The Wife's Perspective

We signed the paperwork for home ownership today in Compestella...woo hoo! Our friend Mayte drove us and was so kind to help us purchase a prepaid phone and some more housewares. She took us into the "gated area" Chacalia yesterday for a day at the pristine, empty beach and giant pool. I was especially intrigued by the lap pool and open palapa areas that would be perfect for my latin dance fitness class (still in the planning phases). Mark if off to PV so I am taking the chance to give my point of view (he's a little possessive of this blog). This picture is of a scorpion (alacran) Mark found. He squished it so it is a little concave. They've been seen around quite a bit, especially under piles of things like towels or wood. Paul sprays (where we're staying right now) so we're okay. Needless to say, Mark bought a bunch of Raid at Costco and sprayed the casa like a madman. (I know, totally gringo) and we had the inside and outside fumigated today. Elie Jo has a serious ant aversion, and we need her on board with this whole deal! I think I will buy the anti-venom shot for about 700 pesos? ($70ish) to have around just in case of an adverse scorpion reaction. (Mom, I know you love reading this).

At this point, Mark is doing a lot of arranging, planning, and working on the house. I am taking care of the kids which is a challenge in it's own right. For the most part, it is incredible. Owen has reunited with his best buddies and has had kids to over to our place and we have had gatherings at the beach. The girls are finding their own buddies, currently a little brother of one of Owen's friends who is five, but will be in Gracie's class at the kinder. Mayte's kids are 6 and 3 who speak some English, which is helpful!

I would like to see the kids use their Spanish more, right now they try to rely on me as their translator. I am trying to stay out of it so they can figure it out for themselves. The main drawback right now is that the kids are so sick of each other (and their parents). They had a week out of school for snow, a week of winter break, and now 6 weeks in Chacala in close quarters. I think starting school will be GREAT! (Wednesday). We need to get uniforms and I think Grace needs one made. I will definitely take pictures and post asap. (See... Mark wouldn't write about any of this). :)

Hopefully Mark comes home with a cute vessel sink (he and Mayte went today so it will be there for installation tomorrow). Tomorrow is three kings day. I hope I don't eat a piece of rosca with the baby Jesus in it, I have never made tamales and don't know if they sell a microwave version at Wal Mart. (Don't laugh, I make a mean pot of spaghetti!) For now, adios!

Opening Night

Friday night marked the first ever Outdoor Cinema of Chacala. It was quite a journey just to get here. After hearing and seeing the beginnings of the Cultural Center of Chacala, Allison, Owen and I saw the perfect opprotunity to share a passion of ours. The crazy thing is we have never owned a projector or showed an outdoor movie so we relied heavily on websites and any info people with experience would share with us. We learned that we needed a white screen so instead we convinced Luis to stucco and paint the east facing wall (thanks Luis and Chris it turned out perfect). We needed a projector which at the last minute we found on Craigslist and last but not least a sound system which Dutch and Tandy found in a box in their storage area. With only an hour to spare Dutch and I began setting up the theater in hopes that it would work and the trial went perfectly. We had decided to switch the movie to Jurasic Park, so Luis and Chris hopped in a borrowed truck (long story) and sound system from Coco Bongos and announced through town that the movie would start at 7pm and would be in spanish. By the time they returned to the theater we had discovered that Jurasic Park was not in spanish and we frantically sent them back on the town with PA system changing it to Star Wars.
It is now 6:50 and time to get started. I powered it all up and nada. The projector is on, the movie is showing on the laptop but not on the wall and it is pitch black. Allison and the kids arrived promtly at 7 along with 20-30 other movie goers anxiosly awaiting the show. I was at my wits end when Allison stepped in said a prayer and pushed a few buttons. I guess that 20k masters degree in educational technology finally paid off and at 7:10 in a galaxy far far away the movie rolled.
We learned a few things that night, one is show a shorter film, bring a head lamp, and ask the local kids what they want to see first. Until next Friday. We will see you at the movies.

Happy Birthday Grandpa Jim
The Millers

First Night

Feliz Ano. Yesterday, we received the keys to our casa. I spent all day cleaning the yard, picking up paint supplies, and dreaming of the possibilities. It is hard not to just jump in and start changing everything and remodeling the whole house. I don't know if that is the builder in me or the natural reaction. One thing I know for sure is after seeing the house we will definitely need to figure out plumbing, wiring and masonry (all things I try to avoid). It is an all day challenge just to find an electrical cord with a 3 way adaptor.
Last night we cleaned up the side yard making extra special care to not disturb any scorpions or other venomous creatures. There was a ton of old wood and some yard debris that made for a perfect bonfire. We then set up the projector and the Wii for a trial run on a stucco wall. The kids had a blast playing Lego Star Wars and Disney Princess (even momma got in on the action).
Tomorrow night marks the world premier of Chacala Outdoor Cinema. We will be showing the ever popular classic Star Wars. This has been a dream for the last year and it is so exciting to see it come to fruition. Luis, Owen and I will be driving around town with a loud speaker announcing the showtime, feature and location. I guess this is considered Mexican DSL. Stay tuned for more details.

Have a Happy New Year
The Millers

La Casa

It has been a while since Allison and I have been down to Chacala and honestly we were forgetting what the house looked like and how big or in this case small it is. Thanks to the wonderful world of email Mayte was able to send us some pictures for our planning. Lets just say that buyers remorse just went away. In today's world and economy one has to question whether investing in a foreign housing market is a good idea or not. For us it is not about the investment as much as having something in this town that connects us more permanently. A place where our children's friends know every January(or whatever time works) we will be there. This house is our roots to Chacala and so it begins.


As you can see this is not the worlds largest home and it looks like the builder forgot to cut off a ton of rebar. The house was built about 3 years ago by an American builder. He built it with the intention of a major addition(very common in MX) on the next level. The wonderful thing is at the time he used all of the current building standards that we use here(massive footings, tons of steel, etc). This house was built to last and on the 2nd level I believe we may even see some ocean. The building in front is what will now act as our communal bedroom sleeping all 5 of us(so much for romance).
The middle building is the kitchen, living, dining and one bathroom. And the back building is storage and laundry. Someday we will add a garage, a second level and hopefully a pool but this is all just a dream at this point. For now this is perfect. I am sure it will not be without some struggles or cabin fever. Thank God for outdoor living. We are very excited to get here and start having family and friends come join us. I am sure we will not lack visitors.

Feliz Navidad

Feliz Navidad

    Click here to create your own video

Where in the world are the Millers

It has come to our attention that we should probably indicate where Chacala Mexico actually is located. Unfortunately when you try to keep a small town a secret you probably should not be blogging about it, but we love this town and its people so much how does one not share in the experience? Chacala is located about 60 miles north of the Puerto Vallarta airport. It has about 300-400 full time residents. Christmas week and Easter weeks it turns from a remote beach/fishing town into a hustle and bustle town with up to 60 bus loads of Mexican tourist daily. These families arrive for a day of eating and drinking in a palapa restaurant with their toes in the sand while the younger members of the family frolic in the warm waters of the Pacific Ocean. It is not uncommon during these holidays to see a floating banana filled with screaming vacationers flying by pulled by a Panga (Mexican fishing boat), or a group of men wearing nothing but a speedo or in most cases their tighty whiteys(seriously) playing an intense game of beach soccer. Other then these holidays Chacala is very tranquil. A normal day at the beach consist of a few people from north of the border soaking up the hot sun or enjoying one of Las Brisas ice cold blended lemonades. At sunset the full time residents find their way down to enjoy the most breathtaking sunsets and spending time with their neighbors. Hopefully this gives you a small glimpse into this location and from here you will need to find it for yourself. It shouldn't be too hard though just ask for the family with 3 gringo kids at a local school.

Getting Ready to Go

With all of the Holiday business and trying to wrap up work projects, it has become very hard to believe we are leaving for Chacala in 10 days. The kids are excited to see their friends in town and see our house. I have not posted about our experience in trying to buy land and build a house. Needless to say it worked out in the end thanks to a wonderful woman in town who stepped up and made a bad situation good and will be our lifelong friend because of her integrity. To make a long story short we were wanting to build a new house but we ended up buying a small house in town. It has been a bit scary buying in a foreign country but everytime we step foot in Mexico we feel it is where we belong.

The house has nothing other than appliances. We will need to purchase furniture and every other household item while we are there. This trip will be for 6 weeks and then back in the Spring one more time before coming more full time starting in August(provided our work is wrapped up and our house has sold). Hopefully during this trip we can get our FM3 visas, then one of these days drive the landcruiser down to stay, furnish and set up the house for living, talk to a builder about an addition, and set up someone to look after the house.

We are very excited to be starting an outdoor cinema on Friday nights at the newly built cultural center (thanks Luis, Kate and Joy). We will be showing family movies in spanish with english subtitles. The kids will help with setting up, clean up, promotion and movie selection each week. Owen will be in charge of flyer design. We have talked with some of the local vendors about selling tacos and sodas at the movies. Someday it would be great to have a popcorn machine. Movies have always been a passion of mine and it will be great to share those laughs and tears with our new friends. Hopefully this is a well received addition to the town. In Chacala there is no plaza or central place to gather so hopefully the cultural center and movies will be a nice draw for local families.

Once we arrive in Chacala the kids will be taking this blog over and using it to keep their family and friends back home connected to their life in Mexico. We will also be posting about the house and transitions to ownership in Mexico so please check back often.

Adios