I'm still having trouble taking shots in this light. I turned the exposure down on my camera, but maybe I should turn it up? Cheryl? It was at +1 and I took it to -1. I love these palm trees, though.
A ferocious guard dog:
This place is beautiful, and has grass and fir trees.
Just a pretty bush:
Bought these at the Mercado, I thought maybe breaded fish or chicken: Much cheaper than in Canada.
Then I walked down to the Panaderia for
some yummy buns. I had thought I might buy some beef at the Mercado, and maybe make a stew tonight, but I'm not brave enough yet- I don't recognize most of the meat there. So probably we'll go to Ley's.
Last night we went out and took some pictures of the Christmas lights around the neighborhood- these were the fanciest.
Looks like a friend and I are going to put out an online newspaper with real news about Puerto Penasco! Look for it coming soon at www.rockypointnewsonline.com!
6 comments:
Do the lights make you feel "Christmasy"? Or just a bit weird in the warm weather?
Wondered about the cost of living there? I've assumed that it's less expensive than Calgary, but have you been there long enough to form a solid opinion on how they compare on a day to day basis?
We haven't got a real line on it yet as far as expenses go. Groceries are cheaper, booze is cheaper, prescription drugs are about the same and we have yet to discover if our insurance will accept a receipt. Once we settle in for another month we can figure out if electricity is more expensive or about the same. Of course we haven't used a heater yet, so that has to count. No Natural gas bill, either. The general feeling is it's cheaper, but that old you can live in Mexico for $240/month line must mean somewhere else.
Hi Dave
We don't really get that Christmasy feeling, haven't for a few years now. We're not religious at all and we don't have kids. In Canada Christmas was more of an annoyance than anything else. The endless, repetitive, TV commercials and you can't even walk into a store without some awful version of a poorly recorded Christmas carol blasting your head off.
It's more fun here in many ways. The traditions are different and the religious component is more personal and less corporate than at home. The neighbourhood kids, of which there are many, are just like kids everywhere, positively vibrating with excitement as the big day approaches.
In answer to your other question I'll just add a few notes to Mel's comments. Most groceries are way cheaper, less than half of the Calgary prices which were getting very inflated by the time we moved. Staples, dirt cheap, fish and meat very reasonable, beer, less than 10 bucks a dozen.
I think electricity is about twice what we paid at home. That's the biggest surprise. You want to turn off the lights when you leave the room and not having to use the furnace is a help. We have to keep our computers on all day but that's just a neccesity.
We bought a tank of natural gas at the end of Sept. for $120 (including the tank itself) that runs our stove and water heater. Still waiting for that to run out (there's no gauge) so we can figure out the monthly expense.
Water bill, about the same as Calgary, say $60 a month.
Gas for the car, last time I checked, about 72 cents a litre. Gotta like that, top up from totally dry for $30, it's like living 10 years ago.
The residence visas we are applying for want you to be able to show paperwork that confirms you have an income of $1000 USD per month. In Calgary these days you would probably be homeless with that kind of money. I think that's pretty close to what a person needs to live here.
Oh, by the way, property taxes on our house in Calgary, about $1600, this place, $15 a year, no kidding.
Carl
Sorry, Melody, I'm not much help on the photographic front. I know that on my camera if I'm shooting in bright light I have to decrease the ISO speed to 100/200, but I don't know what that translates to on your camera' scale. I'm guessing that going from +1 to -1 is moving in the right direction though.
I love the palm trees too - and the viscious looking guard dog.
Is viscious spelled right? The more I look at it the worse it looks!
OK, I will try taking the exposure down quite low, and take some shots today on my walk. It's bright out there!
btw, it's vicious.
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