The Struggle for the Bodega Continues

The playing field for this bodega is starting to really look like a playing field!  Some of the forms are in and I can see where this is going to sit in the driveway.  The picture above is what Dave started with after the furor of cleaning up and and below is what is looks like now:

I think this bodega will look a lot more like Cleve's bodega (next door) rather than the large warehouse that Sal had.  This will then have a large wall at the back for him to hang his tools and benches for vices etc. and shelves on either end for storage.  He's working hard on this, but for an old gringo he can't work in the heat like he used to, so around noon he has to give up and let the boys continue until their lunch time.  They eat later than we do, usually around 2pm, and can get a lot done in those 2 hours.  Dave says he should be finished in about a month.  We'll see.

He is Going to Get His Bodega!

I couldn't believe it.  I woke up this morning to the sounds of digging and the smashing of bricks - right on the other side of my bedroom wall!  Dave finally did it.  He got some workers to come and break up the half of the driveway that was supposed to be some sort of flower bed (but in reality simply provided space for more unwanted plants to prosper).  This was to make a level playing field for him to design his bodega.  I think he got jealous of the bodega our friend has.  Our friends, Salvador and Barbara Contreras, own an RV Park in Valle de Juarez called HACIENDAS CONTRERAS and Sal has this huge warehouse. If you haven't been there it's way up in the mountains in a small valley (really - you don't say) really close to a small town called Mazamitla.  If you don't know where that is, it's two and a half hours drive in an eastward direction  to Guadalajara (AH - getting close, are we?) but now go north to the Largo de Chapala (Lake Chapala) and then come south-west along the Mexican 110 Highway and BINGO - you're there.  This place is so beautiful - you really don't want to miss it.  This is where the palm trees meet the pine trees.  It is so beautiful - sorry, I know I said that already, but it really is.  The drive up there was a bit hair-raising and if you've traveled on some Mexican roads, you've ain't seen nothin'!  We live in the state of Jalisco and we live on the coast so it was quite a climb to go from sea level to 6400 feet!  If you're not used to this altitude, don't go for a quick run down to the store.  From our house in La Manzanilla we traveled through some coastal scenery until we hit Manzanillo where we turned inland.  As we traveled through Tecoman toward Colima we started to climb into some hills.  We kept climbing through Cuauhtemjoc and Queseria and at Tuxpan (which is just below Ciudad Guzman and Zapotiltic) we turned off the major highway and followed the road to Tamazula de Goirdiano.  Don't you just love these names? At Tamazula they have the funkiest frogs at the entrance to town. The roads up to now have been pretty 50/50 with regard to fitness - some parts were NOT fit to drive but we had no choice but to continue onward.