Answers to some questions

Where is Cuco?? We have not seen him or Pilar in weeks. He did stop by when my Mom was here with some tiles that he wanted us to see, just in case we were interested in buying them for our kitchen. He also needed some sandpaper for something he was working on. Other than that, nada. He has not been around

Have I been back to the dump? Yes a couple of times but I cannot drive further in than about ¼ kilometer. I do not even go in as far as we used to. My Mom and I took a load there and asked if she really wanted to go all the way in, and she said, no. I was happy about that.

Do we still go to the Sand Bar for pizza night? Yup! It seems that just about every Wednesday we are there. Now that we live in the bodega, it is only about 5 minutes up the road. Tomorrow is Wednesday. We keep track of the days of the week by pizza night.

What is happening with all our damaged and missing stuff? Everything has been photographed, itemized and given to the insurance people. The insurance company has been unbelievable. They have made this whole process bearable and very simple. After I forwarded them the ridiculous letter, I got from their Mexican representative, and asked for help, they have totally taken over. They wrote letters of intent for me to forward, created lists of our goods for me to answer, “missing” damaged” or O.K. It appears they will sue our original moving company, the Mexican moving company and even Mexican customs for our damages. They said that once we get our check from them we do not have to worry. They will take care of retrieving the funds from the responsible parties. We have not gotten a check yet but they have been more than fair in our negotiations to date. We are so relieved that when I get to Toronto I am looking up Mike Krunic, Claims, Coast Underwriters, and give him a huge hug!

How is our leaking pila? With Maurice as a husband, everything eventually gets fixed. He has repaired the pila in such a way that it got to stay in the ground and we did not have to return it for the third time to Home Depot.

How is Retro, the dog, not the machine? Either he is the smartest dog ever or Maurice and I should be dog trainers on the side. You will not believe me when I tell you we have only had him for 5 days, he has not yet been leashed, and today he stayed right with me the whole time on the beach. It was our 4th day walking there and the first day I almost had to drag him to stay with me. I’d run and get him, pick him up, carry him and set him by me. Run, pick him up, carry him and set him by me. Run really far screaming like a lunatic, pick him up, and set him by me. Today there was one incident when he smelled a dead fish and I had to ‘get in his face“, but he came. Of course he got his treat (bribe) afterwards. He is getting stronger, can walk 2 miles now, and does not stop to lie down. His backbone is getting less visible and he does not jump up when we give him food anymore…. He actually stays on all fours. He totally knows his name and comes when we whistle. He goes into his kennel on his own and he stopped jumping on the door to get inside the bodega when we are not out with him. He lies in front of the door, guarding it. He barks when a dog gets anywhere near our place and growls when he is alerted to something that he feels might be dangerous. It is crazy!! Only 5 days here! We really lucked out! He may feel the same.

How is Maurice, the husband? Amazing. He works endlessly doing everything. He hung the door on our bathroom today after constructing a frame and figuring out how to fit the whole thing into a space that was too large. He has so many things going on in one day I would loose my mind. The last 10 days water usage has increased so he pumps, orders and maintains the delivery of about 10,000 liters of water every 3 days. And by pumping, I mean running a generator and securing the piping he himself laid, pipe by pipe, that runs 95 meters (350 ft) up the cliff. They have needed so much water up on top of the cliff is it hard to keep up. He takes all the deliveries, and signs and records and tracks all the materials. He deals with our workers, all the people stopping here for work, and the people needing maintenance work done on their cars!...the pool guy, the engineer...He pays all the bills, records all the expenses...he goes non stop. I, on the other hand walk the beach, cook when I feel like it, run into town on occasion and write a blog. I take some photos and I move a wall or window around on Arriba de la Roca when the need arises. I really lucked out. I think Maurice, living in Mexico, feels the same.