Puerto, 2008

December 2, 2008

Work continues on the house apace; this morning I went over to see Lencho at 8:00 AM and the crew was already at work, laying the block for what will be the water tank, mixing mortar in a depression on the ground above the house -- on the land of the neighbor I've never met. People tend to be tolerant but I'd prefer they mixed on the street, but the street isn't level. There are also piles of 3/8" and 1/2" rebar around, and a pile of blocks, grey solid rectangles. I gave Lencho another 11,000 pesos and might not need to provide more till Saturday, though I had better keep withdrawing 5,000 a day for a while.

With only that little to report about the house, maybe the time has come to discuss Puerto Escondido this year. It is the year of the road project. Apparently the Governor of Oaxaca came by in July to kick off three projects: 1) the expansion of the coast highway to four lanes from the bridge near downtown to the east end (including past zicatela beach, our lodging here at Derek's, and past my property), 2) Calle Del Morro along the town end of Zicatela including the biggest surf area, and 3) repaveing of the Adoquin pedestrian walkway. These happen to be the three main roadways for tourists (and in the case of the highway, for trucks, busses, and everyone else). At this point none of the projects is finished, though they seem close enough on Del Morro that it might open any day, and should before the main holiday rush, and we have heard the Adoquin is near completion also.

The highway is another story. It is a huge mess/obstacle course. For much of the route to town they have removed a couple feet of material right up to the side of the old roadway, which is still in use, so if you happen to drift a bit to the right you will drive off a cliff. In places one lane or the other is diverted to the lower surface over badly made and mostly unmarked dirt ramps, one of them abrupt and steep enough that we have see two tractor-trailer trucks stuck trying to climb up to the roadway in the last week, blocking westbound traffic. As the edges of the roadway collapse in places the road gets narrower, leading to minor games of chicken at the pinch points. There's sand and dust everywhere, and no reduction on overall traffic as there is no other route for long-distance traffic on the coast. At night there is scant lighting (some flaming cans of oil mark one of the diversions down) and no other markings. One wonders how much safer it could be with, say, $100 worth of little red reflectors carefully placed. Last night I was taking Dan back to Zicatela after dinner at our house and there was a vender wheeling a unlit food cart up on the edge of the highway; if a east-and west-bound bus and truck happened to meet near him he was going to lose at least his lunch.

Other than the roads, there is a bit of new building going on, though not so much as some years. the new Super-Che (Chedraui, a chain grocery/clothes/housewares/everything store) is open near downtown which is a big improvement but still not exactly a northern super-center. It has been cloudier than we remember from years past, or is it just selective memory? Not much else has changed too much. The stronger US dollar is helping me out with the Peso prices mostly unchanged. Gas is cheaper than in Canada but more than the $1.80 a gallon we were seeing in the US, which is simply too cheap. There are the usual roosters, dogs, construction sounds, fireworks, and car-roof distorted-loudspeakers touring the roads blaring about tortillas or fruit. We have seen some hummingbirds and a whale, leaping rays and fish, plus mosquitoes, dragonflies, and a scorpion or two. Derek's getting bananas from his trees, though no papaya lately, and the many flowers are seemingly always in bloom.

The gringo permanent and snowbird population seems typical, and it has proven difficult to get lodging during new year's week, though some hoteliers are worried that some clients will fail to show up with the state of the economy. The economy here seems less affected. Maybe there is something to be said for not having mortgages in the first place, let alone sub-prime ones. It goes without saying that the typical Mexican family has lost nothing in the stock market this year.

That's not so true for us; looking at my retirement funds makes building a house here seem cheap; also makes it look like we will need to raise enough fruit and vegetables on my fifth-of-an-acre here to feed ourselves in retirement. But it's hard to get too worried, sitting here in the shade by the pool. And the federal police below have finally run out of last nights' confiscated fireworks to blow up so the dogs have settled down for a nap.