green – Ex-pats in Mexico

Rainy season has its ups and downs

A few weeks ago I posted about the beginning of rainy season here in the Lake Chapala area. It’s mostly a good thing, but not so much when there are cracks in your roof. Leslie and I returned from three weeks in San Diego to find the roof of this brand new house had leaked and damaged one of our rugs. Then we experienced two nights of torrential rain that forced us to put towels down to soak up the rain and prevent further damage.

The good news is the damaged rug is not one of the prized oriental rugs, and the leak did not extend into the living room. The bricks in the boveda ceiling got wet, and still show dampness nearly two weeks later. But a leak in the living room could’ve been much worse. We think it’s fixed now.

*You can see the wetness in the ceiling caused by a leaky roof. It may take more than month to dry.*

And we have rosemary, thyme and basil planted in neat containers on the terrace, but they seem to be dying. The owner of the local garden store — who gets rave reviews from our friends — said “too much water.” Not much we can do about the amount of lluvia (rain) God sends us, so we may have to replant those herbs.

The rain comes mostly at night, although I got slightly damp last week walking home from my Spanish class at 11 a.m.! And the storms really light up the night sky. Here’s what it looks like from our back door, looking south across Lake Chapala:

On the positive side, nobody waters their lawns at this time of year. Rain comes almost every night — sometimes in torrents, sometimes in soft showers, and often at 3 a.m.!

This is when things get really, really green. When you look north out our front door, you see part of the Sierra de San Juan Cosalá mountain range. When we moved in, there was nothing but brown on the mountains. Now, it’s lush and green, and it will stay that way until the end of the year.

*This was taken June 23. Lots of brown in the mountains.*

*This was taken a month later. Rainy season makes a big difference!*

Rainy season continues until the end of October. There’s a webcam that looks south from Ajijic toward Mount Garcia on the other side of Lake Chapala. Click on the link if you want to see what we see every day from our patio. The webcam is in a different location, of course.

Next post will be long-promised photos of our house in the Riviera Alta neighborhood of Ajijic, Jalisco, México. You’re invited to come see it in person!

Hasta luego!

Living overseas, Mexico, Retirement, Travel

Rainy season is here!

In a previous post I noted that May is the hottest month in the Lake Chapala area. It got up to 90° F. or more several times during May, but low humidity and cooling breezes off the lake or the mountains made it feel comfortable. Now “rainy season” has begun. That means lower temps, higher humidities and lots of much-needed rain.

rain-0441 — *During “rainy season,” rain usually comes late in the afternoon, as in this photo, or during the night. We’ve been awakened a few times by thunder at 3 a.m.!*

One storm sent driving rain out of the north, and it came in under our front door. I mopped up a full bucket of rainwater!

*I mopped as long as the rain rushed in under the door. Just one of several reasons the door is being replaced. Hopefully by the end of July.*

A few days later, our new best friend Eddie came and installed some weather stripping on the front door and two other doors that were problematic. Eddie lived in California for many years and is fully bilingual. We hope he’s going to do lots more in coming months.

We’ve been told that as the season progresses, the storms come more frequently out of the south. We’re not sure that’s true, but it would be great because the two doors on the south side are sliding glass doors and rain won’t come in if they’re closed.

Rainy season runs until September or October. The mountainsides outside our front door are already getting a bit greener. I have a “before” photo. As soon as it gets to peak, I’ll snap an “after” shot and post them.

*Leslie’s winning pimento-cheese sandwiches. They were VERY good!*

On another note, Leslie won another prize at the June meeting of CASA — Culinary Arts Society of Ajijic. The theme was “picnic” entrees and desserts. Leslie’s “open-faced spicy pimento-cheese sandwiches” took the People’s Choice Award. She got lots of comments from CASA members saying those sandwiches took them back in time to family picnics where pimento-cheese sandwiches were a staple. I, too, have fond memories of those sandwiches. But my grandmother never put jalapeño peppers in them!

Finally, still no photos of the inside of the house. Sorry! Hopefully, Eddie will come tomorrow to help us hang art on the walls and the place will be more photogenic. But we still need to locate some necessary items of furniture. First priority, however, is for me to decide on a new grill.

*At least the wine fridge is full! Some Mexican wines are very, very good. Come down for a visit and we’ll let you try some.*

Leslie and I are headed back to the States this week. While daughter Stephanie is taking a well-deserved vacation to Italy, we’re going to be house-sitting and cat-sitting for her. So we’ll be back in San Diego for about three weeks. Looking forward to seeing friends at St. Paul’s United Methodist Church on Coronado Island. I’ll try to post from there, since this is sort of a vacation for us.

Hasta luego!

*On the patio just outside the kitchen, we have rosemary, basil and thyme growing in pots!*

At our front door, which is soon to be replaced by something that will let light and air in, we have some terrific Talavera pots with Gerbera daisies (left) and geraniums. We’re working on making this place look better.

Costa Rica, Living overseas, Retirement

Where you gonna go when the volcano blow?

We just got back from a trip to the Lake Arenal area in north-central Costa Rica, and I had that Jimmy Buffet song running through my head: “Where you gonna go when the volcano blow?” From the deck of the Arenal Lodge, we had a nice lunch and an amazing view of the Arenal volcano, which is listed as “dormant.”

volcano1-1914 — *Clouds drift over the top of Volcan Arenal, a 5,538-foot dormant volcano.*

The last major eruption was in 1968, when 87 people were killed. It was active up until 2010. Now it’s a major tourist attraction, as are Costa Rica’s other volcanoes. At least five are still active.

This side trip was another effort to see more of this country, since our time here is limited. We stayed two nights at the Lucky Bug Bed & Breakfast, which is right at the edge of a rain forest. Upon arrival, we heard howler monkeys in the jungle. Rob, one of our hosts, told us the howler is the loudest animal on earth. Louder than people?

We heard a lot of strange bird calls that were also pretty loud, and frog noises at night. Never caught a glimpse of a monkey or any of the strange-sounding birds. But we did see hummingbirds at Rob and Monika’s feeders, and a white ibis on their small pond.

*Hummingbirds joined us for breakfast at the Lucky Bug.*

The Lucky Bug is just outside the town of Nuevo Arenal. The “Nuevo” part is because the original town of Arenal was flooded in 1973 when a dam was built and a very small lake became a huge lake. That dam now provides 12 percent of Costa Rica’s electricity and the lake is beautiful, with lush, green hills all around it. We saw some people kayaking, but the tourist boat that will take you out for a ride (like we did on Scotland’s Loch Ness back in 2016) was only available in the town of La Fortuna. We didn’t get that far. If you lived here you would definitely want a view of the lake. And there are a number of properties for sale, as well as long- and short-term rentals.

lake-1985 — *A view of Lake Arenal. On the right you can see windmills, part of a large wind farm along a ridge line. Almost all electricity in this country is from renewable sources.*

Nuevo Arenal is quite small. There are other villages in the area, as well as the larger town of La Fortuna at the other end of the lake. La Fortuna got its name after the 1968 eruption, which spewed volcanic material up to five kilometers away and destroyed the small town of Tabacón. But La Fortuna was spared, so the name was changed to reflect its good fortune. One website I checked says that’s a myth. Maybe.

Lots of gringos live in this area, including our B&B hosts (he’s from the U.S., she’s from Germany). Some of the other local B&Bs appear to be gringo-owned and catering to North American tourists. I got directions at one point from a small group of North Americans at a bar called Karacters. Seemed like a fun crowd.

The climate is nice: mid-80s F. in the daytime and mid- to low-60s F. at night. We actually had to close the windows our first night there. Driving is a challenge because of the hills — lots of turns and twists on narrow roads.

Leslie and I thought the region was just a bit too rural. A dearth of health care would probably keep us from relocating there. Our host Monika complained about having to see what she called “cow doctors” unless you went to San Jose, which is almost a four-hour drive. So if we choose Costa Rica as our new home, the Lake Arenal area would probably not be our first choice. Great place to visit, though.

Next post will be a review of what it costs to live in Costa Rica. Spoiler alert: It ain’t cheap. I’ll leave you with some photos.

Pura Vida!

*We haven’t done a selfie in awhile, and that volcano makes a great background!*

*Another view of the volcano. The clouds come and go, and they create shadows on the face of the mountain. We could’ve sat there all afternoon watching the changes.*