Just a quick update since I’m apparently not providing sufficient proof of life…
My days are extremely full and something has to give. Blogging just isn’t something I feel like devoting much energy too right now unless something really major happens with my day.
Work is very busy and I’m working very long days, but I’ve also had plenty of time to keep up with my chores and manage some repair work on the house. As long as things keep up into the fall and the move into the new house, there are some major work-related lifestyle changes or adjustments ahead at the start of 2018. I feel really blessed.
At any rate, after repairs were completed on the water pump (which ended up having two separate issues), it was time today to move to the roof, which has been leaking. Thankfully, my hosts have a good friend with a reliable work crew so getting repairs done has not been stressful, only a matter of coordinating schedules.
The guys don’t speak English, so I’m learning new words, like escombros (debris) and brocha (which would be pinceau in French or a brush of the type used for painting in English (both French and Spanish have a different word for that and a brush for hair or teeth)). They were shocked that I didn’t know the latter, but, hey, I pick up my vocabulary as needed!
Late morning, I called my hosts’ friend to ask how much I should be paying the guys and how much of a lunch allowance to give them to go pick up something because I wasn’t at all prepared to feed two strong hardworking men. It’s great to have someone I can call on for questions like that now. He’s a wonderful man and I’m lucky to have met him. He even said he’ll help me get my desk and bookcases from La Ceiba next week!
Before any of you mother hens start clucking, this is the first summer that anyone has been in the house full-time and it was expected that there might be problems. I have been left with financial resources, trust, and autonomy to deal with things. 🙂
Puppy sitting is going as well as it did in Europe. I’m teaching the little fellow to play fetch now. It’s very slow going, but I think we made a breakthrough today at last. One of the last things I do every night is laps in the pool and he gets further exercise chasing me from one end of the pool to the other! He’s just really droll and a joy. The pool is also a joy!
I can’t believe I’ve been here on my own a full month now. I checked in with my hosts today regarding the work updates and sent pictures of the yard, pool, and dog to show that I’m keeping up with things. We’ve been getting a lot of rain, so the garden went from being a massive chore to barely being one at all. I’ve been using the time I save from not having to water to keep on top of the weeding.
I’m eager to start househunting, but still don’t have the means to do that just yet. Once the June receivables come in at the start of July, I can start looking at houses on the lower end of my budget. It’s a bit frustrating to be scrambling to much to put together three or four months’ worth of rent ahead of time and having to focus on the lower end of my budget when I could handle a monthly rent that is quite a bit higher. But I really do have to focus right now on how much I can reasonably expect to be able to save up by August and, really, it’s not a bad thing to have to rein in my rent budget. I do have to stress that I’ll have to compromise on house finishes and location to stay on budget, but I can still get the three-bed, two-bath I’ve been dreaming of, no problem. A pool might be trickier, but it’s on the wish list.
One stumbling block I’ve come across is a unique Yucatán requirement of having a lease guarantor who owns property in Mérida (aval de propriedad). I’ll cross the bridge if and when I come to it, but I’m glad I learned this. I had to do a lot of research to understand what the term meant since it didn’t translate to anything meaningful and I found no expat resources about it. Again, I was grateful for my language skills! I’ve seen some ads say that the owners will take an extra month or two of deposit in lieu of the aval de propriedad, so I may have some leeway. Anyway, forewarned is forearmed!
Well, another full day has come to a close. Time for a swim and some puppy time before I collapse to do it all over again tomorrow. Thank goodness I’m in paradise or this workload would be unbearable! 😉
You do have a wonderful life!
😀
🙂
What a lovely yard! Puppy must be happy there. Wonderful that you now have help to get your desk and bookcases. Looking forward to seeing the desk set up. Will you have room for it all in your suite?
The gravel and the dog poop make the yard a pain, to be honest. 😀 I know there’s room for the desk, but I don’t know about the bookcases. Worse case, they can go in another room.
I’m confused, the lease guarantor is in order to lease or rent a property from a Mexican rather than from a Gringo? Is that always the case?
I have heard that it is posssible to rent month to month quite inexpensively both in or around Progresso and in parts of Merida. But now that you are on the ground running you would be better at finding what works for you.
The lease guarantor is to rent from a Mexican or a Gringo who is following Yucatecan rental procedures. It’s more often than not the case and a sign that you’ve got a landlord who is serious and will follow the law. There’s no way I’d month to month when I’m going to be here long-term. I want some security and legal protection and rent and utility receipts for tax purposes!
That makes sense, I hadn’t considered that aspect. There have been unscrupulous people known to have rented a place taken the deposit and a months rent money and vanished! Then the unsuspecting owner claims otherwise leaving the renter at a loss.
Rental contracts here are really serious. I have to pay the equivalent of a month of rent to paying for the contract to be drawn up by a notario!
Also, paying month to month, you’re going to pay A LOT more for your rent, as you would if you go for properties marketed at expats.