Monday, June 21, 2010

Lazy daze

A friend pointed out to me yesterday that I've been remiss in not posting the news that George and I moved into our completed home a month ago. Considering the fact that the whole point of this blog was to share our Loreto Bay construction journey from start to finish, she's right. So for the record I'd like to announce that our Casa de Nuevos Suenos is finally a reality. From top to bottom our home is a thing of beauty. And other than a few minor glitches like a broken water heater (we're in our third day of no hot water) and a leaky dishwasher, we're very happy with our home.

The problem I have in putting fingers to keyboard can be summed up by the title of this post. Since moving permanently to Loreto Bay four months ago, I often find myself lost in a lazy daze. Life here in Loreto Bay moves at a much slower pace. Each day flows seamlessly into the next, so much so that I find myself surprised that an entire week has passed. It’s a peaceful lifestyle and one I've grown to love. The days are full, although not very exciting. I read (too much probably), I putter around the house, I complain about the heat, the dust, dirt and construction noise, I lay on the beach and read some more and generally indulge in the kind of indolent, non-productive behavior reserved for lazy no-counts (like me) or the fabulously wealthy. Although George indulges in the same kind of laziness, he's also very involved in our Condo Sub-Regime and spends part of every day on emails and condo regime business.

Apart from all that lolling around, the most rewarding part of living here are the people we meet, and so far we've met and enjoyed the company of many fellow home owners. Shortly after moving into our home we hosted a roof-top party for our Agua Viva neighbors and a few of our Founder's neighbors. It was so much fun to share (and show off!) our home with fellow home owners and we were very gratified that more than 30 of our neighbors showed up for our bash. Everyone brought something to share so the food and drink was outstanding and I don't think I'm far off the mark here when I say a good time was had by all.

We also spend at least two or three nights a week meeting friends and neighbors for dinner or drinks and getting together for the weekly "music night" wherein George and other musicians in the community meet to play music and have a good time.

In short, we are very lucky and we know it.

On the other hand, the least rewarding aspect of life here in Agua Viva is the uncertainty about our phase of the development and the increasing costs we’re all being asked to pay. Sometimes these problems seem so overwhelming we aren't sure if our dream of a completed and viable community will ever become a reality. Our biggest fear is that some home owners may become so disillusioned they decide to throw in the towel. All I can say is please don’t! The only way we can make this work is to come together as a community of like-minded people. And for the most part, we are like-minded. Most of us bought into the vision of a sustainable community and that is still a work in progress. We need everyone to remain committed to the dream of Loreto Bay or we’re doomed to failure. And we’ve sure come too far for that to happen.

In its own humble, dusty way, Loreto Bay is a paradise, but a paradise with some thorns. It's up to those of us who care about this place to make sure those thorns are pruned, so that the vision we all bought into can be realized.

To mark the beginning of this new chapter George and I have decided to rename our home and our blog Casa del Milagro, because it is most certainly a miracle that it exists! Look for future postings about life here in Agua Viva, which I’ll try to generate with more consistency.