Casita Chuparosa

I can not believe I last posted over a week ago, and promised some photos … and yet still have not delivered. My bad.

Also, last post noted that we paid 1/2 down — well we thought we had, anyhow. We deposited 25% in cash in the architect’s bank account, using a local bank. And we sent him a check for another 25% drawn on a Canadian personal checking account. We got an email from him — he couldn’t cash the Canadian check. Say what? Is Mexico a communist country, that doesn’t do business with Canada? No, Canada and Mexico are both part of NAFTA — how in the hell can you have free trade if they don’t honor checks from one another’s banks? It is absurd — like so much else in Mexico when trying to conduct any kind of business.

Anyhow, here are a few of the photos I promised. First, a close-up of the late bat resident. My wife called it a ‘vampiro’ or Vampire, but then she calls all bats that. Still, there are vampire bats in Mexico, and this guy was living alone — not typical behavior for the social bat species. On two of our earlier visits, we found a single bat (I’m presuming this same one) living in the cottage. This time, we didn’t see him — but we noticed a rotten-flesh type smell coming from near the couch. I moved the couch, and found this corpse.

There is some gray stuff at the nose — I think that is just dust … perhaps held together with cobweb. I have no idea if this is one of the many fruit bats that inhabit the area, or one of the insect-eating bats that are readily apparent every night in the sky after sunset — or maybe (unlikely) it is really a vampiro. In any case, we welcome bats on the property, but once the alterations are done, they will no longer be able to come inside the building.

When I moved the couch I found the dried-out remains of a lizard, similar to another specimen we noticed in the kitchen area. I’m not sure what these guys are called, but am told they eat scorpions and cockroaches. I have yet to see a cockroach  at Casita Chuparosa, and have only seen one dead and dessicated little scorpion — behind a picture frame. Again, after the alterations we have planned, neither of these pests are likely to find their way inside the cottage.

This lizard is clearly over 15 inches long with it’s tail — I’ve never seen one more than about five inches long — the live ones are rather shy. We hope we can get the native iguanas to take up residence on the property once our garden is sufficiently lush to attract them.

And finally (for today, at least), here is the kind of attraction that makes Cerro de Ortega and our little cottage Chupa Rosa so attractive: a hammock hung between two shady trees, for the rest and relaxation that makes a Mexican holiday so refreshing. My wife and I spent much of our time in this hammock during our last visit — and expect to spend many more hours there in days to come!

Here are a series of views of the Casita Chuparosa lot from the Google-Earth satellite views. First, we show the general region:

I’ve added a label for Lake Chapala, in the state of Jalisco. The white lines are state borders. The city of Colima is in the state of the same name, while the right side of the image shows the west edge of the state of Michoacan. The little red dot due south of Colima city, near the ocean and near the border with Michoacan, is where the little village of Cerro de Ortega is located.

Here is a view of the town:

In this view we see the entire town, though it does not go out so far as the ocean, which is about three miles away. There are some very nice beaches within five or six miles, with palapa covered restaurants. The border between Colima and Michoacan is a river, a popular area for the local crocodile population.

In our town-view, the Casita Chuparosa lot is marked by the little white rectangle with red corners. The center of town is that white spot about three blocks to the right (east), where forked roads converge. As you can see, the main streets are mostly diagonal to the map coordinates, since north is straight up on these views. Only the main highway runs north-south. Local buses run south into Michoacan and north-west to the city of Tecoman, about 15 miles away.

Finally, here is a close-up view of the lot itself:

The big green spot in the middle is that large fig tree. Trees in the bottom corner are Guamuchil trees. The big coconut-palm is just to the right of the fig tree, but the top lot-line partially obscures it. The existing structure is at the left corner. More about that in the next post…

It is late New Year’s day and Isabel and I are just back from visiting with her mother and family in Guadalajara for the holiday. … But maybe I should back up and tell you about The Plan, and then get on with the introduction.

We went to Tecoman, Colima for Christmas, and spent most of our time there on the beach. But we also visited Cerro de Ortega, a little village near the border with Michoacan, where my wife’s mother has a small house. Isabel’s father lived there when he was working on his coconut palm plantation nearby, but it has been vacant for most of the past 20 years.

What a mess! Still, the location has potential, even if the house is a ruin. There are lots of interesting places within a short driving distance, and many are even accessible by bus. Of particular interest are the beaches, just a few miles away. Going inland there are mountains — one with a lake that has a whirl-pool into a subterranean tunnel that leads to a lower lake. The city of Tecoman is just a fifteen minute drive away, and beyond that Manzanillo and on up to Puerto Vallarta.

As we looked over the lot the house sits on, with its palm and citrus trees, banana plants and papaya, with hummingbirds twittering from flower to flower — a thought crept to mind and formed itself into The Plan. We knew Isabel’s mom was interested in selling the place, and knew just as well that we couldn’t afford it (this close to the ocean, property sells for about $50 U.S. per square meter). But wouldn’t it make a great winter-home, and maybe even a vacation rental-property the rest of the year? And the big back yard could be a wonderful tropical garden with just a bit of TLC.

So The Plan is: refurbish the house into a comfortable cottage, and turn the back yard into one large garden. It all depended on convincing Isabel’s mom to allow us very-favorable payment terms–like 5% down and ten years of monthly payments. Mexican’s do not like to commit to such long-term loans. The good news is, since it was family, she agreed!

So this blog will trace our progress (or lack there-of) as we try to convert this shabby shack into beautiful Casita Chuparosa (Hummingbird Cottage). After a few initial posts to elaborate a bit on The Plan further posts will be sporadic, as things develop — which in Mexico, means slowly…

I’m Andy, a gringo from Michigan (which sounds very much like the Mexican state of Michoacan) and my wife is Isabel, a ‘Tapatia’ (Guadalajaran, so-called as the home of what we call the Mexican Hat Dance and that style of dancing). We hope you will join this blog and post your comments and suggestions, as we endeavor to show all our readers what it is like to try to renovate a house in Mexico.