Playing Waiting Games

Today, we moved the antenna from the rental to the top of the new house.

Don't have much time for loads of news and figure you
don't want to hear about packing boxes, anyway. By the
end of the week, we hope to catch up with the antenna,
but still don't have a firm date for our electric
connection, so we may go sailing for a while.

Paco (the electrician pictured below) says the electric company has
passed our application for electricity and will come
out this week to review options about installing the
poles... I asked Paco if we should plan on one or two
years - he just laughed, but I was only half kidding.

Of beds & electricity ...

This is our photo of the week:




See how the clouds roll through the rain forest? We've been trying to get a photo of that for ages, but generally, by the time we realize the clouds are coming, we're in the 'fog'.

Paul commissioned Mr. Rodriquez to build a bed for our spare room - here the finished product is, when we went to pay for it at his shop:


Now, the only problem with having a queen sized bed built is getting it home. Luckily, Mr. Rodriquez knew Carlos, a taxi driver, whose taxi was a Toyota truck and judging by how quickly they got it loaded and strapped down, they've done this before:



Since our major problem was figuring out how to move our mattress to the new house, we asked the taxi driver if it was possible to drop by our rental house - he could do this in the same load! And he did .... the cost for moving both bed and mattress was $3.00.



Looks good in the guest room, doesn't it? Paul had Mr. Rodriguez build the bed 'Panama-style', which means that no box spring is needed. Believe it or not, it's very comfortable.

We're still waiting for Union Fermosa, the local electric company, to put in 1/2 kilometer of poles and install our service. The crew has optomistically built the thing we need for the electric company to hook up to. Don't ask me what it's called, but Carlos, the architect, designed it so we could use the bottom portion for our trash cans - they just haven't built the gates for it, yet, in these photos.



Union Fermosa says we'll have electricity in "15 days" ... we've heard other gringos say they were given the same time, yet one person waited 35 days, so I'm fairly certain they mean 15 'Panama days' ... Panama doesn't count time like anywhere else I've ever been - they only count Monday thru Friday (claim they count working days, but even if a place is open on Saturday, they don't count it as a work day). Furthermore, they do not count holidays. SO, when the electric company tells us "15 days" I scramble to find out if there are any holidays this month (not that I can tell), so I figure they really meant "3 weeks".

Water week, too -

Now that wet season has returned with a vengeance, things are looking very green and even the little local water falls have picked up pizazze:

Flowers are blooming:

And the growth on trees that looked dead has sprung back to life:



Normally, I take photos of the front of the house because it's a lot easier... Today, I more or less got a photo of the back, but as you see, it's close to the steep bank down to the creek and that bank is rain forest, so while you get a glimpse, you can also see why I don't take photos of the back.


AND, this is our 'photo of the week' simply because it was such a shock to drive down our little back road and find this sign telling everyone what a lovely area Tisingal is.

Water Week

Just about every week during rainy season is 'water week', but that epitaph is particularly true of the past week. Paul and two of the guys spent 3 mornings building a 'house' for the spring. I keep telling him that he can't call it a house because it's one of the most un-square things I've ever seen. Paul's goal was to only allow spring water in the structure, so he needed to keep it away from surface water (a nearby cliff)... and he was hemmed in by 3 big bolders, which acted like side walls... the floor was a rock, too.

As you can see in the following series of photos, the 'structure' looks more like a boulder, itself and I'm betting that by the end of rainy season, it'll blend in with it's neighboring boulders.

Of windows, doors & cabinets ....

Good news - the camera got back from repair the day the windows and doors arrived ... it's been a busy-busy week, since the cabinets quickly followed. This is the back door/window, which will eventually lead to our outdoor cooking area and the creek:

The kitchen cabinets arrived, as well - all doors, windows and cabinets were made by Orlando Rodriguez, a local ebanisteria (cabinet maker), who has a shop here, in Volcan. Paul decided he liked Mr. Rodriguez even before he met the man because when we went to check out his shop, Paul saw trunks of trees lying outside ... that's the way Paul builds furniture, too - he starts with the tree.

Oh, and Paul has been busy hanging lights - I love the fan he chose for the main area - actually, there are 3 identical ones -


This is Mr. Rodriguez - the fellow in yellow is one of his sons, and he's definately passing the lessons in craftmanship on. Here, you see them checking to make sure they brought everything ... they even made a lovely lazy-susan for the corner cabinet.

Here you see that they've set up 'installation shop' in the living room .... that rectangular thing Mr. Rodriguez is working on is the BACK side of one vanity counter ... no photos of that finished project in this post, because it's not totally done, but it's looking great.


These are the guys who are installing the kitchen cabinets:


And here you see the kitchen cabinets installed. As soon as we get tile for the wall and finish the counters & floors, and install the vent above the cooktop, this room will be totally finished.

In case you live near Volcan and would like Mr. Rodriguez to build you something special for your home (he makes great furniture, too) you can phone him at either 771-4356 or his cell 6634 4869.

Meet Louis, one of our painters - whenever he's not welding a brush or roller, he grabs the broom and starts cleaning:



Here he is doing touch-up out in the carport ... isn't that an amazing roof?

.... of course, I think the view of the garden is starting to look good, too.

This fella is Nicko - you've seen his photo before (he's generally on the roof). In this shot, he's pouting because it started to rain and he's waiting for it to stop so he can get back on that scaffold...


While Nicko is mourning the return of wet season, the plants are loving it - this is a bit of the rock wall we put in & 'planted' with moss, ferns and orchids:


We've literally have thousands of orchids living on the lot, but most of them as tiny - here's a photo of the most recent bloom we found - Paul put his thumb in the picture so you can see why we joke about the need to carry around a magnifying glass so we can totally appreciate our flowers.

Rainy season & construction

The camera is still in the shop, so no photos of the house's new doors and windows or the lovely greenery that's sprouting up everywhere courtesy of the afternoon/evening showers.

Thankfully, the roof is up.

Since we're on the side of a mountain, the lot slopes and if you look at the photos from mid January (dry season), you'll see that the dirt behind the carport (that entire side of the house had dirt much higher than floor level.

Back in January, when he saw where the house would sit, Paul hired Thomas and the tractor to dig out two to three feet of dirt and rock. Thomas' efforts nearly stopped the temporary creek that flows through the carport when it pours. As we push for a permanent cure, we dig small ditches to determine how much deeper we need to take the area down to. (this is more like 2-3 inches instead of feet, so we're very close).

Unfortuantely some of the crew do not understand why anyone would want little ditches around their house, so when they see a low spot, they help us by leveling the area - generally, this is done when they're cleaning mortar and stucco out of their wheelbarrows - makes great dams ... the water has run through the carport twice.

As we drive around Volcan, we see many roofs with rocks on top of them - locals use these to hold down roofing (much more economical than nails)... Oddly enough, a significant percentage of the homes have leaky roofs. The typical response is to move whatever might get wet to a dry spot.

My response to seeing water edging toward the carport is to rush out into the downpour (generally with a shovel or pick ax) and check the ditches to find out what's blocking them. I'm fairly certain our work crew is convinced I'm either a real water lover or a loca gringa... I mean why else would anyone go running out in the rain with a shovel instead of an umbrella?

Colors & chaos...

No photos for this update - the camera is acting up and in for warranty repair.

This week, Jimbo has kept busy covering the metal roof supports with wood; Jeemias and Raul (plus at least one other) have been installing tile everywhere I'd allow it ... Paul loves tile, but if it were only me, I wouldn't have a single square in the house; at least three guys are busy painting - the ceiling is turning white, the interior walls are the same pale yellow I used in SC - the yellow that makes it look sunny inside, even if it's raining sideways; someone has been painting the exterior - we told Carlos to choose a brown that would look good with the windows and doors - he's been in the States for the past week and hasn't seen the exterior color, which looks pinkish against the orangish wood of the doors and windows that Senior Roderiguez has his crew installing. If that wasn't enough, Paco, the electrician has his crew running wires, Paul has been soldering wires in the switch and outlet boxes and I have been trying to stay out of the way.

Don't ask me how many there are on the job ... there's more activity at the house than in a three-ring circus. I'm serious.

And, the weather has changed back to the rainy season, so activities need to be scheduled around Mother Nature. Of course, this means that the trees are green-green and the sky turns from blue to varying shades of grey ....

This, I think this post's name: colors & chaos is accurate.