Changing of the Guard

We went to Cuenca to apply for visa extensions. As with everything here and everywhere else, we needed to learn a little more about how things work. The last time we got our visas extended, we were told it would save money if I got a visa and Joan was a dependent. That way we paid $200 for me to get a business visa for another 6 months and Joan only paid $50 to tag along. We only needed a copy of our marriage certificate, duly notorized, apostilled, and translated. We still had a copy of the certificate from the last time, so just needed to translate it into spanish. We hooked up with a guy who does translations, and when he checked with his contact at immigration, he found out that our marriage certificate was notorized more than 6 months ago and was no longer valid. Gee, I kinda thought they stayed valid forever. Apparently, in a Catholic country like Ecuador, they want to be certain that you are not divorced, as it would be a sin to get married again, and they simply cannot allow that. Marriage and divorce are recorded in the same civil office here, so when you get divorced, you no longer have a valid marriage certificate. We learn something new everyday. We went to the office to apply for the 6 month extension. As we were about done with the process, the official noticed that a year had not passed since the last 6 month visa was issued and you are only allowed one visa of each type per year. No problem, she said we should just change the application and letter of intent to the 3 month and get it now, and after that we can get a 6 month extension. We head off to a copy store, edit the letter and application, and we are on our way. She then gives us an appointment to pick up the visa on the day our current one expires.

Now we are free for a couple of weeks to get organized and restart the building project. We return to the welder who did the work on the bodega, so that we can have a spiral staircase built to get up to the second floor. I inquire about his welding crew, but they are tied up on another project. He rides up to the site to see about the staircase and generally see what we have been up to. I complained about the cost of renting a welding machine, and he tells me that the $60 a day we paid earlier should only be $110 per week, another expensive lesson for the golden goose, as I paid the daily rate for two weeks when I should have gotten a weekly rate. He knows a guy in another town who will rent us a machine for $20 a day, and volunteers to take us down and see about it. We go down to Quinara ,about 20 km. south of Vilcabamba, where we meet the owner of the welder and I asked if he wants to do some welding for me. He says he may be interested, but wants to know a little more about where it is and what we will pay. I asked what he wants and he says $30 per day, $15 for transportation, and $20 for the machine. I try to look pensive for a few minutes before agreeing to the terms. For less than half what I was paying the other guys, I get a new guy who really can't be much less productive than the last group. We call one of the locals we used to put up the barbed wire fence and hire him to come help. The guy who will put the roof on will bring a welder also, just in case.

Roofer roofing

Welder welding

More roofing

Helper painting rear roof supports

The next week gets off to a great start, as we are happy to have some new faces and talent on site. We will use Manuel as labor when not helping the welder, and we have a bunch of other wish list items, like running the water line from the meter to the house, making a couple of canals across the driveway to stop the erosion problems, and also make us some paths to walk the property. The roof guy shows up hours later, which will be a continuing issue for us. He has a family and they are trying to set up an organic farm in a valley about 40 km. from where we are.  He has 3 small children to raise, a farm to manage, and must also try to make a living working for us. As we try to get started on the roof, he discovers he has no bits for the screws we will use to attach the roof panels. I have him weld some of the voids left by the first crew for the rest of the day. While the other guys continue to make progress on the structure, they are wondering why I have two welders, but are glad to have some work, so we keep moving along. I am very happy to have a cooperative group of people actually dong what we want done.
The second day, we get a hard rain, and I move the car out, just to be sure we can safely exit at the end of the day. The road is eroded in a couple of places where the water pools up and finds a way down the hill. There is also a bit of stuff falling down from above, making it even less passable. I call the tractor guy, and he says he can have a guy up there later in the week. He calls back early next morning and asks if I want him now, so he is on the way up. When he gets here the other property owner meets him at the entry to make sure we do nothing that will cause him problems. He is quite agitated that I am talking to a tractor operator about making a better driveway from above without his permission. He rants a bit, and the operator tells me he can't get involved in the dispute, and will just clean up the existing roadway. After a couple of hours the drive is fixed and I have him move the poles from the main area to under the porch to free up some space and clear the way for the new entrance, should that ever work out.

Rain damage

Pole shuffle

More roof

Cuenca street vendor

Windows

I get Manuel to clear a path up to the top of the hill so that we will have an easy walk up if we have to park up there. This seems to light a fire under the other owners seat, and he tells our mutual friend, that he has conferred with the other neighbors and the best thing for us to do is to rearrange the road above and me buy the right to pass over his property, which is what we wanted all along. He comes by a couple of days later and lays out a plan to make it all work, and says we need to meet Saturday morning with the other friend to facilitate and translate and make sure we have an accord that satisfies us all.

The next day, we have all three workers there in the morning, and start to make some progress on the roof and finishing up the interior bits of the structure. On Wednesday we have all the window and door supports in place by mid day. Klever, the welder is an interesting fellow, who immigrated to Italy for 10 years until the economic crisis drove him back to Ecuador. Not educated, but well traveled and keen to talk about all things worldly. Quite different from the other locals I know. He wraps up the welding and invites us to come visit and meet his girlfriend the next weekend. Nelson, who will be doing the woodwork, calls at that time to ask when he can start making the windows, as he is idle at the moment. Syncronicity at work again, I have him come up and measure the windows. He calls a couple of hours later and tells us we should come by and look at the first window, to make sure it is what we want. They are beautiful and the price is half what we were quoted by the other woodworker. He lets us know that he will be done with them all by the weekend and would like to start on the floor the next week.
I let him know that the roof is not finished, and that we have to go back to Cuenca to pick up our visas, so the following week is scheduled for the floor crew whether the roof is complete or not. The roof is progressing slowly, but it is coming along. The limited amount of time the roofer has available is kind of a problem, but we are getting some progress. We have manuel and a helper put canals across the driveway at the main erosion problem areas. When we leave for Cuenca, the roofer goes to work on another project for a couple of days.

Floor crew startup

Crew in action

First day progress

Damage control

Public works

The floor crew shows up on Monday, and they are impressive, organized, and hard working. It is like an assembly line with one guy cutting and measuring the boards, one guy gluing the seams, one guy clamping it all together, and another drilling pilot holes and setting the screws. We will just hope for good weather and cover it up with plastic if it rains. The roofer doesn't show up until late afternoon on Wednesday. Nelson suggests a friend of his can come finish it up, but seems to tread lightly on taking work from someone else. We keep thinking it will just be a couple of more days to finish, but that really is not how it goes. It is hard work, precarious, and a lot of cutting, fitting and screwing, some done in driving rain. The next day we have quite a bit of rain, everything gets soaked, and there are a few leaks in the roof where we thought we were safe from the rain. By Friday, both floors are installed, and they are trying to do the finishing, as the weather permits. Nelson brought the first four windows up and installs them in the front walls of the main salon. We are really amazed at how nice it all is.

Trying to keep it dry

Moving along

Closing it in

Second floor

Window

View from below

View from above

The Saturday meeting starts with Umberto, the neighbor laying out a scheme to lower the road a couple of meters to give us a good entry point, making the main road a bit steeper, but better draining. He lays out where we can put the road, and where the fence and gate will be. He then asks to see the building, as everyone is quite curious as to what is going on down there. His son, who is an architecture student, accompanies us on a tour. He seems to really like the design and structure and we are all happy happy. A little haggling over the cost and we are all set to put the new road in as soon as the tractor operator is available and we are both available to supervise the project.

Picking fruit

Nanners

Farm loots

We are ready for a break and Klever, our welder has invited us to come down meet his girlfriend, so off we go to Quinara. We have no idea what to expect, so we just show up at his house mid afternoon. He tells us we will go somewhere else and have lunch, so we follow he and his girlfriend up a long and winding road to a weekend farm he has. We sit and drink a beer and then he begins a tour of the orchards, cane fields, and miscellaneous other plants and vegetables he has growing. We harvest a ton of citrus, grapefruits, limes, oranges, sweet lemons, yucca, bananas, and some other stuff. We are wondering what kind of lunch we will make from all this. We have a nice salad, and a couple of more beers and talk about all things worldly. It starts to rain as the day comes to an end, and they insist we should stay at their house rather than drive home in the rain at night. They load everything we harvested into our car as a gift to us. The rain let up a bit, so we went home instead of staying the night, but had a very pleasant visit to the farm. Next time someone asks if we have any Ecuadoran friends, we can say yes we do.