02/04/2024
19years ago when we built our México home we were preparing for the future as life in the continental USA was not where I wanted to spend my later years. This has changed… the two places closest to my heart remain Kauai and Mexico.
When building Casa Piedra Del Mar, we looked at each detail closely to ensure we did it right.
My first renter was a writer from Canada who wanted a sanctuary to not only start a book but also end it. He has since been back 9 times in 19 years- recently arriving last night for a month.
Here is a snippet of his first day back sitting down to write….. this sums it up. I love mi México lindo…..
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I slept untroubled with the large painting of Frida Khalo overhead and I woke with the braying of a donkey. The view remains breathtaking. Upon arrival in the dark last night, it took only minutes to feel at home. It was an easy, non-stop drive with the aptly named Lazaro. We stopped at Lidia’s so I could buy booze and milk and not lug it up the hill, plus eggs for an omelette, some irresistible avocados. I like it that her husband, daughter and son also recognize me and seem genuinely pleased to see me. They happily help me assemble a small flashlight.
At the house I got Lazaro’s Whatsapp number for future reference. He lives in P.V. The airport is so packed on arrival that he waited 90 minutes. If we had his number one could simply call him at home when approaching the terminal exit. This time, for the first time, I allowed myself to enjoy the three-hour drive, recognizing every turn, every building. Paul Theroux disappears for months at a time, in remote places that are dangerous. I rent a safe, luxury property with a splendid view.
A silly song was born this morning while dressing.
Good morning, Freda, are you feelin’ okay?
Good morning, Freda, I’ve got nothin’ to say
Good morning, Freda, are you going my way?
It’s a beautiful day
The dogs in the street will barking as we walk by
You’re the prettiest girl in the town and that’s no lie
Today is the day we might give a siesta a try
Just you and I
Good morning, Freda, are you feelin’ okay?
Good morning, Freda, I’ve got nothin’ to say
Good morning, Freda, are you going my way?
It’s a beautiful day
2nd verse to come…
There is nobody in this town who wants to be an influencer. People do own cel phones but they tend to use them in private, never when they are walking in the street. At my little coffee shop, where nobody cares who I am, I watch two Mexican women cross the street, obviously friends. There is hardly any traffic but instinctively one grabs the other’s hand for the routine crossing, the same way a mother or father might immediately take a child’s hand in a crosswalk. They continued their chat uninterrupted.
There is now a little bank machine kiosk across the street at the entrance to the little police station but it’s a ripoff. I plan to live modestly and won’t need to use it. Perhaps the appeal of this town is that it is impossible not to live modestly.
I will make a token visit to the new, hip coffee shop that has the best coffee and then get started on the writing mission. Now that I have surpassed a million words on the Vrba website, I feel like I’m on easy street. It’s downhill from here, just a matter of keeping pace to get to a foreseeable finish line. This is my Namibia, my Cambodia, my exotic Theroux-like equivalent adventure into hazardous terrain, an inner Auschwitz. Unprecedented discoveries have been made. Nobody understands this. And I don’t expect them to.
I am a writer now. That simply means I now put more words onto the page in a day than I speak aloud. It is not at all a virtue. Some might even call it a predicament. But it is how I can explain myself to myself.
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Thank you for this sanctuary, John. It is cool here, cooler than in the winter, and I just read on the internet that it NEVER rains here in April. It strikes me as an ideal time to be here.
Thank you John. It feels like I am home.
- A
