Through Mexican Eyes

On Monday we had Norma, la arquitecta, came over to talk about our kitchen remodeling project. She was all business as we said we want to do this, we want to do that.....this and thats like taking all the rustica aplanada finish off of the walls so that we can put a smoother finish on and chipping out all of the concrete of the kitchen counters. But when we said we were going to get a new stove and refrigerator, her "okay" changed to "Oh!" We knew she was surprised that we would get rid of a perfectly good stove and refrigerator. No matter that the stove didn't have a broiler or the oven wasn't sealed very well and didn't cook evenly. No matter that the refrigerator was only 9 cubic feet of space (including the freezer.)

On Tuesday Norma brought over a maestro to get a price on the destruction that would have to be done before we could do the renovation. I wasn't here but Ned said he saw the same "surprise." Why in the world would we want to take off the aplanado or take out a kitchen that looked good to him.

I don't doubt that some Mexican dinner table conversations are going to be about those crazy gringos who throw out things that work and tear out perfectly good kitchens to redo them.