La Casa
Our rental at las Cuevitas 26 is actually a long-term Airbnb rental Jackie arranged a couple of months ago. Our hosts are Adolpho and Irene, who live in Mexico City, but occasionally stay in their own casa next door to us.
The house caretakers are Marisol and Jose who live on the property and who very friendly and welcoming Jose speaks no English and Marisol only a “teeny” bit (to illustrate this, she shows me her thumb and index finger just barely touching as an indication of how much English knows—very cute).
The hosts gave us Marisol’s cell phone number, and told us to call her upon our arrival, but my cell phone wasn’t able to connect because I didn’t have the correct phone number prefixes.
The outer gate was open so we were able to pull in off the street. There was a doorbell, but it didn’t seem to be working, so I knuckle-rapped the huge, steel inner gate. Before long, Jose opened the door and welcomed us. As the steel inner gate slowly opened, I found myself staring in awe at a steep driveway that sloped upwards towards the house at what must be at least a 15 percent angle:
Looking upward toward the apex of the driveway. Trees loom ominously.
A better view of the driveway looking down toward the brown, steel inner gate. Note tree growing out of the cobble stones. Mexicans have a real reluctance to cut trees down, even if they pose a slight hazard as this one does for the unalert driver. You see this everywhere in Mexico.
The RAV made short work of the hill and we pulled into a level parking area at the top of the driveway:
I was able to K turn the RAV around so it faces downward. At this point we have not driven the RAV out of the compound because we haven’t really needed to. Obviously, because it’s a brand new rig, we’re reluctant to at this point.
Living in the Altitude
The altitude of San Miguel is over 6,000 ft. above sea level. Because this is our forth time living in SMA, we are more than aware of the possible physical reactions to high altitude. Both Jackie and I, for some reason (maybe our age?) seem to be experiencing the effects of the altitude more this time than any time previously.
Last spring living in Colonia San Antonio at Weber’s Tennis Courts and RV Park, we were walking everyday, in some cases up and down the hills to the jardin without any noticeable physical effects. This time, living on Cuevitas, it’s more of a challenge to tackle the hills, especially the driveway up to the house.
Taxi verde
This means instead of pretty much walking everywhere, we’ve had to rely more on taxis for transportation, though we are getting better at the walking. Jackie has no fear about taking a taxis on her own to the local super mercado La Comer to do major shopping. She’s mastered the Spanish necessary to communicar con el taxista, including directions and negotiating pesos. Truth be told, we prefer the taxis. The green painted cars are everywhere, and all we need to catch one is to go out on the street and wave an arm to hail them. The taxistas are always muy amable y servicial. And they will drive up the steep driveway and help unload our bags of groceries. All for five bucks, including tip.
On the Horizon
Globos de Aire Caliente
Call and Response 