“I saw a bank that said ’24 Hour Banking’, but I don’t have that much time.” Steven Wright

24 hours … that seems about the right amount of time spent opening a Mexican bank account. That’s how long it felt at the local Multiva Bank branch. Why do you ask we need a local bank account when we can draw cash from any ATM network? Well …

• Establish proof of residency (document needed to buy a car, getting a drivers license, etc.) not to be confused with our permanent resident status
• We can make one single monthly deposit, then draw cash fee-free

We arrived at our bank appt. with all the required paperwork including passport, lease contract, permanent visa, our tax numbers (yes! we each have a tax number).

And what seemed like an eternity, Karina, our banker, furiously typed away, producing reams of paperwork that required David’s and my signatures. When she looked at my bewildered face, she commented, “I know, I feel like we just killed a tree,” … who are you kidding – we just wiped out a third of the Amazon )>:

A few days later, as we pulled out of our driveway, we discovered Karina out front taking a selfie in front of our address number. We greeted her with confused looks. She quickly explained that as part of opening the account the bank needs to personally confirm the physical address. Who knew?!

So now we wait … it takes about 10 days for our ATM cards, which have to be picked up at the bank (there’s virtually no mail delivery here)/

Our Mexican cellphone stopped working over the weekend, so it was back to the local office. Simply, they neglected to mention that changing from pay-as-you-go to a contract requires a new SIM card. A new card was installed and we’re back in business.

Sadly, I had to complain to Javier, my florist, about last week’s flowers dying within days. He kindly apologized and produced a new, fresh bouquet replacement. He does have the best selection in the weekly Tianguis market; plus we are on a first-name basis.

Hooray ~ our Mexican medical insurance coverage was approved! So now we have catastrophic coverage throughout Mexico and emergency coverage anywhere we travel … the cost is 1/3 of our Kaiser COBRA cost that’s due to expire on 3/31/2019.

Yay ~ the new 2019 Hyundai Tucson we ordered was located! A deposit was made and now must wait to get proof of residency/address verification … once it arrives, we can drive off into the 🌅

Friday night Clare and Hans were over for dinner … they’re the couple that hosted The Cream Tea (High Tea), Bangers and Mash and their upcoming Boxing Day Dinner (we had to kindly decline). Appetizers, dinner, wine, shared funny anecdotes around the table and a marvelous dessert Clare created – a Swiss Roll log cake filled with fresh passionfruit cream, covered in chocolate ganache served with fresh raspberries and merengue and a raspberry sauce… topped off with the Tequila we recently bought. It was an exquisite end to a lovely evening.

David is becoming an avid bird watcher … proof is in the pictures . . .

Discovered a new Venezuelan restaurant on the way to Chapala, best Arepas ever…….

The holidays are fast approaching and next week we’re back at Arvada’s (Ms. Feria decorations) for a handmade holiday decorations session.