Builders at Our Home

Monday September 22

The workers came this morning, but they were about an hour late. There was three of them. Then the foreman and other guy and myself went to San Rafael to the hardware store to buy what was needed.

I didn’t have enough money with me so we got what we could. Back at the house the workers started with scraping the paint the was coming off because of the rain.

Later, I went to the mall so I could go to the bank and withdraw some money. I also went the restaurant where I used my computer on their wireless.

When I called Jayne to see how she was doing, she told me that one wall that the workers were had cement that looked like it was crumbling. This upset me and her, too.

When I got home I inspected the wall, which is an inside wall and not exposed to the weather. Indeed, it was like loose cement. We theorized that not only water had done it, but that the builders years ago used a poor quality cement mixture. I found the same problem on the outside of the house under the master bedroom.

I had thought that if the wall has to be replaced it would cost a lot of money plus I don’t have confidence in the workers here. It’s not like the wall will come down any day, but it will not last 5 or more years. I thought on the way home from the mall that it would be throwing good money after bad if everything was fixed properly. And here, you can’t get good work done, so the fix would only be good for x number of years. So, I thought the best thing to do would be to do a good surface job and sell the house. I also thought that this must be a notice to leave the country. It’s like the last thing that broke the camel’s back!

Jayne agreed with me that it would be throwing good money after bad and just has the wall surfaced with a good mixture of cement, paint it and sell the house.

Tearing down a couple of walls, putting supports up to hold up the ceiling while this is being done would cost, say, $10,000? All of this would be covered up so it’s not increasing the value of the home and I would get the same price for it as if I just covered it up.

Every day in every town homes are sold where there is something wrong with it – big and small problems. Some buyers know about it and buy it anyway, others just fix it later. In Ecuador, you can bet nearly every home has major problems and it’s a way of life here. the neighbors in the back of me is building a home and you can see right now that it’ll have water problems within a year or two. So people buying this house will not see anything unusual.

Jayne theorizes that our home is not even build on a concrete foundation – for how can an inside wall from the bottom be in such poor condition?

Visa wise and building wise, it’s just too expensive to live here. Sure, everything else is cheap but with the house problems it’s making it expensive.

Our goal is to sell out and move to Cyprus and buy an apartment and start a business there. It’s where I always wanted to be. Though it’s more expensive than Ecuador, everything else is better.

Before the workers went home the guy who’s in charge asked if I could pay him $40 for his workers. I said what for. The agreement was that half would be paid after they worked one week and the other half when they finished the following week. The cost of labor is $500 for the two weeks.

This is typical in Ecuador – asking for money before the agreed time. Anyhow, I told him to write down his name, date the amount. I’ll make sure I deduct that come Friday. Instead of paying $250, I’ll give the $40 less.


Tuesday September 23

Only two workers showed up. Their boss was not there. When he was here yesterday all he did was supervise. I guess he has workers at some other place. Since a canal has to be building around the house that has to go through rock on two sides and cement on the other, I thought they would have an angle iron. (Marcos said he has his own tools.) Well, it looks like they don’t have an angle iron, so the workers have to use a hammer iron spike and a pickax. The pickax I had to buy yesterday. If they had the right tools the poor workers wouldn’t have to work so hard and more work can get done and they would have got the same money in less time.

Labor is cheaper than proper tools here.


Wednesday September 24

This morning Jayne and I looked at the canal that the workers dug. We saw that the foundation is made build with bricks! These are bricks that deteriorate. On top of this is a concrete slab. How can they build such a foundation? The only thing we can do is to do a patch-up job. It would cost way too much to dig out the bottom of the foundation with supports that would prevent the shifting of the house.

We decided not to have a canal dug on the other two sides of the house (one side has a raised patio so there should be no problem there). On the other sides we’ll have cement put where the ground and wall meets and where it will slope away from the house to prevent water buildup.

Sunday September 21

The Play: It was a shotgun wedding. Yiannis, my friend, riding shotgun!

We went to the local market to buy food. For those who might wonder how much we spend for food, we usually spend at this market about $14-$15. This includes (which is what we bought today): tomatoes, avocados (5), spinach, potatoes (4 lbs), beets, cucumbers (3), onions, grapes (2 lbs), papayas (3 large), apples (5) and 15 eggs.

We figure that the cost of other foods items, such mayo, olive oil, bread, missile, occasional fish, and cheese, the total cost would be about $35-$40 per week which will feed both of us.

How does this compare to your country?

Meeting with a Friend

Saturday September 20

A play in Cyprus. Evie in the forefont. Check out that 'beautiful bride'!

Jayne and I went to visit my friend, Irina, in Quito. We first had something to eat in a restaurant before Irina came to the restaurant. She said that he sister, Alejanderia and her husband came. Then we walked to Irina’s new apartment. We met Irina’s husband her their new baby boy.

We had a nice conversation and I also showed them pictures of our wedding.

We left 3 hours later while it was still raining.

We stopped by a pizza place and had a vegetarian pizza. Then we took a taxi home.

Meeting with Roofer

Friday September 19

We went to Quito to meet with Matt and the work who will be fixing the foundations and roof of our home. Matt came about 12.15pm along with the worker. Matt translated what was said. It sounds like the worker knows what to do.

(Me in a play in Cyprus, 2004)

The labor, we were told would be $500 for three guys for two weeks. the materials will be extra. We were also told that there would be another man who will put the tar on the roof top patio. The worker, Marcos, does not work with tar, so this will be a separate charge.

When all was said and done, Jayne and I were satisfied. We just hope that they do good work.

Also, the worker does not do painting (which has to be done on some of the walls inside because of water damage). We will have to get someone else to do that. Taking everything into consideration the price should be a lot less than what we were figuring on.

The work will start Monday. Marcos will come at 8am and I’ll go with him to the store to buy the materials.

I returned a call to Irina who has invited Jayne and me to visit Saturday. The plans are to meet at noon in Plaza Grande. She is a worker I had when I first came to Ecuador. She recently had a baby. We’ll talk about what has happened in our lives and I will show her pictures of me and Jayne’s wedding.

After leaving his office we went to get something to eat. Then we went to a used book store nearby. When we left there is started to rain, so we went to an internet café across the street. From there, we took a taxi home.

How to Rejuvenate Your Health

Monday September 15

Jayne and I went to the mall. We went primarily to go to the wireless café where the connection is much faster than what I have at home. I had renewed my subscription to a web page where they have interviews of guests that talk on interesting subjects. Since I had let my subscription expire for over a month I have a lot of files to down load (not finished yet).

My connection at home is slow so I can’t even download files on a daily bases. I’ sure all you guys have better connections. Be thankful for things that you may have taken for granted.

When we got home, we listened to one of the files I downloaded. It was about an all natural growth hormone. It is really fascinating. Like I said it’s all natural so there is no harm to the body. What this does is it rejuvenates the whole body. Even the host of the program told of the problem that he had for years. He had hurt his knee playing basketball 20 years ago, and was always in pain and could only bend it about 25% of what he should normally do.

What happened after taking the natural hormone? He’s without pain and his knee is getting back to normal! (After two months.)

Now, a destroyed cartilage is one of the most difficult things to heal. There are many types of health problems that people report that improvement is noticed within a couple of days!

Here are some of the diseases and conditions that the natural growth hormone helps:

Arthritis
Disc Degeneration
Gall Bladder Problems
Weight Loss
Osteoporosis
Cancer
Menopause
PMS
Adrenal Fatigue
Diabetes
High Blood Pressure
Autism
Hair Thinning and Balding
Cardiovascular Disease
Low and High Thyroid
Chronic Fatigue
Infertility
Chronic Constipation
Mental Focus and Memory
Sleep
Liver Problems
Heavy Metal Poisoning
Depression
Kidney Failure


So, Jayne and I ordered this over the internet. For more information I highly recommend that you go to their web page and you can make your own decision.

http://www.learnthesecretstoyouth.com/

(Just click on the above for Learn the secrets to youth.com)

I know that many of you who are reading this have health problems and you know others that have problems, too. So, do yourself a favor and check out their web site.

Jayne and I will report back to you, via this blog, about our experience. However, it will probably take a couple of weeks to receive the products and then allow a week before we start seeing results. (We hope that it comes to Ecuador without any problems, as the mailing system here stinks.)

September 9-13

Tuesday September 9

We went to San Rafael where we had breakfast, then to the internet café. After which, we bought some films to watch. Then some canvases for Jayne’s paintings at the hardware store. Finally, to the supermarket to pick up some things we need.


Wednesday September 10

This morning I addressed the envelopes and put the CD/DVDs in to be mailed out. Then Jayne and I went to the mall to mail them. Jayne said that the Fed Express office there will send them regular post. I doubted that, so when we asked he said that they just send out Fed Express. He said if we wanted to send them regular post there’s another store in the mall that does that. We didn’t want to send out Fed Ex as this would cost a lot of money. The store that does mail out post is a card and gift shop.

At the card and gift shop (Hallmark Cards) they had the postage and they weighed it and put the stamps on. They also have a small mail box to put the mail in. Each package was $5.20, which is cheaper than the other place but more than what we thought.

So, the CDs are in the mail. I hope people write back to tell us when they receive it – and we do hope our family gets it in a couple of weeks.

The CDs that have the pictures will have to be seen on computer but the videos on DVD can be seen on a DVD player – that’s if they have the right format. Otherwise, it will have to be seen on the computer.

Pictures include: our wedding, the trip to Columbia and to the hostel by the mountain Cotopaxi.

Enjoy!


Thursday September 11

I was told by my friend that another guy will be looking at my roof Saturday. I guess the first guy is too busy or not interested in doing the work.


Friday September 12

We stayed home all day.


Saturday September 13

We went to the produce market this morning.

At noon I was at the church where I was to meet the roofer. I waited 45 minutes and he didn’t show up. When I got home, Jayne told me the roofer guy just arrived. He was supposed to be in front of the church. Anyhow, we showed him around house for the work that needs to be done.

He’ll tell Matt and Matt will tell me what he says. I hope he can do the work, he does a good job and that the price is fair.

September 5-6

Friday September 5

We stayed home all day.

I haven’t heard from the guy who took a look at the roof. He was supposed to call my friend but he didn’t.

Jayne and I went to the mall. She bought some cheap pictures (prints) that were in frames. It’s cheaper buying print pictures than it is to buy just the frames. What Jayne will do is paint over the picture or she might paint on canvas and stick it in the frame. For example, a picture framed cost about $6, whereas buying a specially made frame cost $10. What she bought also included a frame within a frame and a Plexiglas covering.


Saturday September 6

Today went to the mall myself. Yesterday when I went to the ATM machine it was out of money. I was told it would be about 30 minutes before it would be operating. So, that is why I went back today.

On the way to the mall, the bus took a turn off the road that leads to the mall. I just thought it was by passing some problems up the road, so I stayed on the bus. When I thought I should get off, I knew I would have a long way to walk so I stayed on. The bus ended up in another town that I’ve never been to before (Santa Maria). In the town there was some sort of parade. What I had to do is take a taxi to where I wanted to go, which cost me $2.50. It took about an hour longer than it should had, had the bus went directly to where it was suppose to go. (Yes, I was on the right bus but why it went to another town I don’t know. That’s why many people got off the bus when it first made it a turn off where it should go.)