Epo Epo Epo (hiccup hiccup hiccup)

This is the continuation of the post below called Epo! , make sure you read it first!

The saga continues...
What happens next...

Mr loco, not content with dragging Brian & his guys through the mud, & still not getting resolution with Mr pom, decides on an additional strategy & goes after us too - we think, he thinks maybe we can get Mr pom to sell...

So what does Mr loco do - he goes to the public works department & tells them we are building illegally! The works inspector comes & applies a "obra suspendida" notice (stickers everywhere!) telling us that the "work is suspended", until we prove it's legal!

Thank you loco neighbour!

We now have big holes in our land & big holes in our progress!

The cannon are primed!

There are many calls made, from Brian to Mr loco, from Brian's beautiful mexican girlfriend to Mr loco, from us to Mr pom (in Canada), from us to Mr pom's girlfriend here in SMA, from Mr pom's girlfriend to Mr loco....the only one benefitting from all of this is Mr Slim - the world's richest man & owner of Mexico's telephone companies...

Brian goes to the public works department & explains the reason for Mr loco's name... They know (or hint at knowing) but say they have to respect his request & we need to restore the surrounding pieces of land to their previous state & then the suspension will come off.

In the meantime, we can continue work, but only at a slow pace so as to look like the works are suspended!

So.. the boys need to dig the holes slowly...

Epo! (hiccup in Spanish)

So, we've begun building, we're not counting our chickens yet though. There are so many possibilities for hold-ups (excuse the pun) here in Mexico.

Parachutists for example, people that "land" on your land & claim it's theirs. Being a Napoleanic justice system here, it is then up to you to prove it's not theirs... Well that didn't happen to us (touch wood) but we do have another of the 'possibilities' - a loco neighbour...

The piece of land next door is currently locked between 2 owners. The pommy guy that's trying to buy it & the Mexican guy that's trying to sell it.

There's a very long story attached to the 'how' they've gotten themselves in this position (almost worthy of another blog!) but suffice to say that the pommy guy is the landlord of our builder, & for some reason the Mexican guy thinks that our builder - Brian - can affect the sale of his land... so this is what he does.

He 'denounces' Brian & his builders saying that they have stolen rocks & re bar off his property. This means he goes to the denunciation department at the police station & makes these (false) claims against them, & thanks to dear old Napolean - they are now forced to prove their innocence - how do you prove you didn't steal some imaginary rocks & steel?

Brian is forced to go to the police department (a little daunting to say the least) to refute his guilt & ends up spending 2 hours there - with no outcome at this point.

We go to bat for Brian - who is this little worm that he can threaten our friend & his workers?! We meet with the guy, seems friendly enough. We explain we think he has been hard done by, by our pommy friend, but that we have nothing to do with that.

We also explain that Mr pom is in Canada right now, but that we will do our darndest to get him to 'right the wrong' as Mr loco sees it. Mr loco then all but agrees to remove the denunciation if we can achieve that, we shake hands & smile feebly at each other & leave...

So what happens next???

Breaking Ground...12th September!

The date is 12th September & today's the day!
The digger is here, the truck's here to take the rubble away & Steve's here camera in hand to record for posterity.

Funny to think we bought this small piece of land a couple of years ago thinking, one day, maybe we might build on it, & here we are doing just that.

It's also funny, & actually a little weird, to think that this is the only piece of earth we own on this planet anymore, & sooooo far from where we sprang from & our kiwi friends & family! If I'm sounding a little jangled by this fact, it's because I am. Wasn't it me that kept spouting "a life less ordinary" well - this certainly counts as that.

Building permit!

Well - we have a plan, we have the builder(s), we have the piece of land & so far, we have the balls (or stupidity!) to begin building a house in a country that we're not native in.

The next step is to find an overseeing Mexican architect - he's the guy that checks that everything is done according to regulation (of which there are thousands!) & no short cuts are taken. He also represents us to the local council & applies for permission to build our wee abode.

Brian (the builder/designer) comes through again, with a great guy, Leon - he's only available as he's had health issues & wants some smaller projects to keep him going. He has great credentials & knows a lot of people (definitely what you want in Mexico!).

So, with a few copies of a lot of paper work - the permit is applied for & received! Now we're really "good to go"... Yikes!