Our Bungalow...

 I better start out by mentioning that we are in Mexico...  it's a 3rd world country...  and many customs and ways of doing things are different than we do in the USA.

I'll go on to say that Bill and I have been fortunate to not only live, but be very welcomed in several different countries and that we're pretty adaptable to "when in Rome".  That said....  we really didn't know what to expect when we arrived at our bungalow at Lo de Marcos, here in Mexico.  Bill found the place by replying to a blurb that was on a forum he reads.  An e-mail or 2 went back and forth... which I think included some photos of our prospective home. 

Keep in mind that we have never flown first class...  we refer to ourselves as "no class" fliers.  We've always lived kinda close to the land and don't even want to live (what we call) the "high price spread".  And so we never pick resorts or the real popular touristy places.  We'd rather live with the locals...  buy from the locals and if we're lucky, blend in with the local folks.

Now... on to the bungalow...  this is the entry to our place....

I posted this photo a couple of blogs ago...  but this is the driveway into our place.  Now...  In the USA, I think a bungalow would refer to a small house, like a cottage or maybe the maid's home (if one had such a person),,,  unpretentious...  maybe in back of the owner's home.  Here, bungalow seems to refer to a vacation home of any type.  Personally, I'd call these places condominiums or even apartment houses.  Most are 2 story high...  2 or 3 room apartments on each level (ours has a total of 14 units).  We were supposed to be on the 2nd level...  but for some reason we were put on the first level.  No...  not what we wanted.  Lots of reasons, but two of the biggest are that it's much lighter on the 2nd level and also the balcony is much more private on the 2nd level.  We spent the first night on level one until a place on the 2nd level was available and cleaned.  So...  now we're on the 2nd level...  much nicer.

We've talked several times to the local representative of the rental agency (Galvan Rentals) and he's told us that in the past, these bungalows have been rented to Mexicans.  But with the increasing number of "snowbirds" (those American and Canadians who winter in the south), they want to get their foot in the door of this market.  It seems Bill & I are their first "foreign" renters.  Really, what this means, is that the apartment would be perfectly fine for Mexicans who might stay a weekend or maybe as long as a week, but they don't know what we from the US or Canada require.

And what's the difference?  Well, I expected a fully usable kitchen...

There were some dishes, some cutlery and 1 skillet.  No pots or pans...  no oven (okay, that's fairly common) but no microwave or even an electric toaster oven.  We had to ask for towels for the bathroom and there are no dishtowels, pot holders or the such.  The utensils are of such poor quality, the large spoon I used to stir the pico de gallo I made today bent double under that little weight.  

But look...  they brought in a microwave  (I still don't have dish towels), but just in the past 24 hours things have gotten much better in several ways.  This company is really trying to accommodate our needs.

The bathroom isn't bad at all...

Bill got his shower first this morning...  said it took a while for the water to get hot...  and by the time I got my shower, I had trouble getting it to cool down enough.  No biggie...  it's hot water....  and even better... we have water (remember our problems in Costa Rica?).  Really...  it's just fine.

Here's our bedroom...

There are 2 double beds...  and if you've ever traveled in Mexico this might bring back some memories...  the beds aren't movable...  nope...  those are concrete slabs with a mattress on top.  The headboards look normal don't they?  Well...  they're just part of the wall... concrete/drywall?  heck, I don't know...  but there's nothing movable about these babies.  We really only need one bed, so, as you can see, we've been using the other one as a table.  Furniture is really at a minimum here...  we had to ask for a couple of chairs just to sit around in.  The kitchen table is okay... it had 4 of those white plastic outdoor chairs we all use on our patios.  That's okay...  we have our balcony and they are lightweight enough that we can carry a couple in and out.  That's a closet/dresser that Bill's standing in front of.  We don't hang many of our clothes up...  mostly have tees and the such...  so while it's not the best place, it's certainly adequate for our needs.

That's our balcony up on the 2nd floor.  It's actually quite nice and even has an electric outlet where we can plug in our laptops and use them outside.  See that tree sort of right of center?  And the AC for the apartment next door almost at the top center of this photo?  Well... Bill has been sitting on the deck underneath that but today it started dripping on him...  so we've kinda moved over to the left side of the deck.  Again...  no biggie....  you just adapt to what you have.

The pool (although too small for most folks) is lovely as are the flowers, trees and other plants...

I love the variety of colors of all the different plants...  even the tubs of water lilies are lovely.

The entry way as you walk up the stairs to the 2nd level has a beautiful grotto/fountain type structure...

No koi, but ceramic frogs and the such...

Well, I don't know what y'all think of our home for the next 3 months...  but I think we'll be very happy here.    We're paying $1,740 total (USA dollars)...  we checked at another place nearby for some friends who are thinking of vacationing here...  their rates were $30 a day... or about $2,700 for the same amount of time.  We have a couple other places we want to check into, but all in all, I think we'll do okay.

Of course everyone's life style...  their expectations...  and their demands are different.  That's part of loving our life and loving each of our great adventures.

That's All For Today!