Mañana

When we moved here we were told by long time residents we met that Santa Fe has a culture of mañana. No hurry. Not today. 

It was said with a sense of pride; this is a laid back, easygoing, friendly town. It's a town that lives a lot in its past, very proud of its complex and colorful history. Life here is unrushed, perfect for retirees like us. 

But it was also said as a caution, with some resignation. Things just don't get done here. Don't expect it.

That has not been our experience in any way. In my last post I mentioned all the extensive repairs and upgrades we've made to the house, and every single contractor, landscaper, handyman and remodeler -- every last one -- has been prompt, on time, works steadily and long hours, and gets our jobs done efficiently. 

Over four years every single one has responded to my initial inquiries right away, I've never had an unreturned call. Every workman has been polite and clean. They show up when they say and don't leave a job til it's finished.

In Connecticut the bane of homeownership was trying to find anyone for home repairs or landscaping jobs. Unreturned calls were the norm, it took months of followups to get anyone to respond that they weren't interested. If we did find someone to work on a project, they'd do some work then stop showing up. It was so frustrating. 

I just thought that's how contractors worked, and you had to put up with it. My experience here has been so eye opening.

Where resignation does come in is with city responses. Nothing ever gets done if the city is responsible. But that, I believe, is not the culture of our community, it's lack of funds. This is a very, very small city trying to live larger. It's only 80,000 people, but attracts tourists that need lots of infrastructure. There is never enough city staff to respond to maintenance issues, or get them done. That's frustrating and everyone complains.

But my experience with homeowner projects is completely different. Work gets done right away, no delays, no interruptions. You call, they show up. 

To me, the culture of mañana doesn't mean "someday", it means "si, mañana, I'll be there tomorrow, you need me sooner?"