Back for two days now, and the more the trip to Jalisco sinks in the more I like the idea of living in Cocula, in the heart of that state. Probably not full time permanently - at this point. But I can easily imagine every year around November thinking "Thank God - it's almost time to head down to Cocula for the winter!".



Walking down the streets in Cocula, very often you pass by windows with shutters thrown open, and ancient front wood-paneled doors opened to reveal an inner iron portal, with patio courtyard beyond. Often there is a profusion of plants and flowers within, and sometimes the sound of canaries or parakeets will drift softly out. How easy it is to imagine sitting in such a courtyard, with the perfect weather, sipping your morning coffee and maybe listening to those birds, or just enjoying the 'clop-clop-clop' of a passing horse.



I noticed that a lot of homes use a form of construction that involves the placement of steel or iron beams across walls to support the ceiling or roof. Albaniles (masonry tradesmen) then place bricks with mortar between the beams to form gentle arches, which I believe is called 'boveda'.



There were a bunch of wonderful sights I didn't get photos of, but that added to the rich experience of simply walking around. There are the pickups passing by frequently with a bunch of folks in the back - one to maybe six - sometimes with a kid standing on the bumper holding the tailgate. I take it that everyone knows everyone, and if someone is going your way you are welcome to jump in the back and jump out when you near your destination. Since traffic moves about at a stately 20mph or so for the most part due to the ever-present topes (speed bumps) this isn't as dangerous as it might sound.

One afternoon, I saw a few young teens hanging out at an intersection. One of them was doing amazing elegant rope handling, the kind where there is a big loop that is spun from a subtle hand motion, and one can step in and out of the loop, and move the loop around in different locations and inclinations.



Occasionally, I would find myself at the edge of town, looking out over dug-up sugar cane fields waiting for the spring sembrado (planting). In some cane fields I watched men tilling the soil with hand tools. Fields covering many acres.



There are modern farm machines for those wealthy enough to afford them. You often see them cruising through the center of town, or parked here and there.



Now and then you see a really sweet house of recent construction. Makes you realize that the old colonials with their classic facades are not the only pleasant way to live in a Mexican town.



There are many jarring contrasts between old and new in a Mexican town. I was in the old colonial building where the Mariachi museum is located, and looked up to see an array of telecommunications antennas. In some funky little tiendas you will find bar-code scanners and flat panel displays at the checkout counter. In one shop I frequented, the shop girls wear white uniforms with little white caps like old-fasioned nurses, and there are white-jacketed kids of ten or twelve years old who bag your items, and receive your small change as their income.

Another uniquely Mexican experience is the Baño Publico (public restroom), where a young lady or old crone (and occasionally their chismosa - gossip - friend) works a small counter near the entrance. Neatly arrayed on the counter are small folded up supplies of papel hygenico (TP). There are no rolls within, although this would not be true at a nice restaurant, hotel lobby, or airport. You drop a couple of pesos on the counter, grab your supplies, and in you go. The public facility near the plaza in Cocula had cubicles for hombres and mujeres, labeled with little cardboard placards. Oh, and in most public restrooms (and some cheaper hotels) there is no toilet seat. Just cold porcelin. And one last fact - since much of the plumbing for 'agua negro' is of dubious quality and ancient vintage, it is best for everyone if paper does not enter the drains. So you get accustomed to folding the used paper into little packets and depositing them into lined waste baskets near the throne. It's not as bad as it sounds.

At some restrooms, there will be an attendant within, who waits for you to wash your hands, and hands you paper towels. One even insisted on pumping out the hand soap into my hands beneath the dispenser. Since he is there anyway to keep the place presentable, why not earn a few extra pesos by providing service to the guests?



When I met with the architect, we discussed the need for a nice tourist hotel in centro Cocula. The only two in town are so modest as to be unsuitable for most tourists. We agreed that the first person to open a nicer hotel and promote it (easy in this Internet age) properly would probably be quite successful. He described one property (above - it wraps the corner, and has frontage on the cross street including auto access) that is available, with about a third of the construction needed for a nice hotel already in place. The rest would be new construction. Using figures he gave me for property prices and new construction costs, and adding in such things as permits and professional fees, I estimated that a high-grade five or six room hotel could be built there and furnished for around $500,000. Anyone want to wager part (or all) of their retirement nest egg?

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