Cuenca Updates: Monday Jan 9/12

Monday Jan 9/12 update

Well I was up early to walk to the new house to meet Jorge and contractors at 9:00. It had rained but I was a little early so I walked the rest of the neighborhood to the south and east to see what is around. Within 3 blocks we have a small park in all four directions. Right in front of us we have the double walkway which has a grassy slope down to our alley/street and we often see people reclining in the shade of the trees there.

3 blocks south is the “autopista” or ring road which will also zip us over to the big Mall De Rio on the west side of Cuenca. 2 blocks east is the hospital, we think it is for government employees, and a small creek. And of course, 1 block north is the mighty Rio Tomebamba which we cross to get to the Monay Mall and the Coral store.

Jorge showed up on time soon followed by the cabinet guy and Michael Berger so we went over our desires for the pantry and island. Bella will be so excited to see that finished.

Then the electrical/plumbing fellow came and we went over some of our wants before starting on putting up light fixtures in the living room. I decided to get him to keep going and do all the fixtures but we only had enough toggle anchors that Jorge brought for 1 fixture so I ran to Coral, then 2 other ferreterias but nobody had any. So Jorge jumped in his truck to get them, and it turned out that he got them at the hardware store where we bought a few fixtures on Saturday, just above our present house.

I really don’t understand how experienced workmen show up a jobsite with no tools, none…. They expect that I am going to have the tools for them to do the job. Hello…… I did bring a lot of tools with me and have purchased more so we are in pretty good shape but it still ticks me off that I am paying these guys almost double the daily rate AND they need to use my tools. I told Michael that I am going to charge them rent for the tools.

Once we got the first fixture up we learned to ignore most of the usual mounting hardware because they don’t work in these thin plaster ceilings with no mounting boxes. Basically we would take the ceiling bezel and mark our holes and use a large drill bit to make a hole big enough to accept toggle anchor bolts. I had Jorge get 50 toggle bolts and matching washers and that is what we used throughout. He brought two larger toggle bolts that we used for the heavier dining room fixture. They hook up wires really long and use electrical tape mostly instead of the plastic joiners. This fellow and I worked all day, side by side, not understanding one another at all except by signs and pantomime but between the two of us we overcame a lot of adverse situations presented to us by the products we had bought. Can anyone explain to me how I can get 3 supposedly brand new identical fixtures from one store and two of them be missing many key components??? I bought 3 cute hanging flowery fixtures for the bedrooms and only one was complete, of which Bella is the lucky recipient. The next best is in the guest bedroom but mine is a composite of spare parts and pieces. All in all, it came out pretty good, mostly thanks to my own ingenuity. I think the other guy would still be there if he had tried to do all this on his own.

I have no idea what they would have done if I had had no tools at all. The cabinet guy better not come to mee looking for tools. I have no saws for wood yet, just a little hand saw. I have heard that cable installers have borrowed a homeowners screwdriver and pounded a hole through the concrete wall with a rock to install their wire. It was almost the same experience here, except I had a hammer too! Welcome to Ecuador.

Bella is looking to take a weaving course and get a loom. She is looking at making our own rugs for the house! You just can't keep a good crafter down!

I hope you enjoy today’s photos.

That was today’s excitement. Hugs to all.