Hi everyone! Time for an update of our life in paradise. On Sunday we drove to Miramar, an upscale seaside town about 20 minutes from San Carlos. There are two roads to Miramar, so of course we chose the scenic coastal road. The scenery along the way is spectacular, with towering hills on one side and the blue water on the other. Several islands loom out of the water as the road winds along.
Miramar is a nice town, really a suburb of Guaymas. Most of the residents here are Mexicans, with a few gringos here and there. There is a large beach here, often crowded on weekends by local folks. There are some really spectacular homes here, all built with glass walls and high terraces to take advantage of the views.
We drove around town, all the way to the pearl farm (which was closed). Then we saw signs for some model homes, and decided to take a look. These are casas intended mostly for Mexicans. Built in a gated complex up the side of a hill with views of the water, these are 1800 sq. ft. 2 story houses. Very nice layouts, with high ceilings, large master suites, etc. The salesman was happy to translate the sales brochures for us. These homes sell for about $100,000. After looking the model over, the salesman told us they have another development a few minutes away behind the police headquarters in Guaymas, so we tootled over there, and found these smaller casitas. These are about 800 sq. ft., single story homes, with the same high ceilings and nice tile floors. Also marketed to Mexican people, these are much less expensive at about $35,000, but no view of the water. The salesman here had limited English, but we were able to speak using our rudimentary Spanish and his English. He pointed out that an American couple had purchased one of the homes already. An interesting experience.
Since we were in "open house" mode, on our return to San Carlos we followed some open house signs to Loma del Mar, a long-term RV community. This is a weird setup. You buy a "membership" which entitles you to use the land and facilities. People build these large, strange homes around old RV's. Some homes have no RV at all, and rules mean you must bring an RV when in residence. The membership (leases) run to either 2014 or 2023. There are no empty lots here. We are shocked to see that there are 40 of these places for sale, and the residents have a concerted sales effort going on the move them. Some of these weird places are nicely done, but they want ridiculous prices for them. We saw a couple that were priced from $159,000 to $199,000, and for that you don't own the land! Why would anyone pay that kind of money for a place where the lease ends in 4 years? We asked why so many are for sale, and received a convoluted story that smelled bad. The residents association was hosting this giant open house day, and the ladies of the association were gushing about how wonderful it is to live at Loma del Mar. They asked what brought us to look at their community, and we made the mistake of telling them we had just come from some model homes in Miramar. We were given a strange look, and one woman said "well, if you want to live with Mexicans..." then she must have seen our reaction because she compounded her error by telling us "of course the Mexicans are nice people, and we know some very nice ones, but do you want to live beside them..." . We never like bigots, and really can't understand people coming to live in Mexico but wanting to stay away from Mexicans! Who wants to live in a ghetto? We drove around a bit looking at these places, and couldn't come to grips with the whole concept.
We must say a few words here about the people of Mexico. Everyone we meet is friendly and helpful. In Canada, if you drive around neighbourhoods looking at houses, the residents will often give you a stare. In Mexico they wave and yell "hola" or "buenos dias". Walking down the street strangers smile and and greet you. In the supermarket we were trying to decipher milk jug labels to find the 2%, and a woman customer overheard and pointed out what we were looking for. The service you receive from everyone whether waiters in the bar to the water delivery guy, to the maintenance guys is amazing. They are happy to look after us, always with a smile. All in all, the Mexicans as a people seem to be nice folks. I'm sure there are bad people here too, just like everywhere, but the average guy or gal on the street is just nice! North Americans could take some lessons on manners from these lovely people.
Monday we went to the beach and worked on our tans some more, then went for happy hour at the place next door to the RV park. Had a lot of fun, some great food, and plenty of beer and margaritas. Then we went for a walk to work some of it off.
Yesterday we went for our Spanish lesson, but the teacher didn't show up, so we did laundry and took it easy. We went for our walk and picked up some nice fresh peppers. Marlene made a great curried chicken for dinner, and we vegged out watching TV.
Today we will go shopping for some fresh fish for dinner, and some beer, then its off to the beach. Stay tuned...
No comments:
Post a Comment