Moving Day

The container arrived in El Nuro this morning about 7:45 am. The driver called us so we could meet him and take him up to the property. We had not expected them to arrive until 9:00; a Peruvian...early?

The truck and trailer had a bit of a problem coming through the gate, but after a couple of tries, they were in. They came up the road and then had to figure out how to get turned around and backed up a driveway to get as close as possible to the service area where it was going to be stored. This took much more than a couple of tries, but the driver didn't quit and finally made it up about halfway.

Everything would have to get carried from there. There were two movers from the company in Lima, the driver and a recruit they had picked up along the way. They soon hired Sanchez to help as well.

They opened the container and went to work unloading. They were supposed to unload, and unpack everything but since we were only storing stuff, they didn't do this. After a few loads, I insisted they open packages up so we could inspect it. They still weren't too interested in doing so, so I borrowed a box knife from Sanchez and started opening things myself. Any package or box that had any damage on the outside, we unwrapped completely and checked. When all was said and done, we had one table joint break, some gouges on the corners of the dining room table, a split in one of the legs to the table and another crack in one of the chairs. I also think the heat of the container as it sat in storage yards, was too much for the finish on the table and chairs as there was some bubbling and peeling of the finish.

Everything should be relatively easy to fix structurally. The table and chairs may need refinishing...time will tell.

This eventually will be the maid's quarters. For now, it is storage. All of our household goods went in here except for a couple of mattresses. The room just to the left will be the battery storage room for the solar panels. Right now it houses all the cabinets for the house and guest bungalows.

My mother's kitchen clock which was made in about 1890 was unpacked during the custom inspection. Doug was there for the inspection and felt the workers weren't very gentle in inspecting and repacking it. It came through without problems thanks to the original packers who did a great job. We check it out, all was well so we returned it to its box and stacked it on top. A few minutes later, I heard the chime go off on the clock. It chimed 12 times, and it was quite close to that time.







How many Peruvians does it take to move a piano? The original four movers spent some time inside the container trying to figure out how they were going to accomplish this feat. The piano had been strapped to the side of the container on its side, which is the usual position for moving a grand piano. The decided they would take to long poles, lay them on the floor of the container and lay the piano on the poles horizontally. They were careful to be sure there was enough cardboard and wrapping to protect it. But when they started piling cardboard and packing material at the bottom of an 8 foot ramp and talked about pushing the piano out the door, I started to get a bit antsy! It was at this point Doug asked some of the construction workers to help. No problem, four of them came at our request. As it turned out, they did push it out the door and down the ramp, but five of them were there to ensure a gentle landing.