There should only be a few days left before the first casita is done, unfortunately we have to leave before that happens. The handrail on the front porch, shower stall and a few other things need to get done. But, our next trip here in a few weeks we should be ready to move in. So far this trip we have spent the whole time running around getting last minute supplies and materials, most of them being correct and others… not so much. Doors and fans not on the delivery truck when it arrives, selling us the wrong wire size and a few other things, but nothing we couldn’t handle. The house is looking great and the quality of the workmanship is beyond what we expected, so Antonio will definitely be the builder for the main house.

The septic is dug and the blocks are going in, but not without the removal of a couple big rocks. The workers are wonderful, very personable, always smiling, great craftsmen and willing to talk, what more could you ask for from a construction crew?

Ruben cleared another spot where we will be putting a garage/shop where we can store vehicles tools and other stuff. We were all ready to have them start while we were gone, but the builder said that it could take up to three months to finish it. After thinking about it overnight we decided that the main house was more important since we will not have a kitchen or a place to do laundry for a while. So when we get back down here the main house will get started and should take about three months. After that, we can concentrate on the garage, and besides we will have a container here with stuff that mostly just needs to go in the house anyway.

We did spend one day test driving the Mahindra PikUp. We must have tested it about an hour or so, a lot of off-road testing the high and low range and how it handled. Then it was off down the highway to see how the turbo diesel matched with a 6 speed would do. Even pulling uphill in 6th gear it still did great. We couldn’t really find anything we didn’t like about it, except that there are no drink holders up front. Also that the blinker handle is on the right and the wipers are on the left of the column. I only washed the windshield twice when making a turn, but we’ll get used to that. Back at the dealer we put down our deposit and placed an order for a red one. It should be these in a couple of weeks once we return.

Last trip down we talked to Ruben about getting some coffee plants started for us. He jumped on that and got them going and now we have about 50 plants going and another 50 or so that are just sprouting. Once they are big enough we will find a place under the canopy where they will thrive and produce some of the best shade-grown coffee you’ve ever tasted, hopefully.