06 November

This was a lazy morning for me. Giordy came for Doug's spanish lesson this morning at 8:00. I finished my breakfast and disappeared into the bedroom to let them do their thing. I studied a bit of spanish myself and the fell asleep. I slept hard until noon!

Here is our pick-up. It has been sooooo nice to have our own transportation! It definitely gives us another layer of freedom. It also complicates our life; insurance, services, diesel..... It's a choice we make for the convenience it offers.

This afternoon we met with Lupe and her husband Franco. We first met Lupe when Mandy, Elena and I came to Mancora and stayed at Samana Chakra, a hotel known for its offering of yoga. Lupe was working as a servant there; serving dinners, cooking and cleaning the guest rooms. We really enjoyed her personality and her radiant smile and have always made a point of greeting her when we were in town. About six months ago, she asked me if she could work for us when built our home here. Over the last six months we have communicated numerous times over the internet. She has not been very happy with the administration at Samana Chakra and wants a different position. So today, we talked about why she wanted to work for us, what her expectations were, her compensation and responsibilities. It is common to employ a house maid for S/.600 (a bit more than $200) a month. We asked her and her husband to make a list of what they would like in terms of compensation and benefits. We'll negotiate from there.

I feel a bit awkward in negotiating with Lupe without letting our friend Lucia, the administrator of Samana Chakra, knowing what is going on. For various reasons, Lupe doesn't trust Lucia, and I would bet the feeling is mutual. However, the owner of Samana Chakra really like Lupe and she makes the final decisions. I also talked with Lupe about the fact that up until this point in time, we have been friends. Once we employ her, the relationship changes a bit and she will have to take orders from me. Most advise columns would tell me not to hire her and avoid any possible problems in the future. Maybe so. We still have some thinking to do.

This evening we fixed up a huge batch of calamari. We found out that in order to keep the calamari soft and not chewy was to cook it on high heat for only two minutes. Otherwise, you need to cook it for over 30 minutes for it to soften up again. Next.....octopus. Anyone know any good recipes for octopus? I find it interesting that a search on the internet yields many italian recipes for octopus.

We also received the final plans for our house tonight; structural, and electical details. We are only missing the sanitation; water and sewer plans. Another step closer.