Chapter III: The Hunt for Accommodation

Our first full day in Mexico! After breakfast at the hotel, we were met by another person from the school. We then piled into vans driven by some of the school moms. Our driver was Laura, pronounced Louda. Our moms had researched for places for us to rent.  What a day that was! Looking, driving, waiting, waiting, checking the place, and continuing on to other places. We were looking for accommodations that were within reasonable distance of the ASFG.

Guadalajara had a population of well over a million people and with the surrounding municipalities was closer to 3 million people. The population had almost doubled in a few years as a result of people leaving Mexico City after the horrendous earthquake in 1985 which had an 8.0 magnitude and which had taken 5000 lives. Places to live were at a premium. The majority of our single teachers were able to find what they considered decent living quarters. Most of our choices were restricted to finding rentals that weren’t too pricey. Patti and I would be earning salaries that when combined would be less than 40% of my salary back in Winnipeg. Plus we needed quarters to house 4 of us.

We had left the boys at the school where they were being tested for placement purposes while we looked for a place to stay. We were unsuccessful but thanks to the kindness and generosity of Louda and Umberto, we were to spend the night with them and their family in a gated community.

They took us out for a typical Mexican meal to an area of narrow streets and old buildings but filled with lots of friendly people and oozing with character. The food was new to us but our family all were not a bit reluctant to try new foods and so we had an extremely delicious and satisfying meal courtesy of our wonderful hosts.

Their casa reflected the fact that they were well-off – one was an ophthalmologist and the other was a professor at the University of Guadalajara. The house had many levels facing a large courtyard, and was enclosed with high surrounding walls. There were 5 vehicles parked in the compound and the whole area was under 24 hour security. There were CB’s everywhere and the whole complex and all the rooms in the house were connected together with an intercom system. That evening Patti played the piano and the two children, Berto and Larita, were very impressed.

On the following day, we succumbed to the pressure of being the last teachers without a rented place and we found our “dream” home. Part of a larger complex, our part was a three level place, very roomy and completely furnished. There were bedrooms for all of us and three bathrooms. As well the roof-top was graveled and served as a place for sunbathing or simply looking out on the neighborhood. The house was shaped slightly like a battleship and it was situated in one of the nicest parts of Guadalajara, called Country Club. The houses on the street were all hidden behind  high walls and there was no visible life on the street.

Our house was the first house at the narrowest part of land between Mar Caribe and Mar Egeo. In the block before our house was a green space where some street dogs made their home. The bottom section of the house was walled in and the only entrance to our “Castle” was up a flight of 20 concrete steps leading to a massive oaken door. The whole house was painted a battleship gray which was why I called it The HMS Canada. Across the street on the Mar Egeo side was located a small district police station.

Louda took us shopping for some food staples and water and then transported us to our castle with all our bags. We spent the evening unpacking and getting settled into our new home. We were a bit worried that perhaps we had taken on too big a rent. It was 1,425,000 pesos or in Canadian money, $680 a month which was a huge slice of our salary. In addition we had to pay one month's rent in advance plus one month rent as a precautionary measure on the landlord’s part.

But the house was only ten long blocks from the ASFG. It was in an exclusive and quiet neighborhood. There was safety in the fact we were right next to a district police station. Right! That night we were kept awake for a while by the sounds of gunshots not far from us. Welcome to the country which I would so soon learn to love, warts and all!