Wow, today was a lazy day. We did the usual shopping trip in the morning, and then... spent time in the hammock, read a book, took a nap, took a walk, spent more time in the hammock...cooked spaghetti for dinner and am now doing our usual computer time. It was also a hot day; we plan on moving the mattress outside tonight and sleeping out under the stars. Hope the bugs don't get too bad!

Construction advances. Most of the interior and exterior walls in the storage, pantry and kitchen have been finished. The wall separating the kitchen from the dining room went up and the crew began the foundation for the final layer.








In the master bath, they were pouring the cement floor. The central part here will be covered with wood flooring and the sides will be tiled. All the walls in the master suite are also finished. It is now 7:30 in the evening and there are workers still working in the master suite using a generator for light.













The form for the jacuzzi is finished and the last part of the wall for the master suite is now in. There will be a sliding glass door connecting the master suite with the dining room.













At the end of the day, they poured these columns for the upper part of the living room. They should be able to form up the remaining columns tomorrow and could possibly begin pouring the upper beams over the weekend. What a difference having a full crew makes!

Koki will arrive tomorrow morning. He generally leaves Chiclayo around midnight and travels through the night, arriving here at about 6 a.m.

We'll need to make a decision about the location of the water tower. Originally it was located behind the master suite and the bungalows. However, when we were on site, we realized this put it in the center of Georg's view. While Georg was here, we relocated it behind the kitchen. This put it far enough east so as not to interfere with Georg's view of the coastline. However, when Georg was up at the house for Easter week, he saw the rebar towers and complained that the water tower in that location would destroy his view from the master bedroom. In actuality, it only blocks his view of the road and hillside development. I think his objection is that he can see the water tower and would prefer it located out of sight. The only way to do this is to locate it on Georg's property, not our own. After consulting with the engineers, we cannot reasonably locate the water tower anywhere except across the back of our property. Otherwise the distance to the bungalows is too far for gravity to provide enough pressure. We've tried to be accomodating to Georg's wishes, being good neighbors, but he may have to compromise on this one. Right now, we are at an impasse.

14 April 2010

The construction workers again made a lot of progress. They began the process of making the outside walls smooth with a layer of cement on both the kitchen/dining room and the master suite. Many of the workers have been smoothing out the walls inside the master suite, pantry and the storage area. They poured the floors for the storage and pantry areas today and were preparing the master suite floor for pouring tomorrow.

The wall separating the kitchen from the dining room was put in today. There will be no doors between the two, just a pass way around the wall.

The workers also poured the cement form on the far side of the jacuzzi. In the initial pictures from the CAD program, it looked liked the jacuzzi form would continue down into the studio. But as they work, it looks like the jucuzzi will be an overhang.... I'm still trying to configure my studio; where will the shelves be; etc.


Koki will be here tomorrow. It seems like we have finally lit a fire under him. The pace of the construction in the last week has increased at warp speed. We have a crew of 15 working 6 days a week. There is still soooooo much more that needs to happen, but each day we see a lot of progress.

Doug and Sanchez rebuilt the gate this afternoon. One side of the gate was simply falling apart, while the other side was separating from the cement post. Sanchez had acquired a piece of wood and was trying to figure out how to cut it into a piece that would work for the repair. Doug and I took Sanchez into town this afternoon and found a carpenter to rip it into the size piece he wanted. We then came back to the property and Doug and Sanchez went to work. Sanchez wasn't totally convinced that Doug was a carpenter, but after they got things done, he knew. Sanchez has been worried about not having a gate in place for the last several days. A local street vendor apparently came through the gate today selling his wares, which thoroughly sent Sanchez's security sensors into hyperdrive. He is so consciencious about this property. He does not want anything untoward to happen on his watch. We hope Georg knows what a treasure Sanchez is.

We have come to a point of conflict with Georg. While he was here over the Easter week, he asked about the rebar towers over the cistern. He was concerned that if the water tanks were located there, it would impede his view. During this entire project, we have been ultra careful to ensure his view was preserved as we built our home. All of the rooftops for our house are below the level of his property. The exception is the water tower. Originally it was located more toward the center of the property which definitely would have impeded his view. We consulted with him, and moved it to the east. Now that he has seen the tower, he is objecting that it obstructs his view. As we look at it, the only place that it obstucts the view is from one side of the master bedroom. The primary view is preserved. He has asked us to look at alternatives; including locating the water tanks on his property. According to the engineers, there are two viable locations for the tower. One was in the center of his view of the ocean and harbor; and we immediately rejected it. The other location is off to the east. The only thing it blocks is Georg's view of the properties along the beach; not the beach itself. The engineers tell us there are two alternatives; one is to locate the tanks at 5.2 meters which is a minimum height to deliver adequate water pressure to the bungalows. The other alternative is to raise the tower two meters. This might allow Georg to maintain a view throught the tower, and provide us with optimum water pressure. Georg has expresssed his dissatifaction with either option. Ah... the joys of construction in a neighborhood. I'm not sure how this will be resolved, but conflicts were bound to happen.

The spinach this afternoon was very fresh in the market. It came wrapped in newspaper an tied with a strand of bark from some sort of tree or palm. Wednesday is generally market day; the day that fresh produce arrives in town. When we went to our little market today, crates of fresh produce were stacked on the sidewalk. Large sacks of potatoes, yucca, camote and rice were being off-loaded. Such a fun day.

We saw a guy carrying cases of toilet paper two meters high on his shoulder as he delivered to various markets. There is an old (60's) Malibu that comes into town loaded with produce; the truck is wide open but loaded up to the top of the car with various sacks. More sacks are stacked on top of the car. He is sooooo loaded, it is amazing he can even maneuver. One of these days, I will catch him to take a picture.

Today was another big day for the construction. The floor for the dining room, and the breezeway which is 8 feet above the ground connecting it to the master suite were poured today. The first picture shows the dining room floor from the kitchen. The next is looking over toward the master suite from the kitchen. The third picture is looking back at the kitchen/dining room from the master bedroom. The walls in the master bath and bedroom are now done so they should be able to pour the floor in the next couple of days. What a difference it makes having 15 workers! The extra day helps too.

Doug and I took Peggy and Bruce to the airport in Piura so they could catch their flight to Lima. I think they enjoyed their visit here and their trip to Peru. We certainly enjoyed having them here. It would have been nice for us if Bruce could have installed more of the cabinets, but then he got some extra days of vacation!

We had another cable fail. The computer cable, one we just bought, stopped working the night before last. We had an electrician come out to the house on Saturday to check the circuits and the solar system. He didn't find anything wrong with it except he said the breakers were a cheap brand that might not trip when there was a problem. We had him replace the breakers with a better brand. We also bought a surge protector in Piura today; hopefully that will protect our stuff if the breaker doesn't. What a pain!

We went into Los Organos for Pollo a la Brasa tonight. The food is always good and after being gone all day, neither of us were in the mood for cooking. There was quite a bit of activity in the square tonight. Doug thought it because everyone was over their hangover from the weekend. Whatever, it was there were lots of people.

We've been trying to get our taxes filed. It has been a bit tricky doing everything through an intermediary and electronically. We will be electronically filing; but printing out the signature form, getting it faxed back and a hard copy mailed is a different story when you don't have access to a printer, fax and post office.

Early this morning, Doug went into Vichayito to pick up Bruce. As the crew had finished the floor in the kitchen, this was Bruce's day to install the cabinets.

Once they were back up at El Nuro, I went in and picked up Peggy. We then went to the market to pick up the groceries for the workers. It felt strange not to stop for water as well. One thing on Juana's list was one sole worth of vegetables for soup. Many vendors in the market will put an assortment of vegetable scraps and beans into a small bag for soup. Our favorite vegetable lady puts a two quart bag together of pieces of the various veggies she has for sale. She includes cabbage, squash, onion, carrot, beans, celery, leeks, peppers, broccoli, beans among other veggies. So.... for about 30 cents, you have the base for a soup.

As we came up the road toward the property, Peggy commented that she could see some of the cabinets up. Indeed, the upper cabinets along the back wall were up. Amazing. It took Bruce and Doug all day to set the cabinets in place. They were able to set the cabinets in the kitchen with the exception of the island. Their power tools ran out of power, and the generator was not strong enough to keep things going. Even so, the kitchen looks awesome. It actually looks larger now then it did without the cabinets. This will be the largest kitchen I have had in my adult life. I look at all the cabinet space and think I will never be able to fill it all. What a change from "how will I fit everything in?"

In other parts of the construction, workers finished the walls in the pantry and in the storage room. The layout for the pouring of the dining room floor and breezeway are almost done. The walls in the master bathroom were also finished today.

So much progress has been made in this last week. I looked back at the pictures taken last week and am amazed. I so appreciate Koki's push to get things done. I tease him about getting things done for my birthday at the end of April. Can't see it happening, but if they keep going the way they did this week it just might be possible.

Two more of our electronics have been fried. One of the computer cords is no longer functioning and my phone charger has quit working. The new fan we bought this week in Mancora also quit working during the night last night. We had an electrician out here on Friday, who checked all the circuits and the connections with the solar system. He thought everything was in order, except for perhaps the circuit breakers. He said the brand Georg had used were cheap and didn't always shut off the power when there was a problem. As this was all he could identify as a problem, we had him replace the breakers with a better quality brand.... one that should kick off if there is a problem. I think my phone charger preceeded this, but don't think the computer cable problem did. Frustrating... what do you do?

We have thoroughly enjoyed having Bruce and Peggy here. They are both easy people to have around. I was a bit nervous about their visit; not knowing Bruce well at all, and never having met Peggy... but it has been wonderful. We hope they will return again as they have become friends above business
contacts.

Sunday, 11 April 2010

First thing this morning, the water trucks arrived. Koki had called for a truck of potable water. He had bought the water tanks for our house and temporarily set them on the roof of the service zone. This way, the workers would have potable water and Doug and I would no longer have to haul water in from town. As it turned out, the truck didn't have a working pump, so it couldn't get water into the tanks of the roof. The workers had to haul the tank off the roof and take it down close to their camp at ground level so it could be filled.

The second water truck arrived shortly after 7. It filled our tanks so when people awoke, they could take a shower. Boy that felt good!

Doug headed into town for groceries and to pick up Bruce and Peggy. I stayed behind and did the dishes from yesterday. Amazing how many dishes eight people can go through when they are partying from 9 am to 7 at night! They were pretty gross.

Another day of the rally racing. We weren't sure of the schedule, but assumed it would be similar to yesterday's so we headed into town early enough to get back before they closed the road. Caroline and Jay did not join us today.

We spent a relatively quiet day at the house. Peggy took a long walk along the beach. Bruce and I slept in the hammocks. Doug kept watch on the workers. Koki and Roseo went down to the beach and spent much of the morning there.

The construction workers worked until noon. They finished the concrete floor in the kitchen and continued preparing for the cement pour for the dining room floor and the breezeway between the master suite and the dining room. After their lunch, they came up to Georg's and watched the rally cars go by with the rest of us. Later, they went down to the beach and took a swim.

After sunset, we headed into Mancora for dinner. We decided that this would be the night for going out. Jay and Caroline joined us. Mancora, being a huge tourist destination, has many fine restaurants. This particular one, Las Sirenas, we have found to be exceptional. Their specialty is tuna. I have never tasted tuna this good before. We always start with a couple of appetizers; a tuna tartare and another that has paper-thin slices of tuna in a yellow pepper sauce. Even Bruce, who said he could never eat raw fish, thought it was great. I had a slow roasted baby goat dish that was fabulous. Most everyone else had the fish of the day, grouper, which they said was fabulous as well. Las Sirenas has become one of our favorite restaurants.

After dinner, we dropped Koki and Roseo at the bus station for their trip home. Both were very tired.... hopefully they got some sleep on the trip 6 hour trip home. Roseo said she would get home just in time to get her older daughter up and off to school. I'm sure this was a long weekend for them, and they were both tired, but I am so thankful they were here. We got a chance to get to know Koki and Roseo better.

Saturday 10 April 2010

We got up this morning for a full day and had no water. What a surprise! Usually the water tanks last us a month and it wasn't much more the two weeks ago we filled them. It wasn't until later I remembered that George had a houseful during Easter week. They must have used a lot of water. The only water we had access to was water Sanchez uses for irrigation; water we could use for washing, but definitely not for drinking or cooking. He brought us a five gallon bucket and set it in the kitchen. We also have a 5 gallon jug of potable water from which to drink. But... no water for toilets, showers, dishes.... and several house guests. Mmm.

Today was the first day of the rally car races out of Los Organos. The race route was to come down our road from Cabo Blanco to the south to El Nuro. To me, this seemed like a rather remote route, but I guess that's what rally car racing is about; finding difficult roads and traveling them as fast as you can.

First thing in the morning, we went into town for the groceries. We had heard the road would be closed to all traffic after 10 am. so we wanted to be sure to be back at the house by then. We picked up Peggy and Bruce, and Caroline and Jay in Vichayito. We planned on watching the rally car race and cooking up the fish the guys caught on their excursion yesterday. Koki had invited his wife to come up and she took the bus from Chiclayo to join us.

The races started at 2 in the afternoon. A car with a siren was sent over the course first to be sure it was clear. Then a car came racing by every minute or so. The starts are staggered, and the drivers race against the clock. There are two people in the car; a driver and a navigator. All together they might have been twenty-five cars. Some of them really seemed to be pushing the limits; sliding a bit in the corners and engine screaming as they took off down the road. Others were traveling fast, but seemed to be playing it cautious.

During all of this, the construction continued. The carpenter started laying OSB over the roof structure. Having that in place really made the place start looking like a house. Other workers were continuing to prepare for the pouring of the breezeway between the master suite and the kitchen/dining room. In total, there was a crew of 15 in place.

Koki also contracted with Juana, the cook, to cook for the crew for the next four Sundays. The crew had agreed to work half days on Sunday to try to get caught up. We still don't really have a schedule, but I think Koki realized he was behind when Bruce indeed showed up to install cabinets, and things weren't ready for him. We talked with Koki for quite some time yesterday about the delays; the slowness of the project. We know it has been difficult to find reliable workers that Koki has confidence in to come out here to work in the heat and the remote-ness. The rains in other parts of Peru have made getting materials difficult. But, we were feeling like the construction could last forever, with no end in sight. The push this weekend in the construction work was amazing.

Everyone stayed until after dark. Doug took Peggy, Bruce, Caroline and Jay back to Vichayito and I stayed here with Koki and his wife. Roseo doesn't speak any English so I'm sure it was difficult for her to understand all that was going on. Once everyone left, the three of us sat down along the wall and talked... in Spanish. We ended up talking until well after midnight. It was a great day with good friends.

No one complained about not having water, although we joked a lot about it. I filled a laundry tub with the irrigation water and just set all the dishes into it so at least they would be soaking. The water truck was all set to deliver today, but because of the rally races, couldn't ever get down our road to actually deliver.

This picture is of Koki and his wife Roseo.

Oops....don't know what happened...but the blog disappeared and I couldn't get back to it to finish it...so...another try.

Peggy and Bruce enjoyed the sunset with Stormy. They have both taken to her and seem to enjoy her a lot. She enjoys them and all the extra attention.

Notice in this picture Koki telling me to get out of the way! I wanted to get some pictures of what was going on, but since there was so much activity centered in the kitchen, it was hard to get a shot without being in the midst.

Tomorrow promises to be a good day. Koki's wife, Roseo will arrive. Bruce and Peggy as well as Jay and Caroline will be up here at the house for the Rally Races. I'm not entirely sure what these races are, but there are numerous race cars gathering in Los Organos and the route is supposed to go right in front of our property! We met one car owner today; he was a lawyer from Lima wearing a "United We Stand" T-shirt with an American flag. He told us he had spent a year at Yale....except when he said it, is sounded like a year in jail.