What Comes Before Austere?

living.boondockingmexico@yahoo.com

This is the front of the house.   I can park in front of the porton as there is no one else here with a car.  The owner is a 99 year old woman who is my neighbor.  She is very nice and makes very little noise if not any at all.  She's up early and out and about in the garden.  There are two dogs, Tita and Chubby.  Tita loves me and Chubby won't have anything to do with me.

Yesterday I spent most of the time getting moved in, taking a long nap and using the internet.  I woke up at 1:45 a.m., wide awake.  I think it was because I was so tired from driving and the stress of the cats traveling.  They are looking out the window right now getting used to their new environment.  I want to let them out in a week or two but they need time to adjust.  Also, there is a cat who lives on the roof,  I caught a glimpse of him last night, or just his shadow.

I did go back to sleep but not until around 3 a.m.   So I slept in until 6.   I was so worn out that I didn't go to the gym this morning, shame on me.  Tomorrow I will do it for sure.   Go to long and you might as well start over.  I piddled around arranging stuff and then showered and went to the market where I had a great breakfast of fresh eggs and salsa with refried beans and delicious corn tortillas along with a cup of coffee (30 pesos).

About a week ago, I got an email from a woman named Dorothy.  She had sold her American car and is now looking for a Mexican car.  She asked me if I would help her and I said sure.   So after breakfast, I met her for coffee at Mega.  She is a wonderful person and lives in a beautiful house looking over the city of SMA.  We really hit it off.   A pleasure to talk to.  So over the next couple of weeks we will be looking at cars.  BTW, Dorothy was raised in Mexico City, married and moved to Colorado and then back to SMA.  She is a native English/Spanish speaker.

Came home, took a nap and then started cleaning.   The place was a bit dusty and really needed some attention.   I hunkered down and got to it.  I need to mop but there isn't a mop.  Tomorrow I'll pick one up.  Once inside the gates in the picture, is a long lot with garden on the right and three little houses.  La Señora lives in the first two houses, one is her kitchen and dining room and the other has her bedroom, bath and living area.

Then at the end is a little gate that that leads to the casita.  Is there a word that comes before austere?  Because this place is really plain Jane.  There's no silverware, lots of odds and ends in the kitchen, and well, I am fixing it up.   The kitchen needs curtains and I will find some this week.   If you have seen the apartments at Weber's, this place is like that.  But what the heck, for 280 dollars a month
you can't beat it for location.  Three blocks to the gym, three blocks to the bakery, you can walk to Mega, the main plaza, etc.   I'm happy and we will have this place in shape in no time.  We will scour the markets for some good used items and leave them behind for the next guy.

Tomorrow I need to get out and explore, do some long walking and maybe go visit my friend Mario at the botanical gardens and see what we can do there to help out.  The weather here is fantastic, a little shower here and there and wonderfully cool air.