There be Giants afoot!

While strolling the Malecon earlier this week, I came face to toes with a group of giants.  Which for this time of year in Mazatlan, is a normal occurrence. These towering creatures are "monigotes" (loosely translated paper dolls) made from paper mache,  they are here to celebrate Carnaval with the rest of us little people.  Eleven are now positioned around the city to welcome the more than 400,000 expected visitors and to supervise the entire week long party. 

The theme for this year's Carnaval is Los Suenos De Momo or the Dream of Momo.  I am told that Momo was a mythical greek god. These monigotes are all characters from his dreams and imagination. The earthly designer, artist and creator of these super-sized darlings is Mazatlecan Jorge Gonzáles Neri.  They are very different from last years monigotes, which were all musically themed.  I think these are just magnificent.  They are so colorful and creative, you can't help but to be memorized by them.

This one is called the "Luz en el Océano" or the Light of the Ocean".  He was the first to go up.  He did have a tragic start though. When the were erecting him, his arm fell off!  Good thing he is a mythical creature, because he quickly grew another one.

This lovely lady, "Luz de Luna" is providing some moon beams for me even in the middle of the day.  But she really is at her best in the evening, when like all of her other friends, she is all lit up against the city skyline.

All of Mazatlan is busy sprucing up for the big week of Carnaval. Colorful lights are being hung over the streets, new palm trees are being planted, bandstands and banos are well under construction.  This year the festivities begin on February 12th and conclude on  Fat Tuesday, February 17th. 

Mazatlan hosts the third largest Carnaval in the world, right after Rio De Janeiro and New Orleans.  Mazatlan's first official Carnaval was held in 1898, and for 117 years has been the biggest party in all of central Mexico.  So it is only fitting that an enormous event like this, would be the home of legends and giants!

Now this is living!

Yesterday, we broke free of our one-room dwelling, the bedroom. We have begun to inhabited the second room in our hacienda "la sala de estar" or the living room.  The room is a glorious 16' x 13' room with 18' tall ceilings. It has been fully wired for sights and sounds, highspeed internet and a new mini-split (AC).  It has been freshly painted, the ancient floors buffed and scrubbed and the street side window shutters have been refinished. The beginnings of our furniture and artwork are finding their places.  My temporary desk is in one little corner and Greg's is in the other, hidden in the built-in cupboard.

At last, we have a comfy, cozy place to crash after a long day of work and reno-ing.  I didn't realize how claustrophobic I was becoming in our bedroom, which has served as the place to sleep, living room, office and storage closet all rolled into one.  Because of all the stuff we had jammed in the room, we could only open the widow for ventilation and not the two doors.  Now, everything opens up to the lovely courtyard, as was intended!

Within the next week, more of our custom furniture will arrive, and with it our TV credenza. We'll be able to put the finishing touch on this room soon after.  Refinishing all of the wood work in the living room will be a slower project. So, we will do that (as they say) in a poco y poco fashion.

For now we are all happy (Lucky included) to sit back, put our feet up and just enjoy the beginning of our grand casa!

The Spanish word of the day is Polvo!

Living and working in our Mexican construction zone is a challenging business.  We arrived last week to find our home renovation at a near stand-still, which was challenge, numero-uno. Our architect/contractor proved to be a lousy money manger.  He must have went to the Enron school of business and accounting, because his method was the "what's yours is mine, and what's mine is mine". Our workers and subcontractors had not been paid the monies that we had been sending down. Evidently, our architect/contractor paid himself and barely anyone else.  We're not talking big money, but enough to put a sizable chink in the work flow and our budget.

Because the work had halted, so had our ability to make hot water! To add to that, our new guest bathroom had only a working commode and little else (no shower, sink, finished walls, etc.). That wouldn't have been too big of a problem, if they had not completely demoed our only other bathroom as well.  The plan was to finish one before tearing into the other. So, we improvised.  Cold showers in the courtyard with the garden hose, Brrr.  Our kitchen sink now doubles as our bathroom sink for the rest of our hygiene tasks.

Now that we have reestablished the payroll, the workers are moving at a fast clip. Everyday by 8:00am, we are overrun with a five-man work crew, several electricians, painters, and all sorts of delivery guys. It's a beehive of activity.  But, these busy bees have generated something else...Polvo.  Polvo is the Spanish word for dust. I learned that this week, and it is everywhere and on everything!

The inside of our pantry resembles the inside of Tut's tomb. Climbing into bed at night, is like taking a snooze on the beach.  Coffee, yes please, with scoop sugar and polvo in mine! And, I am sure that the polvo generated from chiseling into our near two hundred year old walls, delivers a special brand of polvo, perhaps laced with mysterious microbes of some long forgotten plague. Ha! But this is what we signed up for, and it is fun, none the less, to see the progress on a daily basis now.

So, at the end of each day we sweep-up, wipe down, and have a gritty glass chilled of wine and enjoy our little slice of dusty heaven.