Day of the Dead is coming...

We hopped on the ATV and headed into town to do our weekly fruits and veggies shopping at the Sunday market.

When we arrived, we went for a walk to the central plaza and found that they have a big stage set up.

Now... how do we get it home?

Late morning, we hopped on the ATV and drove in to the big Chedraui super store in Valle. We needed to pick up a few groceries, but we also wanted to have a look at a few washing machines that they had on sale.

There is a washing machine here at the marina, but we always have to ask our host if we can use it, and it really doesn't work the best. So we wanted one of our own.

Very strange...

The title of yesterday's post was "A lot of packages showing up today!"

And, how many packages showed up? Zero.

A lot of packages showing up today!

We had done some looking around town for beds and bedding, but it ended up there was a lot more selection and better pricing buying through Amazon Mexico. 

So we ended up ordering a bunch of stuff, most of which will be delivered today.

A little more work than expected

We were talking this morning and realized that we've been here for two weeks already. But we disagree on how much we've got done. Ruth feels like we haven't done very much, but I think we're doing okay considering it's only been two weeks!

And we're in no real rush. We have no time deadlines other than making sure the spare bedroom is finished for when my sister arrives mid December. 

First Spanish lesson!

When we started coming to Mexico in 2007, we didn't really know any Spanish. Ruth had taken some basic Spanish in high school, but her French was better than her Spanish.

Over the years, our Spanish is much improved... we can communicate what we need to, and we can ask questions and normally understand the answers. And we know a lot of words, but putting them into the correct sentence structure is difficult.

Lots of photos yesterday!

We were headed into town for our first ride on the ATV. Sunday is market day in Valle, so we go in to pick up our weekly supply of fruits and veggies.

But since we have the ATV, and that gives us a little more flexibility, Ruth suggested we do the short hike up to La Peña... the high rocks we can see in the distance directly opposite our balcony.

We picked up a couple of new brain buckets

We needed to go into Valle de Bravo Saturday morning. First of all, to buy motorcycle helmets, but we also wanted to look around some shops that may not be open on Sunday morning. We'll go in again today, but today (because we now have helmets) we can drive the ATV into town for our weekly supply of fruits and veggies at the Sunday market.

We need to buy motorcycle helmets!

The other day we went and wandered around the nearby town of El Arco. This is located only less than one mile from our house and we can walk there in 15 minutes. It's the place we go to get anything we need last minute, but the shopping is actually better in Valle de Bravo (simply "Valle" as the locals say).

We've been there many times, but never for the sole purpose of seeing what other shops are there.

We bought an ATV!

Some people have questioned why we are having to put so much money into a place that we are renting. And there are several reasons, so I wanted to take this opportunity to clarify.

First of all, outside of expat or tourist areas, a local Mexican house or apartment is usually a bare-bones space with plumbing and electricity... that's it. 

Tourism in Puglia: Different experiences for your days of rest

Travelling to Puglia means entering a different Italy—slower, brighter—where the landscape blends with everyday life. In this southern region, time seems to stand still among olive groves, endless coastlines, and towns that preserve an identity shaped by centuries of history. What appears on a map as the “heel” of the Italian boot is, in reality, a mosaic of sensations, aromas, and faces that linger in memory.

The new TV's have arrived. Just in time for the game!

We had to hang out here at the house all day waiting for our two new televisions to arrive. One for our room, and one for the room downstairs.

Because they are "high value" items, Amazon Mexico issues a code to the buyer that you have to give to the driver when your package arrives, so you have to be there when it does.

More progress on our house

Regular readers might remember Fernando and Yesie and their 6 year old daughter Aminah. We had bumped into them last year when we heard them speaking English in a local grocery store, and that sparked a conversation.

The first of many great sunsets

I spent most of the morning on the laptop. Actually, when you count the Blue Jays game later on, I actually spent most of the day on the laptop!

But in the morning, I was shopping online. We knew that we were going to have to spend some money to fix this place up the way we want, and also to fix it up enough that someone might want to rent the spare bedroom and bathroom on a short term basis (Airbnb). I originally figured we might have to spend between $5,000 to $10,000 CAD ($3,500 to $7,000 USD).

Well that was a fun surprise!

Sundays are our favorite day here at Valle de Bravo. Why? Because it's market day!

We are located about 6 kms from the center of town. Normally we wouldn't mind walking one way, but the road is busy and much of it has no sidewalk. We've done it once in a past year, but it's really not the best for walking.