Sayulita Scenes - Highway 200

Highway 200 is the two lane jungle road connects Sayulita to towns to the north and south along the coast.  Most importantly it connects us to Puerto Vallarta and the airport.  It could take you 10-12 minutes to emerge from the jungle or 2-3 hours depending traffic, accidents, construction, congestion, idiocy or just bad luck.  Beautiful though this time of year.

Highway 200.  Photo by others.

Mexico’s Riviera Nayarit Primed to Be the Next Big ‘It ’ Destination

This article found on Bloomberg.com gives a rundown on where the Riviera Nayarit has been and where it is heading in the next few years and some of the players involved.  The changes that are coming are significant capitalizing on the momentum this area has built the last decade.  It looks to be pretty spiffy and Sayulita is right in the middle of it.  We plan to be here to see what happens.

Read the article here.

A New Casa In 2018 - Construction Update - Early September

 We were away from Casa Pōno for 6 weeks and the contractor's pace slowed significantly as he pulled his crew off our job after a couple weeks to have them work elsewhere while we were gone.  Some things got done and lots of things did not. A few things that caused problems were the fact that we needed more electrical fixtures like recessed light, plugs and switches and the road construction on our street prevented any deliveries of materials for things like sand, gravel etc. Road construction also prevented an accurate finish level to be determined for the driveway so I guess it was good to hold off a bit.

Apartment bedroom minus air conditioning.  Lots of surfboards though.

Apartment kitchen minus some shelving and some lighting.

Apartment living area.  13 year old daughter not included in rental.

Apartment terrace.

Lots of finishes did get done like the finish surface for the front terrace and stairs.  The interior of the house looks like it got repainted and covered up all the grunge from finishing the floor and other construction items that happened before we left.  Our front door was installed as were the bodega doors, the floors got two coats of sealer, the exterior face of the house was painted and power got turned on in our living level.  The house was clean enough that we even began moving boxes upstairs!  This helped out our cramped living situation in the apartment and cleaned up the lower bodega a bunch so we could actually walk around in there.  The crew has mostly cleared up their gear and materials, it is quiet each morning.  We feel like the place is finally ours!!!

Standing at the front doorway.  Upstairs to living level.  Alex and Trace's bedrooms on this level.

Alex has been busy painting her room.  She has bee waiting so long to put this color on her walls.

Standing at top of stairs.

There are certainly some things to finish but they will be on hold until we can put some additional money together or hopefully sell the Park City house.  At the moment we are altering the kid's old bunk beds to build new bed frames to use in their new rooms.  Alex cannot wait!  Appliances are on the correct floors and await install.  Some exterior painting that was not included in the contract is happening as is figuring out the kitchen countertop and sink situation.  Not a dull moment especially after working on the house in Park City non-stop for 6 weeks.

Master bedroom on main living level.

Ocean view from master bedroom.

Standing at master bedroom door looking toward back of house and living/kitchen area. Yes mother, there will be a railing.

Standing in kitchen amongst the boxes, bags etc.  Interior courtyard lit up.

Standing in dining area.  Kitchen on left.

Standing at top of stairs looking at front entry.

I have a three page list of items that the contractor needs to come back and discuss.  Having worked in construction I am picky about details.  I do not need the details to be perfect but not ignored either.  The contractor had 6 weeks to come in and inspect and make his own observations, work through the list I generated for him before I left and obviously did not do that.  It feels as if that if I don't bring up short comings in his workmanship or other problems then it must be ok and he will not have to deal with it.  This is in contrast to making sure his client's house is up to higher standards treating as if it were his own house or better.  I know certain things he has ignored here would not be acceptable in his own house. A much different mentality and experience...in our situation at least.

The empty rooftop terrace.  Going to be a great spot.

Interior courtyard looking down to 3rd level.

Interior courtyard looking out rooftop terrace door and laundry door to left.

Our beautiful Papelillo tree canopy to the courtyard.

We have some front yard items to address at some point when we are able but the timing is good. The street is under construction so holding off on a finished driveway or painting garden wall can hold off for a bit as can any kind of landscaping or finishing of the grey water system.

The currently empty garden that will treat the house grey water.

Front stairs and front garden.

Unfinished driveway and Ozzy's shade shelter.

Well, we hope that things move quicker with the PC house and things loosen up a bit with funds so we can think about finishing some things as we move into early fall.  It would be nice to live upstairs and not on top of each other in the apartment.  I walk around upstairs and it is hard to conceive even living up there but we will get there eventually.

School Year 2018-2019 Begins!

It was a blur.  Just like that the summer is over.  School has begun and the kids are back at it.  Alex is now in 8th grade, Trace is in 6th and they will attend Costa Verde International School again.  We can't believe we started this adventure when they were in 1st grade and preschool age.  Big kids now. Looking forward to another good year!

WAAAAAAAAY Overdue Improvements For Calle Libertad Begin!

The week before we headed north to Park City we were asked to attend a meeting concerning road improvements to our new street, Calle Libertad.  Calle Libertad is a cut through street from the main road through town to the main road around town.  It isn't an exaggeration to say that half the town either walks or drives up or down Calle Libertad daily.

Why does the street need improvements?  Well, during the rainy season the street becomes a muddy mess.  With the water run off from the rain,  erosion gets so bad that the street becomes barely passable when a deep ditch is carved down the street each summer.  The mud and whatever material the road is constructed with that week of the summer flows down the street to the intersection and then becomes a source of slurpy muddiness for months and then dust for months after.

Mud is only the beginning of the problems.

I left that meeting with the impression that the improvements plan was still in development and that any progress may actually be a while off just yet.  The rainy season had just about begun and is not a time to begin a project.  Well, when my phone rang during a hike in Park City I realized I was wrong about the scheduling of improvements.  The call was from our contractor and our car needed to be moved off the street immediately or risk having it towed as a new sewer line was being inspected and installed.  A first step to begin the regrading and resurfacing of the street!  This, I found out, meant that we received our sewer line hook up without continued permit hassle since they made sure every house on the street and project in progress was hooked up properly to avoid busting up a new road when our permit was issued. No more sharing with the church next door.  We got our own "poop pipe"!

We arrived from the airport and found the street blocked off at the top and bottom, large trucks at work and no cars parked anywhere.  So strange since there are always cars and trucks using Calle Libertad to get to where they need to go.  It was quiet other than the dump trucks and other machines leveling and compacting the street from adding road base.

A day or so after our arrival we saw a gathering of neighbors speaking with some of the road crew.  We could see guys were hastily putting away tables, chairs, plants and any other items that may be located on the front porch or stoops of the homes up the street.  Apparently they were being torn down to make way for part of the improvements to the street.  Our only guess is that over time these personal spaces encroached into the street right of way and were being removed.  These places were extensions of the local neighbor's homes.  A place where they sat and socialized, where they began and ended the day and escaped the hotter interiors of their concrete block homes.

Sidewalks being removed next to Alchemista.

  There was a look of some concern but not a lot of emotion about it.  Almost as if the neighbors knew they had grown too far out of their own properties and finally someone took notice.  Or, they figured the improvements were going to be better than what they had currently and did not complain much.

The front steps of our neighbor's house.

The twist happened when they started demolishing the church's front sidewalk.  We built our property wall on the same line as the front of the church and our neighbor on the other side.  All three properties line up but I suppose the church sidewalk was in the right of way and they made quick work of taking that out as well.

Early morning demolition of the church steps next door.

I do not even know the final plan for the street as of yet.  I have heard sidewalks similar to the ones that have been installed along other roads and around town.  Terra cotta stamped concrete.  Possibly changed to a "one-way" street and even no parking.  The designers made a big mistake with no parking on the street, Calle Pelicanos, that was "improved" last year.  They provided sidewalks, changed the street to a single direction and eliminated parking altogether.  Well, this pueblo developed around walking and every residence does not have off street parking like a driveway.  Many houses just do not have them. So people need to park their cars on someone else's street, in front of someone else's house or just park where ever they can like on the brand new sidewalks provided.  Our street is no different.  Most of the houses do not have parking so being able to park on the street is necessary.

This is what can happen when parking is not considered when improving the street.

Today, they even started taking out trees that have been part of the street as long as anyone can remember.  This one actually had a root system that likes to grow and cause problems for sidewalks, streets, plumbing and foundations.  A crew arrived with chainsaws in the late morning and by afternoon the tree was no more and the houses across the street were bathed in mid-day summer sunlight for the first time in decades I would guess.

A few more months of this but at the end we will have a brand new house and a brand new street all at the same time.  It will, unfortunately, delay some final work on the house but we will get there and Calle Libertad will look as good as it ever has.  The question will be "Will Calle Libertad "work" as well as it ever has?".

It's Official! Our House In Park City, Utah Is For Sale!

We are selling our house in Park City!  The house we bought before we got married. The house we brought both kids home to after being born.  The decision seemed to come out of no where.  We never intended to sell and told everyone as much.  But as we drove away and headed to the airport our discussion in the car changed from "no way" to "let's ask some questions and crunch some numbers".

The house will be listed by our amiga, Jennifer Johnson, with Equity Real Estate Luxury Group.  Jennifer was also our Realtor when we bought the house back in 2003.  Her # is 435-901-1704.

We spent 6 full weeks putting the house back together and spent lots of $ doing so. Looking at the money that will continue to go out each month to pay for the improvements is steep.  Add that to the money out to pay for and finish the Sayulita house and the financial benefits of selling significantly outweigh the argument for keeping it.

These are some photos that our realtor had taken of the property by Kellie Hatcher Photography. We think they are great.  Makes me even sadder to see how good the house looks after working on the place for six weeks.  We still enjoy the mountains, are close to many people there and love our neighbors on the street but it just isn't the place we want to come back to when there are so many great places to go visit in the world.

The market is up, inventory is low and the rental market is saturated with similar properties to rent.  The house looks good and is empty to allow our Realtor to do her thing and see if she can find a buyer.  We are sad but at the same time we feel relief at the idea that selling the house off may pave the way to bigger experiences rather than putting more money and time into something we may never have the means to really fix up properly.  Our kids are unfazed by the idea since they were very young when they lived there and feel Sayulita is home too.  Hopefully, another family can pick it up and love it as much as we did.  Crossing fingers we can find a buyer soon.

Our Girl Is A Teenager!!

She is a student, an artist, an equestrian, a dancer, an athlete, a big sister and so much more.  Today she turns 13 and we love her.  Feliz Cumpleaños Alex!

Park City - A Month Back In The Mountains - Final Week

I has been a blur.  Getting the house together and rented again has been a task much larger than Ashley or I ever expected.  We figure for every year we were not here to maintain the house it resulted in a week's worth of work this summer to set it right again.  This house was a fixer upper when we bought it 14 years ago and it certainly is still that now.  We cannot walk away from this place for 6 or 7 years at a time and hope it holds up.  Yes, having tenants who will occasionally knock down weeds, cut the grass, trim a few limbs, or tighten a loose screw would be a big help but 7 years is too long to not do some real maintenance on the place.

Our home in the mountains.  Love this place...and hate it.

The question is always if we are going to sell it.  Selling would certainly make things simpler for us. We have been gone for a long time now. With a consistent renter in here and the current rental market we would finally might make a few dollars(just a few) to put back into the house or pay for improvements/maintenance.  We have replaced and fixed so many items this summer that we hope the house holds together for a few more years so we can wait to make a decision about selling it a while down the road.  The next time we come to PC and have to put this kind of work into this house means we are selling it or we are really remodeling it so it is ours for the long haul.  The lowest end of the market in Park City for a single family home is currently about $600,000. That is in our neighborhood and down the street from us.  A 3000+ square foot home with cheap builder finishes can begin around $800,000.  WTF?! We are around 2200 square feet so we are not looking at really BIG money for our place but should the day come there is room for actually improving the house or getting a decent return if we put the place up for sale.  Capital gains would hurt for sure so that is something to consider too.

Trace out early again on the trail.  Our backyard in Park City.

So, what has been going on?  Well, I hate to say it but more house stuff.  We got the new granite kitchen countertops installed and replaced the upstairs sink.  The granite countertops look great and with the addition of a new sink and fixture it is certainly an improvement over the cracking, rotting, crappy countertop that was in there for 10 years.  We actually liked the sink that was in the old kitchen so much during that time that we are taking it to Mexico with us to reinstall in our new kitchen.  It's bomber!

Trace will miss the bathtub.  Trace testing out his new mask.

As with the carpet, the granite installers were Mexican.  Out of habit I said something in Spanish.  As soon as I did that and they knew we actually lived in Nayarit the lead installer and his helper were quickly amigos.  They smiled, laughed, wanted to talk to the kids and asked lots of questions about how it was for us to be back in the USA, US prices, beer/tequila and things we liked about Mexico.  Just being able to field questions in Spanish about the install and their other questions made me feel pretty good about my language capabilities. We also made sure they found a 12-pack of Modelos in their truck when they left.

Girls chillin' in the neighborhood.

I was able to catch up with some ski buddies from "back in the day" for guys only dinner.  Beers, fish on the grill and of course a little tequila.  Lots of fun catching up with these guys who I have known since the mid 90's.  Older and maybe a bit wiser but pretty much the same guys.

The deck work and enclosure is wrapped up, windows cleaned and Ashley has been hauling chipped bark left by the fire department chipping service up from the street to cover the remaining parts of our yard. Looks good and only cost us some sweat. The grandparents have left and their contributions to the house clean up were so appreciated. Their efforts saved us so much time and energy. Thanks Gram-O and Gramp-O!

This is what I remember living in a neighborhood looks like.

We have had some interest in the house and have shown it to some folks but as I write this I can honestly say we are frustrated.  For 6 weeks we have busted ass everyday/all day, spent lots of money and really have not given the kids the summer of experiences we had hoped to.  They have not had the needed important time with us or seen things we had hoped to show them so they understand a bit better how cool where they were born can be.  All the energy, time, frustration and money and no one wants to rent the house...or even see the house for that matter.  Ashley and I sit at then end of the day totally spent from another full day and feel like we have nothing to show for it.  Is it worth it or should we just unload this place and not have to worry about it anymore.  Our highly anticipated summer in the mountains just did not turn out the way we hoped.  This is not to say that the kids did not have a good time being kids biking, hiking, swimming etc.  It is just that we had hoped to do a lot more things together and we will have to make up for it somehow.

The kids finally got to see their moose!

I think we are all ready to go back to our lives in Mexico.  Trace certainly is but absolutely has had a good time riding bikes everyday, hiking and hitting the pools.  Alex might be just fine staying a little while longer since her friends in town won't be around until school starts in another 2 weeks or so.  Ashley and I are ready for some new scenery and she is remembering just how bad her allergies get here.  I check the internet surf/beach cam in the morning and I get butterflies even if there are no waves.  So, yes, I think it is time for us to head home.

So it was the day of departure and we were exhausted.  We were up late continuing to fix items and up early doing the same.  In total, we left with 14 bags and paid big fees for overweight luggage.  The heaviest bag was 77 pounds!  Our little rented Subaru was packed.  So much so the kids had to share a seat and I rode with my knees up around my ears.

Barely room for the kids.

Packed!

 We checked the baggage and the family sat in first class with me in an empty row in Economy Comfort and over the 3 hour flight we prepared ourselves for customs.  In Puerto Vallarta there is a random bag checking process and we passed through with no need for inspection!  We grabbed a bag porter and he promptly delivered us to a transportation company who hooked us up with an air-conditioned private van to deliver us to Sayulita.  So happy to see the jungle!

Final leg of the return trip.  Stoked!!!!

Before and afters:

House then.

House today.

Then

Now

Then

Kitchen now.

Deck and backyard then.

Deck and backyard now.

Deck and backyard then.

Deck and backyard now.

Side deck then.

Side deck now.

Side deck and yard then.

Side deck and yard now.

Backyard then.

Backyard now.

Side deck and storage then.

Side deck and storage now. Bark in progress.

Trace's room then.

Trace's room now.

Alex' room then.

Living room now.

So that wraps up things in PC.  An endless 6 weeks of house work trying to erase 7 years of house neglect and lack of maintenance.  So did anything good come out of the summer in the mountains?  Absolutely!  First and foremost we were all together everyday since the middle of June...and we still like each other.  Ashley being able to fly out of Salt Lake City made this possible and it worked out great. The kids became hikers and bikers.  Everyday they rode bikes just like we did as kids and played with the kids on the street.  Trace especially loved the hiking.  About every other day Trace and I were out on the trail early.  He loved being in the woods and exploring the trails I knew so well from when we lived here.  He also loved the cross training it provided for his SUP racing and surfing back home.

Reflections:
-We know for sure that coming back to Park City would not be a reality.  Sayulita is home and there really was no doubt.  "You can never go home again" right?  PC has changed so much in what feels like a short time and is just not our place anymore.  It is a great place and we still have great friends there.  It is easy to see why it is growing but it is just not home anymore.
-Our neighbors are still awesome!
-I should never drink margaritas...ever!
-When Ashley and I team up we GET SHIT DONE!
-We forgot how cold it gets up here in the mountains when the sun goes down.
-Trace and I get excited watching the Sayulita beach cams.  Time to go home.