It’s been relatively quiet in the jungles of southern Mexico this week. Lisa and her mom were both sick, cough, sore throat and other symptoms I won’t share. I don’t know if it’s my genes or what, but I seldom get sick. On the whole we do pretty well. We try to take turns with our maladies.
While walking the dogs one day this week I discovered an enormous pile of garbage dumped on the highway near the turnoff to our property. I learned that a double tractor trailer flipped in the early morning hours leaving its load behind. What an eyesore! I will talk to our neighbors and see what if anything can be done. The pile is mostly bottles and concrete. Mexico is large enough to hide its trash. How inconsiderate to leave it out in the open! Perhaps they can incorporate it into the Mayan Train somehow.
Next there was water leaking on the floor of our garage. Finding a reliable plumber has been a challenge. The Mayan Train and resulting hotel construction has sucked up skilled laborers. I spent days getting no responses or asking “do you know anyone else?” I’ve found that who you know and who THEY know can sometimes get you the help you need.
We continue to learn things about living in a tropical environment, even after ten years. For example, any system that we have installed must have regular maintenance duh!, ie electrical, septic, cistern, and basically anything with a pump. Water is hard and calcium clogs the lines. Everything rusts and molds. We plan on installing a water softening system this year which will also require maintenance. Solar is somewhere down the road.
Our house is not airtight. No air conditioning. We wake to birdsong and the rustling of palm trees and the laguna lapping the shore. It’s a trade off but we love our “glamping” lifestyle.
I suppose that’s it for another week in the jungle. Y’all come back now ya hear.
DOS TORTAS
the adventures of dos tortas 
Hola ladies!
Sorry to hear about illnesses…hoping everyone is better😊 We have had a death in our family -my beloved brother in law – and we are leaving tomorrow for Mexico City and then home…then onto Washington. I loved him dearly…
Good luck with all of your pumps – we relate! And we’ll see you later this year…much love to you three xo Lorrie
(so love your blog, Alex – such a delight each Sunday😊)
Lorrie Jones
Simple Serenity
simpleserenity.comhttp://simpleserenity.com/
253.312.3117
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My condolences to you and your family. Life does really turn on a dime as they say.
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PS loved the quote at the bottom…so true, so true..
Lorrie Jones Simple Serenity simpleserenity.comhttp://simpleserenity.com/ 253.312.3117
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Travel safely.
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Hope everyone is well now! I completely agree; I remember saying many times that life in Mexico and Belize was both simpler and more complicated than life in the US. It’s a trade-off, like everything else in life. Hope the garbage pile goes away; that is a true eyesore. LOVE the quote at the end and plan to steal it — it is so very true and something I try to live by, since I’m not necessarily living the life I might have chosen if family obligations didn’t impact me at all.
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I like to think of them as choices rather than obligations. We always have a choice even if it’s to be happy with what we have. Thanks for stopping by.
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The water’s very hard in the part of England so we installed a water softener. It’s made such a difference. Well worth it! 🙂
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Thanks. I’ve been afraid that it would be something else to break down haha 😛
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I feel your pain with maintenance. We were on/off with electrical service to half our house last Summer. Day was fine, but nights it was popping on and off the entire night. I was blaming the increase of Summer people and the extra AC running throughout the town. Finally it went out for good, so our plumbers—and you are so right as to who you know, and who you have a relationship—came and opened the box on the street to find a dead lizard in there, gooking up the wires. We opted NOT to have an electric gate opener, we take our wash to the neighborhood Lavanderia, Buy “cheaper” sink faucets as they all rust and clog no matter the price, have lots of glass surfaces as they clean easily with a little Windex, try never to buy anything with metal unless it’s going to look “OK” rusted, and generally try to keep life simple so I am not losing my mind calling in help. Our plumbers, which I named The Recardo Project, come within an hour of calling as we have become “family”–their words. 2 Ricardos, and a Sergio, all related have been with us since the remodeling of our house 14+ years ago. They have plumbed, fixed all electrical problems as they arise, fixed the AC unit we have in the bedroom for sleeping in Summer, re-mopped our roof coating after the catastrophic 2020 30 inches of rain—10 of which I swear, went into our house– and generally take care of us no matter what we ask. Relationships are all important here.
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I laughed out loud reading your comments. Somebody gets my pain 😂. Lisa bought new faucets last summer and they’re already a mess. Seems like we’re running to stay in place. But we love it here. ❤️
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