Sunday, November 11, 2012

November 3 to 10- First Week back in our Salinas Condo



 Before leaving Puerto Lopez, we had been treated to a great North American breakfast by Gerry and Shandra- scrambled eggs with ham, toast, tomatoes, cheese- yummy!  -and of course made plans to meet them both again in Salinas this time.
After another couple of hours of scenic drive along the coast, we arrived around noon in Salinas .


Our condo had been rented for the last seven months, first to our friends Brent and Boushra and then to a tenant found by our Real Estate person, Kimberley.
Everything was still in place, no major problems only some much need cleaning as both Uwe and I are major clean freaks- we blame it on our European upbringing!
The rest of the week was pretty boring- trips to grocery stores to fill up with supplies, a trip to the mall to get another sim card for Uwe’s new cell phone, and getting help from Eddie to upgrade our Internet because we did not have sufficient bandwidth for our streaming, OOVOO and Magicjack phone.
We also bought some paint and spent a day painting all the railings on one of our balconies. Yes, I know we can hire help here very cheaply but ‘what else did we have to do? We’re retired’. The problem with living beside the ocean is that everything metal rusts, so one balcony done, two to go.
On Sunday we went to Will’s Score Sports Bar for NFL football- had a nice visit with Will & Wendy and met another couple of gringos. This will probably be a habit every Sunday at least during Football season.
One evening during the week we finally met our friend Connie for dinner. She is very busy now working at two jobs to support herself- teaching English plus helping other expats with their Visa applications and the slow road through the bureaucratic process. Her friend Murray, a fellow Canadian also living in Salinas, joined us.


The most depressing thing this time of the year, and hopefully gone soon, is the lack of sunshine! We experienced the same thing last October while in Salinas. Although reasonably warm, 20 to 25C, we had only a few hours of sunshine all week. It is a norm for this time of year so we will suffer in silence till our sun returns.

 



 

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