A Few More Pictures

Well, the house is basically finished, and the only thing left to do--besides getting the kitchen sink properly hooked up--is to move our crap in!

I've got a few more pictures for you, and that may almost be it. I'll try to put up a few more when we're living inside, but until then, thanks again to everyone who's checked out this blog and encouraged me to keep it up. Hope you liked seeing the slow building process, and remember that you're always welcome to come visit us!

Angela in the kitchen, now with furniture.

Here I am in our door/mirror.

The (simulated) view from our toilet.

Angela's brothers are staining the doors.

Angela and I in our new house (I'm leaning back 'cause the auto-picture kept cutting off my head). In any case, thanks again for checking out the blog!

Almost Done... Right??

Hi Construction Fans!
We're getting closer and closer every day to the completion of the house. The biggest things in the last week or two were the shower doors being installed, and the outside getting painted. Angela's brothers did the latter, along with a guy named Ligier or something like that. One way or another, the three of them did a great job, as you'll see directly:

The frosty shower in our bathroom. It reminds me of a nice, cool drink on a hot summer day. Next to a thing used to wash your butt.

The shower in the smaller, guest bathroom.

The lovely Angela demonstrating the door.

The east side of the house. From left, the rooms are: our bedroom (also with a smaller window above), our bathroom, and the garage.

The back of the house, with the dining and kitchen area to the left, our bedroom on the right, and the living room in the middle.

Angela in the back. You can sort of see in this picture and the next one how my brother-in-law Ronald's wife's brothers--did you catch that?--leveled out a lot of the property and filled in some of the parts that had gotten compacted and washed away in last year's rainy season. In any case, it's a lot more level these days, without as many huge, jagged chunks of cement and metal bars sticking up through the ground. Soon we'll have to plant a lawn, and the Central American Dream will be complete!

March 10, 2009.

So, it's been almost a year since we started, but we're almost there. In the next week, the kitchen furniture (counter, cupboards, etc) is supposed to get installed, and that's about the only thing keeping us out for now. So, check back soon, and maybe we can wrap up this little "temporary" blog!

Quick Update: Solar Panel Works!

I don't really have any new pictures for you, oh faithful Gringiticasa fan, but as a bonus for checking the site, I'll still write a little something.

We've still not moved into the house, mainly because we're waiting for the kitchen furniture to get finished (otherwise it's a lot harder to wash and store dishes without cabinets and a sink). So that's taking quite some time.

But last weekend our power went out quite a few times due to some terrible wind storms, and the Gringiticasa proved to be a nice refuge when it came time to bathe. The shower in the house where we're currently staying--as is the case with most showers in Coast Tasty--is electrical. You may be thinking, "But can you really mix electricity and water and hope for good results?" The answer is yes, you can hope for good results, but you don't always get them. Angela was half- electrocuted in her old house, so they disconnected their electrical shower and have been bathing in cold water for a decade or so. And, as is always the case when the electricity is down, the showers don't work, either. But not in our house!

The solar panel on the roof seems to work excellently, and I was able to take a steaming hot shower at 5 in the morning, despite the fact that no light had hit the panels for about 11 hours!

That alone makes it the most awesome house in Berlín.