“No need to worry William”

The only thing that makes Joanne happier than shoe shopping is looking at plants.

It’s Monday and we should leave Zihuatanejo tomorrow. Our plan is to drive to Taxco and spend the night and from there it is only about three and a half hours to Mexico City Airport. We have done this drive before and it is on good roads with no mountains. The only problem with this plan is that we have no idea what is happening with the land purchase. “No need to worry William” our lawyer tells me. He assures us that he will take care of everything and that there is no reason for me to be here until closing in 60 to 90 days. We just have to make sure that the minor changes that we have made to the contract are OK with the seller. This requires a few trips between offices. There seems to be one problema, the seller wants to have the property evaluate at a low price to save capital gains tax. This is essentially passing the tax onto us as we would have to pay it when we sell the property. All the books and articles that I have read state clearly that you should not do this and I have stated clearly that we will not do this. Now we wait again, the seller will be in Zihuatanejo at the end of February to meet with the Notario (powerful government lawyer) to try and solve his tax problems without assessing the land at a low level.
We arrived in Zihuatanejo and booked our apartment for one night and we have been here for 29 nights. Tonight is our last night and we are getting together with Bev, Pete, Neil and Halina to say goodbye.

It is very sad to leave. We have made good friends, had fun, and hopefully accomplished what we came to Mexico to do - "search for a vacation property in a warm climate that is a "unique fixer upper opportunity".