"Quick Lunch La Terraza" - neighborhood eatery in barrio Vicente Solis

¡ay! Dios mio - more suspense. Pat checked in for a response from the sellers of la casa amarilla today and was told that they needed until next Tuesday to mull it over. He wrote up an account of this and posted some new photos of the barrio Vincente Solis where it is located.

So Pat will come home and we'll wait until next week to see if we go into contract on the place. ¡Esperamos que si! If we do, the papers should be drawn up and ready to sign around the third week of February - just in time for - Carnavál! Since Pat did all the hard work to find the place and set up the offer he should go and close and have the satisfaction of taking possesion of the keys. Then I will pospone my trip and try to use part of my sabbatical to get a few things set up there for residency when we visit. That would put me there in late March.

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Poor Pat! He got a little caught up in the on and off deal for the old colonial we originally had our eye on and made an offer only to find himself hoping it wouldn't be accepted (it wasn't). Quite a stressfully way to learn the ropes for property purchasing in Merida. When he called for reassurance the morning after, I had just crawled out of bed and was pretty dubious and couldn't generate much pre-coffee enthusiasm to offset that. We were BOTH relieved when the offer expired unaccepted.

Ah, but now we have an offer in on a sensible comfortable little house, which seems to have assumed the label casa amarilla (see below for obvious reason).

Standing by right now to confirm that an offer is in, awaiting reply from the seller.....

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Click the panuchos in this photo to read a worshipful review of a local eatery in Merida.

One of the wonders of visiting Mexico is the food one finds there. Since we only really know Merida, it is the yucatecan regional food that has captured our imagination. It is not very similar to the California mexican food we have enjoyed here.


What a great pleasure it is to find a local panucheria (a place where panuchos are served of course) or cocina economica - a generic name for a cheap place to eat that literally means inexpensive kitchen. In the cocina economica there will be two or three cheery ladies chatting and cooking in big pots and frypans in the back. If you want to see what's available for the day just step in back and they will pull up a ladle or spatula to display their work and describe it in whatever words you can understand. Pointing will work here if necessary.

Everything is fantastic as a rule, accompanied by a stack of small-diameter fresh corn tortillas and costing maybe $1.60 for a big lunch. This is the main meal of the day for most people, and in the early afternoon hours a steady stream of people come in with empty tupperware of various sizes for takeaway (back to work? home to share with family before a siesta?). They leave with bags loaded with heavy containers and foil covered stacks of hot tortillas.

Here I am in a neighborhood cocina economica with a museum guide I invited to lunch.

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Pat had an interesting idea I hadn't considered before about how to earn some income in Mexico. It seems very few people in Merida are catering to the gringo crowd who might want to learn Spanish, and it occured to him that we could operate such classes using a combination of my teaching skills (eight years as a flight instructor)
and local native speakers. The way gringos are snapping up all the property there the community must be growing exponentially. We could devote part of our house space for a classroom if we get a big enough place. Need to check out the legalities of self-employment but I think this can be done.

Taking this a step further, I wonder if we couldn't also teach English to local Spanish speakers - although I suspect they have more options. I know some people in Merida teach English with no knowledge of Spanish, although I don't see how they could be as effective without insight into why Spanish speakers make the common errors they do. Since I have been studying Spanish I am increasingly understanding how and why they make the mistakes they do.

After Wednesday's big disappointment over the sale of the unrestored colonial we had our eye on, we regrouped and now Pat will spend Friday looking at the remaining inventory of the realtor for that place, then Saturday will check out a place that was highly recommended as being 'right' for us by a friend who has bought and renovated an old colonial in Merida.

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Que lastima - Pat looked at the house in Merida we were interested in today, and after spending several hours surveying and growing excited about what a great match it was for our wants and needs, the new owner (since yesterday it turns out) showed up and inquired about why he was there. Missed it by THAT much.

In another example of exquisite timing, after dropping Pat off at the BART station for the ride to the airport and proceeding to work, I began experiencing a little discomfort in my back, then more, THEN MORE - until I was literally rolling around on the floor at times, and unable to find any position that would diminish the pain. Off to the emergeny room with a coworker (couldn't drive - actually could barely tolerate being a passenger) where my suspicion was confirmed by a CT scan - kidney stone.

On the bright side, this is not all that uncommon (although the pain certainly is) and usually can be dealt with a routine, transient, and non life-threatening condition. It will be a week or so until I can see a urologist and determine the exact scope and prognosis for what is going on. The ER doctor was great with the powerful IV meds to allay pain while the situation played out, but didn't offer much detail on the specifics. At least this allayed some previous fears about more serious disease after some microscopic blood was seen in a physical exam urine sample. Probably just that stone moving around getting ready for yesterdays Big Event.

So now what with the house-hunt in Merida? One approach might be to select a move-in-ready casa that would allow us to put this place on the market while the real estate bubble is in full over-inflation (Before the pop!! - This fall? Next spring?). Then we could move and take our time looking for the ideal place. We could re-sell the temporary place or possibly hold it as an investment - maybe a rental. Or we could get a place that is partially restored and finish it ourselves - like this (click for more).



Besides, as wonderful as this place has been for us and the dog, I am REALLY tiring of taking care of it and more than ready for a change after nearly TEN seasonal cycles. This is the longest I've ever lived in one place.

The work situation continues to deteriorate for both of us, so there isn't much incentive there. If we stay and earn more money a decline in housing prices or demand could cost us all the earnings in reduced sale yield.

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No es justo - it's not fair...here it's raining and COLD, and Pat gets to run off to Mexico for warm walks in the zocolo while listening to tropical music and maybe munching on a snack from a shop or street vendor.

Merida Weather
Hayward Weather

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Ack - if last week was for understanding the basics of real estate dealings in Mexico the last few days have been drowning in the excruciating detail. Since Patrick is leaving for Merida tomorrow morning I needed to get him up to speed on the intricacies of the process. I picked up the hard-to-find Mexican real estate book about five days ago and have been frantically highlighting and fact checking since. We should have hit this harder and sooner, but we are up to speed now.

I think we are finally ready. All the pieces are lining up and all we need now is the right property to be available with a clean deal to make.

My trip to follow up after Patrick is only a month away now, and I got a confirmation that my room will be available at Casa san Juan in Merida.



Ah, Casa san Juan - if only we could find the twin of that casa bonita - it is the standard against which all others must compare...

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