Magnificent apartment complexes are the norm in Milenio Tres
As the weather has now progressed to warm and windy days and comfortably cool evenings, I make a point to walk every night before the sun goes down. I always grab my little Canon S100. Milenio Tres is one of several affluent areas here in Santiago de Querétaro, and new construction seems endless.
BMWs and Escalades are common, and doctors and lawyers are both the residents and speculators in this emerging Mexican upper-middle class community. New parks are being built, new restaurants opening and the new homes even forgo the electric fences over the walls, as the new perception here is that crime does not exist. Interesting as the 2nd and 3rd worlds crawl their way to equality while Europe and the US digress to a two class society.
These two establishments opened recently and the food is quite good – and two minutes from my house by foot!
Behind my house a new structure is going up, as is the case on this entire hill. Garbage and weed infested lots and being replaced by brick and stucco homes, alas, all built with no insulation at all. My brick home finally thawed out and is comfortable again.
I just consulted my tax accountant and discovered that I am stuck here until mid-May. To claim the foreign tax exclusion, one must be in a foreign country for 330 days over a one-year period. I simply made too many trips back to the US over that last year and now must remain in Mexico. I find that mildly annoying, as I had to cancel my trip home over Easter.
Yet here is a typical makeshift corrugated home (and outhouse) of the construction worker building all these structures!
But why complain? It’s beautiful here. And thankfully with the dry warm weather life has become a bit more comfortable for the hundreds of workers living in these abysmal conditions.
I have a few days off next week, as we are thankfully subject to statutory holidays here in Mexico. I will make the best of it. There’s more to come this week. The pageantry of Easter may prove visually exciting.
