Saturday, we went out into the neighborhood, found a cobbler who fixed Abby’s school shoes (black mary janes that are required for her school uniform), visited a swimming pool where Abby could join a swim team if she chooses, strolled through a beautiful market, where all manner of meat, vegetables, fruits, moles, cheese and fresh cut flowers are sold.
Poco a poco, details fall into place. We’ve met the cleaning lady just now, Berta. We will pay her to come once a week. She will come on Fridays, clean for 3 to 4 hours, all for 175 pesos (about 16 dollars) per visit (the going rate is 150 pesos, but this woman comes with rave reviews and it seems ridiculous to haggle over what to us, feels like so little).
We’ve checked out two gyms, one so high-end, we’d be paying more than our YMCA membership, the other, with nice equipment, but little or no air conditioning. The huge monthly budget savings come with cheap rent (700 dollars per month), not having a car, therefore buying no gas, not paying for private music lessons nor violin rental, no sports teams (yet) and a relatively cheap grocery bill. Oh…a significant, but not back-breaking expense will be the kids’ private school tuition. (start-up fee of $100.00 American, per child and after that, $100.00 per child per month.) So inexpensive! We’ve met a few of the expatriate types here, those from the States living in Oaxaca to escape from the US rat race. They all seem very happy, living a better life on much less than they did at home. Often, they are married to a Oaxacan.
We did go to a fancy restaurant last night and met an American-born chef who has opened a new restaurant, called Naranja in the centro. His may be the most expensive restaurant in Oaxaca. We all ate and drank to our hearts content last night for $60.00 American. It was a delicious meal, but we’ve had other marvelous meals that have set us back much less. There is a street-side taqueria around the corner that beckons to us every evening around 7:30 PM. The carne asada smells up the entire block. I’m sure we’ll find ourselves doing take-out often, though we’ve decided to hold off on street food for another week or so, just in case. I don’t want the kids to miss their first day of school…so we’ve resisted the temptation. But, the day will come…
Another great discovery, which happened last night as we were practicing our walk to school (16 minutes door to door), was finding a baseball and soccer field along the way. It was raining, so the field was closed, but the security guard lady informed us that baseball and softball leagues will start up on Monday afternoon and that we should come and sign up/check it out. This is the first well-groomed field I’ve seen since we arrived a week ago. I was beginning to think that the Oaxaca didn’t have any parks, not so.
The day after tomorrow we will begin to experience the routine: school, work, study, workouts, meals, shopping…All our daily hours will take on more pattern and predictability. This will be a welcome change since our life has been ruled by little or no routine for a couple of months. I’m sure many of you can relate to that.
Tomorrow is Jason’s birthday and our plan at this point is to visit Montalban (as pictured, since we did go the following day), the Zapotec ruins on the hilltop we view from our third story roof patio. As you can probably hear in this posting, we are settling in gently now, receiving the gift of descanso (rest) and la vida tranquila (the peaceful life) of Oaxaca.
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