The shade vs. x-acto and The wall...

Days 1-3:
No, not that wall. But in its own cross-cultural sheltery way, a symbol of, shall we say, clashing world views? Competing egos? But we'll get to The Designer vs. The Architect anon. Chronology is king in blog-land and I know you're dying to know if and how we recovered from the much too consequential Day0 to charge into Day1. 

Day1, January 9th dawned crisp and pale blue sunny in the San Antonio colonia of San Miguel. Cocooned in the matching terry cloth bathrobes JC purchased specifically for this phase of the adventure, the first order of business was finding the damn cats who had both melted into the unfamiliar nooks of Casa Gayle as soon as we had released them from their travel bondage the night before. We had, of course, purchased exact replicas of their Nuro heated cathouses, packed them in an extra suitcase for the trip, then set them up in the courtyard before collapsing at the close of Day0. And just as, "of course", neither had gone anywhere near them overnight. Girlscout ensconced herself firmly underneath a large antique apothecary in the dinning room where she remains three days later. Charley, on the other hand was somehow always either in our bed or under it. So that's hows it going be is it? Oy.

We, nonetheless, needed caffeine and sustenance for the day ahead which consisted of tracking down the elusive and mysterious cross-border mover-magician, Marcos and the trailer of our possessions which he had deposited somewhere on the road to Celaya and the all important initial rendezvous with the agent and contractors at the house site. We headed out across the intentionally uneven streets toward Cafe Monet on Zacateros for cappuccinos and our first huevos mexicanos of the new era. Thus fortified, we grocery shopped, nailed down a visit to our hostage possessions for the next day and made the long but never boring cobblestoned walk to colonia Obraje and El Rincon de Santa Maria where the dramatis personae of the Casa 9 project where waiting for our arrival: Ximena Dominguez and Nancy Howze-the hardest working real estate brokers in the state of Guanajuato; Valente-the affable project contractor and Tomas-the serious project foreman. We couldn't wait to see the progress and gauge if indeed we were going to be able to move-in at the end of the month as promised.

Missing, alas, was The Architect, Luis Sanchez Renero, henceforth known as X-Acto. During our initial meetings with him last February and the Skypes the months following plus the in-person progress tour with him in August, he and Jackie, henceforth known as The Shade, had gotten along fabulously. Both had an obvious life-long passion for creating unique shelter experiences and very well and long developed design aesthetics. Perhaps too well. Jackie had been successfully and amicably chipping away at Luis' entrenched modernism over the construction year. Our version of his "Casa Patio" would have ceiling vigas (beams), the powder room under the stairs not in the kitchen, the terrazzo floors would be warm beige not cool grey. In fact when we saw via our bi-weekly pix that the floors had been poured the wrong color, they were ripped-p ripped-up and done over to JC's satisfaction. (Remember, she was a member of the Pantone Advisory Committee in her youth! Question her color sense at your peril!). There were more tweaks to Luis' design that were sometimes executed and sometimes not. In any case, these concessions to The Shade had evidently taken its toll on X-Acto, for now we were told his English wasn't that good and our Skype connections were worse and we were now only to communicate via the stoic Ximena with whom we were rendezvousing at 3:00pm.

Upon arriving at El Rincon, we were first struck with the amount of construction activity everywhere around us, for Luis had decided to build seven new homes rather than four. Secondly with how much progress had been made on the house and how the re-done floors and the beams looked great. Thirdly with how big it was, hmmm. Fourthly with that it probably wouldn't be move-in ready at the end of our Casa Gayle rental, aghh. Fifthly what's up with the entrance wall? THE WALL! The concrete wall that the original design called for at the entrance to the patio Jackie never liked. In typical Frank Lloyd Wright fashion, this wall was to box you in upon entering before surprising you with the expanse of the outdoor space. Feh, The Shade wanted blue sky to meet you after stepping off the street. X-Acto had countered with the idea of making the wall steel rather than concrete. But there was no wall there at all on DAY1, just a slot in the paving stones where it was to be erected. DAY2, however, we were greeted by the full steel grid that was to be THE WALL.

Who would prevail? And what about those guys in truck in the picture above?
Tune-in for more on Days2&3. The Wall and the trip to Puente del Carmen with Gilberto and his pick-up to visit our stuff in exile!