Walls, Windows, and Doors, OH MY!

Wow have I been lolly-gagging! Let's see if I can bring this chronicle up to date... We finalized the specs on walls, windows, and doors so the guys are now making great progress (mucho rapido!). They laugh, though, every time we walk in because they know we have another cambio (change). Everything is metal (because of termites), so at times they are cutting posts with an electric grinder and other times they are arc welding. Totally different construction style than at home!

Here's Sergio up on the ladder and Henry holding up the scaffolding.

One morning we walked up to observe the progress and learned that there was a water problem - the guys had turned on the water spigot outside and water started coming up inside the house in places where the concrete floor wasn't finished. The spigot is out near the road, so Henry and Sergio had to reason where they thought the line into the house ran. They were spot on, but it was a lot of work to dig all the way down to the pipes. For a country with no frost, these pipes were buried pretty deep, and the fill was very rocky!

They cut and capped the pipe into the house and will connect the new pipes to the water line later.

We use several different ferraterias (hardware stores) - Colono, Rafa, Quincho, and now mostly the one here in Tronadora, 'Miner' (Miner is the owner's name, but I have no idea how to spell it.) Henry and Sergio know which store has the best price for each item. For example, the cement board they are using for the walls - it's 18000 colones for a 4x8 sheet at Colono and 11000 from Miner (that's about $32 from Colono vs. $19 from Miner). They make it BY HAND over in Alejuela Province (meaning they pour concrete into a shallow form (with a mesh core) on the ground and then drag a board across the top to smooth it - Henry showed me some photos of the process). Anyway, for the most part we are now buying from Miner - when the guys need materials Henry calls Miner, it gets delivered, and Henry tells me that I should go pay mas tardes (later). (He tells me by making a motion like swiping a credit card LOL.) Here's cement board being delivered. It's incredibly heavy!!!

On Monday, the guys brought an electrician to the house (Estaban) - he was recommended by Miner. We walked through our electrical plan (he had already re-drawn it from my rough drawing) and he gave us a quote on the spot. Very reasonable! Estaban speaks no English, but by now we're used to that. We know quite a few construction words in Espanol and Google Translate gets us over the rough spots. 

On Tuesday, Estaban and his son were on the job, and they had another guy outside digging a trench to bury the electric service from the road. Here's Sergio (on the left), Estaban, and his son, Estaban Jr.

On Sunday a window guy named Luis from San Luis (no relation) showed up so we gave him our list of windows and sliding doors to get a quote. We thought Luis worked with Sergio's son Anthony who also sells windows. We were supposed to meet with Anthony on the weekend, so we assumed Luis came in his place. Turns out Luis has nothing to do with Anthony! Sergio was a bit hurt because he though we had called Luis (we didn't!). When we sorted it all out, no one knows why Luis showed up!! Sergio said Anthony didn't come because his kid was sick so he's coming this Friday or Saturday. We certainly prefer to give Anthony the business! 

Here's Henry cutting out one of the ventanas (windows). 

Another water problem happened, but this time it was in front of Heather's house. The trash truck ran over the water main valve (for the whole street) and broke it. Water was coming up and running down into the valley between Heather's and our house.

That would have been fine - it would have just run into the little Rio (River) San Luis that runs through the valley, but there's a house being built down below by Andres and Paula (from Chile). The builders down there dug a trench to direct the water around their worksite. Here's a look at that project from our yard. It's a bit hard to see, but the front (to the left) is beautiful stonework and will have windows looking right into the monkey-and-sloth-laden trees (ok, there aren't that many monkeys and sloths).

Andres' house's roof will be just about at the level of our yard, so it won't spoil our view. You can see Heather's house beyond the worksite, up to the right.

It hasn't been just work (hahaha - like we're actually working!) - up until this week we have also been having fun. Just a couple of miles from here (a lot shorter if you hike over the hills) there's a open air (but covered) tennis court with 2 pickleball courts marked. Walk-in pickleball happens on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday so we started going a couple of weeks ago. It was a lot of fun (until Heather pulled a muscle) and this week we decided that, based on the coronavirus, we should stay away. Damn!

There are about 50 cases of the virus here in CR and the border was closed to non-residents yesterday. They have also closed bars, restaurants, clubs, and casinos. We feel pretty safe because we're way out in a rural area. The only crowds are of the bovine variety. Here's what was just next door the other day. Check out all the cattle egrets!

Occasionally cows get loose and wander around. Horses too, although cows much more often. Here's one that showed up in Heather's yard.

One day we went to the Centro de Rescate Las Pumas (Puma Rescue Center) with our friend Pamela. They have monkeys, birds, and several different types of cats (not just pumas) that have been rescued and can't be released. Here's one of the cats taking a nap in the heat (sorry, I don't know a jaguar from an ocelet from a puma). The habitats were large and very natural!

Every afternoon, just about suppertime, a beautiful beagle-ish dog comes to visit us for a snack (boca). We dubbed him Snoopy!

That's it for now... PURA VIDA!