31 March 2010

It rained all of last night and into the early afternoon. The rain wasn't the drenching kind you get in Oregon, although this would've gotten you wet. It was a steady shower. When we left Jay's this morning, we found out have messy things can get with the rain. The usual route out of Vichayito, past El Refugio and then onto the Pan American Hwy was impassable. There are a couple of short but steep hills and even with the four wheel drive we couldn't manage. We then back tracked and went into Mancora on the old highway. Once in Mancora, we were able to take the PanAm Hwy to Los Organos for the shopping and then on to El Nuro. The road out to El Nuro was dodgy in spots; slippery and thick mud. We were able to make it out to the property though. I can see how with a bit more rain, even that road would be impassable. The dirt here has a very high concentration of clay.

Once out at the property, we found five workers hard at it. With this being Ash Wednesday, it wasn't surprising that more workers didn't return. It sucks though as we are up against a deadline. It was a bit iffy before Easter week hit, and now it seems very unlikely. These pictures show them working on the kitchen; forming the upper columns. They have also filled in behind the wall with dirt, and so should be close to ready to do the floor in the kitchen. According to Koki, the roof materials arrive tomorrow. However, if we don't have more workers, it just isn't going to get done.

Martin didn't show up again today. Not really surprised, but it's very frustrating. Doug is especially pissed of because he vouched for Martin with Koki based on other work he had done for Georg. I tried to tell Martin how he was making Doug look bad because he wasn't following through, and I think my Spanish was strong enough to get this sentiment across. I don't know that it made any difference though.

Last night was very hot. The wind died and there was just no circulation. We started our fan and it felt soo good but it quit after about ten minutes. I unplugged it and waited a few minutes and tried it again. The same thing; it started and felt good, then stopped. Needless to say, the fan isn't fixed. I ended up taking two cold showers during the night, but still didn't sleep very well. When we went into town today, I stopped in one of the local shops where the owner repairs refrigerators and air conditioners. I asked him if he could fix the motor on the fan, and he thought he could. He will get the fan tomorrow! Meanwhile, we snitched a fan out of Jay's kitchen for the night.

I became a great aunt today. My nephew became the proud, or should I say PROUD, father of Arthur George Elles this morning. Chris and Lisa will be such good parents! Anxious to see how thing go and so thankful everyone is healthy.

We watched the movie Avatar on the computer tonight after dinner. It was incredibly and wildly different than movies Doug and I usually watch, but we both enjoyed it. Actually, Doug and I don't often watch movies. This is a movie Jay gave us to watch a long time ago....we just now got around to watching it. That's mostly because we haven't had electricity for any great length of time to be able to devote the connected time to anything other than e-mail, Facebook and our blog.