Seeking Wisdom and Advice re cement

though crazy expensive now, I might suggest from experience avoiding a lot of wood in your structures, even parota which is beautiful and durable, but takes a beating in the subtropics and to look good may require annual treatment with some type of expensive product. Cement, far from perfect, if mixed correctly and then sealed prior to first painting, has a pretty good shelf life in Zihua,

Make your house beautiful from the inside and a fortress on the outside.

Awesome insight. Many thanks!

Rob is not a big fan of the faux cobblestone streets and sidewalks downtown. However, they do hold up well, especially when the streets turn to rivers during the rainy season.

Our first home built of brick and cement by my wife's parents was built in the early 50's when cement and many other building materials were still brought by ship from Acapulco. While it's taken a beating from earthquakes and hurricanes, it still stands strong. Our new home is also built of brick and cement, and we feel even safer in it since now we don't have to deal with flooding issues except when I allowed too much water into our cistern before we put an automatic switch on the pump.

The faux brick with its red tint was just a way for politicians to drive up the cost of paving downtown streets so they had more money to skim from. It's extremely noisy compared to flat cement roads. And it looks phony. When we have so many talented people who know how to lay adoquín and real paving stones, it doesn't make sense to use faux brick. Ixtapa's oldest neighborhoods have adoquín roads that require minimal maintenance, and I think they look great. Like our downtown streets, they aren't built for speed, but they drain well. Ixtapa actually has streets with visible drainage systems, something no streets in Zihuatanejo have apart from the infrequent metal grills crossing a very few downtown streets, though I wouldn't doubt they show up in the budgets.