On my walk the other day, I was focusing on some very distinct differences between Canada and here. Sometimes it's just something like this enormous, beautiful tree ( I think there are two trees there:), left in the middle of the road. That's actually at the intersection, but it's difficult to tell because they don't have stop signs here!
This is a little convenience store, but I love how the tree was left and the building happened around it. And I think that this tree has such an interesting trunk shape; I wonder what was there before to make it grow like that? It's very common to see a bulldozer or backhoe clearing a piece of property, but the big trees are left standing. I love that!
This flowering tree is very common around here, and although I've noticed the lovely flowers on them before, today I noticed how interesting the buds look. And as usual, I have no idea what it's called. Do you?
A bit like a lipstick tube, shiny and waxy. If my boys were here, they'd compare it to something entirely different :) Any guesses??
Most houses, regardless of size or shape, have a lot of natural foliage around it, in the yards, on the roof...just about anywhere. And because it's so hot year round, everything continuously blooms, unlike Canada with our very short growing season.
Speaking of houses, they really do come in varying sizes and states of upkeep around here. I love color, and I think the owners of this house do as well, judging from the brightly hung laundry. At home, if someone on the block or street painted their house this bright yellow, I don't think most of the neighbors would be very pleased. Mexico really does do color well. In Canada, it's more a sea of beige and tan, except on the east coast; Newfoundland has some awesome colored houses.
Newfoundland :) Pretty awesome, isn't it?!!
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Here however, many houses and living conditions are like glorified camping. This one for example has no walls in the top floor. That's actually a fridge up there. Don't feel sorry just yet though; in this heat, it's probably a purposeful construction; cool cement, shade, and open for a nice breeze! But compared to home, living conditions are very different. What I've really noticed is that most people don't seem to have all the stuff that we deem necessary, or the space for that matter. It's very common to see a family living in a one-room house, with hammocks hanging everywhere. Brian and I were out for a walk the other night, and we noticed an open door, so of course I had to nonchalantly take a little peek, and what did I see? A TV on the wall and two hammocks hanging. That's it! No side tables, knick-knacks, couches, table, chairs, nothing.
Because this is a tourist destination and Playa has a pretty big Expat community as well, all new construction aimed at that demographic is of course modern and fully equipped with all the amenities that we think we need so badly :) Personally, after downsizing at home several times, and then arriving here with a backpack each, one small suitcase and our cat Buddy :), I have learned to live with less, and in fact, I like it more :)
What kind of walk would it be if I didn't meet a couple of new friends along the way :) If this first guy didn't have such a loud bark, I would have missed him completely; he's standing on the balcony, guarding the castle. That's another thing here that's different from home...there are so many dogs who hang out on the roof of their house, which are all flat...the roofs, not the dogs haha
And this man (proof is in his running shoes; poor guy, I totally ignored him) had his new puppy out for a walk. I took about ten photos, but these two were the only ones that turned out half decent. He was so excited and very interested in my phone... and oh so cute :)
Hope you enjoyed hanging out with me today!
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