a few goats so I guess they're friends??
So we meet this woman and she takes us to the 3 places we had chatted about the nite before on the phone. One had an amazing view, no yard, no storage and a weird guy living above the garage. Well it wasn't even a garage, just this loft on stilts....but on our property. One had a lady moving out and it was cute, walking distance to the beach, but the master bedroom was up the steepest narrow set of stairs I ever saw...I would have hated it....and it was a nice room up there, proably gets really hot...Then the third house had no ocean view, kind of a long walk to the beach, across the main road...and the most hideous thick green carpet...it had a yard, but a little house at the back with some missionary guy living in it with whom we'd share utilities. Everardo liked that one the best and I hated the carpet and was not nuts about the bathroom, but we kept saying we just need something for 6 months (all her places were 6 month commit) and then we could look around. So we get back in the lady's van to drive back to our car, telling her we need to discuss it and get back to her. I was going to give in to the green carpet place, when the lady says oh she has another little one we can see but she doesn't think it has a yard. She also told us about a place with "amazing fantastic" ocean views but it was $650 before utilities....and we passed. The view was not the thing, they yard for Sam was THE THING. So we're on the way to the little place when she says, oh there's a place in here, I forgot about it, it's not really ready, and well it's $500- is that too much? We say let's take a look.
This is on the beach side of the road, and so walking Sam down to the beach is an easy thing, but not so close that everything is grimy with salt like when we were down in Playa Ventura. We drive up and it has a huge yard, it has a huger garage for storage...and it has...wait for it....a guest house!!! A GUEST HOUSE. A tiny house with a kitchenette, bathroom and 2 twin beds. (ha ha the size of a couple of places we'd seen recently). So the main house (ha ha the main house- sounds so...mansion like...but it's not) Anyway it has a nice tile floor, a kitchen 2 bedrooms, bathroom and a laundry room with a dryer (needs a washer) downstairs, and a huge living room and a really big master suite upstairs- with a view of the estuary on one side and the ocean on the other. On the other side of the living room is a pool table, it's kind of a seperate room because the stairs come up and there's a small wet bar. The bedroom has a big bed- Calif king I think, a walk in closet....yes! yes! YES!YES! We said yes we want this one. So it needs to be cleaned, and we said how about Nov 1? She said great.
So we will be in Ensenada by November 1. A new adventure. Sam is gonna love it. It's a quiet neighborhood and I think he could have the run of it even though the yard is fenced so we can keep him in. The beach is a couple of blocks. Yeah, I think it's gonna be good.
Mexico fun fact:
The Aztecs played ritual ball game known as tlachtli in which the losers were often sacrificed to the gods.
Well I found 4 other places to look at plus another one I saw posted on the Punda Banda newsletter site, which I receive in email almost every day. Punta Banda is about 15 minutes south of downtown Ensenada, near the beach, and kind of an expat enclave, altho the small businesses there seem to be Mexican owned. Actually PB was where the very first place we looked, at the house that was on the guys property- not just his property but his driveway, with his front door feet from ours, and his son & daughter-in-law as well. After seeing his place I had decided I wanted to live in the city itself, be able to walk to everywhere, etc. Ok so I had 4 other places and 1 place even further than Punta Banda, closer to the Bufadora (blowhole), but it was a nice house for $450, nice wrap around porch, land, and near the beach.
Of course I get all excited cause that's what I do. We didn't get the actual address until late Sunday and then Everardo looked it up on google earth. (For some reason I cannot reload google earth on my laptop damn damn) He didn't tell me that minute but he realized it was an "infovit" house and had a sinking feeling...The infovit (spelling) houses are these small houses that the gov't builds and when you have worked for a year or so, they arrange for you to get one, and they take the payments out of your paycheck. This is a very poor country and for many people, this is the only way they can ever get into a house. They are the size of a small apartment. There's another type, even smaller (1 story) that you'll see rows and rows of on a hillside; we looked at one of those when we first came to Puerto Penasco- it was soooo small, a tiny kitchen, room for only a loveseat size couch and 2 bedrooms behind it- and maybe a double bed would fit but you wouldn't be able to walk around it. Anyway the woman had said on the phone that her husband had added on to the house- extended it back to the wall/fence. This type is 2 story with the bedrooms upstairs. The kitchen looked almost as nice as the photo...but the room adjacent was pretty small. Then you went up narrow stairs, and this is where it gets weird. The kitchen had a very high ceiling- it went to the roof so no bedroom was over it. They had put avery very tall window on the outside wall so it did fill the kitchen with light. But when you looked up you saw a little balcony on the bedroom side...
What that meant was the master bedroom had no window, so they put clear glass french doors on the side so you overlooked the kitchen, including a small balcony. Kind weird, but almost ok. So I look out the big tall kitchen window and say, oh so there is a yard in back cause I see a cement patio with a clothesline...oh I say- good. Oooops! That's the neighbors yard! So when I wake up in the morning and get out of bed...there's the neighbor hanging her laundry...or watching me?? OK well one down and 5 to go.
We felt better this trip though- we knew the streets a little better and we were looking at houses in a different price range, and thought they'd be better. ok ha ha maybe not so much. That weird house still might have been ok for a start but the neighborhood was just to sketchy.... I wouldn't have felt safe. And she wanted a 6 month commitment. We walked away but were still optimistic. We googled the next address and were on the wrong street and saw a place for rent...it was also tiny and around $400 USD. We started calling them chicken coops. So we talked to another guy who had a couple of places for 6000 pesos ($500USD) that were in private neighborhoods, gated with the security guards to get in. Oh man now the first one we saw- ugh smokers and they hadn't even cleaned it; the carpets were stained and they obviously had a cat that peed all over the place. This guy was telling us- oh we clean them up if you want them...hmmmm maybe they should try cleaning them up prior to showing them. Again thank you but no. One of the places was already rented and the other 2 we found them and saw they were also chicken coops. We were just not going to find anything in the city with a yard and a good inside. Not without alot of work.
So, new plan. Monday nite I called the lady I had called the first time who had the houses at the beach near Punta Banda. There had been a place coming up but she didn't have the keys yet so I asked about that one. Well it was unavailable but 3 others in our price range were open so we made an appointment for Tuesday afternoon. And we had an appt to see the last of the original Tue in the morning...so we decided to check into a motel and kick back. OK enter squirrel number 1.
Now the donkey painted like a zebra was actually seen the first trip- so a couple of weeks ago. I did a double take cause I saw a guy riding a zebra down the street. Yeah a horse in striped pajamas. But looking closer it was a donkey- how weird is that? Was it about the independence day? I don't know, but he was just crossing the street. The squirrel I saw Monday was running along a tree branch when we were sitting at a stop sign- and I thought it was the same place. I saw the second one running in the yard of the house we chose (ooops telling the story too soon), and the third one was at the Bufadora. Somehow this ties to my mom, ok my weird logic. I brought her blue wind breaker with me on this trip, not sure why, just ran abd grabbed it at the last minute when we were leaving to go to Ensenada Monday morning. I've never worn it before but I've had it in my closet since she died...and our mom jokes are about penguins and dolphins, not squirrels...Anyway Sunday nite I dreamed of her. She was alive and laughing, we were at some kind of function, and I woke up feeling very refreshed instead of completely stressed about making the trip again to look for a house. I guess that's why I grabbed her jacket.
Anyway there's a silly family story about when she got bit by a squirrel at Oregon Caves when we were little kids. There were signs all over the place saying not to feed them, but I guess she gave one a peanut in the shell and it bit her finger. These rangers were yelling back and forth to each other about this crazy lady who go bit by the squirrel and she was so embarrased. She didn't get to go in the caves, and it was a story that we kept alive all these years- I mean I think this happened about 50 years ago. So- I had my mommy in my heart and on my mind, and I saw the squirrel....anyway I decided to take it as a good omen- that good things were coming. Poppi was very optimistic as well, we decided not to get nuts like last time, even though the first places were a bust. I feel her around me, alot lately for some reason. I don't know that I believe in heaven or hell, but I do believe in energy, and energy never dies, it simply takes on other shapes, or spaces...see I'm not even sure what except that I know energy doesn't die. I am also a very spiritual person, I know we are all connected, I don't know in what way, or how, but we are. I believe positive energy makes positive energy, and the same for negative, so I try to stay in the positive. Anyway.....I just think Mom was with us this trip. Poppi calls her Mellen and he was talking to her to...ha ha .
So the Tues morning house was yet another chicken coop- the kitchen didn't have room for a stove and fridge, and didn't have either, we'd have to buy them- I didn't even ask about the water heater. It was another 2 story and had no yard at all. Ok no. So we went out to eat breakfast...ok Everardo wanted cerviche and I need breakfast food for breakfast so I walked down the street to a McDonalds. Yeah they have Mickey D's in Ensenada...I don't even go to it in the US except when I really want french fries cause they have the best fries...but I digress...I got a Mcbreakfast muffin and walked back along the street in front of the docks to meet Everardo who was slurping up his fishy breakfast, and then we headed out to Punta Banda. We were early but wanted to find the place. We drove thru some neighborhoods and went into a couple of realty offices and saw a couple of places, but nothing to our liking- they were bigger but one was really expensive and not worth it and one was really big- way too big for us so we didn't even ask the price.
Oh this is when I saw the horse and the goat. I have to use the word frolic! The horse was frolicking around this goat and the goat was running at the horse- and the totally cool thing was- they were the same colors!! White and black, both of them! I was laughing out loud (yes lol but for real) It was just so cute. We drove past that area a couple of more times yesterday and I saw that there's several horses and a few goats so I guess they're friends??
So we meet this woman and she takes us to the 3 places we had chatted about the nite before on the phone. One had an amazing view, no yard, no storage and a weird guy living above the garage. Well it wasn't even a garage, just this loft on stilts....but on our property. One had a lady moving out and it was cute, walking distance to the beach, but the master bedroom was up the steepest narrow set of stairs I ever saw...I would have hated it....and it was a nice room up there, proably gets really hot...Then the third house had no ocean view, kind of a long walk to the beach, across the main road...and the most hideous thick green carpet...it had a yard, but a little house at the back with some missionary guy living in it with whom we'd share utilities. Everardo liked that one the best and I hated the carpet and was not nuts about the bathroom, but we kept saying we just need something for 6 months (all her places were 6 month commit) and then we could look around. So we get back in the lady's van to drive back to our car, telling her we need to discuss it and get back to her. I was going to give in to the green carpet place, when the lady says oh she has another little one we can see but she doesn't think it has a yard. She also told us about a place with "amazing fantastic" ocean views but it was $650 before utilities....and we passed. The view was not the thing, they yard for Sam was THE THING. So we're on the way to the little place when she says, oh there's a place in here, I forgot about it, it's not really ready, and well it's $500- is that too much? We say let's take a look.
This is on the beach side of the road, and so walking Sam down to the beach is an easy thing, but not so close that everything is grimy with salt like when we were down in Playa Ventura. We drive up and it has a huge yard, it has a huger garage for storage...and it has...wait for it....a guest house!!! A GUEST HOUSE. A tiny house with a kitchenette, bathroom and 2 twin beds. (ha ha the size of a couple of places we'd seen recently). So the main house (ha ha the main house- sounds so...mansion like...but it's not) Anyway it has a nice tile floor, a kitchen 2 bedrooms, bathroom and a laundry room with a dryer (needs a washer) downstairs, and a huge living room and a really big master suite upstairs- with a view of the estuary on one side and the ocean on the other. On the other side of the living room is a pool table, it's kind of a seperate room because the stairs come up and there's a small wet bar. The bedroom has a big bed- Calif king I think, a walk in closet....yes! yes! YES!YES! We said yes we want this one. So it needs to be cleaned, and we said how about Nov 1? She said great.
So we will be in Ensenada by November 1. A new adventure. Sam is gonna love it. It's a quiet neighborhood and I think he could have the run of it even though the yard is fenced so we can keep him in. The beach is a couple of blocks. Yeah, I think it's gonna be good.
Mexico fun fact:
The Aztecs played ritual ball game known as tlachtli in which the losers were often sacrificed to the gods.
