Bathroom Remodel

After a couple of months here and with a desire to spend more time here, we decided to make some improvements to the bathroom. It’s hard to explain what it was like before – it had a concrete floor and ceiling, and very rough brick walls. There was a toilet and a shower and not much else (no sink). Here is the only “before” photo photo I have – you can see a little bit of the rough brick, but the contractor has already started plastering over it.

“Before”, with some of the old brick showing

Below is how it looks now, about 95% complete (the electrical part is not yet done). We tiled all four walls plus the floor, plastered the ceiling, added a shelf, upgraded the shower, added a sink and a new toilet, and installed various accessories. My contribution was that I built the mirror frame from scratch! Total cost for all materials, supplies and labor was about $1,300 US. Next we need to finish the exterior.

Shower
Toilet
Sink
Mirror

Happy Dog, Sad Dog

Sasha loves the freedom to roam around the property and the fact that we’re home a lot. But she especially loves all the places where she can rest.

Sasha, queen of the patio
Sasha resting in the sun
Resting under the potted plants

However, she’s not so happy when we leave. Here’s her nose under the door, begging us to either stay home or to take her along with us.

Sasha wanting to go out with us

Sidewalk Cafe

Part of the reason for creating this blog was to share snippets of life in Mexico that many Americans would not otherwise be aware of. For the most part we are not traveling to places where American tourists would normally visit. For example, we have never been to any of the coastal resort towns. San Miguel de Allende is a bit of an exception to that, as it does have a sizable expat population, but it is still less well-known than other places.

We had an amazing time visiting San Miguel for the weekend. We enjoyed great food in small cafes, three full days of cultural events, and, dare I admit it, a few trips to Starbucks for the first time while we’ve been in Mexico!

We look forward to a return trip to San Miguel de Allende in the future.

Notice the trees trimmed square like in our town!

Mayan Flyers

These Mayan performers climb to the top of the pole, wrap ropes around and around the pole, tie the other end of the ropes to themselves, then slowly descend to the plaza below. One member of the group remains seated at the top playing music while the others descend.

Note that we arrived the day before performances began. This pole, which must be at least 60 feet tall, was installed on the plaza the day before. They chipped a hole in the existing concrete plaza, inserted the pole, and mixed some cement to patch it up. Then they entrusted their lives to it!

Beginning their descent…
Continuing their descent…
Flying solo
About to touch down

Aztec Dancers

I gave some background on the celebrations in an earlier post. Here are some of the dancers who were participating. First there was parade that lasted at least two hours, with these and hundreds of other dancers performing along the whole route. They end up in a plaza near the cathedral, where some of the groups continued to dance for another couple of hours. This occurred all three days that we were in San Miguel de Allende. These performers are not looking for praise from the crowds of onlookers, they are truly passionate about what they’re doing.

Aztec dancers
Maricela with dancers
Maricela with dancer
Richard with dancer
Richard with dancers

Fireworks

Fireworks are very commonly used to celebrate here in Mexico. Here are photos of fireworks at the church in San Miguel de Allende. Some of the fireworks (like these) are designed to be a beautiful sight, and others are designed simply to produce a loud noise. The noise-making fireworks literally continued all through the night. Celebrations went on until at least 2 a.m., then started up again at 4 a.m.

Fireworks over the cathedral
Fireworks over the cathedral

Cowboy Church

Each town in Mexico has a patron saint, and they celebrate with a big festival every year on that saint’s designated day. The patron saint of San Miguel de Allende is the archangel Michael (San Miguel). We visited San Miguel de Allende on the weekend of their big celebration. The festivities include many things – fireworks, parades, various traditions, special masses, etc. In these photos, you’ll see a small sampling of those attending a special outdoor mass honoring the cowboys and their horses. Hundreds of cowboys filled the main plaza and all the nearby side streets while the priest performed a complete outdoor mass. It was quite a sight!

Cowboys streaming into town
Church service especially for cowboys
Side streets crowded with cowboys

The Rose Vendor

We visited San Miguel de Allende this weekend, a colonial-era town a couple of hours to the northeast of us. It’s a town of amazing beauty, with its cobblestone streets, colorful buildings and the buzz of activity. I especially liked this one of a young girl taking a break from selling roses.

The Rose Vendor

Rain

It’s hard to tell from the photo just how hard it was raining, but it was a downpour – nothing like the drizzle we usually see in the Bay Area. You can see that water is pouring from the downspouts – one nearby, and several others down the street pouring from the first and second floors.

You’ll also note the different architectural styles. Old, poorly maintained adobe immediately on the left; well-maintained adobes further down the street, and a few, much newer structures mixed in.

Downpour!

Coat of Arms

Zináparo is the name of the town we live in. The total population is around 2,000, most of whom live in the center of town on the other side of the highway from where we are (less than a mile away).

Here’s a photo of Zináparo’s coat of arms. Pottery like those pictured in the lower left were commonly produced and used here in the past; now you’ll mostly find containers made from plastic. Corn, in the lower right, grows abundantly; note the hills in the background behind the corn, reflecting the terrain here. At the top is a heron – the birds are common as are depictions of them.

Coat of Arms

The Church Building

I just like this photo of our town’s church. The building is estimated to be from the late 1500’s.

It’s traditional in this part of Mexico to neatly trim the trees into gumdrop shapes or squares. I like how the trees and church look together in this photo.

The church in Zináparo

Earthquake #3

There was yet another earthquake today. This one measured 6.1 on the Richter scale. That doesn’t sound so bad when the previous two quakes were 8.1 and 7.1, but those of you who have experienced an earthquake know that even 6.1 is pretty strong!

Today’s quake was again far south of where we are located, so no impact here. Hopefully the big ones are done for now!

September 16

September 16 is Mexican Independence Day (Cinco de Mayo is a different holiday, celebrating victory over the French in a decisive battle). To celebrate, we went to a parade in town in the morning, then in the afternoon to a park where people were displaying their horses and holding informal races. We got a short ride on one of the horses!

High school band in the parade
More high schoolers
Local dignitaries
Beauty pageant winners
Friendly competition
Maricela gets a ride
Richard gets a turn

Fresh Frijoles

Pinto beans are the most common type of beans used in our area of Mexico. Most often the beans are dried so they can be stored and used at a later time. The dry beans store well and are affordable, so you don’t often find canned beans. During harvest time, you can set aside some of the fresh beans for immediate use.

These are regular pinto beans, but instead of drying them, these were cooked soon after being picked from our aunt’s garden. They’re very similar in taste and texture to the dried version, but knowing how fresh they are adds to the experience and makes them taste great. Especially when served with avocado and fresh tomatillo salsa!

Fresh pintos, avocados and tomatillo salsa

New Roof

We discovered that the roof has some leaks in at least one area of the house. On day one we worked late into the evening removing the clay roof tiles…

Evening view on the first day of roof work

Then we cleaned up and reinstalled the tiles, thus the new roof looks a lot like the old:

Reinstalled roof tiles

But it’s what’s underneath that counts. A new layer of plywood and water-repelling roofing paper should enable this refreshed roof to last for many years to come. It was hard work, but a good sense of accomplishment. We only did the two rooms in the center of the photo; we’ll assess the others later.

Closeup of new plywood underlayment along with water-repelling roofing felt