I bought a house in Mexico!

It’s a two bedroom, one and a half bath house that feels gigantic! It also has a little casita that needs some work. All on a big chunk of land that is so beautiful!

One of the “challenges” I bought with this house is invasive bamboo. To me it’s not the beautiful thick kind of bamboo, it’s more the weedy kind that wants to spread everywhere. 

 The dogs like it when I go out and walk with them so every morning I get my shears and we head out for a bamboo hunt. Those little shoots are coming up everywhere and I figure if I cut them before they can produce a leave they won’t be able to collect energy from the sun and will die out. But I don’t think that’s a permanent solution. I can feel the crunchy canes under my feet where they’ve been cut before and the mother plant just keeps sending out rhizomes underground. If anyone knows a good solution please tell me in the comments.

I got a lot of help before we moved in. Saul is a man I hired for a few days to help me with shopping (he has a truck) and various repairs around the house. Fernando and his crew did many small repairs and a lot of painting! And my old friend and gardener Temo helped a lot with outside work!

There were many things left behind in the house and yard, some useful and some not so much.

It was a lot of hard work by me and the guys but after a week of living here I can say I’m very happy! I love the peace, the beauty and the space. The dogs love it too!   

Didn’t take long though for me to lock myself out of the house. I have dozens of keys for this place and somehow I put the wrong one on my keychain. I had fun waiting for help and used my new machete to open the packaging on my new couch! Saul came with his tools and broke me into the house with no problem. I’m going to need more security.

Viggo has had a great time running around but had an injury to his right front paw. Poor guy was running around with only the use of three legs but the vet said it was just a strained ligament so he’ll be back as good as new very soon.

I can hear some people saying “why would you ever buy so much work?” And I understand that. It is a lot of work. Sometimes it feels overwhelming, like I bit off more than I could chew. 

And when I think of that beautiful dining room table I want to buy, but I can’t because I have to buy better tools so I can keep up with the maintenance for this house and property. Or I get all geared up to get sweaty and dirty and then my mower fails me, and even though I have the will I don’t have the right equipment to get the job done. 

When I just want to be lazy but the hedges and the pruning are calling me. When I want to take on even more by designing a vegetable garden and working to make it come true. 

All these things are work, no doubt.  But it’s what I want to spend my time doing. It’s what I’ve dreamed of for years. I get to be outside and I feel healthy. I work with the earth and I feel fulfilled. I see the beauty around me and it’s so meaningful to me.

I thought, if I wait, in 10 years I may not be able to do this kind of work. I’d be almost 70 then. So now is my time, time to make this dream come true. Time to have the property I’ve always wanted. Time to spend the way I want.