We have a large and fairly useless construct in our bathroom. It's kind of a large, tile box - with faucets. I think it's supposed to be a bathtub, but it is rather useless. There is a small pipe set into the tile that drains into the shower. I haven't yet been able to figure a way to adequately plug it. Even if I did, with our gravity-fed water, it would take 5 days to fill the ginormous thing.

Today is the one year anniversary of our border crossing into Mexico and the start of our new life. We celebrated it by going to migracion to finish the renewal of our FM-3s. Yes, we just took our final proof that we had registered with Hacienda to pay taxes 9 days ago. It took us so long to get our working permission, that we only had 9 days of sweet, blessed legalness before we had to reapply.

When Chuck and I were contemplating our move to Mazatlan, we knew we were going to be working. Let's face it, we're in our low-to-mid 30's. We haven't worked long enough to build up the kind of nest egg necessary to retire. We have an online computer components store, and I have US clients for my web development business, but we knew that if we wanted our house with a view and to go out to eat whenever we wanted and a maid and all the other little things that make life great, we were going to need to generate some additional income.

One of the best parts of a vacation in Mazatlan is eating your way through the bounty of fresh, wonderful seafood and fish available here. First and foremost is the shrimp. Mazatlan is the shrimp capitol of the world. There are more ways to prepare shrimp here than I ever imagined possible. You could stay here a month and not eat shrimp the same way twice. But you shouldn't overlook the other wonderful options: scallops, lobster, oysters, clams, conch...all fresh and yummy.

If you are going to drive into Mexico, there is one very important thing you need to know: how to get gas. Unless you are from Oregon or New Jersey, you are probably used to pumping your own gas. Here in Mexico, your gas is always pumped for you, which means you need to be able to tell the gas station attendant what kind of gas you want and how much.