One day our neighbor Sebastián informed us that a boundary stone between our properties had moved due to the dirt becoming softened by the rain. He said "a man" was coming to help reinstall the rock, and we could be there if we wanted. So we showed up at the appointed time, on a back corner of our property, and found out that "the man" was another neighbor Tomás whose land border was also defined by this rock. It is common here to be vague about who people are, probably since neighbors often get angry with each other over things like this. The two men took turns digging with a heavy, pointed metal rod, inserted a new, bigger rock, asked us to measure and be sure we were content with its location, and then filled in around the rock with dirt again. I (Heather-Erica) took the following photo surreptitiously, since they didn't seem to want the process documented!
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| Tomás is digging to reset a boundary stone. Watching are Sebastián, his wife Micaela, and their two sons José and Eduardo |
The neighbor who had invited us to this event, Sebastián, had previously asked us for permission to concrete in that back corner of our land (outside our fence) with a short concrete path allowing him better access to his house, and we gave him permission. During the rock-burying process, we pointed out that the new rock's height was too low, since the two men said they wanted it to show through the concrete. They seemed content with its height though, so in the end we left them to figure it out. Later we saw that a new small rock had been placed in the concrete pad above the rock they buried, so all turned out well.
We have hired Sebastián and his family to be house-sitters and take care of our dog Lucy during our last two trips to the U.S. Fortunately, it has gone well, and we are glad to have them as neighbors. Tomás has also been a good neighbor, and we will always be grateful to him for being willing to sell us the edge of his land for our driveway.