New House Archives - Ra'Co Life

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_video link=”https://youtu.be/Z-UHvaYA2fk”][vc_empty_space][vc_column_text]There is much to be said for the end of Airbnb.com living. We have loved the adventure, but missed our ‘stuff’ and the familiarity that comes along with it. Not to mention, the $1,000’s spent on replacing broken kitchen tools and chotchkies along the way (this comes with the territory of having a toddler, and two very clumsy parents).

I suppose we have purposefully neglected to share our official plans, or updated on Ra’Co for the last month, so we could be sure that we didn’t have to back track if something didn’t work out. So, here you go: Drum roll please… We have moved to Patziac as of last Tuesday / Wednesday. We began renting the house on October 1st and since have been in a whirlwind state of construction projects, shopping trips and reorganizing. The house is coming along nicely and we are locked into a year lease. A super special thank you to Armand Boissy and his team at Atitlan Solutions for all his help in securing.

Of course with the Brand’s, there is always a caveat: If the house sells (its on the market), we have to move. This has already happened to us in Beacon, so we have a feeling it will again. And… the internet is half the cost of the rent. We had a 12 meter tower installed in San Pedro, just for us!

[/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space][vc_column_text]Patziac lives in between Jaibalito and Tznuna on the public boat side of the lake. It is nested into the rocks and has it’s own little lagoon. We love it because it is quiet and very private; a far cry from our apartment in Central Harlem, with the crazy lady banging on the wall next door every time we moved or Iza cried (her exact words were, “I didn’t sign up for this.”), or even from the dogs barking and restaurants buzzing in San Marcos. We are blessed at Patziac with space, time, isolation and a house with everything we wanted… including a 6-burner gas stove![/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space][vc_column_text]We have been taking photos and would love to share the beginning stages of our life here. We are deep into constructing Kurt’s new studio and Iza’s bedroom, as well as installing a Pizza Oven, a Sauna and a fire pit, along with a variety of other little projects. I am all about the gardening and have taken it upon myself to stand over the gardener for an hour every day and tell him what I like and what I don’t like. I think I am making him crazy, but all with a smile on his face.

Here we are on a Tuesday morning, 7 days in from our move to Patziac, construction underway to our new home, surrounded by our ‘stuff’, with warm hearts by our sides, in a place we can call finally home.

[/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space][vc_text_separator title=”New House Photos” style=”five” element_type=”div”][vc_empty_space][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vcex_image_carousel items_scroll=”page” item_width=”230px” min_slides=”1″ max_slides=”4″ img_width=”200″ img_height=”200″ image_ids=”2110,2109,2108,2106,2105,2104,1995,1990,1989,1988,1981,1977,1980,1972,1982,1986,1985″][vc_empty_space][vc_text_separator title=”Few More Fun Videos” style=”five” element_type=”div”][vc_empty_space][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/3″][vc_video link=”https://youtu.be/NRplh-P_Zc8″][vc_video link=”https://youtu.be/D9e-vY9zFMA”][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/3″][vc_video link=”https://youtu.be/GaImYEXOiak”][vc_video link=”https://youtu.be/AXiQhh9t0u4″][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/3″][vc_video link=”https://youtu.be/2hVdDztZrok”][vc_video link=”https://youtu.be/UoyHmnXy6Og”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_empty_space][vc_text_separator title=”Come and Visit” style=”five” element_type=”div”][vcex_image_grid columns=”3″ thumbnail_link=”none” img_width=”200″ img_height=”150″ image_ids=”2092,2093,2095,2096,2097,2100″][vc_empty_space][vc_gmaps link=”#E-8_JTNDaWZyYW1lJTIwc3JjJTNEJTIyaHR0cHMlM0ElMkYlMkZ3d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbSUyRm1hcHMlMkZlbWJlZCUzRnBiJTNEJTIxMW0xNCUyMTFtMTIlMjExbTMlMjExZDYxNzQzLjYwNTQxMjcyNjU2JTIxMmQtOTEuMTkyMzI4MjMzMjc3NjIlMjEzZDE0LjcxMzk4NjQwMDM0ODc0NSUyMTJtMyUyMTFmMCUyMTJmMCUyMTNmMCUyMTNtMiUyMTFpMTAyNCUyMTJpNzY4JTIxNGYxMy4xJTIxNWUwJTIxM20yJTIxMXNlbiUyMTJzZ3QlMjE0djE0MTM4OTI2NjUxNzElMjIlMjB3aWR0aCUzRCUyMjYwMCUyMiUyMGhlaWdodCUzRCUyMjQ1MCUyMiUyMGZyYW1lYm9yZGVyJTNEJTIyMCUyMiUyMHN0eWxlJTNEJTIyYm9yZGVyJTNBMCUyMiUzRSUzQyUyRmlmcmFtZSUzRQ==”][/vc_column][/vc_row]

Life is hard everywhere and requires real work to survive. There is no place left where issues don’t arise… we do know that. We are finding that the harder we push for something, the less likely it is to happen; likewise, the more we assume, the less likely any of those assumptions come true.

We are having tremendous issues with renting here. Not because the system is complicated, but because we are complicating the system. We can’t just roll with it and be simple. We have spent nearly 2 full weeks looking for a house to rent and when we found one that we loved we got into a war with one of the real estate agents, got our real estate agent to match the other agents price (which he was pissed about). Now we have been going back and forth with negotiation on the contract 3x, before receiving the cost of the internet service – It seems we have to rig an internet system across the lake which is going to cost us $1025 (USD) and $350 a month in support and service.

And that’s not all… We have to buy a boat because the local boat isn’t reliable in that location. We have to bring in our staff everyday by boat so that we can still function, and we have lost our road access in entirety. Yikes. Originally the rent was $600, but after you add in the internet, the boat and the complications, we are looking at $2400 a month, minimum. That’s maybe not a lot by NYC standards, but our goal is to save money… and suddenly we are heading upward in cost.

We could just rent a place in Pana (the largest city, here) and we could get a big house, in a nice, safe neighborhood for $850 a month, all in, with no hassle, no complication and relatively low stress. We would be 45 minutes closer to the airport, 5 minutes to the grocery store and have awesome internet.

And yet, we still want to live on the lake in the isolated single house village of Patziac. It is who we are and we are annoyingly complicated.

Tag: New House

Finally a Place to Call Home

Problems in Paradise? Nope, it’s just us.