Mexicuted, Part II

So, where to start.  If you follow the blog, I wrote about our summer travels and had to take the kids to my sisters because I had to work and Ozzy had a huge project that must be completed by the end of August and he couldn't watch the kids.  Well,  that project is still not complete, not because of Ozzy, but because the whole project continues to be behind schedule.  Yes, it's construction but every week since August it has been hurry up and wait.  EVERY SINGLE WEEK!  There is always a time crunch to get the project done that honestly is a mess on all fronts.  Problem solving in our lives needs to be accomplished in a certain time frame because the problems I am solving need to be taken care of in a certain amount of time before I have to get back to the States to work. I (we) depend on information, the right information, not up in the air information or information that we aren't being told. Ozzy can do it, but as I have mentioned he cannot lose hours in the shop working and because the project that "HAD" to be done in August now "HAS" to be done this week, no wait, next week, no, today, no, last week, no, ???.  The kitchen is still not ready for installation, but the pieces need to be in last week, but what needs to be done for the pieces to fit that I told you last week needed to be done are still not figured out therefore the pieces cannot go in today but I have a truck and 9 guys here to carry this 800 pound piece that you told me HAD to go in last week but the area is not ready for it to go in so just set them off to the side and bring the 9 guys back again(paid) when we might be ready yesterday.  Oh yeah, after you get it in place we need you to move it because we are actually not ready for it to go in even though we insisted it go in last week.  And once it is finished, and sealed and glued down we need you to cut holes in it because there are brackets for windows that we did not tell you about when you built it.  When you cut the concrete don't damage it or you will have to replace it. We want perfect cuts with no chips.  Oh wait,  where we told you to cut for the brackets it is not actually where we want you to cut it.  Good thing you didn't cut it yet.  SIGH!!   Sorry, I got off on a tangent.  This has been our hour by hour lives here, our sighs, our, "What the F@#%s".   More Ozzy than me, but when he is a mess it makes me a mess.  I make sure he has plenty of Pacifico and Don Julio.

So, tangent done, the main point is that we are living our lives around this project. I am bidding my work schedule around this project, and our getting things done before I leave so Ozzy doesn't have to spend time doing what I could do because he needs to be here for this project. The problem is that  all of this is being done around the "project peoples" schedules.  Read the above paragraph again if you didn't understand their schedule the first time.  EXACTLY!!

Okay, enough about the "project".  But it is a constant in our lives and has much to do with how the other aspects of our lives fall into place.  This is not necessarily a "Mexico" issue but a reality in our lives at the moment.

It has been our experience in Mexico is what has to be done now takes at least a month because of all of the extra paperwork, the mañanas, the siestas, the communication between chiefs, or lack there of, or when someone is NOT telling you what you can do do help get this moving somewhat efficiently.  Not fast but "efficiently".  We have had so many, "That would have been great information to know back when we..." moments.  Information that would save weeks, if not months, of time.  It would also save us money, mileage, tons of stress, frustrations and questions.  It is just crazy and so F#$%ing annoying.  This is where I want to loose it and go postal and question myself and my strength to live here. But, oh, it is cultural.  I understand that, but it is hard when the culture in which you have lived all but 2 years of your life is slower than what you are used to.  It is hard to understand that it is not at all important to the person with whom you are paying and depending on, the person whose job it is, (meaning, this is their job, the job that they get paid to do to make a living) to get this done today, tomorrow, next week, or next month.

 I am only speaking of our experiences as of late.  We understand things are not the same here and we have to live with that.  We have had incredible experiences with locals helping us ASAP, having all of the information we need, going overboard.  But as we all know it is those shitty experiences that we seem to remember the most.

Stay with me.  I told you I was all over the place,  there is a story here.

But not until Part III.  But that will not be until January because I have to run off to work and miss yet another Christmas with my kids.  So Happy Holidays, Happy New Year, Happy skiing and Happy surfing.

Stay tuned O and A readers.

We have been Mexicuted, Part I

I really don't know where to start and this may be all over the place because that is how our lives have been here for the past four months and I don't think it is possible to organize, especially on paper unless I were a professional writer.   This has also been a reason for the blog post lapse.  Because,  where do you start when you are still in the middle of it, when it is still kicking your ass, when you have made progress but do not want to revisit what happened to get you to the point of only still being in the middle of it.  And then there is the whole thinking of, I don't even want to write this because so many more people are going through so much more and I feel like a total shit for thinking that this is a hard time.  So, let me say, I know I don't have it bad, but this country has been showing us the difficulties, culture, language barriers like we have not experienced before.  And all of this is because we are digging deeper into living here, buying a car, owning a business, being members of this country.  It makes me question myself, am I a wimp, do I not like difficulity?  No, I do not like difficulity. What have I done?  Can I handle this?  I am a strong person, I have been through shit, but why is THIS kicking my ass?   I do know that I like simplicity, peace, knowledge, communication, when it means taking care of business and getting things done.  When people ask me if I like living here right now my answer is no.  They all say, it must be wonderful, and I am thinking, you have no idea.  This could turn into a whole psychology piece of the whys and hows of who you are and what life is teaching you.  Whatever, I am 43 I have been through that ten fold.  After thinking about it, this is nothing more than living in a foreign country not knowing the language and working and living in that country as if you lived their all your life.  A friend once told me that if it were easy living here, then everybody would be doing it.

One thing I know for sure is that Ozzy and I could not do this without each other.  We each have our own battles to fight, him much more than me. We are constantly looking at each other  with a, "what the f#$k?" look, a look of fear, disgust, complete humor, who cares anymore look, we have sighs and knoding of the head in disbelief on an almost hourly basis.

So, about those battles.  Wait a minute, why do I have battles?  Where is Ozzy?  He has taken care of all of that since we moved here.  All I do is go to work and and come home and eat bon bons.  Well not anymore.  Daddy is busy working and cannot get away to take care of business in the home.  There is no more yelling "Ozzy" and telling him what needs to be done or fixed.  I have now become the fix it girl, the bus driver, communicator, and I use that term lightly, for the most part in a world that I know nothing about because my wonderful husband used to do it all.

The View From Casa Estrella

OK, we'd be lying if we said we didn't have a kick-ass view from the house we rent here in Sayulita.  Our landlord's apartment, upstairs, has one of the best views in the whole town.  Add the fact that he is a fantastic photographer and "Wah-lah"... award winning photo taken just a few steps from our rental!  Sayulita Life had a photo contest and this photo won the best "Scenic" photo of those submitted.  Keep this one on your screen saver as the temps up north keep coming down and think warm thoughts as you sip your cocoa.

Photo by Vadja

What You Might Find In Your Board Shorts After A Swim

Perspectives From A New Family At Escuela Del Mundo

A family's take/blog post as they learn life lessons and their experience at Escuela Del Mundo.

Click on this link to go to the blog.

http://homegrownhub.org/2013/10/realizing-passion/

Sayulita - "Not For Everybody"??

For many years the standard for information for the visitor and local alike in Sayulita has been Sayulita Life. All things Sayulita can be found there from lodging, retail, forums, maps, classifieds etc. Now there is a new player in town and this site has been gaining steam attracting the talents of a few local writers, photographers, business folks, web designer etc. Sayulitabeach.com is the new site and their tag line is that Sayulita is "Not For Everybody" and I feel that they are right.  Sayulita is certainly not exclusive as it absolutely welcomes all people but it does NOT cater to all people. No one is going to hold your hand here, brush the dust off your car or scrape the dog crap off your flip flops.  The new site has much of the same information as Sayulita Life but the new site has a little more color, fun graphics and photos, a little more edge and lot more swagger. They are both great sites so check them both out.

See also a related post from our "Month in Sayulita" blog.  Is Sayulita "All That Great"?

El Iticate

El Iticate is hands down, the BEST taco restaurant in Sayulita.  The only way I can describe it is "a party in the mouth".  The restaurant is closed in the summer so we are usually chomping at the bit for the reopening each fall. If you can call it that, it feels like the middle of summer right now.  The owners, Jorge and Tania, are great.  Tania is also a teacher at the kids school, Escuela Del Mundo.

The location is a great spot on one of the main roads, Jose Mariscal, with the tables in the street so you can watch all the action as it goes by.  Carlos, Alex's skateboard and sometimes surf instructor, is the waiter so it is fun to see him and his always smiling face.

The best taco place in Sayulita

Finally!!! Open for business!  Everyone is stoked!

Trace chatting it up with Jorge, the owner and awesome taco maker, no doubt in spanish

The wonderful toppings for your taco

Arrachera con rajas, an Ozzy favorite

Breaded arrachera, atun(tuna) and arrachera tacos,  my dinner.  Obviously I was starving!  The breaded arrachera and atun are new on the menu this year.  Definately my two new favorites.

Not sure what to say about this, except Trace looks like he was smoking a little while we were eating 

Kids favorite ice cream place, Wakika

After El Iticate we usually treat the kids to ice cream at Wakika and then go to the plaza for more people watching and socializing, and for the kids, running and playing.  There is always someone there that we or the kids know.

This pretty much rounds up a perfect night for us older folk with kids in Sayulita.

"Making Change"

When we lived in the States we basically did every money transaction with a credit card, debit card, online transfer or check.  I rarely carried cash at all and had no reason to because virtually every business was set up to accept payments in these ways.  Here, unless you are shopping at a major chain like Costco, Home Depot or large grocery store these payment methods are not usually accepted.  But, having "cash" is not the solution to all things.  If you have the "wrong cash" you probably won't be able to function very well either.  ATM machines love to spit out 500 peso bills(about $38 US) so that is what many people, especially visitors, have in their pockets to spend.  Most small business, though happy to have your business, hate to see these kind of bills come in to the store for payment unless it is within a few pesos of the actual charge.

 Taco stands, beach vendors, small grocery and retail stores etc will most likely not have change for large bills like $500 peso bills or even $200 peso bills.  Most of these operations are small time and just don't carry a large bank to make change. If they do, they might be cleaned out as far as making change goes for the day.  This inability to make change can effect a lot of things you do like eat, shop and buy groceries.  Certain places will be able to handle a larger peso bill and you might have to go elsewhere if they can't.  Yes, we have made spending decisions based only on whether or not the business would accept a 200 or 500 peso bill.  Usually businesses will make every effort to go down the street to another store or find another vendor who may have change for a larger bill.  I will always ask before I sit down or try to buy something just to be sure they'll take it.  So, if you are out about town I would suggest having a good supply of smaller bills and coins in your pocket rather than just a few large bills.  It will make everyone you buy from very happy to see you.

Yep

Things You Just Won't See in the USA - Crackin me up!

There are so many things about this country that crack me up, (especially coming from the USA with all their rules and government regulations), and things that people do here because many times that is the only way to get it done.  We have mentioned this in blog posts, about using what you have on hand to get the job done.

This is to warn drivers that there is a huge hole in the road. A tire stuck in the hole with a stick, white flag and red streamer.  At least someone cared enough to let others know.  The hole is still there and growing.

Sayulita Scenes

Another great shot by mi amigo, Seani Galloway.  Pre-2012 downtown remodel.  Our grocery store of choice in Sayulita.  No, they don't have everything so you have to know where to go to find things in all the stores in town or just make things work somehow.  Cold beer and liquor?  They have it covered.