So, I got this crazy idea to check out last-minute flights to Europe and found a $150 flight from Cancún to Madrid. Getting to Cancún is a bit complicated, and figuring out what a French girl like me does in Madrid to get home is another hassle. But, long story short, the deal was too good to pass up. So, I casually told my boyfriend, “Oh, by the way, I might be leaving for Cancún tomorrow morning to catch a last-minute flight to Europe.” This led him to book a flight in mid-September to join me for six weeks of motorcycle traveling around Spain, Portugal, and Morocco. Meanwhile, I’m still here, and that $150 flight has disappeared from the search engines! It might pop up again at the last minute, so I’ve packed my suitcase just in case I need to rush out to catch it.
Update: I did make it to Paris, though I ended up paying for a very expensive flight. Sigh.
In the meantime, we’re getting everything in order around the house, and it’s more complicated than it sounds. First off, there’s the house itself. The chickens, turkeys, ducks, and geese need to be fed in our absence, even on Sundays when our handyman isn’t around. So, we arranged for him to come more often but work fewer hours during the week. My boyfriend is also worried about leaving the house unattended at night. Most people have night guards, and I’ve always resisted having a stranger in our house 24/7, but for a month, it might be necessary.
There’s not much of value inside, but breaking a $500 French door to get in would be really annoying. Plus, if the house was broken into, it would stay open until we came back and hired someone to fix the window. We could leave the door unlocked, but that would mean the house would be open to anyone who might take advantage and make off with a bottle of vodka or our high-thread-count bed sheets.
I don’t think anything will happen because we live here year-round. Some properties that have been broken into are usually recreational houses whose owners visit just a couple of weeks a year. Our house would still have a handyman working eight hours a day. My boyfriend is staying a few more days to organize everything if I leave in a hurry.
Then there’s the land development. We have about six workers on contract instead of daily pay, so whether they finish in a day or a month, they get the same salary. They’re not doing much anyway, just keeping the land neat and building a few flower bed frames with stones on the roundabouts. My boyfriend wanted to start a rainwater tank project, but the caterpillar that came for excavation wasn’t up to the job, so that project is postponed for now.
Finally, dealing with bureaucratic hurdles has been a headache. After getting my signed authorization from the council to split my land, they asked for more paperwork. We only need that letter to pass to the next step, the office of forests and protected areas. My file has been stuck there for six weeks. Every time I visited, something was missing. They wouldn’t call to let me know, of course. Even though they now have everything, it’s the same story every week.
I cleverly requested permission to “split my land” without specifying “in 100 plots,” which would have made them ask for more paperwork. Meanwhile, I had my architect draw 100 maps, but he always made the same errors. After calling him incompetent (not my smartest move), he didn’t take it well and never gave me the final maps. So, I hired a new guy who finished the maps. I think the previous architect tipped off the protected areas office, because the day I hired the new guy, I got a call asking for those 100 maps I didn’t have.
The new guy sent them the maps a week later, but we were still worried they would ask for something else. It seems they didn’t. They found an error on one map, which we corrected. They should process everything and give it to me… tomorrow. Everything has been “tomorrow,” “next week,” or “as soon as possible” since April. But I choose to believe it this time because one of them really seems willing to help.
This helpful person, a lawyer, would be happy to underwrite all our plot sales and smooth the process, so we hired him. So far, things are moving a bit faster with him in charge.
From the beginning, public offices have always recommended specific people for the job—one engineer, one lawyer, one architect—probably friends who give them a cut of my business. Every single time, I’ve chosen someone else, which has made things more complicated.
Anyway, this helpful person is a lawyer, and for once, we’ll do things their way because we need to move forward.
By the way, you might have noticed that I’ve stepped back a bit from blogging. I wouldn’t want one of those officials to Google me and find out, which might have already happened. Anyway, I don’t want my file to gather any more dust because of what I say online.
That’s it for now! What’s new with you?