There is Something About Ruins

I love ruins, and the beauty that often comes with deferred maintenance

When I worked as an inspector, I wrote "deferred maintenance" in my reports as critical items to repair, especially when life-safety was involved—trip hazards and the like. But as a tourist, I am compelled to take pictures of the finest examples of deferred maintenance in the world.

Here are the beautiful ruins of the original ingenio—sugar mill and residence—near Tamasula, in Jalisco, Mexico.

(A mural of the original building)

Jalisco is where Coca-Cola gets it’s sugar for the U.S. and Mexico markets, and where pure cane alcohol is made.*

*The locals mix the alcohol with fresh, raw cow's milk on Sunday morning, early, before church, in a ritual known as “el pajarete.”

The lady pictured is my wife, Martina, who is making me this frothy Sunday cocktail.

​¡Salud!

— Fernando Pagés Ruiz is ProTradeCraft's Latin America Editor. He is currently building a business in Ecuador and a house in Mexico. Formerly, he was a builder in the Great Plains and mountain states. He is author of Building an Affordable House and Affordable Remodel (Taunton Press).