Skin Cancer Scare #1; Villa Work Complete/Beach House Update; Grill Table is Here!

Tuesday morning I awoke to a WhatsApp from Oscar - he built us 4 teak pool chairs this time last year at a great price. We moved down a 22" Blackstone flat-top grill I had won at work, but we didn't have anywhere to set it. I asked Oscar if he took custom orders, and he did - so I sent my chicken-scratch rendering over. Two months later, our table arrived! It's perfect. But our grill is already rusting, even with a cover on it. Alex (Construction one) said they will not last here at all, which is a super-bummer, seeing as Nathan ALSO won a much larger flat-top grill from his work that is still in its box, likely rusting away in our bodega. Ugh.

 
Custom solid-wood table, 36" x 36" x 24", US$200

Butane is the gas down here, not propane. An empty tank at the hardware store was $125US. It is also rusting already.

I booked an appointment at San Pedro Urgent Care with their dermatologist, Dr. Jorge Lopez. He is on the island on Thursdays, and the cost to see their specialists is BZ$160 - seeing a general practitioner is BZ$69. When we were on the water taxi on Saturday, Nathan took a photo of a very sketchy looking spot on my decollete that warranted a visit quickly. SPUC was able to book me for Thursday, 10 AM. Sidebar: When I called my dermatologist in Arizona, he was booked out 3-4 months every time. The availability of care here is amazing! 

To take my mind off of things, I took some kibble to the hoarde of strays at Lina Point. All seven are still kicking, dodging storms, crocs, and carts. They are certainly getting big! They were kittens when we first arrived. A lady I know has been TNR-ing them, so hopefully the buck stops here with unwanted kittens. Now that they are bigger, we occasionally see one or two on our front porch cameras at night.

The Seven Dwarfs after their snack.

Wednesday I set up our new pantry (with the HVAC air handler out of the way, I have storage space!) and I never thought something so simple would make me so happy. 

We also had a call with Alex (Architect) to review the final floor plan and first draft of the elevations. Here is a sneak peek of the ocean-facing side:

It looks HUGE! But the first floor only has a small bodega, equipment room, and the staircase to our living floor, and the top floor has the staircase then shade from our solar panels - may as well use them for free shade! We both gave our seal of approval for Alex to move on to Construction Plans, which should be ready in the first week of January. I'm going to mock up my own electrical plan for him, the dangers of knowing too much/what I want, specifically. 

Thursday morning I went to my doctor's appointment, nervously. I say it's my "First" skin cancer scare, as pasty white women were not meant for this level of UV exposure; I am sure this won't be my last. I wear SPF 50 on my face every day, but my body..? Only on beach days, which I know is not sufficient. 

The center is exceptionally clean and modern; no one else was in the waiting room so I checked in quickly, and grabbed a photo of when specialists are in the office for future reference.

Promptly at 10 - hell, it was probably a few minutes before! - a nurse brought me back to meet Dr. Lopez, a soft-spoken man who was very kind and told me what I already knew, without nagging me - I need to wear sunscreen ALL OVER, EVERY DAY, and apply it twice a day, even if inside, since damaging rays penetrate windows. (Okay, I didn't know that part, specifically). He did a full-body scan one part at a time, and we were both thrilled to find that my odd-shaped, raised, and irritated spot was a very boring seborrheic keratosis - basically, sun damage. He urged me to also sunscreen my ears - one of the most common spots gringoes develop skin cancer down here - and the surgery for it almost always mangles your ear. He suggested CeraVe Retinol nightly to help reverse my sun damage, saying it is ridiculously expensive here, have someone mule it down or add it to a shipment (I think we all know which option I'm going to choose!). Under $22US on Amazon, I'll add that to my pending Black Friday box!

With my clean bill of health, I headed to my new favorite grocery store, Palm Market (there is no sign, I just learned the name - it's across from Capricorn). They are close to fully stocked now and have the best variety of grocery goods and very fair pricing. I even found a treasure: tomatoes that aren't bland-ass roma! All we get here are roma, the vanilla of tomatoes. I didn't even ask the price, this was "my special little treat" for going to the doctor.

I'll be making BLTs tonight as we watch the Lions/Packers game, yeah! And saving some seeds from these beauties. 

Alex (Contractor) also finished up our villa today, we have been very pleased with his communication! He did a final walk with us to ensure we were happy with his crew's work. We would recommend him for sure - Garcia's Construction.

Here is the villa when we bought it - the paint had faded considerably in the two years, and it wasn't applied well to begin with; peach (the original color) peeked through everywhere, and was fully exposed behind downspouts and other areas when the previous painter was too lazy to brush behind them. 

Here it is now.

SO toned down! The white I picked has too much blue undertone to it, I'll end up re-rolling the rails in a bright, true white so there is more contrast, and I always planned to paint the doors a dark blue so they "pop". Our front door overhang was failing - water penetrated it and the rebar was rusting out, so it was demolished and a new, longer cover was built, so it no longer cantilevers overhead, but rests on support columns. We still have to add more rock to the yard, but it's a huge improvement!

By the way - can you guess which side of the villa our septic is on...? Hahaha.

The forecast calls for rain this weekend; hopefully we get some breaks of sunshine so we can get out and have fun! Enjoy your weekend! AND APPLY YOUR SUNSCREEN ;)