Wednesday, February 01, 2006

Beautiful plumage?

Most gringos go to Mexico for a vacation. These gringos are back in California for theirs.

It sure was an intense two weeks down in Guanjuato, dealing with all the stuff that has to be done when buying a house, only more so, because this is Mexico.

Take the title. We paid our 30% deposit, and in return received the keys to, and occupancy of, the house. But the title--today--is in the name of a dead guy, the father of ten kids, nine of whom have formally ceded their share of the house to Rosa, but that's still working its way through the courts. Once she is the sole legal owner, the title is transferred to us, on payment of the remaining 70%. We trust it will happen just as the notario (an attorney who specializes in real estate deals) promises--but there again, we must, that's how things work down there. Early April we get the escritura, title, he says. Fingers crossed.

We started making a list of everything we'd achieved in two weeks--meetings, plans, arrangements for services, working with our neighbors on a mutually-acceptable security barrier between our adjacent roofs, paying the property tax for the year, getting the last of the family's stuff out of the house, getting DSL service even (Louisa did the heavy-lifting here, i.e. going to the phone, water and 'luz' --electricity--companies and figuring out the systems--I married well).

Now we're waiting for David to send us working drawings based on our sketches and discussions for the remodeling. We're particularly excited about the proposed courtyard open to the sky. It's small--only about 240 square feet, but we think it will make the place so liveable, our substitute for a garden. Complete with a planter box for bougainvillea and who knows what, maybe a wall-fountain. Will we be able to attract hummingbirds if we plant the right attractors, and provide sugar-water? Hope so.

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