Imperfect is Perfect

If imperfections are a mark of hand made goods, then my house is surely hand crafted! We are down to our last 2 weeks and it looks as if we will not finish. We are going to shut it up and finish where we left off when we return. We are thoroughly exasperated with the struggles of building, as I know our builders are too. Hopefully we will return refreshed and ready for the final details.
That said, I will say the house in general is quite magical. It has the pathos of a renovated ruin off the coast of Spain. The rock walls and stone floors give it old world charm while the grass palapas add that Caribe vib. Throw in hints of Morocco and you have Magi Azul – Caribe Beach House.
We are now sleeping in one of the almost finished rooms upstairs. At night I light my candles on the patio, listen to the surf and watch the palm trees and grass edges of the palapa sway in the breeze. I can almost feel my blood pressure go down after a hard day of monitoring workers. There is such a sense of peaceful relaxation here even while it is still a construction zone. I remember when we first started and I was trying to get the workers to do irregular finishes on the walls and rounded imperfect corners everywhere. I said, “Imperfect is perfect.” Well I am certainly getting what I asked for in areas I never expected, but I am also learning to live with those words and realizing in Mexico that truly – “Imperfect is perfect.”

Magia de Jose

The house is just starting to transform from a building site into a home. I love the new grass palapa entry and covered patio. The pool should be finished this week, and so far it looks beautiful. When we are through it will be surrounded by multi-tiered bamboo gardens and overshadowed by palms and oleanders. I am hoping it looks like a Balinese garden. If I can keep the workers from trashing each others work before the house is finished or before I lose my mind and temper it will be a small miracle. Everyday I find new paint, wood stain and chicken asada grease on the rough stone floors and I pace the house like Yosemite Sam with fire coming out of my ears. This house has been the most stressful project we have ever undertaken besides raising a teenager (that is another blog.) Instead of spending the whole blog harping on my frustrations, I would like to sing the praises of one lowly worker. He is not the architect. He is not even the foreman. He is just one of the workers who always tries to do a good job and always listens to my broken Spanish and somehow understands what I want. I have never caught him rolling his eyes at my requests, and he is always very truthful and sympathetic with me. Plus he is also an expert at all things concrete. Yesterday as we surveyed bathroom counters that were done improperly and looked unacceptable. We discussed possible solutions and what could and couldn't be done. Finally we came upon a compromise that I think Jose can make work. I told him he would use the magia de Jose (the magic of Jose) on them. I left the site in my golf cart with peace and confidence that everything would be alright (no small feat.) When I look back on this building process, Jose will be one bright spot in the picture. I thank God for the magia de Jose - a young man with patience, a work ethic of excellence and a talent for taming the Yosemite in me.