Our house in Curahuasi and a trip to Machu Picchu
This picture is from Curahuasi on a hike up the mountain - more pictures from this hike to come in a later post.
Well we got back a little over a week ago from Curahuasi. We were looking for a house to fix up for our upcoming move in January/February time frame. Well fixing up a house turned out to be WAY more expensive than we thought. We looked at three places that were in need of some "fixing up", or just plain "finishing", and one that was completely finished but needed a few things to be worked on. The three fixer uppers consisted of cement or adobe blocks and wood poles. Needless to say after John introduced me to our first "fixer upper" some crazy things started running through my mind like...umm are we nuts? This house had no indoor bathroom, no indoor kitchen, no finished walls (only adobe bricks), no running water to the house, two floors but no stairs, no windows, electric wires hanging everywhere, and a giant gravel hole in the backyard. Can we say hazardous for three small children? I think once we exited the house John could tell by the look on my face that we were not going to be renting this one. I left that house thinking, " I know God never gives us more than we can handle so God must think I am one tough cookie." We went on to look at house number two. This was a cement block house with three rooms on the bottom floor that were totally unfnished although it did have one window that had glass in it - it was broken but hey, there was glass. This might sound strange but here in Peru "hallways" do not really exist. These houses all had space for a kitchen, living room and bedrooms but not of them are connected. You must exit each room and go outside to access the next room. Not really conducive for my potty training children considering the other hazards that are outside, gravel pits, electric wires, wild pigs, and loads of cactus.
The second house seemed like a better option even though the pigs were roaming around what would be the yard and the cactuses were in the multitudes, however, our hopes were dashed when were told the price to fix up the three rooms on the first floor (the second floor was not finished yet and rebar was jutting up into the air) - $10,000 american dollars - yep you read that right. We were shocked and disappointed because we do not have that kind of money and there is no way the kids and us will be living in the same room for the next three years - nope - not happening. On to house number three.
This was a little adobe house with enough bedrooms/space for us, but we were going to have to do some significant rennovating still. This included adding a bathroom (because there was NO bathroom - just a hole in the front yard surrounded by tarps...you can see it in the picture below), connecting all the rooms with hallways, redoing the stairs, making a room into a kitchen, raising the ceilings - aka digging out the floor (Americans are super tall in comparision with Peruvians and especially the Quechua people), and making a place for the washing machine. This list was just too long and the translation from English to Spanish to Quechua was just too difficult. So, on to option four.
Our fourth option was a finished duplex that had a kitchen but no counter tops. When we entered the house it stunk of rotting meat from the night before which was displayed on the table in the kitchen. Our first impression was not great but at this point things were looking good compared to our other options. This house was at least finished and only needed some minor work so we decided to go with it. We will be getting a larger water tank for the house since it is common to not have water for four or five days during the dry season. We will also be getting some counter tops and shelves so that I have a place to cook and a place to put my dishes. The best part about this house was the tiny plot of grass in the front yard. The kids will have a place to play and the yard is even fenced off! We have been told the windows leak and if that is true the landlord said he would fix it. So we now have a place! Quite the adventure.
The second house seemed like a better option even though the pigs were roaming around what would be the yard and the cactuses were in the multitudes, however, our hopes were dashed when were told the price to fix up the three rooms on the first floor (the second floor was not finished yet and rebar was jutting up into the air) - $10,000 american dollars - yep you read that right. We were shocked and disappointed because we do not have that kind of money and there is no way the kids and us will be living in the same room for the next three years - nope - not happening. On to house number three.
This was a little adobe house with enough bedrooms/space for us, but we were going to have to do some significant rennovating still. This included adding a bathroom (because there was NO bathroom - just a hole in the front yard surrounded by tarps...you can see it in the picture below), connecting all the rooms with hallways, redoing the stairs, making a room into a kitchen, raising the ceilings - aka digging out the floor (Americans are super tall in comparision with Peruvians and especially the Quechua people), and making a place for the washing machine. This list was just too long and the translation from English to Spanish to Quechua was just too difficult. So, on to option four.
Our fourth option was a finished duplex that had a kitchen but no counter tops. When we entered the house it stunk of rotting meat from the night before which was displayed on the table in the kitchen. Our first impression was not great but at this point things were looking good compared to our other options. This house was at least finished and only needed some minor work so we decided to go with it. We will be getting a larger water tank for the house since it is common to not have water for four or five days during the dry season. We will also be getting some counter tops and shelves so that I have a place to cook and a place to put my dishes. The best part about this house was the tiny plot of grass in the front yard. The kids will have a place to play and the yard is even fenced off! We have been told the windows leak and if that is true the landlord said he would fix it. So we now have a place! Quite the adventure.
These are a couple of pictures of our future place.
This is a picture of house number three, which we decided not to rent.
Pray for us this week as:
- We really need our house to sell
- We would really like it if our car would sell as well (an added bonus)
- That we would continue to learn the language well, which iI've found is especially difficult when I have Hudson in class with me.
- That the kids would adjust to having us back in school, and having our empleada return to help us with watching the children during our school time.
Suzanne and I ventured off to Machu Picchu while we were in Cuzco waiting to take our bus ride back to Arequipa. John so graciously stayed with the kiddos all day in a local Hostal and I bet he has some pretty awesome stories to tell you about that experience. John is such a trooper and really just an outstanding guy! Suzanne and I enjoyed our day off traipsing through the ruins of Peru. What a treat! It was more walking than I think either of us expected, even Hudson was tired! Poor John he has always wanted to go to Machu Picchu but it was just not going to be feasible with all of the kids. Hudson was only three weeks and now he can say he has been to Machu Picchu, I am sure John will never let me live this one down :) Love you honey!!! Enjoy the pictures from our trip!
No comments:
Post a Comment