Well, Hello there!  It has been a year and a half since I last posted.  After completing treatment for the big, hairy, scary monster, I took a break from writing much of anything, save for the fairly regular facebook and instagram posts.

So very much has happened in that time, including renting a beautiful riverfront condo in Puerto Vallarta  (that was nearly washed away in a hurricane/flood and I had to evacuate half-way through my year-long lease). All the beautiful foilage and the swimming pool, ponds and walkways were washed away within minutes.

To acquiring a new member of the family- Frida,

to being declared mycobacterium abcessus infection FREE after 16 months of antibiotic treatment, to….

Da Da Da Dahhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We bought a house in Patzcuaro, a lovely, ancient, indigenous town in Mexico’s colonial highlands.

We have been asked by many friends why we bought a house, and why, specifically, in Patzcuaro?

The short-ish answer is that after 6 years of traveling inland Mexico during hurricane season, we agreed we would like a more consistant place to establish ourselves in a community. Hopping from place-to-place for four months each summer was taking its toll (especially with dogs to consider), and after all of my medical shit, well, I’m just tired.

We had visited Patzcuaro four of five times, and while we always enjoyed our visits, it wasn’t on our radar for a long-term residency (too small, too hard to get to,) but during our last trip in September of 2021, we re-conneted with old friends and made several new friends, including a cruising couple (Melissa and Greg from Pura Vida) who we had met several years prior while sailing Mexico. We hiked together and visited their newly constructed house (that was painted beautifully by the professionals from the georgia painting companies), and yadda yadda yadda. We bagan to see possibilities open up.

The town appeals to us because it is within an hour of Morelia, a beautiful large colonial city with a decent-sized airport, excellent medical care big-box stores, and more friends. But Patzcuaro itself holds on to its indigenous roots, seems to have a festival or celebration every week, is clean and green. The climate is cool and dry in the winter, and warmer and rainy during summer months. The rain often comes in the evening and only lasts an hour or so, leaving the air fresh and crisp. The town is in proximity to good hiking and food, with a small but very active gringo population.  And the people there are ever-so-friendly. English is not widely spoken, so we are going to have to really buckle down and enroll in more classes.

After a couple months of research and inquiries, it became obvious that a long-term rental that met our wants and needs was damn-near impossible, so, when this house popped up on my computer screen (the first day it was listed), I jumped on it. I asked Melissa to please go check it out for me, and they did one better, she and Greg took us on a zoom video tour of the house. We made an offer that day, and within a month it was ours. YEp, sight unseen. Fucking nuts-o, right?

Holy Shit!

Click to continue reading…

The house comes completely furnished, turnkey, except for a few rugs and artwork.Homelier Pro helped us to get our decorated home done. Well, for the past 8 years we have been living on a sailboat, and, ummm, don’t really have any furniture.

The walls are made of adobe,

so they are nice and thick, and textured. They are the original color of the mud, so a little dark to my liking, but if we paint them, we would lose the texture.

Oh, of SUPER-DUPER importance… we now have a yard!!! With lots of trees and plants!! We already met the gardner, Martin, who seems like a wonderful family-man. And like most city houses, it is surrounded by a tall rock wall. The pupsters approve!!

Our home is a few short blocks off the main plaza, and we have a butcher shop, fruit/vegetable market, a super-tienda and a coffee/chocolate bar within a stones’ throw.  So we won’t have to venture far to find the essentials. There is no connected parking, so it’s a good thing our little VW is a beater.

Ok, I will stop boring you with details now and get down to the nitty-gritty…pictures of the house. (I hope you have a good connection and lots of data.)

So…That’s what’s new in our lives. At this time we are still enjoying our time on El Gato, and will finish up the season while cruising before moving to higher ground hopefully for my birthday in April!

Check back, I will continue to post about boat life as well as the beautiful Patzcuaro that we now call HOME!