Bye to San Miguel, Hello to Denver

Palm Sunday in San Miguel

We haven’t blogged for over a month.  Last we wrote we were in San Miguel, and, probably had about two weeks left there.  We wrote then about Sayulita where we had gone for a Pacific Coast break.  It was great and remains a very special memory.

 Back in San Miguel, we had a couple of farewell experiences.  The most memorable and most missed was our last couple languages classes with our sweet students.  We hated to leave them and hope we will see a few again when we return in November.

Altar created for Dia de La Delorosa 

We also spent one last glorious day at “La Gruta”, the hot springs.  How we love lounging there for a day.  One last lecture with Javier and a couple last dinners with Martha and John,  dominoes with Barbara and Dave, as well as saying goodbye to some of our favorite people in our usual haunts…Omar at Companio where they make the best croissants ever, Mario at our local liquor store, the guy at the carnitas (roasted pork store) downstairs and Marilu,  our landlady, at her beautiful silver jewelry store.

While there, Larry told Marilu that he wanted to buy Sue a ring.  After trying several on, we selected one.  Marilu took Sue’s hand and said, “A gift from the store.”  What a surprise and what a confirmation of the total kindness of Mexicans.

Sadly, we repaid her by leaving both doors to the street open in the apartment when we left.  She wrote and said the police came after several hours and told her.  We were and are mortified.  How absolutely stupid of us !  We hope never again !!

Larry & Carole with Albert Einstein

We traveled to Mexico City and had several fun days with Carole Reedy and confirmed we would like to spend more time in that entrancing city.  She has moved to a new apartment in the Zona Rosa, which is full of great restaurants and beautiful homes.

Of course, we had a couple of fun taxi rides with Rosalio, Erin’s “Mexican Dad”.  Always a treat to re-unite with him.  We are always amazed at his promptness and professionalism and the fact that he can seem to find us in any big crowd.  How does he do it?

View of the Front Range from our Balcony

We flew into Denver on April 3^rd,  to occupy  our new and permanent address:  1020 15^th Street, Unit 20-L.  On the 4^th our POD with all our belongings that had been in storage for three years arrived at Bryn’s house.  That moving day story would take a whole blog to relate.  

Home Sweet Home (finally)

Suffice it to say that everything that could go wrong did go wrong--lost PODS key, inept locksmith, keeping the moving crew waiting for three hours and then having to have them reschedule.  What a totally frustrating day !!  

We finally got into our condo at 9:30 PM after starting the process at 7:30 AM.  As Larry often notes, it was a true "C F" And cost us a bundle, but, hey, we’re “home."

Our building is located at the intersection of 15th and Curtis.  We really like being downtown.  There are a lot of restaurants and shops nearby, all within an easy walking distance or reachable on public transportation--we have become really quite keen on using the local bus system.  The airport is just a 45 minute bus ride and costs $5 for seniors so it is really convenient.

Our new apartment/condo is a two bedroom/two bath unit--about 900 square feet.  We are on the 20th floor and have a great view of the mountains from our balcony.  It is in the same building where we have rented a studio in the past.  The first high rise in Denver, it was initially built as apartments in 1968 and then converted to condos in the 1980's.  It really is perfect for us. The Denver Performing Arts Center is a block away--we have been here a month and have already seen two very good shows--one a local production and another a traveling broadway show.

Most of our time, however, has been spent unpacking box after box, making almost daily trips to The Container Store, disposing of tons of trash, and working with a young woman who is an organizer/de-clutterer. But best of all, we are having so much fun with Charlie, Bryn and Grant.  We have had a couple sleep-overs and afternoon fun with Charlie. 

Charlie & Opa

He has changed so much in the last six months.  “Why” is his constant word; he is so easy to engage in play, reading and coloring and when boredom ensues, we just have to turn on “Guardians of the Galaxy” and he finds any straight, long object to be a “shooter” (think wooden spoon) and jump around with the actors on TV, slaying any monsters who might be dumb enough to be anywhere near us.

Baking with Oma

We are not yet totally settled in.  Still boxes to unpack, still stuff to get rid of or store, still a sofa bed to buy (anticipating visitors which we hope will materialize as time goes by…friends and relatives are always welcome).  

Reading scary fairy tales

But, we are very happy here:  the size is right, having our own stuff is comforting, and we have a view of the Rockies which changes daily with the weather and gives us so much joy.

We love Denver and would love to show it off.  Come on UP !