Tuesday, July 27, 2010

27 July 2010


What a wonderful gift we were given today. Doug was out at the property this afternoon, checking on things there, when he met a young couple; Nate, from Australia and his fiance, Fiorella, from Lima; both living in London. They discovered my blog, and have been following it for the last nine months! How random is that!? Doug invited them up to the house and gave them a tour. Nate and Fiorella are here on holiday...and for Nate to meet Fiorella's family as they plan on getting married in March. Once Doug told me the story of their meeting, I wanted to meet this couple. We arranged to meet them in Los Organos and share in the celebration of Peru's independence. We had a great time getting to know each other a bit and sharing stories.

Earlier in the day, Doug was on the roof helping the carpenters put the three tab roofing on. They had all of the first bungalow finished except for the top ridge. Next they will move on to the roof of the master suite. Doug has enjoyed working with these carpenters and there has been little difficulty because of language. An issue did come up during the day though, as they were careless with the plastic strips that peeled off of the shingles and allowed them to blow off in the wind. Much of the debris ended up on the beach. Our neighbor, Nathalie, told them they needed to clean up the debris. Apparantly, they were not too enthusiastic about cooperating and brushed her off. Doug arrived this afternoon and told them the same thing. Their response was, sure, in a few minutes. Doug's response...no, now. When they didn't get on it, Doug shut down their compressor so they could no longer work and sent them on to the beach. We have often been amazed at how careless Peruvians are with trash. It is nothing for them to throw plastic bottles out the window of their cars or bus. They will dump their trash at the side of the road. At its worst, there are areas where plastic bags cling to bushes along the road.

I took a picture of our storage area today because I was thinking of my piano. Here it is on its side. It has been there since February. I'm ready to move it
inside, set it up and get it playable again. There's a mountain of dust that will need to be cleaned out but with some TLC, I'm sure it will be able to give me some sweet notes soon.

Jose and Chino continue in the pool. (Do I say this every day?) The process of peeling off the paper backing and then grouting is tedious to say the least. I'm guessing it will be another week of work before it will be ready for water.

This being a holiday, most of the workers left the job tonight to return to their families and Chiclayo. They will return for work on Monday. The only ones staying behind are Raul and the four carpenters working on the roof. One of these asked us if he could bring his wife and two kids up to the job site for the holiday. He said his wife would be more than willing to cook for the four of them and give Juana a break. Juana declined the break and was looking forward to some help in the kitchen and someone to visit with while working.

The circles you see on the ground will become our BBQ/fire pit. The center circle will house the fire and the surrounding circle will be the seating.

The man who will install the granite in the kitchen and the marble in the bungalows was there today taking measurements. He told us the granite and marble should be here on Monday! This will another huge piece toward completion.

Doug and I will begin to move in tomorrow. We'll take a load from our room here at Jay's out to the house. We've asked Raul to clean the living room so we can finish unpacking the rest of the furniture there. With the exception of the screens around the roof, the two bungalows to the west are completed.

I think our biggest issue to deal with right now is power. We've been giving one quote from a solar engineer here in Peru which we think is way out of line; both in price and capacity. Doug is communicating with a company in the states who will also give us a quote. We didn't expect this to be such a hassle, but since Koki has no knowledge of solar energy, we've had to pick up the ball ourselves. That isn't so bad, as we can figure it out, but it would have been nice to know Koki wasn't going to deliver on this part a long time ago. When we were in town tonight, we ran into Darwin. He told us he thought we could get the electricity extended out to the house if we were willing to buy the poles and cable to get it there. He will explore this for us....it may be the best option even though we would love to be self-sufficient and not rely on anyone for power. Lots of options; some much more expensive than others.

I will leave for Lima tomorrow afternoon as Mandy is arriving from the US. I will meet here there, travel with her to Arequipa and then to El Nuro. We will arrive back at the house on Tuesday. Blog entries between now and then may not happen.

1 comment:

  1. I'll miss your blogs...I look forward to them every day, however we are heading to the coast for our family reunion on Sunday so will be without our computer for a week. I'll look forward to catching up when I get back and hearing what Mandy thinks of the property. You will have a great time together, I'm sure.

    The pictures didn't come through this time. Maybe they will later. I hope so; I love watching the process! I'll bet Doug is enjoying working on the roofs. It's hard to keep him still, isn't it?

    What a cool story about your new friends. The world is very small sometimes. What are the chances they would find your blog? Then, to be able to meet them, too is awesome. Fun!

    Have fun with Mandy. Give her big hugs. Have a safe trip.
    Love ya!

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