South bound Couple drawn to other cultures, flora and fauna in their hunt for a new home

Oliver Payne and Abbe Anderson of Kennebunk have spent the past few winters searching for a warmer home in Mexico and the American Southwest. This is the second of two articles about their travels last winter with their yellow labrador retriever, Buster. We rejoin them in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico.

After a week in San Miguel, Mexico, we looked seriously at real estate. Rancho Los Labradores, a development named after the developer’s labrador retrievers, intrigued us. Buster seemed right at home with the dogs and the horses, chickens and burro, but we decided that we really wanted to be in San Miguel, not 10 miles from town. We quickly learned that in town, however, real estate had already become pricey.

Our next contender was San Cristobal de las Casas, at 7,000 feet in the lush mountains of Chiapas. Along the road approaching the southern Mexican town, indigenous Mayan women walked in traditionally embroidered blouses, carrying their babies or bundles of firewood. At our hostel, facing a pretty church plaza, the other guests were Italian, German, French and Quebecois. The language at breakfast varied depending on the exact mix. Even Buster had to adjust: an Italian called him “Lupo” after his German shepherd at home.

We liked the ambiance and manageable size of San Cristobal, so we toured a few properties. The owner of our hostel said he knew the perfect house for sale, one he had rented. He was mortified when we walked in to find that subsequent renters had trashed the place. We did see properties we liked, but felt it was just too far from Maine.

Bound for the Pine Tree State, we were searched at a Mexican military checkpoint at the Mexico-U.S. border. A soldier in camouflage asked us to vacate our van. After checking the front, he noticed Buster, and timidly asked if he might bite. Buster reassured the officer by licking his face, and the inspection quickly ended.

After a long drive to Big Bend National Park in Texas, Buster was antsy. Abbe, against Park policy, let him run free. He soon started barking, having come face to face with a javelina, a dangerous wild pig. A woman grabbed her camera, and was disappointed when Abbe ruined her photo op by rescuing Buster.

We liked the sunny climate of west Texas and visited a few of the towns, including Marfa, where the movie “Giant” was filmed. Featuring a ’30s hotel, more art galleries than feed stores, and a great bookstore, Marfa is touted by real estate agents as the next Santa Fe.

But we felt most at home in Silver City, N. M., which we’d visited last year. We settled into the Drifter Motel for a night … which quickly became a week.

“Silver” is a funky small town at the edge of the Gila National Forest. About 1 mile high, it gets dustings of snow, and isn’t too hot in the summer.

The population includes aging miners, old Mexican families and newcomer artists, retirees and outdoor enthusiasts.

The historic downtown has a state university, food co-op, a few galleries and cafes. Other attractions for us are spiritual: a Unitarian church, a Sufi retreat center in a beautiful nearby canyon, and a group who gather for American Indian sweats.

Over lunch one day, a friend of a friend gave us his perspective on local real estate and politics. It turned out that he wanted to split a parcel of land downtown. We soon decided we would be compatible neighbors, and agreed to buy half the land.

We’re excited about starting on a small adobe house in Silver City this winter. But it was a bit sad to sell our VW camper van, and we’ll miss the traveling we’ve done over the past few years.

Perhaps we’ll get the itch to do it again, now that we’ve learned how

easy it can be to feel at home on the

road … especially with Buster on the back seat.

Oliver Payne can be reached at 0ep@gwi.net.