We returned to Fort Collins a day early from Albuquerque, having seen most of what we wanted to have a look at. The primary reason for going was for Pat to get a feel for what the city was like in general, and look at some likely neighborhoods.

We really like the homes of the Southwest that are of the pueblo adobe style, which are abundant in Albuquerque. After seeing so many horrible homes in Northern Colorado, we were jazzed by the variety and abundance of interesting places in New Mexico. Here are a few of the downtown homes we looked at...








I love the detail of the walls that commonly surround a yard or courtyard of a pueblo-style house.

After reflecting for a few days on our visit to New Mexico, we feel we can move ahead with a commitment to buy a house here in Fort Collins - if only we can ever find a good one. Albuquerque would require a pretty big effort on our part to relocate, and we would be separated from the ranch with Mona and Clark. There are also more big-city problems there to offset the charm, like traffic and crime. Fort Collins really does have a lot to offer, even in the absence of an abundance of gracious or practical homes.

Sadly, one of the best-looking homes we have seen in months here in Fort Collins came on the market while we were away, and sold after only three days listed - going under contract before we even saw it show up on the real estate web site after our return. The fact that a nice house sells so fast in this slow market is an indicator to me of how pent up demand is here for a house that is not hideous, or with an unusable floor plan, or unatractive surroundings. There are plenty of those, and they often sit for months.

Our lease here in the rental will run out at the end of June unless we can get a month-to-month extension for a bit longer. We really would like to avoid renewing for a year, so the pressure is on to find something in the next sixty days or so.

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I finished the Mdog painting this afternoon, and once again I managed to wriggle out of the inevitable difficulties that popped up while I was working on it (whew).

I am hoping to sork on some new pieces about 3-4 days a week over the next month or so and see if I can increase the output and reduce the time from start to finish for some more work.



Here are the first sketch and the piece about 1/3 complete.

After about eight hours of driving South from Fort Collins, we arrived today in Albuquerque, New Mexico. We have been talking about checking out the area for over a year now, but haven't had an opportunity to get down here together before now.

After a year of disappointment looking for a home in Fort Collins, we're interested in seeing what Albuquerque has to offer that might be more appealing. After we arrived and checked into the hotel, we went down along old Route 66 to find something to eat, and the amount of police activity made us realize this is a grittier place than Fort Collins, with big city night life and problems.


The classic New Mexico Frontier restaurant, across from the university on old Route 66.

It was a long tedious drive, made more stressful for me because I left behind a deal on a Volkswagon Eurovan Camper that popped up in Fort Collins last week. I have been so tempted to acquire it for future travel plans, but it has been hard to justify owning an additional vehicle when we don't even know what city we will be living in, or what we will be doing there. Mexico in July is seeming a bit remote at this point, as the challenges of shutting down the household seems very daunting. I really feel like a home base in the North would feel better, but am not sure about anything these days. I thought owning a camper van might lead to more willingness to travel in Mexico, but Pat doesn't share my enthusiasm for this purchase, and it is hard to get up the nerve to go ahead on my own. Still may do it though, if no one else grabs it. It is priced right, and appears to have a lot of positive attributes.


The VW Eurovan Camper - object of my (latest) obsession.

Tomorrow we'll go exploring a bunch of neighborhoods around town.

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We've been back in Colorado now for four days now, and I've been meaning to continue with some entries I didn't get around to while we were in Jalisco.

Two days before we left, while we were still in Mazamitla up in the pine forests and hour from the lake, I ate something with a few bacteria in it that my immune system didn't know what to do with. That knocked me out to the point where I didn't have a lot of motivation to sit in an Internet cafe being witty or informative. About the same time I started coming down with a severe cold, which further slowed me down.


A taqueria in Mazamitla - wish we had eaten here instead of the one down the street where I piled on the bio-hazard salsa.

Sadly, my overall impression of our experience was a litle tainted by the ilnesses and the stress and fatigue that contributed to them. I didn't return home with the amount of enthusiasm I experienced after our December visit to the area.

While we were in Mazamitla, I mentioned that we stayed in a great old home that had been converted into a hotel. The fellow who checked us could have been assumed to be an employee, but when we engaged him in conversation we learned that the house had been his birthplace, and was the home of his abuela (grandmother). The hotel had been established only four years before, and about half the rooms were still in use by his family.


The kitchen of the Mazamitla hotel. You can see Pat at the right edge, fetching his coffee.


Our host, Hilario, chats with us over morning coffee in his grandmother's kitchen.

The great kitchen was really not intended for use by guests, but after we joked about coffee and meals, he set up the coffeemaker each morning for us, and even baked a big cake for breakfast.


Hilario was a commercial baker in his youth, working for his father in Mazamitla. He later worked as a laborer in Dresden before returning home to Mazamitla.

We learned that Hilario had a fourteen year old son, but was single. Just the two of them still lived in the house. Hilario once had a close friend from Switzerland. When the Swiss died, he left an inheritance to finance the boy's future education.

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It looks like we will enter into an agreement with Phyllis, the owner of Los Dos to become her guests for at least the months of July through September, and most likely through November. She is such a great person, and there are many more reasons to get started this way than to try anything different. The place is really warm and comfortable. We will pass back through Jocotopec Wednesday and Thursday, so we hope to formalize the arrangement then.


Phyllis supervises tree work being done near the pool of Los Dos this morning.

Last night, Pat and I were in Jocotepec centro until around 10pm, then were walking home. We were both very tired, and walking head-down, when ahead of me I heard a big metalic BANG, and looked up to see Pat hand clenched to head. To the right behind him was a closed up metal food stand with a few jagged pieces of metal sticking out. He said he was OK, but was bleeding. I gave him my handkerchief and told him to hold pressure on it while we walked the rest of the way home. It was a bit surreal walking by all the young couples cuddling amorously in doorways along the remaining blocks. When we got home, I washed the area, and saw about a two-centimeter gouge that had stopped bleeding, but I couldn't tell if it might need the attention of a medical professional. I called Phyllis, who contacted the local urgent care place and said a doctor would be waiting for us if I wanted to take Pat in. We drove over, and a very nice young Mexican doctor greeted us and looked Pat over. He said a few stic¡tches were definitely called for, so he cleaned up the area, numbed it, and stiched Pat up. When he said he would be shaving a small area around the cut, Pat said maybe he could get a Brittany Spears haircut, which Dr. Guiermo appeared to find hilarious.

After dispensing a tetanus shot and a weeks course of antibiotics, he punched a few numbers in a calculator, and showed us the total - 750 pesos - around 70 dollars - for everything. He told us to stop by and see him in a few days if we had time, and gave us his personal cell phone number.


Pat and I revisited the scene of last night's bad moments this morning.

So today, Pat was doing fine, and we checked out of Los Dos and headed for Mazamitla, a very nice pine-forested highland village filled with gorgeous colonial buildings. It seems to be a tourist area for Mexicans - few gringos. We did run into one wiry oil field worker who had been injured on the job and retired here. Wish we could have heard more of his story.


Behind the Mazamitla cathedral.


A doorway into a large courtyard filled with plants and flowers for sale. Around the perimeter of the colonial courtyard were all the rooms of a lovely old home, doors open. I glimpsed a young woman of the family, and rather than express any resentment or embarassment at my intrusion, she simply smiled warmly and said "pase" - go ahead.


An ordinary but beautiful building in Mazamitla.

We looked at several hotels after we arrived in Mazamitla - I am much bolder now about politely asking to see rooms and ask about rates before commiting to anything. After we had a great meal in an old restaurant around the corner from the plaza, we walked up the hile above town to look at the last two hotels we were considering, and found an incredible old colonial home with the courtyard filled with blooming flowers. Our room was off a side of the courtyard, and beyond was an amazing old large kitchen. Next to that and across the back of the courtyard were a large comedor (dining room) with an enormous table with 24 chairs around it, and next to that a large family room with floor-to-ceiling arched windows with heavy internal wood shutters, a beamed ceiling, and a big stone fireplace at the end.


Our Mazamitla hotel - I'll try to get a few interior photos in the morning.

We were guests in a huge private home. While the kitchen was obviously in use by the family, we were told to help ourselves in the morning to prepare whatever we needed.

Well, it's a bit late, and these entries take a long time to organize, with pictures to edit and upload, etc. It's hard to sit for so long and work on these entries when there is so much to see outside. So if you will excuse me, I will try to have more for the next opportunity. The Internet cafe I am in, by the way, has incredibly good equipment ' 20" wide screen flat panel, fast PC, broadband...yet in this centuries old relatively unchanged village.

Hasta luego...

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Not much to report really - we've seen a few houses, and I'm getting WAY into sleep deficit going on five days now, so I really don't have much enthusiasm for much of anything.


Pat in front of the house for sale in La Floresta, a nice neighborhood walking distance to Ajijic.

An acquaintance in a suburb of Ajicic has dolled up his home and has it on the market for about $450,000. When he sells it he will buy in Kansas City for half the price. Kind of a reverse of the old sell-in-U.S.-move-to-Mexico story. Guess he is just tired of Mexico after ten years, and the bad influence of the U.S. on things here.


The garden behind the Las Floresta house.

Not so sure about the casita at Los Dos now. Or anything else.

As usual.

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A street stall for plants and flowers near where we are staying in Jocotopec.

We're here in Jocotopec - when we first arrived we had a familiar sense of not really belonging here, which often seems to happen, more often to me. This feeling generally lasts a day or two, and on cue this morning it passed. Now there is (thankfully) that sense of delight and opportunity that usually follows.

We have a little multi-level casita with lake views that is part of a big complex built by Phyllis and Georg (pronounced gay-org) Rauch some decades ago. It is a lovely place, nestled in the hills above town surrounded by gardens. Georg passed away late last year, but Phyllis carries on running the place, living her life, and caring for Georg's rich legacy of art (more on that another time). They were together 40 years, and the numerous photos around the house are a testament to the joy and passion they shared.


Breakfast is served daily at Los Dos (where we are staying).


Our casita - where we may spend the months of July-September later this year. We are discussing this with Phyllis.


The pool at Los Dos - from the terrace of the casa grande, where Phyllis lives and where the guests gather for breakfast.

This is a short entry, for we need to move on and explore some things, and want to return to Los Dos in time for a swim before the sun sets. It has been in the mid-high eighties each day, and even in the evenings we haven't needed more than a t-hirt so far. At this point we don't think we will be exploring Merida before making a decision to live here for several months after leaving Colorado. I know the heat would seem intolerable after being here, where it is so pleasant.

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