Brown out in Ajijic centro

I agree with Bob. And when I put my system in, what I looked at was my return on investment time. And I'm doing very well.

When the power went off at about 5 PM today, here in upper Ajijic, what I liked best about my solar powered battery backup system is that the only reason I knew the power had gone out was because a short beep. And then from a phone call from my next door neighbor asking if my power had gone out at my house as well.

Yeah it flickered off a couple of times down in centro. All is good for now.

I think a pool adds more value to RE around here than solar does. It was on my list. I know others looking for places with a pool and at least one who is now going to put one in. Nobody talks about solar as a prerequisite.

Just curious as to how many of those people who want pools have previously had pools?
For me...never again. Too high a cost to maintain...and that includes the electricity to run the pool pump....unless you have solar heating/cooling and solar electricity to offset the cost. ;)

For me it is not a question of cost but I do not see the point having a pool that I never use..
When I came down  I looked for a house without a pool as I did not want one, we had a huge solar one in California and rarely used it..I said no more. unfortunately the house and garden I like came with a pool and I bought it and do not use it..
Now if I sell this house one day I will make sure I do not get a pool, I am thinking of making it into a fish pond, at least I could enjoy seeing the fish swim.

The old joke is that, at a certain age, one should hesitate to buy green bananas or items which have a lengthy payback schedule.  Nonetheless, we put in a solar system at just about the time the costs for them went down, and it has already justified the expense in much lower utility bills.

IMO, a swimming pool is nice IF people use it regularly.  I know a number of people who have one.......and it just sits there unused most of the time, eating maintenance costs.

This true. One either wants a pool or not. Easy to fill in if you don't want it there but can be very difficult and expensive to put in after the fact. Our pool is solar heated and costs about $100 CDN per month for electricity and maintenance (including the pool guy). We don't use ours a whole lot but it is a nice ambience for sitting around and enjoying your afternoon Margarita. Our guests use it more.

out pool is on a separate meter on a different lot and never cost us more than 120 pesos a month and the gardener who is here everyday takes care of it so the cost is irrelevant.
I do not like having a pool as we have many children staying with us and it is dangerous . The first thing we teach the kids as they get older is how to swim so that oart is good but to me it is the only plus.
Since Bob got dengue last week, the day of hanging out around the pool are over never mind the off..Most people we know do not use their pool and it was the same in Northern California.

Brigitte, so sorry to hear about the dengue. I hear it is terrible. I saw two trucks go into San Juan Cosala this past week with fog sprayers, most likely for mosquitoes. Was glad to see the trucks as a young girl died of dengue in SJC a few years back.

Protect yourself it is nasty and many many people have it right now.

The trucks were running around Six corners spraying lately also according to my friends in the hood.

Z

We live in that area and there is lots of it in the area. Good luck to everyone..

Funny, we just had this discussion about the sprayers at brunch today.
The chemicals that they are using are nasty and in SJC they are demanding to spray inside some people's houses...and the spray is making them sick too. It is an especially bad reaction if you have sensitive skin or allergies. Please be careful.

simpsca wrote:Brigitte, so sorry to hear about the dengue. I hear it is terrible. I saw two trucks go into San Juan Cosala this past week with fog sprayers, most likely for mosquitoes. Was glad to see the trucks as a young girl died of dengue in SJC a few years back.

I've had dengue twice, while working in Indonesia and El Salvador.  Not to mention malaria.  Breakbone fever is what dengue is often called in English, because, clearly, your bones feel as if they are going to break.  It hurts to open your eyes, close your eyes, lift your head, move...frankly awful.  

And it tends to be worse with subsequent outbreaks.  There's frequently but not always a rash.....and a period of fatigue and depression can follow active dengue.  And even more important is that the tiger mosquito bites in the day time, from sunrise to sundown.  Night mosquitos fo NOT carry dengue.  If you are concerned about Aedes aegypti (tiger) wear your repellant all day and night.

Just as an aside, the cost of batteries are coming down rapidly. A lot depends on where you live. In the Haciendas we had on average one outage a month. We have fewer in Brisas but more than you guys seem to get in Ajijic.

Who interviewed the Mexican Tiger Mosquito to determine that they only bite during the day?

sir wrote:Who interviewed the Mexican Tiger Mosquito to determine that they only bite during the day?

I do believe it's by scientific observation... from the CDC in 2012
http://www.cdc.gov/dengue/resources/30jan2012/albopictusfactsheet.pdf

Yes I believe they are day mosquitoes for the 3: dengue, Chikungunya and Zika,,
With the dengue my husband also had extremely low blood pressure and was too weak to get up from a chair without help or to get out of bed. He  also got dehydrated.
He did not get the rash..but a friend of mine from Guadalajara who just got over dengue as well, got it..
It is a nasty thing.. he thought he had to go to the dentist as he had a tooth ache but it was just the dengue.

The doctor told him to stay hydrated and not to take aspirin. it went away in a week.

sir wrote:Who interviewed the Mexican Tiger Mosquito to determine that they only bite during the day?

I'm assuming you're just being...I hope...humorous.  Having managed relief and development programs for thirty years, living in 13 countries along with consultancies in at least seven others - primarily tropical - with large clinical med components, EMT projects, education and training etc. and having had the dreaded dengue, I sure hope I know what I'm talking about.  Mexican, Cambodian, Central American, African ....whatever,  a tiger mosquito is a tiger mosquito and virtually the same.  And they pretty much only bite in the day time. The other statements above are absolutely correct.