The Castle at night

I love living in the castle. It really makes me want to get on with my life and build my own castle at the farm. Even though it's hot and buggy here, sometimes the beauty is just almost crushing.

The Tower

My landlord is a Swiss named Billy. He designed and built the castle. When I first met him, he walked through the castle with me and showed me the spiral stairs that lead up to my floor from the tower. He explained that there is no rail and no center because he wanted to achieve a symmetric aesthetic, like a caracol. I can dig it. He also said, "Don't worry about falling - just keep to the sides."
Before Belly the Swiss got around to installing lights in the tower, it was pretty iffy at night and I had to stick to the walls.
Now the castle is illuminated and I get to enjoy the aesthetics.

Castle Livin in Mexico

I really do live in a castle. It houses a laundry on the ground floor with a few apartments above. It has a real tower with spiral stairs and I have a balcony overlooking the river. Now, what can I complain about....?
There is a bug problem. Not roaches or anything nasty. Well, all of Tuxtepec has ant problems. They get everywhere and they carry away dead bugs and bits of food and all, but sometimes they get too concentrated and I have to combat them. The castle has its share. But the bug problem that is the most annoying is the flying bug problem. At night, my apartment lights attract all kinds of bugs from all around. There are no screens on the windows - and the way they're made, it's impossible to screen them- so the bugs aim for the lights inside and they get pretty thick around the ceiling. It makes having dinner parties difficult. When it's just me, I leave the balcony lights on and keep the inside lights off, but it gets dark like that.
I haven't found a satisfactory solution. Leaving the balcony lights on does seem to help a little, and keeping the doors and windows shut helps a LOT.
But Tuxtepec is the hottest city in Mexico and it won't be possible much longer to keep the doors and windows shut. You need air flow here.
So I guess I should just prepare to be invaded by insects and try to ignore it.
It's weird. They flock thickly to the lights at night, but in the mornings they are completely gone.
This is so far the only complaint about the place that I can find.
Well, except for the 3 floor hike up the tower stairs. And the lack of hot water showers - but nowhere in Tuxtepec has hot water, so that's not a legitimate complaint, I guess.
Anyway, the castle is totally covet-worthy as a place to live. I am the envy of the English department and I KNOW how lucky I am to have found the place. For 1500 pesos/month I know I have the deal of the century here :)