Todos Santos

When we came down here to Todos Santos in April, it was with the intent that we explore a new place, maybe look around, and see what is available. We rented Casa Fuente for 1 month and then moved over to Casa Rivera for the other 2. Both are very near the water and have great views.

I wanted to find a place where I felt comfortable, but also I wanted to explore and expose myself ever deeper to the language of Mexico. So right away we signed up for Spanish lessons. We meet every Friday at one of the local coffee houses and spend 1 ½ hours with Serena, who is charming, sweet, makes us laugh and is a very good instructor.

I contacted La Palapa Society http://palapasociety.org/ and offered my services in whatever way might be helpful.  For 6 weeks I  volunteered every Tuesday afternoon from 3-5 assisting teaching kids age 5-7 how to speak English.  I even taught some art classes – all in Spanish- quite the intimidating, yet thrilling feat I must admit!

We’ve explored and walked the streets and beaches. We’ve tried many of the fun, funky and lovely restaurants – though certainly not all of them! We’ve taken the 1 hour drive to La Paz, gotten our temporary resident cards, explored that city somewhat and gone the other way to Cabo San Lucas to visit visiting cousins and check out the shopping.  We’ve done quite a bit, and still had lots of time for personal growth and exploration.

And what I have found is that as I open myself up to everything, as I let go of old patterning that just feels so ridged and caustic, I connect even further and faster with everything around me. It’s been an amazing 3 months for me in a place that for some reason has allowed me to face a lot of things in my life that I was hesitant or just plain resistant to facing. For some reason I finally allowed myself to truly stop and look. To say that it has been a time a great change might just be a massive understatement!

And we are in escrow on a house here in Todos Santos.

Everyone who knows this town had told me before I came that I would love it, I guess they were right. We looked and looked at everything - lots, houses, in town, out of town, way out of town, and found the place that seems to fit just right. Funny, it’s a brand spankin’ new home, has tons of charm and is called Casa Antigua. I laugh at the irony of it. But that most likely will change when we begin to meld with it.

Made of adobe, it has an earthiness that we find charming, though as yet there is no landscaping

(and I do mean none!) so the pictures feel a little abrupt with no plants to soften the edges.  We are directly adjacent to a mango orchard, and the picking is unreal. There is beautiful tile in the kitchen and baths, wonderful light, a boveda in the great room and best of all – plenty of room for a guest house, garage, workshop and studio to be added to the property as we choose.

We sign the escrow papers tomorrow and we’ve been by the property gazillions of times visualizing the space, the gardens, the everything. Here is the link to the realtor’s page: http://www.ricardoamigo.com/Properties-CasaAntigua.asp, wish I could say it does it justice….

So we’re on to a new chapter in our lives! As it stands it looks like most of the time we’ll be here, except  maybe Aug, Sept and Oct when Abreojos is at its finest and here is fiercely hot and humid. Robert will most likely be up in Abre even more than me as the surfing there is his dream. And I’ll have someplace more suited to me here. J

Just wanted to let you know what’s up as I have been amazingly derelict in that department. We’ll be back in SD mid Aug for a quick visit. Hope to see many of you then!

xxoo