Great ending to your home building saga, Jeanine! I know it’s not truly the ending, but the end of an important chapter and a milestone. Nice to see all that perseverance and hard work rewarded!
Such a splendid conclusion to all you'd been through to get to this fabulous day! The TLC and expert craftsmanship that Enrique and Joe demanded for Casa Maya beautifully resulted in your stunning Casa Maya! Love, love the pictures from back then. Truly a beautiful home, and awesome setting, with so much heart, soul and authenticity, with wonderful Maya designs and features. You offered the perfect blessing. Obvious happiness shows in that great picture of you and Paul. Hwy 307 back then...wow...so different from today.
Thank you Barbra! Actually, the photo of the hwy is the one going to Merida, before you pick up the toll hwy, b/c I couldn't find one of 307 South. But it's the same trees, etc, that low-lying jungle, nothing really tall (probably all second growth, too). The house did turn out great. And then at Joe's suggestion, we'd made the roof flat, and added a stairway to a deck on roof top. He suggested we eventually build any addition—with a flat roof would be easy to do—and while we waited to come to MX, we could then rent it out at a higher rate, hire caretakers for guests etc. He, just like Alejandro, was full of excellent ideas! But I really think Enrique's idea about making it look like Chichen Itza was so novel. He took the cake on ideas!!
You sure did luck out when you finally found the right talented, and caring, architects and professionals to bring your house project to such a wonderful building and design conclusion!
We did, por fin! And such fun guys, too. Joe has a great sense of humor as does Enrique. But Joe is just so clever. Never a dull moment. Ours was their first full project!
This explains every single delayed parcel or letter. I've been telling people only DHL things to me after losing a couple of things in the national mail service!
Someone has been praying a little too much to Chaac around Playa lately. Our poor little dogs can't seem to get dry for any length of time. Cheers for the story, Jeanine.
Thanks for sharing these chapters, Jeanine. I bought the Kindle version years ago and reading these wonderful words is like catching up with you again. Best regards.
What a wonderful outcome, Jeanine! I have been wondering for months now how your house finally turned out and if you were happy with it--or if you had to face even more hurdles.
Your house looks absolutely beautiful, and I am so happy that it all worked out for you. How wonderful it was that you finally met Joe and Enrique and that they were true craftsmen who cared about the quality of their work.
So very lucky meeting them, Clarice. Thank you. It turned out so well with their thoughtful work and supervision. I do have to think somehow something was actually in our favor when the other land deals fell through. If we’d built before Class 5 Gilberto, i am positive we would have experienced destruction and chaos. Sometimes maybe timing works out!!
At last. The house. Everything makes sense now. All the work, iterations, red tape, disappointments, victories (large and small), personalities, hopes and dreams.
I feel like I have a personal stake in this project after reading your fascinating account and seeing the beautiful outcome. What a tale. What an adventure.
Thanks so much, Lucinda. I didn’t mean to string readers along but it really did feel like it took a millennium to complete! Joe and Enrique were and are more than fabulous for being so painstakingly creative and conscientious. Now on with some fun times before we deep dive into the book store!! Thanks a million for reading and following our venture!
Wow Jeanine! We had a similar customs experience in Costa Rica-I suppose not surprising! And getting your beautiful Casa Maya done on-time AND on-budget? Increíble! Worth the wait-it's gorgeous.
Thanks so much Marlo! I guess everyone who's spent long periods of time south of the border—or maybe any foreign country?—and brings 'more than the shirts on their backs' with them, has probably experienced the fun times in customs with those impervious agents. And there's more to come, towards the end of the memoir, a real humdinger! Thanks for reading!!!!
Nice writing Jeanine! I was sweating with you as you went through customs and the payout!
Thank you, David!
Great ending to your home building saga, Jeanine! I know it’s not truly the ending, but the end of an important chapter and a milestone. Nice to see all that perseverance and hard work rewarded!
A long road to be sure, Mike. Thanks for following along.
Such a splendid conclusion to all you'd been through to get to this fabulous day! The TLC and expert craftsmanship that Enrique and Joe demanded for Casa Maya beautifully resulted in your stunning Casa Maya! Love, love the pictures from back then. Truly a beautiful home, and awesome setting, with so much heart, soul and authenticity, with wonderful Maya designs and features. You offered the perfect blessing. Obvious happiness shows in that great picture of you and Paul. Hwy 307 back then...wow...so different from today.
Thank you Barbra! Actually, the photo of the hwy is the one going to Merida, before you pick up the toll hwy, b/c I couldn't find one of 307 South. But it's the same trees, etc, that low-lying jungle, nothing really tall (probably all second growth, too). The house did turn out great. And then at Joe's suggestion, we'd made the roof flat, and added a stairway to a deck on roof top. He suggested we eventually build any addition—with a flat roof would be easy to do—and while we waited to come to MX, we could then rent it out at a higher rate, hire caretakers for guests etc. He, just like Alejandro, was full of excellent ideas! But I really think Enrique's idea about making it look like Chichen Itza was so novel. He took the cake on ideas!!
You sure did luck out when you finally found the right talented, and caring, architects and professionals to bring your house project to such a wonderful building and design conclusion!
We did, por fin! And such fun guys, too. Joe has a great sense of humor as does Enrique. But Joe is just so clever. Never a dull moment. Ours was their first full project!
This explains every single delayed parcel or letter. I've been telling people only DHL things to me after losing a couple of things in the national mail service!
Oh, wait till you read my Don Chevo story, our sweet ancient mailman.
We learned to only use DHL in La Paz too.
Someone has been praying a little too much to Chaac around Playa lately. Our poor little dogs can't seem to get dry for any length of time. Cheers for the story, Jeanine.
Thanks Damon!! (Lluvia)!
Thanks for sharing these chapters, Jeanine. I bought the Kindle version years ago and reading these wonderful words is like catching up with you again. Best regards.
Thanks Mikel! Appreciate your reading it all those years ago.
What a wonderful outcome, Jeanine! I have been wondering for months now how your house finally turned out and if you were happy with it--or if you had to face even more hurdles.
Your house looks absolutely beautiful, and I am so happy that it all worked out for you. How wonderful it was that you finally met Joe and Enrique and that they were true craftsmen who cared about the quality of their work.
So very lucky meeting them, Clarice. Thank you. It turned out so well with their thoughtful work and supervision. I do have to think somehow something was actually in our favor when the other land deals fell through. If we’d built before Class 5 Gilberto, i am positive we would have experienced destruction and chaos. Sometimes maybe timing works out!!
At last. The house. Everything makes sense now. All the work, iterations, red tape, disappointments, victories (large and small), personalities, hopes and dreams.
I feel like I have a personal stake in this project after reading your fascinating account and seeing the beautiful outcome. What a tale. What an adventure.
Thanks so much, Lucinda. I didn’t mean to string readers along but it really did feel like it took a millennium to complete! Joe and Enrique were and are more than fabulous for being so painstakingly creative and conscientious. Now on with some fun times before we deep dive into the book store!! Thanks a million for reading and following our venture!
Not stringing along, keeping us tuning in to see what next. A perfect end to Season 1. Waiting for Season 2.
What a journey. This was a great chapter, full of ups and downs, but not in that order.
Thank you, Jennifer. A little long, but I'm kind of following the original plus wanted to get us out of stage one and move into the next steps.
Your posts never feel too long!
Oh man, Jennifer! You made my day!
I speak the truth!
Casa Maya looks absolutely beautiful.
Thanks David. The process probably took a decade off my life ):
Lol. Worth it, though, I'm sure!
Thanks for the restack Joyce!
Wow Jeanine! We had a similar customs experience in Costa Rica-I suppose not surprising! And getting your beautiful Casa Maya done on-time AND on-budget? Increíble! Worth the wait-it's gorgeous.
Thanks so much Marlo! I guess everyone who's spent long periods of time south of the border—or maybe any foreign country?—and brings 'more than the shirts on their backs' with them, has probably experienced the fun times in customs with those impervious agents. And there's more to come, towards the end of the memoir, a real humdinger! Thanks for reading!!!!