Day 3 - Settling in and our house guests

Ah, day three and I stayed home all day. I hadn't even unpacked yet and I needed to get life into a groove. We still don't have everything we need here, but the basics are handled, the rest will come as the money does.

The House is much bigger than any of my previous places have been. Tile everywhere - zero carpet (no problem for me - feels cleaner that way). Bill had repainted most of the house except a couple of rooms. We are just renting this house until our beach home is complete - about 1 year. The owners had some real funky color choices. Here's our before and after pics.

While sweeping in the boy's room (above) we found what the locals call a 'kissing gecko". We have a couple of them residing with us here. Now, before you get all grossed out, they are actually not bad house guests because:

1. They stay out of your way - won't crawl around where you are, just up high on the walls or in corners.

2. They eat mosquitoes, spiders and other creepy crawlies.

3. They make this cute kissing sound at night when things quiet down. Well ok - it's kinda loud. Not loud enough to wake you from sleep - but loud enough to hear them with the TV on. Still cute though.

C, my oldest caught it and wanted to keep it as a pet. I decided to let them hang on to it for a little while so they could watch him and enjoy their new discovery. While trying to catch him, I grabbed his tail ( like I would a gerbil) only to learn that they lose their tails as a defensive mechanism - which they grow back.

We finally let him go about an hour later - I had a couple of fruit flys that came in from our huge pineapple we bought that morning that needed to be eaten.......

Day 2

Day 2 wasn't near as exciting as Day 1, but still part of the adventure. In the morning, we went into the nearby town for a couple of errands, and had lunch at a fairly new restaruant. Bill likes to frequent this place as the owner speaks English and the prices are very reasonable.

Even better as far as my kids are concerned is that they have children around the same ages to play with. They all had fun while the adults visited.

Now, off to Veracruz City - or as it is called in our area "la puerta" Or Veracruz porte. We went to get some various things for Oasis. After that - we spent about 2 hours at Walmart getting boring mundane stuff for the house.

Bill had been living like a bachelor- 3 plates, some really cheap crappy utensils, one pot and one frying pan. Yeah right. He couldn't believe how much all that 'stuff' cost. In comparison with Canada, it was a little bit cheaper, but most appliances, household items, etc. are only about 10-15% cheaper here, a few things are more expensive. Its the food and everyday living items that are sooooo much less expensive in Mexico.

Well after a full day of shopping, it was time to head home - again - and late again.

Our first Day in Paradise

Day 1
It’s day one in a new country, new life. I took pictures of the views from both the boys’ window and ours.

It's the first day in Mexico and we absolutely HAD to go to the beach. We had been talking about it for almost 2 years.

(View of Oasis Residential I as you approach the beach http://www.oasisincmx.com/community/)

The boys had a blast! It was only a quick visit - we had places to go.

Part of the reason I left when I did is we had an appointment booked with a franchise representative for real estate. We had been considering adding real estate for our region as a possibility as it works in conjunction with what we are doing now and we could offer other properties. Anyway, I really wanted to be at that meeting as it had great potential. So off we went to Veracruz City at around lunch.

We brought Bill’s assistant and his fiancée with us as they agreed to watch the boys while we were in a meeting. That went well, they found a wading pool and the boys jumped right in. Our meeting went well too– can’t tell you what happened yet – To Be Announced later when it’s official. The boys had fun and Bill’s assistant and fiancée survived.

Our business partner here in Veracruz was also at the meeting and brought his family with him. We decided it was time to treat my boys to the long awaited, and frequently promised ‘shrimp in Mexico’. It was close to meal time and our business partner knows the area well and always seems to know the best places to go at the best prices, so we agreed to his recommendation to “follow me”. He drove an hour south of Veracruz city to a place called Alvarado. Alvarado is a fishing town-so of course, great seafood. Only two problems, we had just spent the entire previous day cooped up in airports and planes. The last thing the kids or I wanted is to be cooped up in a car all evening. Secondly, my kids were already starving, driving for nearly an hour to get to the restaurant started squabbles.

Once we finally got there - everything was great. Fantastic food, beautiful day and very inexpensive. 6 adults and 3 children ate until very full (my children can pack away an amazing amount of shrimp!!!) for only about $50.00. Amazing.

I caught a shot of my youngest and our partner's daughter hitting it off. Once again we had a long drive home and by the time we returned, it was bed-time. So ends Day 1 in Paradise.

We've Arrived!

Yea! We’re in Mexico!

It was a very long day- but an exciting one nonetheless. Our flight was due to leave July 9 at 8:00am. We brought our two cats, Tigger and Panther, with us to go on the flight under the seat, so the airline told us to arrive at the airport 4.5 hours before departure. I asked two different employees about this and both confirmed absolutely that we had to be there early and that someone would be at the airport to deal with the cats at that time. Ha! Luckily, I have learned that we don’t ALWAYS have to obey them with respect to arrivals before flights. I did not however want problems, so I decided that 3.5-4 hours before was early enough.

Fortunately, my parents happened to fly in the night before from visiting my Sister and her family out east. They stayed overnight ( and stayed up late helping me pack and finish stuff in the house). I pulled an all-nighter getting everything packed and dealing with what would not fit but might come on the next trip. We pulled the boys out of bed at 4:00, dressed them, grabbed the suitcases and headed out the door.

We arrived at the airport and set about looking for Mexicana Airlines. They are now flying direct from Calgary to Mexico City and we were trying their service out. Because they are new and a “other” airline in Calgary (meaning they are not Air Canada or Westjet) they are kind-off off to the side and have no permanent signage. Guess what? The ticket agents don’t arrive until 3 hours before the flight –and even then they need time to set up before they are ready to help us! That was probably the worst part of the day – wasting time in an empty airport with two very tired boys, two very upset cats and a mommy who hasn’t slept in I don’t know how long.

Because we are moving and not just going on vacation, we needed to take as many personal items as possible. Each of us brought 2 x-large suitcases that all weighed exactly 50 pounds (the airline limit before you start paying $$$). We had to bring each cat in separate soft kennels and then each boy had a backpack of toys, coloring books and whatever else they wanted to help keep them busy and feel secure. I had my laptop back with important documents and my purse. So imagine this sight (because I wasn’t smart enough to take a picture)- Me, the boys, and 11 pieces of luggage.

Once we checked in, we still had two kids, the two cats, two backpacks, my laptop bag (which is pretty big), my purse and me to wander the airport with for the next 3 hours after spending about an hour walking around with all the luggage. Like I stated earlier – the worst part of the day. We had breakfast at Tim Hortons, the boys pretended to play video games (I didn’t put money in them – with their imagination – I don’t have to) and we finally went out to our gate.

Getting through security, we were quite the spectacle. They wanted to scan the cat kennels without the cats in them, so each of my sons took a cat and carried them through the metal detector. I couldn’t take a picture then, but here’s the boys holding the cats now. We definitely had all the attention of every one there. It was quite a site to see. I was a little concerned as there were two of them, and some stressed cats and an airport full of people. If one or both of my cats got away from the boys, I could have a real situation. But the boys held on tight, the cats were a little sleepy from graval, and the security people were good about getting the kennels back to us quickly. All is well.

We still had plenty of time to waste before departure, so the boys excitedly watched the various preparations involving “our plane”.

They actually did great on the flight, and only started to squabble when we got near Mexico City. Mexicana still serves a hot meal, so we got breakfast #2 (my youngest slept through it) and they took turns sitting next to the window.

Upon arriving in Mexico City, we had a couple of hours between flights to find our next gate. A very nice man, Carlos, was waiting in the walkway with a wheelchair to help those who needed it. I guess we were quite the site because he offered to help. He put both boys together in the wheelchair, both cats on their laps, the backpacks on the handles of the wheelchair and pulled my laptop bag (which has wheels). He found out where our gate was, and took us all the way through customs, translated for us, and to our next gate. He was terrific – I am truly grateful for his help. I only wish I had tipped him better (my brain was still not functioning correctly, and I wasn’t converting the pesos vs dollars very well). Anyway, I hoped he is blessed in other ways for his help. If I ever see him again, I’ll be sure to make it up to him.

What we found at our gate was very cool. Now, I don’t know if Nextel has the corner on the market in Veracruz and Mexico City or if it’s spreading through the whole country, but nowhere else in the airport did I see Nextel radios (walkie-talkies) to this extent. It seemed almost everyone at that gate had one, and was using it. You could hear the ‘beep beep’ of the radios everywhere. (For those of you who have never seen mine or me use it, there are commercials on TV where they promote them for construction or for firefighters for example). Veracruz is well known for music and food (much like New Orleans). Sitting in the gate were a group of guys playing music –just for kicks. That might annoy some, but to me it was cool. A preview of the way of life we are moving toward.

When we arrived – and all of our luggage (whew!) – we went through customs again, this time in more detail. They ‘imported’ the cats and another guy helped us get our luggage out the secure area to finally see my husband and his personal assistant. Yeah! We made a couple of stops on the way home- and it started to pour rain. We skipped the restaurant (would you believe we settled for McDonalds?) and headed home as all our luggage was in the back of the pick-up truck.

We tried to cover up the suitcases that had paper type items in them and drove home quickly. It stormed so bad we lost power minutes after arriving home. So much for the ideal arrival to our new home! Everyone was so tired, we all just went to bed.