It has been a long time since I have written in this blog. Quite frankly it's been because life has been busy, full of friends and some travel, and there just didn't seem to be anything to write about other than to say "All is well and I'm having a fine time." I will write about some of these things later in this post because this serves as a kind of journal for me as well as a way to share this adventure with anyone who might be interested.
I'm starting with photos of paintings I have made of the QQ (Quinta Quetzlquatl) Boutique Hotel, the 8 room hotel that is in this compound along with 6 private residences. I live in one of those private residences, and this situation has been ideal for me. The hotel, the large gardens and homes have had a warm, old Mexico, inviting vibe about them. Anyone coming in the front gate is immediately captured by the magic of the place. The hotel has been for sale for many years, but it became imperative to sell it when the owner became quite ill. Several friends and I pooled our available resources and made a decent bid for it. We intended to restore, refresh, repair and continue the bucolic life we all share here. Alas, we could not meet the mark and it was sold to an investment group who seemingly came out of nowhere. There is really a big story here but I'm trying to keep this as brief as possible.
So I want to say a little bit about my daily life here. At 7:15 a.m. I dimly hear the garage doors opening because Lupe, the gardener for many years, is arriving for work. Soon I hear the comforting sound of sweeping. I know he will soon go have breakfast with Mago, his friend who is the amazing and beautiful maid from the hotel. And then the day goes on from there. Jose, the part time gardener arrives in the afternoon. There are smiles and hugs and "buenos dias/tardes" throughout the day. There is tremendous affection between the residents and the staff. This is the background of my day everyday but Sunday when the garden is quiet and the leaves go unswept. My favorite Christmas party is the one the staff gives for the residents annually. Also Lupe does a corn roast, from his corn field, every year. There is joking and laughing and teasing throughout the garden. There is a rhythm and a feeling and a shape to the days and to the months. If my friends and I had been able to purchase the hotel, this rhythm would have gone on uninterrupted. I have had an openhearted affection and attachment to the hotel, the grounds and the staff. It was perfect. I consider myself to be very lucky to have landed into such a safe and delightful nest. I have painted scenes of the hotel several times.
We were disappointed and a little relieved when we realized we could not purchase the hotel, but we believed the new owners would more or less carry on the way it was. As time goes on it appears that will not be so. They asked that Mago's employment be terminated before they took over. The community here was saddened and concerned for her. She found another job but misses QQ terribly. The look of the hotel began to change daily. What was lush and inviting is now clean, clear, minimized. The owners have discovered, or maybe they knew, that the hotel was remodeled in the 1940s by Luis Barragan who was Mexico's Frank Loyd Wright. He was not known for remodels, but did it as a favor for the mayor who was living here at that time. Luis Barragan was a minimalist, and his buildings are extremely handsome and austere. All of the arches and graceful curves at the hotel have been added by subsequent owners over the years to return the building to the charming look of Old Mexico. The hotel is a member of the Home Owners Association here and cannot do anything to common grounds (everything outside of their drip line) without approval of the HOA. Now that the historical society is aware of the building the owners of the hotel will have to adhere to the historical society's architects instructions to restore to Barragan's time. In any event, the look of the hotel is now changed and will continue to change.
Meanwhile Lupe became ill with a cancerous growth on his neck and has been in the hospital for weeks. He is 71 and should actually be retiring and collecting his social security, but like Mago he liked working here and wants to continue.
The garden cannot go even a few days without a gardener so the HOA had to make a tough decision to hire a gardening service. In so doing they had to terminate Jose as well because the owner of the service prefers to work with his own staff. None of this was done lightly. It was done with a heavy heart. I am not a homeowner here. I'm a renter. But I live here full time as does the HOA administrator. She has had a very tough and emotional time with all of these decisions.
So in a few months time Mago, the heart of the hotel, Lupe, the heart of the garden, and Jose are no longer here. The hotel no longer looks the same and will continue to change. It is hard to describe the depth of my sadness and grief at this ending. I have only been here for two years but my attachment was deep. Its the end of an era. Of course I'm accepting the changes little by little. What else can I do? But my feelings about the compound have changed. It's not in my nature to feel detached, so we will see where this goes. Life has a way of telling me what to do next. I will just wait and watch. In the meantime I still adore my home, and the garden will only get better with the help of the new gardeners. Just a lesson in impermanence. Everything changes. Why shouldn't this? And I do believe that the restored hotel will be handsome and will be a mimi monument to Luis Barragan. It doesn't mean I have to like it.
At the same time I feel more detached from Robert. Or maybe not from him, but the sense I have is that my tether to him is a little bit longer. I feel more free to be away from here for longer periods of time. I just returned from 18 days in Langley and Seattle and when I saw him for the first time when I got back he said "Oh there's my wife. I remember you. Thanks for coming to see me." Today after we had lunch together he told me he was ready to take a nap and he waved me goodbye after I tucked him in. He used to beg me to stay. I'm planning a month long visit to Whidbey this coming August/September. I want to go there more often and stay longer. I need to spend more time with my family and
So I'm not an innkeeper, though I thought I would be for awhile there. Probably just as well.
I said I would write about my last 10 months here in this post, but I don't really feel like it. I will save those stories for another blog. I hope all is well with you all. Expect another blog post soon.
