Moving right along

West Melaque Project

That back wall is not the edge of the lot, it's the first foundation for the house. Oscar is laying rock down the middle that will divide the kitchen from the back bedroom. Going very smoothly and the workers have Seguro even though they don't need it for foundation work. They got Seguro because their Presta Nombre is a totally crazy and paranoid woman. She acts like she thinks the lot is still hers.

The new 5th wheel

I found this for sale on the La Manzanilla message board located in Boca de Iguanas. The owner offered to bring it down and set it up on my lot included in the reasonable price. I was originally told it was 23 feet but is actually 28 which makes a large difference in a trailer.

Next trip will be leveling, taking some weight off the axels and getting a temporary cover while we think about a permanent shed for rain and sun. They are now building a pump house behind the cistern and will run power and water from there rather than the front wall of the lot.

Here's a nice trailer cover I saw in Melaque but I plan on a shed roof supported by the wall behind when extended almost 2 meters.

Weed wacked the lots

After a week in San Miguel and 3 weeks up north I came back to grass (wild) and weeds almost 3 feet tall. Two days with my Ryobi weed wacker in this heat got most of it. Still have two rooms to go since they have no floors.

Double lot forsale in Pinal Villa - Just outside Melaque

Walls and Gates - Week Nineteen

The foundation is in around the lot and walls are one meter high. Driveway and gate opening are lower for drainage. Going to have two people gates in case there is ever a privacy divider between the two lots. Mari has no car and doesn't expect to get one but you never know. Still she opted for no vehicle entrance on their side.

Soon will have to start thinking about gates (porton) and bars (reja). Something strong enough it can't be easily bent, not easily climbed and the locks out of reach. No I don't think it will look like the foto below.

Walls and gates across the front of the lot


Now what is that gate going to look like - this one, I don't think so

Week of rest and cleaning up - Week Eighteen

Three days of no workers because Chui took his kids to Guadalajara to visit family. I moved most of the rock pile that was partially buried from the cistern excavation and spread some dirt around. Finally hired a neighbor to move the heavier rocks and finish spreading dirt. I came back yesterday to rake it out.

Next week they should be finishing up the side wall and starting on the front where we need a large gate for vehicles, a people gate and an electric pole.

Lot from the street

Lot from the top of the back stairs

Clearing the lots with a backhoe

Jorge cleared the lots of all the undergrowth and smaller stuff and then found a friend with a chainsaw for the trees. Multiple fires got rid of the brush and branches but there was much we had to haul away including the stumps the backhoe removed.

Lot cleaning with the backhoe took one day and he came back the next to dig the foundations.

Our lots in Pinal Villa, Melaque

These are fotos of our lots in Pinal Villa about a mile back from the beach and directly behind Melaque. I looked for lots for over a year and was about 2-3 years late to find real bargains. Prices closer to the beach doubled and tripled in that amount of time. Even though there were a number of lots in our price range back from the beach, many didn't have water or electricity. Pinal Villa still does not have Telmex (phone) services.

I found the lot in the first foto last winter but the family member of the adjoining lot didn't want to sell at the time. He later called us to see if we were still interested.

The two people sitting in the back of the first foto are Canadians who own three lots behind us and are building two casitas. They only plan to work on their place during the winter and I'm not sure they will finish this year.

The lots last winter with Canadians sitting on lot behind

Costalegre, Jalicso, Mexico

Building a house in Mexico

Building a house in Mexico
A small place in Pinal Villa, Costalegre

Pinal Villa is a small community about a mile behind Melaque, Jalisco on the Costalegre, Mexico.

I bought the first of two lots in November of 2007 and the second adjoining lot in the summer of 2008. What we paid is less important than to say they were equal to less developed lots that had no water or electricity and no neighbors to share the costs.

I've learned a lot and am still learning - but the first lesson was to fence and mark your lot well because the Ejido will just go by fence lines and ignore what your original paperwork says. We lost almost three feet off the back and a foot or two on one side. Many of the lots in Pinal Villa are un-plotted (not on a map) so had to be re-measured.

The cost of title transfer is only per square meter and doesn't matter if there is a house or vacant lot. For us it was about $2500 pesos. If the previous owner has not paid taxes or have receipts you need to pay the last 5 years - $100 pesos a year.

Building in Pinal Villa Web Page

Costalegre, Jalicso, Mexico