more sunken costs and the joys of moving...

Who the hell knows what all those pipes are for, but in any case, we´re paying for them, so better keep a record....


The lawn is going to go all the way to the side of the pool until we have the deck made, at which point we can "harvest" the lawn and put it somehwere else.

Our new bed... the mattress was custom built to our specs, came out great.

Lovely chaos... and a table leg upside down. Virtually all the boxes were opened by customs, but nothing appears to have been stolen, something I feared for things such as silverware, or CDs. Also, we were lucky that they didn´t open the boxes containing the 20 liters of extra virgin olive oil from the famouos Maramara olive region in Turkey. I don´t know whether it would have passed through had they seen the cans.

Now the table is in its normal position, books on the shelves, kitchen stuff all stored away, and the box hell considerably tamed after a few hours of work with Barbi and my Mom.

Lights, camera...

Actually, the first time we see the lights at night. I didn´t see them in person, but Barbi went to oversee the unloading of the truck with our furniture. Tomorrow morning we get the container with our stuff from Turkey...

We got lawn!

The beginning of a lawn in any case. Something about this wide will surround the house. The greay cracked stone is our parking area.

Sunken costs

View from the main road. The worker´s house is now completely demolished. The more they clean the land, the bigger it looks. The landscaper is convinced we will not be able to handle it, he thinks i should leave the "jungle" we see in this picture as is, but I am terrified of snakes, and I saw all kinds of movement in the bushes today... We´ll destroy the habitat.

We now have power lines, if I were richer they would have gone underground, but that will have to wait...

The landscaping is proceeding at full speed. The grey pebbles spread out in front of the house will be the parking area. The other dark mound is lawn "cakes".

Well, there is Fabiana, our ferocious and loyal guard. She´s watching the entrance to the house. The pipe stuff are drainage channels to divert rain water away from the house. The little blue pipe inside I think is for the sprinklers. The worker in the back is laying the soil that goes under the lawn sections. There will be a lawn border around the house, to protect the drainage pipes and also to make things a bit neater. The rest will just have to become lawn on its own...


I have decided to go with the satellite internet access, which is very costly in terms of installation, but it would appear to be the only truly reliable option I have at this point. So we will pollute the house´s roof with a dish, plus a small one for DirectTv. Maybe I will put a kiosk by the road, sell internet access by the minute. I will be the only one in Punta Negra and Barra de Portezuelo with broadband I think.

The bobcat

Water in the pool! Our well was tested by the pool people, and apparently it´s good water, no iron, and very clear.

The bobcat starting the topography work, cleaning and smoothing the land surrounding the pool, while Victoria, very pregnant, enjoys the beautiful spring day.

TThe pool people were not too gentle with the land. Their machine left moat-deep tracks...

Spring. Everywhere yellow flowers, these daisy types and lots and lots and lots of yellow broom.



Frankie, our Frankensteinish stove...

We got the stairway railing, matching the one in the terrace.

As we were leaving today, we saw the UTE (power utility) truck bringing the wooden posts and the wire to the site. Fabian talked to them, they said they will start work on Monday, so in about a week from Monday we should have juice. That´s our cue to move in. There are many small details pending, but that´s the one thing preventing us from moving in, the electricity. The rest, we will finish once we´re there. Also, the container is arriving from Turkey in one week, so the timing seems to be OK.