Day 2 of palapa

Tuesday at the bookstore was a hot, quiet day, with very little activity in the town square and very few customers as well. We had 3 big book deliveries during our days there, so there are lots of great new things waiting for Rob and Jo to unpack!!!












The second day of palapa building was another transformation. Now that the first layer of cement has been put on, we are starting to see how great it will be to have shade over both windows.









In additon, it will provide a nice shaded area for our outdoor dining area, cover our hot water tank (on the wall) during rains, and provide for a covered area to the right of our sink, where we will install a counter area from the sink to the hot water tank on which to put our barbeque and outdoor cooking stuff.
















Ok, so we have 5 cats we feed and are taming, hopefully enough to be able to catch them and get them all spayed and neutered. We now have a street dog (decidedly unphotogenic, as you see) who is quite sick. He is full of parasites, worms, mange and fleas, and is very underweight, so we feed him every day and leave water out all night for him - and whatever other street dog is thirsty. Our friend and rescue animal queen, Diane, is finding out from the vet what it will cost to give him a series of antibiotics and pills to help him recover. He is very sweet and gentle, but the second I brought out a camera, he hit the trail. I will try to add a better shot soon.

The new palapa!

This is our year to add some shade to our very sunny hot patio. We packed away all our patio furniture into the living room, threw a tarp over the pool to keep out cement dust, and they are starting with this bare site. The big downside to this patio is that it faces south (which is great for the pool) but it means the sun pours in those 2 windows, each one belonging to a bedroom, and we have to keep the curtains pulled all day to try to keep out the heat.




Our friend and master builder, Rauol and his Papa, arrived Monday morning to start the palapa. In just one day, they installed all the wooden posts and upright, as well as the chicken wire which will hold up the cement which goes on top.
Amazing to us that so much work can be done in just one day.

This tree centre post and the poles under the cement are made from the zapote tree, also known as the chicle tree. This is the same tree that the sap was extracted from and used to make Chicklets gum, unltil Mr. Wrigley figured out the composition artificially. Put an entire indigenous group of people out of work and brought an end to a whole way of life.




The zapote tree is an extremely hard wood, and is VERY heavy. It is used to make furniture and is a deep red colour at the centre, almost like a west coast cedar.

Friends arrive!

Friends Ed, left, and Kevin, arrived on Dec. 2 for two months! They are renting an amazing 3 level penthouse on the top of a local hotel, with views of the town, the ocean, the reef and even the mangrove.

Here they are on their 3rd floor patio, where they served us wonderful ginger tea.









The views are just lovely, and there is enough greenery all around the building that you are not looking down into someone's back yard, and there is wonderful privacy.















The other side of the patio faces the mangrove - almost a 360 view of the area, and when it gets too hot up there, there is an outdoor shower in which to cool off. Note the patio lights for enjoying in the evening.

Guadalupe!

OK, so we are suckers for the kids.....!!! There are groups all over town (and on our street at home) doing their little song and collecting money on behalf of Guadalupe, which goes to families in the area.

Big kids, little kids, all boys, all girls, mixed boys and girls - they are all sweet and we happily add to the coffers every time we see them. I am sure our house and the bookstore are well known as a "soft touch"....nice!