06 September

We met Luis for breakfast and discussed our options concerning the maestro and the architect. Luis recommended the maestro as we knew his work to be good and he would probably be less expensive. We shared our concerns about the lack of eye contact. Luis thought this was a matter of respect; but we didn't buy it. Perhaps he knew we didn't speak the language well and so chose to deal with Luis.
We met with the maestro first and he gave us a price that was double what we had expected; and it didn't include the roof or the materials. We were a bit shell shocked by this as we thought this would be our cheapest option.
We then went to the architect's office to meet with him. He laid things out for us in terms of what needed to happen and in what order, time frames, and what his package included. Once again, the price was considerably higher than we had anticipated. Coqui, the architect, was very thorough and we liked the way he interacted with us. The best thing about Coqui's proposal was that he took care of everything.; all the materials for construction, the crew, their lodging during construction and hiring other contractors. When he is finished to our satisfaction, all we will have to do is move in. At this point, we decided to go ahead with the ground samples, topographical study and leveling of the land.
We then drove on to El Nuro and arrived at Georg's house about 7:30. Sanchez, the caretaker, opened the gate for us and let us into the house. He made our bed and welcomed us. The electricity only lasted about half an hour; then we depended on flashlights and candles to get settled in for the night. The master bathroom toilet was not functioning, but the other bathroom was. Not all the faucets delivered water and the stove and refrigerator were not functioning. The only temperature of water was cold. So rustic indeed!