OUR HOUSE

I excitedly explored a nearby road where I heard there were some houses and apartments for rent.  I got the tip from the owners of the car wash place we go to weekly.   The road was not cemented yet, so I drove slowly.  After months of checking out houses, apartments and pads, I was slowly getting discouraged. Some were so expensive and were aimed to be rented out to expats and foreigners.

And others were like this, needing much repair and had holes in the wall and roofs.  I shuddered at the thought of all the little animals that could com into the house.  More than twice, I've seen huge monitor lizards crossing the road. There are also scorpions and some scary looking bugs.   

I slowly muttered a prayer to St. Joseph, and asked him to help us find a good home, and I chanced upon this:

There was a tall red gate along the road, and another tall red gate about 300 meters away.  I rapped at the gate with a stone and shouted, "Tao Po!!!!"  ("Someone is here!")  Three barking dogs appeared,  jumping up and down.  A little later, a tanned man with Japanese features came out without a shirt and cheerfully acknowledged my presence.  His grown-up kids own the huge property and are all live elsewhere.  He takes care of the several houses being rented out within it.  He showed me some small one-bedroom duplex houses and an old two-bedroom house, then mentioned that he was finishing up the repair of one big house.  I asked to see it anyway. 

He led me to a red gate, and told me to back up and drive backwards to another red gate.  It opened up to a 1,000 square meter property with a house that looked more like an office building. 

It had almost everything we had in the wish list we made last November! It was not a bungalow type and the deal is not Lease To Own.  But it had a huge garden and lots of fruit trees - two santol trees, two mango trees, several papaya and banana trees, a few malunggay trees and even some cashew trees.

The front lawn was once covered with bermuda grass, but there were eggplant and sweet potato vines crawling all over the place.  It would be fun to clean up and shove the vines over to one side to let the grass breathe once again.   

And guess what, when I entered the house, the layout of the house was almost exactly like what Elise drew a few months after we arrrived in Puerto!


I closed my eyes and was lost in my daydream.  The kitchen opens up to the garden, and I see Elise and Nacho playing in the tree house across the other tree with a tire swing.  I am baking with my brand new oven, grilling fresh seafood in the garden, arranging a small gathering on picnic tables in the garden under the shade of the two mango trees.  I suddenly have a green thumb and am tending tomatoes, herbs, green onions and stemming roses!  I am composting and recycling. I am having playgroups with other mothers and holding cooking, art and reading classes for kids.  I am painting the walls, having shelves made, choosing curtains....

I got pulled back into reality when he told me that the repairs would take a few months.  The rate was good, for such a big property.  Yes, we can wait.  We'll be busy anyway, with the kids' classes ending in two months, then off to Manila for the entire summer, then back here again..... June would be perfect.

And so today, at 4:00p.m., in one hour, I will bring Rene and the kids to see the house.