Gringos de Marimán

One morning last week Cyndy listed off the many tasks remaining to finish the house and calculated that we wouldn't be able to move in until Christmas. Undoubtedly observing the time consuming tejuela installation influenced her math. I tried to compare the casa construction to running a marathon, but perhaps a triathlon would have been a better choice. We've watched the casa construction for nearly 6 months, but prior to that we spent 4 months finding the right contractor, and 4 more months working with an architect. Humor me while I add to that the fact that it's now been over 3 years since I had the crazy idea to move to Chile and nearly 2 and a half years since we moved out of our wonderful house in Claremont. To go for such a long time without a place of your own, with a feeling of impermanence, can sometimes wear on you. Particularly if you're homebodies who like to watch the garden grow and delight in simple pet antics. Keep all this in mind when you think of opting for an aventura.

I asked Kenny how much longer before they finished and I'm relieved to say we only have 3 months to go. We should be able to enjoy both Christmas and Thanksgiving in the new casa. Going back to the marathon analogy, you might say we're hitting the wall. Perhaps the fact that our equipo has spent so much time literally hitting the wall brought all of this to mind. Fortunately while I've spent my time ruminating, our equipo empeñoso started up the wall with siding.

Don't be concerned by the dark and rainy conditions, the crew continued to move upward piece by piece.

By Tuesday Leo and Valdovino reached the windows in the garaje. Too bad they had to work in the shade, the sun felt wonderful.

On the other side of the casa Jorge and Juan raced beyond the ventanas of the dormitorio.

Heads up! On Wednesday Valdovino pondered finishing the wall of the garaje while Leo sanded the corners of the next piece.

Instead of one more bottle of beer on the wall, I sang one more piece of siding on the wall.

The gasfiters enjoyed the sun while adding a couple more metros to the fosas.

Jorge and Juan finished the far corner and headed towards the roof.

We expected more of a contrast between the tejuela and the siding, but Kenny promised the tejuela should bleach a bit as time goes by. You can spot Leo finishing off the tejuela on the left side, so that must mean that they've completed the garaje wall.

Yes, it's done and the fading twilight added a nice tone to the texture of the tejuela and siding.

The nearly rebuilt pirca wall exhibited a slightly rougher texture, but pleasing nonetheless.

We enjoyed another sunny day on Thursday as Jorge and Juan filled in siding around the upper windows.

Leo began topping off the tejuela sections with one last row.

By Friday they were all working together to polish off the top facade.

The entryway looked great with everything in place, everything but the ceiling and flooring that is.

By the end of the day the crew had topped off the side of the terraza and above the garaje. They'd also terminated the tejuela, leaving only the top section above the dormitorio to do.

You might have noticed that the pirca wall looked complete, and here's a full length view.

It hadn't rained since Monday, so Kenny took advantage of the dry conditions to call the backhoe in again to smooth out the yard and driveway.

The birds loved it, as they hunted for worms and grubs in the turned up furrows.

The sloped driveway certainly looked much better after the tractor finished. I'm sure it will look even better with some gravel and the pirca wall extended around the curve.

Alas, no more mud wrestling parties.

One other nice touch, the Madmass crew came out to install the hardware on all the outside doors. We even have the front door key in our possession now. Thankfully the crew also reglued the corners of the separating window frames and revarnished the edges.

One unforeseen advantage of taking all these photos and posting these entries is that I can easily compare pictures to have a better sense of all that our equipo has accomplished. Comparing this shot to the one from the beginning of the week helped to alleviate the marathon worries.

And seeing shots like this reminds me that the marathon will be worth it some day. But I'd sure like to be living there now. Poco a poco, step by step, on we go to next week. Hasta la proxima!!