Saturday Jan 21/12 update
Good morning. Pancho
came to join me at 3:30am as he has
been wont to do all week and we had just settled down again when some asshole
was playing a radio outside. The bloody
nerve of the guy on a Saturday morning!
It took me a full 4 minutes to realize the asshole was me and it was
already 5am. It is a good thing I set the alarm or who
knows how long I would have dozed, although the roosters start then
anyway. We are looking forward to the
quieter area where we are headed.
Our condolences and prayers go out to our friend, Sean
Koopmans of Beijing, and all his
family in Canada
in the loss of his mother, June. Sean
had kindly sent us the obit last night.
Well my four cups of coffee should get my feet moving. Off to the new house I go.
The morning fog is breathtaking on the surrounding mountain
tops and the streets are deathly quiet.
I hope my photos turn out OK.
Vicente and Italo are here at 7:10
to put in the glass blocks and the finishing grout. I can’t wait to see this finished. It will be a work of art, especially when
that beautiful wood door is installed.
The concrete takes eight days to cure totally so they have to wait until
around next Thursday to install the door which is solid hardwood and so heavy I
can barely carry it.
The workers throw all scraps of cement, blocks, ceramics out
into the dirt street and nobody seems to mind.
I have been going out to pick up any nails though. I would hate for the neighbors to blame me
for flat tires. I just went out and
tried to spread around some of the broken ceramics and cut myself in three
places. My hands are so swollen and cut
up they sure can use a break from all this work. Clumsy insurance broker’s soft hands weren’t
meant for this.
The cabinet guys are now here and working to finish the
island and pantry then the granite contractor just showed up. I am told the matching granite counter for
the island is a special quality (even though I personally think it looks like
gravestones) and they can’t get it until Monday. Thank God they don’t have to do any grinding
here in the kitchen.
Jorge and son Matteo showed up. Jorge has to get us a small garbage shelf
made for the outside. I have seen the
garbage guys twice around 5pm on
Thursdays, so we are probably on a Tuesday –Thursday rotation. Their garbage trucks have 3-4 guys who run
out to collect the garbage from our shelves and from any public garbage
receptacles. They are very quick and
efficient, and it makes work for more people.
They also have city workers who do nothing but pick up garbage on the
streets to keep the city beautiful.
The cabinet guys spent two hours just straightening the
pantry and getting the huge door to line up.
The pantry is 32.5”wide and 36” deep and goes almost to the ceiling, so
lots of room for storing Bella’s kitchen toys, the vacuum and brooms, etc.
Our neighbour to the west is the back end of a restaurant
that extends all the way the Avenida 24 De Mayo which borders the
Tomebamba. I always do my best to
support the local merchants and be visible in the neighborhood in order to be
accepted. I decided to try them for
lunch today and just asked for the lunch special. I had a huge bowl of potato soup, popcorn
appetizer, real homemade apple juice, minute steak, rice, avocado, fried
plantain, carrots and cucumber. It was
great and $1.50! We can’t cook at home for
that!
The cabinet guys have now spent 3 hours putting up the
cowling around the top of the pantry as it has 4 cornices to work around. I offered for them to just go below the
cornices but they wanted to do it right.
They finally finished just before 2pm.
It looks like we will have to delay our move-in until
Friday. There are just too many messy
contractors still coming on Thursday for the drapery installation and, of course,
the front door. We are almost there!
3:30pm and we
have re-installed the shower doors over Bella’s tub. That is all done except for a bead of
silicone now. The glass blocks are done
and cleaned.
This is the first day this week I have been home for supper
and did that ever feel good, to sit down for a meal with my lovely and talented
wife.
I told Jorge to try to have the contractors come only Monday
or Thursday so we can have some time to breathe, and pack.
Jorge packed up all the leftover construction material that
is of no use to us. I asked him to
credit this on our final bill expected Monday, along with the matching window
for the terrace. We told him we have
given him our entire renovation budget so we are hoping he is going to be real
kind.
On the way we had to pass another procession for the baby
Jesus so I managed a couple of quick shots of the kids in costume. Then we came across a volleyball game that
he said were all friends of his and they all waved. Then we went by the huge Power Company
building and he said that was also run by friends of his. He is certainly a well-connected, genial, and
likeable guy.
I actually have an evening to myself tonight but I think my
eyes will be closing pretty quickly.
That was today’s excitement.
Enjoy the pics. Hugs to all.
120121 Eerie Streets |
120121 Morning Fog |
120121 Pantry minus 1 shelf |
120121 Pantry/Island minus granite top |
120121New Window Screens |
120121 Italo Jorge Vicente +Brick Wall |
120121 Jorge Ceramic Wall |
120121 Ceramic Wall minus door |
120121 Baby Jesus Procession 1 |
120121 Baby Jesus Procession 2 |