Day three-hundred-and-who-knows-what: I lost track ’cause what does it matter anymore.

Update since my last post? I can only say this: it has all gone to shit. Really. I have no faith that this, our third attempt at the pool, is going to work at all. And I just can’t write about it anymore.

People keep telling me what a great book I’ll have out of this experience, like “Gringos in Paradise”. Somebody wanna to pay me to write it? Sure! I’ll call it “Paradise, My Ass!” And I’ll include all the stuff I haven’t been able tell you about ’cause this town is too small.

So if they want to pay me, I’ll write about it. Otherwise, I’m done.

(Por) Fin.

With all the hullaballoo or, as they say in Spanish julabalu, over our suspension I neglected to mention that they discovered that the walls were loose inside the pool. So the interior has to come down again.

Our contractor, Maestro Maestro, was trying to just fix pieces here and there but he quickly learned that it was loose all over. Meanwhile, though Maestro Maestro assured us that his connections over at the Building Department would have those Suspension signs off by Friday they’re still up.

That’s right, it’s still Day 340 because all work is stopped due to our suspension. Our contractor is in talks with the Building Department today to try and get everything resolved so we can start work again.

Let me just start by saying that we have been asking our contractor for over a year now to get the extension on our building permit. And for a year now, he says he’s been working on it. Ugh! I’m not going into it any further. A picture’s worth a thousand words:

Actually, that picture needs explaining. See those two guys in the foreground? Those are the building inspectors, writing us up for having an expired permit. See that guy in the background? That’s our contractor, walking towards the balcony which he probably feels like jumping off of.

This picture’s worth a thousand words:

Brrrrrrrrrzjhhhhhhhhhhhhhhzjhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhrzjhhhhhhhhhh. Can’t you just hear the sanding? He started at 6am to try to get a little more work in before the heat but he’s still not done with the floor of the pool.

Day 2 of sanding in the miserable heat. 10 minutes of sanding, 45 minutes of resting. We’re never going to get done in time at this pace.

The plan is to sand the pool so that we can apply the miracle product, then we complete the construction of the Lower Casita so that we can move into it before our guests arrive in November. All that is left to be done in the casita is the installation of one window, a front door, a guardrail and the kitchen cabinets, so it should be able to be finished in about a week.

Oops! Except I forgot to mention the terrible leaks that happened down there while we were away. This time it wasn’t the pool, it was the terrace next to the pool that leaked into the bedroom, the bathroom and the hallway. Our contractor re-poured the terrace for a second time (re-pour, meaning he poured the initial, then he re-poured, and then he re-poured it again). What’s the saying? He does it nice ’cause it does it thrice.

¡Caramba!

The first day back after a long baby-induced hiatus.

We called our contractor 2 months in advance of our return to let him know that we needed to have all our patos in a row to be ready to start work as soon as we return. We got back on the 31st. Nobody showed up on the 1st. Nobody showed up on the 2nd. Nobody showed up on the 3rd.

We made another pressuring phone call to our contractor who sent one guy here today, ONE guy, to sand the pool by himself in the 100+ degree weather. He has to take breaks after every 10 minutes of sanding, poor guy.

Meanwhile, time, as always, is ticking away. Our renters are coming in November and we need to have the pool done and the Lower Casita finished before their arrival.

(sigh) Here we go again.