Moves and MOVE

Mexican Moving Van

It has been a couple of weeks of moves for four couples including ourselves - everyone has new digs!  We slowly purchased enough used furniture and household items to be able to move in and be comfortable.  One of our finds was a 3-piece living room set sold to us by another expat.  How to get it from their house to ours?  A truck (called an Orega) taxi with an inventive driver willing to put the loveseat on the roof and secure it down with a bit of rope.  We got some startled looks and laughs from people on the short trip - it was fun!

The apartment itself was still pretty dirty the day we moved in.  It had all been swept but everything needed wiping down and mopping.  The kitchen was the biggest challenge to set up for functionality.  It doesn't have a stove yet and it had precious little counter or work space.  The ceramic sink is shallow and pockmarked, with old taps that are very low - hard to get anything under them.  It does have a large built in pantry with shelves - good for storing dishes as well as food items.  The landlord loaned me a large wood cabinet with a drop-down table top and shelves.  We added a butcher-block work island on wheels and purchased a microwave, borrowed an electric frying pan and was given a coffee maker.  The fridge had a 3-prong plug with only a two-prong outlet nearby so an adapter was brought in by the building maintenance man.  

All in all, its a functional little kitchen now.

A few mexican rugs on the floors and voila its home.

It's a mexican apartment to be sure - and nowhere near being air-tight.  Noise is always an issue in Centro but its all part of the atmosphere and charm of Mazatlan.  We are thinking of it as you would a summer cottage - not all the comforts of home and a little rustic.  Fun!

On the work side Mike is still unemployed and cash is getting tight.  All of his contacts and leads went quiet over the holidays and have just started picking up again.  We have going full-force on talking up and promoting the software in the past few days, following up on a stellar demo done for some very important and influential people before Christmas.  So, some results are beginning to pop up - both on the job front and on the software.  A very large company in the US has requested a demo with great enthusiasm - it seems there is a huge need for what we've got and we are going to go gang-busters as much as possible while Mike has the time.  Will it pay off before the money runs out?  Unknown.  But we can't wait and worry   - that serves no purpose. We'll figure it out as we go.....like we always do.