This post is dedicated to my dad, who would have a stroke if his Washington neighborhood operated this way.
I love experiencing daily life in different countries. The glamorous stuff, like food and cuisine, as well as the less-glamorous stuff, like garbage and utilities.
Here’s how garbage and utilities work in our little corner of Mexico.
It’s all very loose—yet strangely efficient.
GARBAGE
According to our gardener, Antonio, garbage is collected twice a week. (Antonio mumbles though, so we’re not sure exactly which days.)
And we’ve never actually seen a garbage truck. Or any of our neighbors taking out trash.
It’s all very mysterious.
Garbage bags suddenly appear and begin piling up in the intersection by our house. That’s how we know it’s garbage day. (Though we’ve learned not to count our chickens before they’ve hatched.)
The mountain of garbage grows throughout the day, until street dogs discover it and start tearing the bags apart. The mountain of garbage then slowly collapses, like a punctured beach ball, as a stinky mess of watermelon rinds, empty milk cartons, and rotting meat packages gradually spreads out over the street.
Mark and I bide our time. We keep our garbage bags safely inside the garage until the blue trash can from the hotel next door appears. (The boutique hotel is the only neighbor who bothers to put their garbage in a can.)
Bam!
Like Paul Revere’s lantern beam from the Old North Church, the blue can is our signal to leap into action.
I take our bags and balance them on top of the can so the dogs can’t get them. Sometimes this works. Other times the whole thing gets tipped over later.
At this point it’s a waiting game.
As I mentioned, we’ve never actually seen or heard the garbage truck, but in a few hours (or days) the whole mess magically vanishes.
Usually the phantom garbage collectors do a surprisingly good job, heroically retrieving all the fruit-fly covered, liquifying loose trash. Once in a while they don’t. Maybe it depends on who’s working that day, I don’t know.
But EVENTUALLY all the trash disappears, and the cycle begins again.
GAS
We use gas for cooking. There’s a big gas tank on one of the 2nd floor balconies, and when that runs low, we keep our ears open for the gas truck.
Gas trucks circle the neighborhood all day, so when we need one, we just listen for the tinny announcements blaring from the speakers on their trucks. No calls or appointments necessary, though there are a few different companies, so if you want a particular one, then you can go ahead and call them. Simple.
Some trucks sell individual canisters while others have a big tank with a hose. We need the second kind.
We flag the guy down; he backs into our driveway and runs a hose up to the tank. When the tank is full, he hands us a printed bill, which we pay immediately in cash.
Done deal.
When we moved in the tank was bone dry and it cost us $1700 pesos to fill it…about $130 bucks. That’s more than we were expecting, but hopefully it will last for our entire stay here. Fingers crossed.
ELECTRICITY
Every month or so someone shoves an energy bill through the garage door. We’ve only had one, for $14 pesos (about $1.10), but it’s for the month before we moved in, when the house was empty.
To pay the bill, we just drop by the local convenience store. Unless we’re a day late, which we discovered yesterday. Now we have to go pay at the office in Chapala on Monday. It’s only about 10 minutes away, but the convenience store is easier, so we’ll try to keep better track in future (though my hopes aren’t high).
WATER
The landlord pays the water bill, so we are blissfully ignorant on this one.
CABLE
Setting up cable works just like it does in the U.S. and Canada.
You make an appointment, and Telecable comes to your house. In our case actually getting them here turned into a rodeo with extra clowns, because apparently our street address (given to us by the owner) is completely made up and our house is actually part of the hotel next door.
But that’s a whole other story…
{ 9 comments… read them below or add one }
Hi Renee and Mark,
Very interesting account of how things really work in Ajijic. I remember seeing people lined up outside the gas company offices in Querétaro, a fairly large city, to pay their bill. The mail would not work. What do you do if you want to mail something to someone in the States? Give it to someone coming back so they can mail it from the USA? If you come to Querétaro in February, you could bring me some mail to take to the US. And is your stay in Ajijic temporary? You mentioned that the gas should last you for your stay there. Curious, Tom Medsger
Tom,
We haven’t needed to mail anything (and hopefully we won’t), but thanks so much for your offer to mail. We’ll keep that in mind.
This area is a landing spot for us, a low-key, gentle place where we can learn Spanish and focus on business for a while. Eventually we’d like to explore other parts of Mexico and then perhaps move on to the Yucatan. When we feel like moving, we will.
Oh, and regarding the trash, I don’t know if it matters but we’re actually in Ribera del Pilar, about 10 minutes down the road. Ajijic’s fancier (fancy houses and no livestock in the street), so they might have a more upscale trash solution.
Cheers,
Renee
I am hoping the gas should last us about 3 months before I have to refill. So I will keep an eye on the gauge. It will be interesting to see how much we end up spending per month for gas and electricity. Thanks for the offer of assistance on the mail. We don’t get much snail mail anymore, but what we do get (in both Canada and the U.S.) is tricky to manage. Still sorting out that logistical detail.
Sounds all very different from Canada, except for the Cable rodeo with extra clowns
Yes, utilities are different. But it only requires a little adjustment. For instance, I must keep an eye on the natural gas meter to make sure we don’t run out, which you know would happen when you really need it the most. I pay the electric bill at the nearest 7Eleven convenience store, though I haven’t investigated paying online ’cause the account is in my landlady’s name. She pays the water. I DID manage to set up an account with Telcel to top-up my SIM when it runs low. That is an accomplishment. Now I don’t have to take take to the 7Eleven.
Hi Renee and Mark!
Being Mexican, all I can say is… welcome to Mexico! Or better put, welcome to small town Mexico.
Unlike Canada and the US, Mexican cities and small towns tend to have huge differences in terms of life quality, utilities, services, pavement, livestock roaming the streets, forms of transportation and other delightful stereotypes that plague movies and tourist horror stories. I am from Guadalajara, and even if things in most cases are way better, some can be really chaotic. We don’t have cattle in the streets, only public transportation bus drivers which account for pretty much the same IQ.
I hope you guys have an interesting experience visiting Guadalajara. I would have loved to see you guys since I was there for the last couple of weeks, but even visiting close friends in there got complicated. Mexico is “uneven” to say the least, so I hope you get to see the best of it and not just the bad news that pop up in the newscasts over here from time to time. A tip, visit downtown GDL and ask for the Orozco murals at the Hospicio Cabañas. It is a good reminder of a simpler time when Mexicans’ concern was about culture and not survival. Just be mindful of the traffic. At peak hours it is hell on earth. Enjoy!
Victor, the differences are what make traveling so interesting. And many of the stereotypes, whether real or imagined, contribute to a more gratifying experience. This is small town Mexico and so far the quality of life has been delightful. Like many small towns around the world, the pace here is slower and less complicated. We like it very much.
On Sunday, the little family (less Archie) made the 1 hour journey to Guadalajara. We drove through the historic old town which is really beautiful. Our destination was the Mercando Libertad, to check out the wares and eat some lunch at the many food vendors there. It was a lovely day, and we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. I can’t wait to go back!
Let us know the next time you come home for a visit.
Renee, I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, you really could parlay your writing skills into a professional travel writer. I really enjoy your “reports from abroad”. Even though we haven’t spent much time together I feel like we are best friends…. because of your writing style….. Maybe I just would like to be your BFF.
Edward, thanks so much! That means a lot to me. I’m glad you’re enjoying to blog and hope we get to spend some time together soon. xoxox Renee