The ear was aching in the middle of the night and I got very little sleep. We have decided to rent a little casita here at Arroyos Verdes. We had toured a number of their units yesterday and today we are moving into Casa Cereza, a studio over near the RV area. It is the end unit of a little three plex that backs up onto the pastureland to the east.

I slept late then got busy disconnecting Lexi from all of the hook ups and getting everything ready for storage. We pulled up the 50 meters or so to our door and unloaded all of our stuff. Right as we pulled up the lawn guy came over and started mowing right where we are carrying our stuff. He spent hours tending the small patch of grass in front and the larger side yard. The mower kept dying and he must have restarted it a hundred times. He soon had the entire sidewalk covered in grass then disappeared for a long lunch. Those following the blog know my history with lawn guys. They seek me out and haunt me seems like everywhere we camp. The entire time we were organizing the casita, we were serenaded by the sound of mower blades striking rocks and weed whackers doing their thing.

I tweaked my back to go with my infected ear so I’m a real mess. By the early afternoon, we had the place pretty well situated. I walked over to the office to get a collection of remote controls for the tv, the cable, the DVD and the air conditioner. Paty also answered all of questions about laundry, maid schedules, gym hours, etc. I made massage appointments for tomorrow and went back to rest up a bit.

Spent the rest of the day organizing the place and cleaning up Lexi and parking her up next to the plant racks in the back. The lawn looks great as we walk the dogs around the compound. Hung around in hammocks for a while then went home and cooked up some steamed veggies and rice. Nice having space to cook and move around. We have Casa Cereza until Jan. 22 then we’ll figure out what’s next. PJ flies home on Dec. 20th, so she’s happy having the dogs in a stable environment while they’re left in my care. Most of the TV channels are in Spanish, but we are using the music channels to listen to while we finish getting things the way we want them.

There is a herd of goats in the ranch across the path. At dusk, the owner walks them on the dirt road behind our unit. There are about a dozen small kids that run up and back the entire time frisking and charging one another while their mothers munch grass and keep a close eye on them. They sound like babies when they call out. Fun to watch.