Jalisco, Costa Alegre

The hidden side of Mexico:

Mexico can be a paradise but not all the time. If it is not a complete disaster, we are sometimes annoyed, peeved by little things that complicate our leisured life here. For example waiting an hour or more on the road for a bus that does not have a regular schedule nor a bus station. We don't want to miss it otherwise we would have to wait another 2 hours or more, sometimes under a punishing and unmerciful sun. Then the bus arrives and stops right at your feet in a cloud of dust. The bus is full, you have to stand up for 45 kms and hold the sides of the seats tight because the road is far from being straight going down and up the mountains. At least it is a good full body exercise including balance, a sweat lodge to clean your pores and for losing weight. Always look at the bright side of life...

Then we arrived in Barra de Navidad at some bungalows we will share with good friends for a few weeks. The rent is more than cheap, about can$10 per night per couple for a very nice little bungalow after spending several hours cleaning and scrubbing to make it nearly meet our cleanliness standards. It is quiet at night until about 4 o'clock in the morning when the tremendous sound of the canon coming from the nearby church wakes us up. the first morning I thought it was some vicious hunters going after the crocodiles in the laguna close to us. They must have killed a douzaine or injured one and tried to finish the poor beast. That is for the sound. For the water, our friends had no water for 2 days before we arrived but they had the swimming pool. Once there we had no water in the evening nor the morning, and no gas... then the power failed... all of that only in our bungalow. We complained a bit to the managers, then Rolf and Chris decided to climb on the roof to see what was going on with the water tank (tenaco) and the gas tank. Of course in Mexico, plumbing, electric wires, gas pipes, etc... look like an intricate work of art done by a mad artist. It is a mess and it looks dangerous. Our guys are brave and clever handymen, no doubt they will fix it one way or the other. We don't get mad at the people because they don't try to rip us off, they just don't have the skills to fix it and again they earn very little money. They try to help. We have the same problem finding a good plumber or a carpenter in Nova Scotia, the professional ones have too much work and the other ones need to be supervised. It is easier to do it ourselves.

Another very small village had every street paved during the summer but some home owners living there only part of the year had a nasty surprise coming back. Some streets were a lot lower than previously, about 2 feet difference, and could not get their car out of the garage. Oups!

It is nice to eat outside on the terrasse of a restaurant but it means that you are sitting on the street among the traffic. Yesterday a big delivery truck spewing exhaust fumes went by and stopped beside us back firing loudly before finally stopping the engine. We laughed. The driver was very civilized, just doing his job while the more lucky gringos were sipping on their drink and eating a good meal.

If you come here do not expect perfection. Little annoying things are everywhere but you must overlook them to enjoy your life here and it gives you funny memories to share at home.