Cuenca Updates: Tues-Weds Jan 10-11, 2012

Tuesday Jan 10/12 update

Bella did some shopping for household necessities, like bedding while I spent a very frustrating 10 hours at the house. I left home at 6:15 and basically spent the whole day watching Fred Flintstone hack away at our nice concrete walls with a small sledgehammer and chisel, then pound away at our sink with a hammer and screwdriver.

There are three things underway there, making a vent for the water heater above the front gate, extending the hot water to the washing machine, and changing to a double sink. Fred Flintstone is a hard worker but he is definitely from the stone age in methods of operation. Jorge has used him for years and trusts him but he doesn’t speak a word of English and just responds “Si” to whatever you say. I just have to step back and let them do it their way even though I could do a better job 3 times faster if I knew what to expect inside the walls.

I had researched on the internet how to drill into ceramic tile so I tackled the task of installing three vanities in the bathrooms with four anchors and screws each. I started with my own bathroom just in case I really screwed it up. Actually I did pretty good except I put it in upside down the first time. That didn’t take long to fix. The next two I did even smarter so they really took no time at all. Then I cleaned windows and floors from top to bottom while listening to the pounding of Fred Flintstone.

Jorge came by and saw that Fred was having so much trouble extracting the old sink that he called in a young fellow with brains and tools, and who spoke some English. This new fellow had the old sink out in no time then cut into the cupboards to make room for the piping and drains. I told Jorge he should use that guy more often.

At 4:30 I couldn’t take any more of the pounding and left. Bella had a super supper waiting with scrumptious brownies and that lifted my mood a lot. By 9:00 I was headed for bed, totally exhausted.

I determined that I would not go to the house until the afternoon tomorrow and give my poor body a break. I need to accompany Bella to the bank because they need my signature. Bella’s signing authority has to wait until we get our cedulas which will mean a trip to Quito very soon.

I had Skyped with my friend Sean from Beijing who has taken a teaching job in the Sunnan province because the money was good but it means being away from his family most of the time. In discussing matters he said he would not be able to read this blog, or use Facebook or YouTube as they are all blocked in China. We certainly take a lot of these privileges for granted, don’t we?

Wednesday Jan 11/12 update

I woke up at 3:30 with a pounding headache and body aches all over. I took a few drugs and laid down until Pancho decided to knead me into submission to feed him and Peso at 6:00. The cat food here has such poor nutrition that they are always at the automatic feeder. However they do love the tuna here, as Manta, Ecuador is the tuna capital of the world.

Bella and I went to the Banco Pichincha and got the draft for the ½ payment on the house so we can be ready as soon as we get word from the lawyers. We also took out some ready cash to pay for the renovations.

Then Bella went shopping for supplies while I went to the new house again, arriving about 11:00. Fred Flintstone had completed the hot water connection for the washing machine but has yet to secure the water lines to the wall. Then we went down to tackle the sink piping and secured the faucet, etc but he said he was missing a piece of the drain so off he went. This was 1:15pm. About 2:15 Jorge showed up with the type of piping Fred had gone looking for, tried to phone Fred but Fred had left his cel phone here. Jorge left.

I checked the big corner cabinet shelf which also needed a chunk cut out for the sink piping and discovered that a block of wood acting as support on the left side was only held there with tape! If we had loaded that shelf up with heavy items it would have collapsed. So I fixed that with some anchors and lag screws.

Then I saw the sink faucet gasket lying on the floor so I had to take off the faucet again and correctly install it with the the gasket in place. Sheesh!

I started to tackle little things for Bella. I found out what was wrong with her fancy new lamp switch so I fixed it with a little ingenuity, a cut up push pin, electrical tape and duct tape. It works good as new now.

Then I set up her bathroom for the telephone shower but I had to go get a short piece of pipe at the neighborhood ferreteria. The lady in the shop couldn’t understand what I wanted but he young son, about 8, found it right off. He is one bright boy.

About 4:30 I called Michael to let him know what was, or rather wasn’t, happening. He called back to say that Jorge would soon be over and that he would bring a sample of the screen he wants to use on the gate. I was waiting at the gate around 5:15 and Fred shows up with the same kind of pipe that Jorge had brought earlier. He starts to play under the sink again and now says he is missing a screw-on connector. Then he just looks at me with a resigned look and says “Manana?” (tomorrow). I nodded yes and we left at 5:30. Jorge still had not shown up.

The days are slipping by and small pieces are getting done but there is still so much to do. We are both so anxious to move in already but we really need a metal worker with a portable welder next, then a concrete/tile worker, etc, etc. Wish us luck.

That was today’s excitement. Hugs to all.