rhere were four cruise ships in harbour today, a very rare event! My friend Grant lives along the route between the docks and the Plazuela Machado and reports that it’s “raining Gringos” today! Too funny. There are apparently 10,000 extra people in town. Maz is a fairly large city, almost half a million people spread out over its metro area, but these 10,000 folks are concentrated in Centro and the Golden Zone. It’s probably rather crowded on the other side!

Since this was such a big deal, I made sure to take my camera on my walk this afternoon and so was able to note of a few things along the way.

One of my neighbours has a patch on his house that looks rather like a rat. Someone else seemed to think so and chalked in a tail!

This was quite a shock the other day. We’re right at the end of my street and the grove there was clearcut to make room for a house site!

I visited the upstairs flat in this house recently.

You go up those terra cotta stairs to a really lovely landing and the little balcony is off the bedroom. Brand new construction, one bedroom, bathroom, and a small kitchen/dining/living room combo (I think the covered landing is meant to be the living room proper). Not to my taste and way more than I’d want to pay, but I have to say that I loved the view from up there. I’ve been seeing a number of properties lately since friends of mine are shopping for friends of theirs and I get to come along as the translator!

I saw one house that I would have considered for next year, if I was coming back next year and knew I could get internet there. It’s not a ‘Gringo’ house at all, very Mexican with a bit of an odd layout, bright blue tiled floors, orange walls, and no glass in the windows, with a porch overlooking the harbour. I saw another place where the living room and kitchen are open to the outdoors and only the bedrooms and bathrooms are properly closed off. Not sure how I feel about that for long-term living, but it’s been neat seeing the variety of houses available for rent.

Coming to the embarcadero, I saw the first two of the four ships.

And the other two as I rounded the corner to head back towards Calle Principal.

The Titanik was also in dock. 🙂

Crown Princess.

Norwegian Jewel.

I love looking up at the mountain that is right smack in the middle of Isla. It looks like any mountain back home until…

I see the cacti.

This building has been under construction since last year! It’s been interesting to see how construction is done here. The buildings are made of brick walls, which are then rendered by hand with cement.

I love this grove of vines near the rear of the El Velero restaurant. They are thick enough to seem like a building!

Miguel’s has updated some of its signage.

They have a pizza oven now, but the pizza business is not going well. Folks find the pizza too expensive.

This is the house being built on the lot at the end of my street that was vacant last year. You can see the brick that’s behind the cement. It will be cut out for the windows. Friends of mine and I are wondering why such tiny windows when there is such a view from that vantage point…

I love the tropical vibe at the back of my house, and if I wish there was just one window back there.

And I still can’t believe this lush backyard with palm trees is part of the place I call home!