Morning Thoughts

Halloween was last night. No trick or treaters came by my apartment. I will give the candy I bought to my neighbors. There are still a lot of activities coming up for the Day of the Dead. I may not go to any of them because my back has been hurting lately. Cohates (Loud fireworks) have been shooting off day and night, sometimes twenty at a time. This started a few days ago and will continue until after the Day of the Dead. Maybe until after Christmas. I am glad my animals aren't bother bothered by them. I wear earplugs but they don't cut down on the noise by much. My advice: If you don't like loud noises, don't move to Mexico!

I managed to swim again on Monday.  It has been too cold to swim for a few weeks. But Monday was beautiful and I was the only one in the pool. Those are rare times. 

I have been spending a lot of time at home.  It is the high season now and just crossing the street is difficult. There is bumper to bumper traffic through town and especially during any holiday. In Mexico, cars have the right of way. I have to wait for a kind hearted soul to stop long enough for me to cross the street. It is easier for me to hang out at home or in my neighborhood. 

I have been trying to find another rental for my friend who lives in San Antonio. She doesn't want to pay much rent and cheap rentals are just about impossible to find now.  When I first came here, I think that was twelve years ago, there were lots of casitas for rent for around three hundred dollars a month. Now they are six or seven hundred. I stop by real estate offices and look at the rentals on their windows. I am shocked at how expensive they are now, well over a thousand dollars a month. Many homes here go for two thousand dollars a month and more. 

In the past few years expats and wealthy Mexicans have been buying up the homes, sometimes fixing them up a bit, and renting them out for high prices. Good business if you can afford the initial investment. Unfortunately, most people can't do that so they are priced out of rentals. I lived in San Francisco many years ago and saw it happen. I lived in Santa Cruz, Calif. many years ago and saw it happen there too. Each time I had to move on because I never had a huge chunk of money for a down payment on a house and rentals went sky high. I see it happening here now. So one of these days I may be priced out of this area and be forced to move to another town.....

But for now I have an inexpensive rental, even though I have to put up with neighbors who allow their pit bull to make huge craps in front of my porch and who play music so loud that my apartment shakes, day and night.  This is Mexico. I have to learn to live with these things or move on. I have learned to tolerate loud noise most of the time. When it gets so that I can't stand it anymore I have to take a walk.  Fortunately, there are a lot of beautiful areas within walking distance of my house. That is, IF I can get across the carretera.  

I hope everyone had a Happy Halloween and Happy Day of the Dead.