It's become our habit (ok after only 7weeks) to go to the open air market on Sunday mornings to get vegetables, browse thru the booths of basically everything you can think of, and have something to eat. You can get a haircut (men) for as little as 25 pesos, buy a car, any kind of food- including pizza. Ok this place is worth a mention- this guy rolls out his own dough and they have a little oven right there, that fits just one pizza at a time. It's fantastic pizza! Now I think there's only 2 choices; cheese or pepperoni & cheese, but it's really good. I've only had pizza once before since we've been in Mexico, at a place in Playa Ventura out by the Marines along the lagoon. It was good, but pretty expensive as I remember, and we waited a really long time for it...I mean did they grow the flour to make the dough while we were waiting? (The dough is made from flour, right?) But this place was just a small booth, couple of small tables up against each other with the plastic beach chairs...we ordered something to drink (a coke and a water), and it was ready pretty quick...I guess they just keep making them since there's only 2 choices....
But yesterday after the meeting we decided to just get veggies at the roadside stand right next to where the meeting room is. Saturday we got up and left for Ensenada earlier than usual, so we could have a Starbucks coffee and to drive around a little, and we were there most of the day. So yesterday we wanted to be around our doggys more, yes they are totally spoiled...between 2 hour beach walks (like today) and rides in the car, looking for place to live based on how it will be for them...ok they're like our kids- but isn't everybody like that with their pets, especially once the kids are grown and moved out?? So we stopped at this roadside stand, and really their prices are about the same as the open air market, but over there it's more about the whole experience, chatting with people, snacking, browsing...
We needed potatoes, zucchini, green beans, onions, bananas, and green apples. This guy has really nice green apples- my favorite. They looked nice, good size and no bruises, so I happily picked a few and asked the guy in (ok halting) Spanish where they were grown. He gave me a big smile and said "Washington!" What?? He told me that the apples grown here are sent to the United States! He and Everardo had a pretty good laugh, and he told me whenever I see a sticker on fruit, it came from the states. Now I will say that alot of the fruit we buy here is from here. Just not those green apples. There are some red ones, not the kind that are all red, that deep red color (I don't like those), but big apples that are sorta lighter red and gold, those are good, too. The bananas are fantastic, oranges, too, although next time I'm gonna look for stickers ha ha.
The veggies are good, too. I noticed in the smaller stores that the veggies don't always look all shiny and perfect, the fruit either, but they taste good, fresh. And we eat alot of veggies. Everardo is a much better eater than me, and he puts veggies in everything...we eat them for breakfast almost every day. He puts them in eggs or in potatoes; it took a little getting used to when I was expecting just scrambled eggs ha ha, but after a few years (omg we have been together almost 4 years), I'm liking it- and usually the breakfast veggies are zucchini & onion...
Anyway after a good laugh about the apples (and me thinking about economies...shipping fruits to each other) we came home to out doggys, and decided to take them for a drive and then a beach walk later. Well here's where the day got really interesting. We drove out towards the Bufadora and then Everardo took a left turn on a dirt road (to the right would have been down a cliff into the sea), and followed it uphill until we cam to a big arch that said Colonia Puerto Escondido, and a sign next to it saying lotes/casa se vende. So we drove in and went further up the mountain to a street of houses that had amazing views. I mean so amazing! On the left side they looked over the Bahia Todos Santos, the bay we live on, and you looked straight across to Ensenada as well as out towards open ocean. You could see the big tuna rings and ships hanging around them, it was so beautiful. The houses on the right side had a double view; the bay to Ensenada view out the front and the ocean as it cut in again out the back. The coastline down here is not s straight line, it curves in and out, in some places more than others. So the inward curve behind these houses was not as deep as our bay, but just a beautiful and then the ocean just goes out to the edge of the world. We drove down to the end of the road, well not the end because it actually circles back below so there's another row of houses on the Ensenada bay side, but we stopped above and got out of the car. We walked along the open space after the last house and looked at the ocean and the hills as they continue down the coastline with the water. Hazel and Sam ran all over the place smelling and investigating, Sam always coming back to check in with us and Hazel jumping over bushes and fighting with weeds.
A bunch of the houses had for sale signs and were empty. We had seen one with a "se renta" sign in the window and a for sale sign at the curb. When we drove slowly back the way we came, we stopped at the one with the rent sign and I grabbed one of the sales brochures, and a woman drove up to the house across the street. She walked over and we chatted; she was American and lived there full time. Some of the houses were huge- castle size I kid you not-, her was somewhere in between, although she called it a casita above a big garage....She was on the double view side and the house we looked at was much smaller and on the one view side. I had gone around the house looking in the windows and at the view, and we realized it would be out of our price range for renting. She confined that by telling us it was $800 a month. She also pointed to several houses that were occupied full time and then pointed to another house she thought was for rent and a bit smaller than the one we were looking at. She told us that the land and most of the houses were owned by the Gonzales family and pointed to their house. Everardo remarked he had seen an old man working on a tractor and she said- oh that's Miguel Gonzales the patriarch. So we walked back up the road with the dogs to look at the other house and maybe chat with Senor Gonzales, and Everardo went down where he was working on the tractor while I kept the dogs occupied and they had a nice chat, his son joining them at one point. It turns out that his family built most of the houses and then put them up for sale. Unfortunately as always it's about timing and their construction finished as the economy tanked in the US. (We've just seen the results of this so much- Puerto Penasco was filled with huge empty houses for sale, unfinished condos and hotels...) The lady we had been chatting with bought a lot from him about 10 years ago and built their house themselves. So you can buy just the house and rent the land, or buy both. And a few of them he rents. I walked with Sam & Hazel down on the street below to look at houses and views; it's just a beautiful spot.
Senor Gonzales offered the rental house to Everardo for $750...but ha ha that's still way out of our range and it was a pretty big house. But he told us about another house that he has for rent, and it will be available in a couple of months. He wanted $500 for that house but would give it to us for $450. Now we are looking for a place for hopefully closer to $300 or less...the mobile home is $250...but too old and beat up, and almost no kitchen. But he told us to drive by it, and he would call us in a couple of weeks after he asks the current tenant if we can have a look inside. So- he gave Everardo directions to it, and we went to take a look. Ok all I can say is wow! ok WOW!! The views are not just amazing, amazing doesn't cover it...how about SPECTACULAR!! The house is fully furnished and he might have said it had a fireplace...2 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms. The houses was away from the rest of the houses in the neighborhood...we came back out the arch, but instead of following the road back down to the main road, we went straight across to another peak. So the house is sitting on a point, not narrow, I mean the cliff is not going to crumble and we crash down into the raging sea or anything, but it's a dirt track out to the end. Then the house is sitting there, it's fenced, and looks really nice from the outside. From what I saw inside the other house I have no doubt the furnishings will be nice. Everardo was knocked out! He loved the area! Like I said the views were spectacular, and that was just of the ocean and coastline. But there was all this open space for walking or hiking, I mean it would be a paradise for the dogs, and for us. It would make going to the store further, just the dirt road making us go slowly; maybe it took 5 or 7 minutes from our place to the turn off, then another 10 min of dirt road? I'm not sure, we did it only once, and it always seems longer when it's new. Now it takes about 10 minutes to get to the grocery store, but we don't have to go every day...
I'm not sure what I think. I mean we will definitely go and see it in a couple of weeks, but if we love the house, then I don't know what I think. Everardo is talking about trying to get him down to at least $400, but I think the remote-ness is a factor. We talked about it a little, and Everardo is saying not for him. I need to take him at his word, and believe me, he only wants to move once. So I have to decide for me, what do I think. Well, I am happy to spend time at home, or around home, with him, with the doggys, with my laptop, with my books. I also like to socialize, but not all the time. I find it funny (funny odd not funny ha ha) that we are considering moving to Ensenada, very busy, very close quarters, and also this place. To be honest, Everardo has been backing away from the Ensenada idea almost since we decided to reconsider it. He doesn't think we'll find something we'll be happy with long term....but we'll see if my new friends Patti and Maryanne can come up with anything. So nothing is off the table. And I will say this- it was pretty cool to see how Everardo lighted up talking about this place. He really likes the idea....and really the only thing different from this place would be gas...I mean as far as socializing since nobody lives here ha ha. So I'm excited to go see it. And I already know I'd feel safer there than here. Yes nothing has happened here...but is it like that saying they have in AA? If you hang around the barbershop long enough you're gonna get a haircut? In this case meaning yeah we've been fine, but sooner or later something may happen....Oh and we also went and found the ugly carpet place, it's still empty. And the carpet is not as bad as I remembered either ha ha. But it would still be renting from Irka...we tried to see if anyone knew the owner but with no luck. So we're still going to see what might be available on that camp...well really, what we have is options, and they're all good. Nice eh?
But yesterday after the meeting we decided to just get veggies at the roadside stand right next to where the meeting room is. Saturday we got up and left for Ensenada earlier than usual, so we could have a Starbucks coffee and to drive around a little, and we were there most of the day. So yesterday we wanted to be around our doggys more, yes they are totally spoiled...between 2 hour beach walks (like today) and rides in the car, looking for place to live based on how it will be for them...ok they're like our kids- but isn't everybody like that with their pets, especially once the kids are grown and moved out?? So we stopped at this roadside stand, and really their prices are about the same as the open air market, but over there it's more about the whole experience, chatting with people, snacking, browsing...
We needed potatoes, zucchini, green beans, onions, bananas, and green apples. This guy has really nice green apples- my favorite. They looked nice, good size and no bruises, so I happily picked a few and asked the guy in (ok halting) Spanish where they were grown. He gave me a big smile and said "Washington!" What?? He told me that the apples grown here are sent to the United States! He and Everardo had a pretty good laugh, and he told me whenever I see a sticker on fruit, it came from the states. Now I will say that alot of the fruit we buy here is from here. Just not those green apples. There are some red ones, not the kind that are all red, that deep red color (I don't like those), but big apples that are sorta lighter red and gold, those are good, too. The bananas are fantastic, oranges, too, although next time I'm gonna look for stickers ha ha.
The veggies are good, too. I noticed in the smaller stores that the veggies don't always look all shiny and perfect, the fruit either, but they taste good, fresh. And we eat alot of veggies. Everardo is a much better eater than me, and he puts veggies in everything...we eat them for breakfast almost every day. He puts them in eggs or in potatoes; it took a little getting used to when I was expecting just scrambled eggs ha ha, but after a few years (omg we have been together almost 4 years), I'm liking it- and usually the breakfast veggies are zucchini & onion...
Anyway after a good laugh about the apples (and me thinking about economies...shipping fruits to each other) we came home to out doggys, and decided to take them for a drive and then a beach walk later. Well here's where the day got really interesting. We drove out towards the Bufadora and then Everardo took a left turn on a dirt road (to the right would have been down a cliff into the sea), and followed it uphill until we cam to a big arch that said Colonia Puerto Escondido, and a sign next to it saying lotes/casa se vende. So we drove in and went further up the mountain to a street of houses that had amazing views. I mean so amazing! On the left side they looked over the Bahia Todos Santos, the bay we live on, and you looked straight across to Ensenada as well as out towards open ocean. You could see the big tuna rings and ships hanging around them, it was so beautiful. The houses on the right side had a double view; the bay to Ensenada view out the front and the ocean as it cut in again out the back. The coastline down here is not s straight line, it curves in and out, in some places more than others. So the inward curve behind these houses was not as deep as our bay, but just a beautiful and then the ocean just goes out to the edge of the world. We drove down to the end of the road, well not the end because it actually circles back below so there's another row of houses on the Ensenada bay side, but we stopped above and got out of the car. We walked along the open space after the last house and looked at the ocean and the hills as they continue down the coastline with the water. Hazel and Sam ran all over the place smelling and investigating, Sam always coming back to check in with us and Hazel jumping over bushes and fighting with weeds.
A bunch of the houses had for sale signs and were empty. We had seen one with a "se renta" sign in the window and a for sale sign at the curb. When we drove slowly back the way we came, we stopped at the one with the rent sign and I grabbed one of the sales brochures, and a woman drove up to the house across the street. She walked over and we chatted; she was American and lived there full time. Some of the houses were huge- castle size I kid you not-, her was somewhere in between, although she called it a casita above a big garage....She was on the double view side and the house we looked at was much smaller and on the one view side. I had gone around the house looking in the windows and at the view, and we realized it would be out of our price range for renting. She confined that by telling us it was $800 a month. She also pointed to several houses that were occupied full time and then pointed to another house she thought was for rent and a bit smaller than the one we were looking at. She told us that the land and most of the houses were owned by the Gonzales family and pointed to their house. Everardo remarked he had seen an old man working on a tractor and she said- oh that's Miguel Gonzales the patriarch. So we walked back up the road with the dogs to look at the other house and maybe chat with Senor Gonzales, and Everardo went down where he was working on the tractor while I kept the dogs occupied and they had a nice chat, his son joining them at one point. It turns out that his family built most of the houses and then put them up for sale. Unfortunately as always it's about timing and their construction finished as the economy tanked in the US. (We've just seen the results of this so much- Puerto Penasco was filled with huge empty houses for sale, unfinished condos and hotels...) The lady we had been chatting with bought a lot from him about 10 years ago and built their house themselves. So you can buy just the house and rent the land, or buy both. And a few of them he rents. I walked with Sam & Hazel down on the street below to look at houses and views; it's just a beautiful spot.
Senor Gonzales offered the rental house to Everardo for $750...but ha ha that's still way out of our range and it was a pretty big house. But he told us about another house that he has for rent, and it will be available in a couple of months. He wanted $500 for that house but would give it to us for $450. Now we are looking for a place for hopefully closer to $300 or less...the mobile home is $250...but too old and beat up, and almost no kitchen. But he told us to drive by it, and he would call us in a couple of weeks after he asks the current tenant if we can have a look inside. So- he gave Everardo directions to it, and we went to take a look. Ok all I can say is wow! ok WOW!! The views are not just amazing, amazing doesn't cover it...how about SPECTACULAR!! The house is fully furnished and he might have said it had a fireplace...2 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms. The houses was away from the rest of the houses in the neighborhood...we came back out the arch, but instead of following the road back down to the main road, we went straight across to another peak. So the house is sitting on a point, not narrow, I mean the cliff is not going to crumble and we crash down into the raging sea or anything, but it's a dirt track out to the end. Then the house is sitting there, it's fenced, and looks really nice from the outside. From what I saw inside the other house I have no doubt the furnishings will be nice. Everardo was knocked out! He loved the area! Like I said the views were spectacular, and that was just of the ocean and coastline. But there was all this open space for walking or hiking, I mean it would be a paradise for the dogs, and for us. It would make going to the store further, just the dirt road making us go slowly; maybe it took 5 or 7 minutes from our place to the turn off, then another 10 min of dirt road? I'm not sure, we did it only once, and it always seems longer when it's new. Now it takes about 10 minutes to get to the grocery store, but we don't have to go every day...
I'm not sure what I think. I mean we will definitely go and see it in a couple of weeks, but if we love the house, then I don't know what I think. Everardo is talking about trying to get him down to at least $400, but I think the remote-ness is a factor. We talked about it a little, and Everardo is saying not for him. I need to take him at his word, and believe me, he only wants to move once. So I have to decide for me, what do I think. Well, I am happy to spend time at home, or around home, with him, with the doggys, with my laptop, with my books. I also like to socialize, but not all the time. I find it funny (funny odd not funny ha ha) that we are considering moving to Ensenada, very busy, very close quarters, and also this place. To be honest, Everardo has been backing away from the Ensenada idea almost since we decided to reconsider it. He doesn't think we'll find something we'll be happy with long term....but we'll see if my new friends Patti and Maryanne can come up with anything. So nothing is off the table. And I will say this- it was pretty cool to see how Everardo lighted up talking about this place. He really likes the idea....and really the only thing different from this place would be gas...I mean as far as socializing since nobody lives here ha ha. So I'm excited to go see it. And I already know I'd feel safer there than here. Yes nothing has happened here...but is it like that saying they have in AA? If you hang around the barbershop long enough you're gonna get a haircut? In this case meaning yeah we've been fine, but sooner or later something may happen....Oh and we also went and found the ugly carpet place, it's still empty. And the carpet is not as bad as I remembered either ha ha. But it would still be renting from Irka...we tried to see if anyone knew the owner but with no luck. So we're still going to see what might be available on that camp...well really, what we have is options, and they're all good. Nice eh?
