The House, the Car
6/12/7
Linda, my wife, arrived from Canada on the 26th of November. She will be here for four months, and of course I am very pleased with the change. I had a two week schedule for doing the major cleaning in preparation for her arrival. I had visitors from Canada about the one week mark, and so had to get everything done in half the time. I actually got that done, to my surprise, and it left me with a week to fine tune.
The new house is nearing completion! I have stopped believing estimated time lines, but the latest is two weeks. They have installed the trim, inside and out, and that made a big difference. I was pleased when Carlos, the contractor, informed me that the baseboard was made of fibrolite. A popular type of cement board I had only seen in sheets used for walls and floors. The insects don’t eat it, and the humidity doesn’t rot it. It looks just like the pine they put on the upper trim after they are both sealed and stained. They still have to put in the kitchen counters and sinks, lay ceramic on the sidewalk and patio outside, install sinks and toilets in the bathrooms, install the light fixtures, screen in the copula, install screened grates in the fascia, paint the pool, install the pump for the pool, with bodega, put a water tank in (that was a recent addition because we were without water last week due to a breakdown of the pump that feeds the water tank), and level the lot. At least I can remember the list now, but it sounds like more than two weeks to me.I’m hoping, before Christmas.
Let me explain a little more about the water tank. Punta Morales has an independent water system. We have a well with a very good rate of water inflow, a pump that pumps it through the treatment system, into a tank on top of a big hill. This tank is built underground, and made of concrete. The school holidays in Costa Rica start before Christmas, and carry through to mid February, or so. Punta Morales is a holiday area for Costa Ricans, and the influx of people, is similar to the one I experienced living in Muskoka, in Canada. Peak weeks of Christmas and Easter have always strained the capacity of the system. More people are coming here every year, more pools are being built every year, and bigger houses, too. Plans are in the works to build a second tank on the hill, and this should solve the problem. In the meantime, it makes sense to have a small reserve tank for outages, or shortages at the new house. I have six litre bottles of water filled outside at this house, and I can refill them at the river, but I suppose it doesn’t look very neat.
Monday, I was going to the store in Judas when my car broke down. I should have fixed the rear main seal earlier, and was planning on doing it today, actually, but I was too late. The oil all dropped out, and now I have a serious problem. Today, Carlos’ clutch stopped working, and later this evening when he asked Jose for a ride to the mechanic, we found out his gear on the rear wheel of his motorcycle that takes the power from the chain was worn out. I also saw the school teacher’s car broke down at the corner.
Tuesday, I had many plans, one of which was taking Irek to meet Peaches’ owners, as he is interested in the German Shepherd they would like to give away. So we all went in Irek’s van. Starting with an hour in Puntarenas to get his driver’s licence renewed, the vet in Esparza, a visit to Johnie and Lucho’s to see the dog, a shopping trip in Puntarenas, lunch at King Chicken (first time for Irek and wife, Roxanna), parking in the river wading in the water drinking beer and watching Irek pick up rocks, it was a long, fun day.
Wednesday, I went to Esparza again to get money to buy materials, and buy the materials for the house. It was 5:00 p.m. by the time we got everything done. The big surprise was that we finally got something cheaper at the local building supplies store. Carlos has asked them about all the materials we put into the house, and they were never even close. I believe it will be to their benefit if they are willing to negotiate prices on some of the bigger projects.