Monday, June 2

Monday has become lavandaria day, 16 pounds today because we took a blanket. The weather has been cooling down some–a high of 25˚ C (77˚ F)–so we are using sweaters and blankets. And last week we found a new lavandaria which has lower prices so it only cost $6.75 today.

After our morning walk, Mike came by to give us an update on our project and plans for the next few days. We also needed to give him some money to buy some supplies. Later we met him at the Neptuno and he had cabinet/wood finish samples to give us. Tomorrow we have to decide on that color as well as the color of the wall paint.

The Neptuno was a busy building. The building had rules that construction can only occur between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m., Monday-Friday. The administrator, Julio, did give us permission to work 8-5, M-F since this is the low season.

The entry walls and doors are now removed and there is still constant hauling of debris down the 8 flights of stairs. (Because the entry is open, we have hired a guard to sleep there and make sure nothing gets stolen.)

They found that the tile on the walls in the kitchen were not glued on so now they will have to be totally removed before we can put up any new tile.

The new entry wall has some blocks laid, and the door to the half bath has been blocked up, and so have the holes in the master bedroom.

The first coat of empaste has been applied to walls and ceiling. Already everything looks so much better.

We thought we were going to have a big bonus today: the first time Mike was there, he said he rode the elevator up. But when we got there, the guard, Geovanni, said only the first four floors had elevator service. Julio said that everything should work by the 12^th. (He didn’t say what month.) Of course, all of our conversations were in Spanish so we think we understood the communication.

Ron and Donna came by about noon and took us to La Libertad where we found a barber, a shoe repair, a meat market, and the very big outdoor market place. One building was just for fish/seafood, and the other vendors went on for blocks and blocks in every direction.