27th January 2010

This morning we went to Talara to get the 5000 kilometers service done on our truck. We dropped it off at 8:00 in the morning. Jay and Caroline came with us and so we began to wander through town.

SENASA, the Peruvian equivalent of the department of agriculture, wanted a health certificate for Stormy to be sent to them 15 days after her arrival since we didn't have the original health certificate from the U.S. The vet in Talara gave Stormy a quick once over and said he could write up a letter saying she was in good health, but the only ones who could issue a certificate of health were at the veterinarian college in Piura. We decided not to hassle with this. We seriously doubt they will ever follow up.

Then I went on a search for a new pair of glasses as I have lost my most recent pair. We stopped at a vision center and told the sales gal what I needed. She then walked me over to another office tucked back behind other shops for an eye exam. The exam cost S./15 ($5). The doctor used the typical eyechart with the giant E at the top. He also used a pair of "glasses" that fit onto my face and he could change the lens that went into each side. Once the eye exam was done, the gal from the vision center walked us back over to her shop where we proceeded to pick out frames. The exam was very inexpensive, but the glasses were not.

We then went to the market looking for an embroidery hoop. We went back to the fabric shop and the shop owner was very patient with me. I had a heck of a time describing what I wanted. I began to get frustrated and she just said, be calm, we'll figure this out. Once she understood what I wanted, she gave the spanish words for it and sent me down to the next shop. We never did find an embroidery hoop, but are still so thankful to this woman in the fabric stall.

We finally picked up the truck at 4 in the afternoon and headed home. This time we decided to take the road through Cabo Blanco to El Nuro. The beach road was impassible in Cabo Blanco itself, so we had to circle around to get to the other side of the obstruction. The hillsides were beautiful red rock formations and it turned out to be a very scenic route.

Once at the property, the brick master had built a wall of the pantry and part of the kitchen wall. The workers were also excavating the mechanical room for the pool and for the columns of the dining room.