Arriba! Vista del Mar – and how I ended up cooking tacos for 8 hungry Mexicans

(1) We invited the goats in to mow the lawn for us, but they were more interested in the plumeria and the bamboo! From left, May, Noel, June and Virginia. The handsome old billy goat behind Virginia is Jerry, of course.

(2) The first columns go up for our arriba!

(3) The vista from the roof of our new addition.

(4) A beautful Bucerias sunset viewed from the roof.

We have finally begun working on our upstairs addition, and it should be completed within the next month or so. We’ll have a big bedroom (12’ X 19’), a bathroom with a BATHTUB (hooray!) and a small extra room we’ll use as a little kitchenette (so that we don’t have to go downstairs to make our morning coffee). There will also be a large patio in the front and a stairway to the NEXT level that will hold a private little terraza. From there, we can see actually see the bay, all the way from Yelapa at the south to Punta de Mita at the north. We are very excited!

Yesterday (Sunday) started out cool and quiet after a very dramatic thunderstorm the night before. Lightning crossed the sky from one horizon to the next most of the night, and we lost electricity about nine o’clock in the evening. Gets a little stuffy with no ceiling fans, but the rain cooled things off a bit and we slept fine. Got up the next morning (still no electricity) and cooked a package of our hard-to-find breakfast sausages from the freezer because they were thawing...our friends Cheto and Beto came by and promised to return in the afternoon with our friend German to mix up some cement and get the ceiling poured for the bedroom addition on the main floor. German arrived about five with his three sons and three more friends to help...only took about two hours to haul all that sand, gravel and cement (four BIG bags) to the roof, mix it on the spot and pour it. By that time (still no electricity), more meat from the freezer had thawed and we had LOTS of carne asada tacos for everyone. Almost had to cook by candlelight (thank goodness for the gas stove), but the electricity finally came back on about 7:30 pm. Another beautiful day in Paradise, made perfect by good friends and good food.

I've posted some new pictures on Flickr if you want to see more - three new paintings from a new series I am calling The Faces of Mexico. You can find them at http://www.flickr.com/photos/casabucerias/.