We had to go to Guayaquil today to the Immigration office for the second step in obtaining a visitor’s visa.

There was a celebration going on in front of the building (haven’t heard what the occasion was).

The Navy band played John Philip Sousa marches (I'm sure to celebrate the 4th of July).

A little farther up the block there was a demonstration against drugs and a news crew interviewing the leader.

Hanging on. 

The painters worked on the front of our balcony today, sealing the concrete and then painting.

The painters also worked on smoothing spots and giving ceilings and walls a second coat.

We talked Jorge into painting this concrete stand that was left by the previous owner. It should make a nice accent piece in the corner next to the front door.

Carpentero sprayed a sealing finish on door jambs and worked on the cabinet in the guest bathroom.

Tiles were cut for entry floor.

Grout was applied on bedroom floor and wiped.

More work was done in the kitchen, a jigsaw was needed for smaller details.

The kitchen sinks were installed. They don't sell a double sink here without a dish drain attached.

The wine rack was delivered and will be installed above the refrigerator.

Can you tell a difference in color between our new windows on the 8^th floor and the windows on the floors above us?

Tuesday, July 2, 2013

“Your new windows are the wrong color! They have to be black.” “What?”

Julio, the Administrator, told this to Mike this morning. Since we had written a letter to Julio at the beginning of our project telling him what we planned to do, and since Julio said OK then, we said tough luck. When we got to the Neptuno, we compared the windows on our floor to the windows on the other floors and they don’t look different from the street. So Mike talked with Julio and we took him out to show him the windows and he said it would be OK.

The elevator was being worked on again and Julio told them to let us go up, but Mike said we would walk. After walking up 8 flights, we walked out onto our balcony and saw Julio out on the sidewalk with Carlos, the guard, who was talking and gesturing to our condo. Carlos had followed us out with Julio and we told him “Adios” so he wasn’t involved with our conversation. Carlos has constantly told us things that are broken at the building are our fault and we will have to pay. Yesterday, Mike said Carlos had told him we needed a new water meter because it wasn’t registering water use. Our broken pipe also disappeared during the construction and we are pretty sure that Carlos took it because we’ve caught him several times in our condo. (Carlos is the one who met us at the door the night we arrived in Ecuador.) All behaviors which are not appropriate for a guard.

So some of the windows were installed today.

Including the sliding doors on the master balcony.

Drain pipes were installed on the balconies.

Outlets and switches were connected.

Tiles were laid in a pattern on the floor of the guest bathroom.

And the cabinet was put in place.

The shower floor was tiled.

More work was done in the kitchen.

We went shopping for knobs for the cabinets at PlacaCentro Masisa in La Libertad.

And when we took the knobs to the Neptuno, we were greeted with new tiles in the entry.

Today is 5 weeks from the day they started on the remodel.

Artista del granito met us at the Neptuno to measure where and how we want the granite. He will cut the main shapes in his workshop and then polish and finish the granite in place. At least the master bath will be installed next week.

Drainage from the balcony was  incorrect and so the concrete on the front cracked. This was repaired.

More cabinets were installed in the kitchen.

The tiles on the bathroom wall in the old maid’s room was “floated” with Bondex so it can be painted.

More window frames were installed. The frame for the sliding glass doors must have had an error because they were lowered over the balcony and taken away.

The water heater was plumbed.

We stopped at a furniture store and priced a bed. This model was good quality wood with a good quality finish. $273.